Here’s something surprising. We are all staying at home — you know, “social distancing” — and I haven’t heard anyone say they have extra time. That strike you as odd? It’s like folks who are retired telling you they are so busy now that they are retired they don’t know how they had time to work!
Well, I’m throwing all that to the wind. I am sending you something to fill your time. You say you don’t have time to read it? Okay. You don’t have to. But if you want some form of devotional material in this time of social distancing, this may help.
What is it? I’ll tell you. Well, I won’t. I’ll the experts inform us.
The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of weekly lections used to varying degrees by the vast majority of mainline Protestant churches in Canada and the United States. The RCL is built around the seasons of the Church Year, and includes four lections for each Sunday, as well as additional readings for major feast days. During most of the year, the lections are: a reading from the Hebrew Bible, a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and a Gospel reading. During the season of Easter, the Hebrew Bible lection is usually replaced with one from the Acts of the Apostles. The lections from the Hebrew Bible are sometimes chosen from the Apocrypha.
I thought folks might want to read one of the assigned readings each day. I know, there aren’t enough to cover all the days in a week, but it’s better than nothing. I also know that some of you are already reading the lectionary readings for each given Sunday. So, I threw in something extra. In red lettering I have included my reflections on each of the readings. Don’t worry. I don’t get all scholarly on you. I’m not sure I could if I wanted to! These are just my first impressions and I offer them to stimulate your own thinking.
So, here’s the bottom line. Use this as you see fit. To the extent that it serves to deepen your spiritual life, well and good, and it might be fun to see if the sermon has anything to do with what either you or I were thinking.
Be safe and stay well,
Pastor Jeff
Easter Day
April 12, 2020
Below are all the assigned lectionary readings for Easter Day. I encourage you to read them as a devotional exercise and if you like, read my notes which contain my thoughts about the various readings. The text that is in “red” are my reflections. I hope you are all well and that in this time of social disconnection we might yet stay connected by the Spirit we share one with another.
