Divergence on the Lectionary – Easter Sunday, Year A (Principal Service)
First Reading Acts 10:34–43 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Passion Sunday, Year A
Because the Passion Narrative for this Sunday is so long, I’m putting a link here so that you can click straight to the Comments and Questions for Discussion if you’d rather do that than scroll and scroll (and scroll). (Click Here for Comments and Questions.) First Reading Isaiah 50:4–9a The Lord GOD has given me […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
First Reading Ezekiel 37:1–14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
First Reading 1 Samuel 16:1–13 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Third Sunday in Lent, Year A
First Reading Exodus 17:1–7 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Second Sunday in Lent, Year A
First Reading Genesis 12:1–4a Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – First Sunday in Lent, Year A
First Reading Genesis 2:15–17, 3:1–7 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A
First Reading Exodus 24:12–18 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A (track one)
First Reading Deuteronomy 30:15–20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b–12) “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A
First Reading Micah 6:1–8 Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. “O my […]
Receiving Your Inheritance – III Epiphany Year A
Receiving Your Inheritance started out as a weekly email I sent out to a couple hundred recipients, mostly members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Some were fairly topical, some, like this one, were reflections on some bit of the Lectionary readings for a given week. This one caught my eye because it’s for the […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 9:1–4 (5-7 added in italics for context) But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 49:1-7 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – 4 Advent, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 7:10–16 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – 2 Advent, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 11:1–10 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the […]