Scriptures for April 27

6 Easter
Year A
April 27, 2008
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

How to use this page:
Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it. Some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection. You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading). I've written some instructions on how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please click the "comments" button at the bottom of this post.

We use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.
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The Collect
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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The Scriptures

Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
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Acts 17:22-31
Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him -- though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For `In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said,

`For we too are his offspring.'

Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
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What do you think about Paul's engagement of the Athenian philosophers?
What kind of hearing do you think he received? What kind of responses?
How should we have conversation with contemporary philosophy?
...with other religions?
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Psalm 66:7-18 Jubilate Deo

Bless our God, you peoples; *
let the sound of praise be heard;

God holds our souls in life, *
and will not allow our feet to slip.

For you, O God, have proved us; *
you have tried us just as silver is tried.

You brought us into the snare *
and laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, *
but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

I will enter your house with burnt-offerings and will pay you my vows, *
which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.

I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams; *
I will give you oxen and goats.

Come and listen, all you who fear God, *
and I will tell you what God has done for me.

I called out to God with my mouth, *
and high praise was on my tongue.

If I had found evil in my heart, *
God would not have heard me;

But in truth God has heard me *
and has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, *
whose love has not been withheld from me.

St. Helena Psalter

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When have you been joyful about something that God has done for you?
What kind of language can you use to thank and praise God?
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1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you -- not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
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Because Jesus has risen, you are "bulletproof."
Can you feel the confidence that is communicated in this passage?
How might you be strengthened?
What does it mean when is says that Jesus "went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison?
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John 14:15:21

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
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How would you describe the relationship between God and humanity as described in this passage?
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For a way to Pray with these scriptures, go to the following link for instructions about how to use Lectio Divina with the Sunday readings: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html

Scriptures & Reflection Questions for April 13

4 Easter; Year A
April 13, 2008
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

How to use this page:

Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it. Some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection. You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading). I've written some instructions on how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link: Lectio with Scripture (http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html)

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please go to the scripture blog www.sundayscriptures.blogspot.com and click the "comments" button at the bottom.

We use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.
______________________________

Collect
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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The Scriptures
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10


Acts 2:42-47

Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
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Note the connection with this first verse and one of the questions in our Baptismal Covenant -- "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?" (BCP, p. 304) How do you live up to that promise in your own life?

Note that the early church community practices a form of communal ownership -- holding all things in common, selling their possessions and giving to all as they had need. What do you think about that? Is there a way to justify capitalism from a Christian perspective?
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Psalm 23 Dominus regit me

The Holy One is my shepherd; *
I shall not be in want.

You make me lie down in green pastures *
and lead me beside still waters.

__You revive my soul *
and guide me along right pathways for the sake of your Name.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of God for ever.

St. Helena Psalter
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What does this beloved psalm mean to you?
How does it take on new significance in a different translation from the King James' Version?
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1 Peter 2:19-25

It is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

"He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth."

When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
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When have you been wronged -- when have you suffered unjustly?
What happened? How did you learn to live with that loss?
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John 10:1-10

Jesus said, "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
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How do you know the voice of the good shepherd? How can you tell the difference between the voice of the shepherd and the beguiling voices of the thieves and bandits?