Lectionary: Proper 7C / Ordinary 12C / Pentecost +5

1 Kings 19:1-15

“That Still Small Voice”

by AMN

I hold this passage of God’s holy word very dear to my depraved heart. That still small voice that came to Elijah on that mountain came to me during a life-altering moment in my life. I was in solitary confinement and literally fighting against spiritual wickedness in my cell.

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Lectionary: Proper 6C / Ordinary 11C / Pentecost +4

1 Kings 21:1-21a

“Remember the Power”

by CM

It can be so easy to forget the simple fact that God is in charge. And by “in charge” I don’t simply mean the director of the course of events as they naturally unfold. I mean that God is the One with whom you check your opinions and actions and the One who is indeed the Sovereign Ruler.

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Lectionary: Proper 5C / Ordinary 10C / Pentecost +3

by CM

1 Kings 17:8-16 [17-24]

“Respond to Power”

Our prophet Elijah receives word to wait out a time of drought at the home of a widow and her son in Sidon. The nation suffered, while the widow prospered. We know there’s an abundance of blessings to be experienced when we seek the LORD. But are we ready to respond when the LORD seeks us?

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Lectionary: Trinity C

by CM

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalms 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

 “The transformative ‘before’ and ‘after’ effect of the Gospel in the life of a believer”

Life has been described in many ways, too many to list here. But I’d be willing to stake odds that you’ll almost assuredly never hear this one: easy. Quite the opposite, life isn’t easy, and for more often than one would like to admit we get overwhelmed by circumstances we’re ill-prepared for. The feeling we experience in such moments is called stress. But why is life so hard?

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Lectionary: Pentecost C

by Matthew B. Harper

PENTECOST, May 15, Acts 2

Pentecost is marked in the church with celebration and fire. Our clergy dress in red and our hangings use images of fire and wind. Pentecost is drama.

But to the observers of the first Christian Pentecost what was transpiring looked more like drunken excess. Was there ever a miracle of God so poorly misunderstood? Were there ever prophets more unlikely?

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Lectionary: Easter 7C

by Matthew B. Harper

Acts 16:16–34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12–14, 16–17, 20–21
John 17:20–26

We are in the seventh week of Easter, and our extra readings from the Acts of the Apostles are drawing to a close. But before they do, we read this wonderful account of God shaking the very walls of prison. It is a fitting place to read for this Prison Lectionary.

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Lectionary: Ascension

by LA

Ascension A

Acts 1:1-11

The Book of Acts begins with Messiah teaching his Apostles for forty days after his resurrection and commanding them not to leave Jerusalem until the promised Holy Spirit is sent to them. He then ascends up to heaven from the Mr. of Olives. Two men in white, who we are lead to believe are actually angels, tell the Apostles that the Messiah will come back to Earth in the same manner they saw him go up to heaven.

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Lectionary: Easter C6

by LA

Revelation 21:10-22; 22:1-5

Easter 6C RevThere I was at the Commissary window, a friend of mine, an inmate worker who is himself a self-proclaimed Christian was there helping the cashier by bringing everything I had ordered to the register to be rung up. I noticed that instead of my usual order of 24 spicy vegetable ramen noodles he had brought me 24 of the new Cajun shrimp. A substitution that he made of his own initiative. I politely objected to this change in my order. I asked my friend to please replace these shrimp ramen with any other flavor. I did this because I observe the dietary laws of Scripture. My friend does not.

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Lectionary and POEM: Easter 6C

by Kwame

John 14:23-29

Easter 6C Jn

This reading from the Gospel of John deals with many interesting points, the first one being “we will… make our home with him” signifying that all of us who put our love in Jesus and obey his words will experience the immediate presence and love of the Father and the Son. And lastly, that when we give into anxiety or worry that shows a lack of faith in God’s fatherly care and love.

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