Lectionary 2
GREEN POINTERS FOR PREACHERS
Access by month or season: Lent 4 5, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Sunday For the rest of the year: Lectionary 1: Advent – 3rd Sun in Lent; Lectionary 3: July – November |
| Lent 4 – Note this is also Mothering Sunday | |
| Year A I Samuel 16:1-13 Psalm 23 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 | The Lord rules with loving care (Psalm 23). His King was a shepherd (I Samuel 16:11). Similarly the power given in creation to humans is to be exercised with tenderness, not ruthless exploitation. Jesus used mud in healing (John 9:6). His divine power worked with the substance of creation. God, who desires our health, has put a treasure store of healing in creation, which we should value and cherish. Care for creation is surely among those ‘good, right and true’ things which are the fruit of light and are pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:9-10).. |
| Year B Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 (or 1-9) Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 | Just as the physical image of a snake was a focus for the Israelites’ longing and faith for healing (Numbers 21:4-9) so the physical Cross of Christ ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’ is the means of our salvation (John 3:14-21). An ethereal, over-spiritualised religion is the enemy of creation care; a true faith is rooted in God’s creation as well as his redemption.Sun 21 March 2004 is also Mothering Sunday |
| Year C Joshua 5:9-12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 | God in his mercy gives new beginnings in a new creation. The Israelites’ first meal from the produce of the promised land was one such new beginning (Joshua 5:11-12). Personal forgiveness leads to newness of life (Psalm 32). Reconciliation to God through Christ leads to participation in a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). God wills that this newness leads us to value properly all that has been given to us instead of despising and squandering it (Luke 15:11-32). |
| Mothering Sunday Year A Year B Year C | |
| Exodus 2:1-10 or 1 Samuel 1:20-28 Psalm 34:11-20 or Psalm 127:1-5 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 or Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:33-35 or John 19:25b-27 | All that parents can do for their children depends on resources given by the Creator – for example the materials used in making the original ‘Moses basket’ (Exodus 2:3). All human care falls within God’s care. We should value human parents and value the earth, for God’s provision reaches us through both. |
Lent 5 | |
| Year A Ezekiel 37:1-14 Psalm 130 Romans 8:6-11 John 11:1-45 | A Christian lifestyle reflects the Gospel that the Church believes. If we place our hope in a God who gives life and raises the dead, our actions must tend to foster life, not death, in all creation and all beings.. |
| Year B Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-13 or Psalm 119:9-16 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12:20-33 | Physical washing is analogous to spiritual cleansing (Psalm 51:2,7). The death and fruitfulness of a seed is archetypal for the experience of Jesus and of us (John 12:23-26). God speaking bears some relationship to thunder (John 12:28-29). |
| Year C | The renewal of nature (Isaiah 43:20-21) is here pictured in the context of the promise of return from exile, which was seen as a ‘second exodus’. This promise of transformation also points forward to the final ‘universal restoration’ referred to in Acts 3:21. In the radical reassessment of values consequent on coming to know Christ (Philippians 3:4b-14) one of the discarded elements is the pursuit of excess. Such pursuit contributes to the destruction of the earth. It is exemplified in the character of Judas as portrayed in John 12:4-8. . |
| Palm Sunday Liturgy of the Palms | |
| Year A Matthew 21:1-11 Psalm 118:[1-2,] 19-24, [25-29]Also see just below – Liturgy of the Passion on the same day. | The story of the Triumphal Entry includes the positive use of an animal (the donkey) to show the peaceful mission of Jesus. The cutting of branches to carpet the road perhaps enshrines a similar principle to the use of flowers to decorate places of worship; but the unsustainable use of plants would not honour God. Jesus’s remark that, if the crowds were silent in his praise, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40) may prompt us to reflect on the ways in which inanimate nature does, indeed, bear witness to him. |
| Year B Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16 Psalm 118:[1-2,] 19-24 | The story of the Triumphal Entry includes the positive use of an animal (the donkey) to show the peaceful mission of Jesus. The cutting of branches to carpet the road perhaps enshrines a similar principle to the use of flowers to decorate places of worship; but the unsustainable use of plants would not honour God. Jesus’s remark that, if the crowds were silent in his praise, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40) may prompt us to reflect on the ways in which inanimate nature does, indeed, bear witness to him. |
| Year C Luke 19:28-40 | The story of the Triumphal Entry includes the positive use of an animal (the donkey) to show the peaceful mission of Jesus. The cutting of branches to carpet the road perhaps enshrines a similar principle to the use of flowers to decorate places of worship; but the unsustainable use of plants would not honour God. Jesus’s remark that, if the crowds were silent in his praise, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40) may prompt us to reflect on the ways in which inanimate nature does, indeed, bear witness to him. |
| Liturgy of the Passion | |
| Year A
| The crown of thorns (Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17) exemplifies the misuse of the resources of nature as a means of inflicting harm and indignity. Reflecting on such abuses can be a rich source of penitence. The passion story includes other examples of the misuse of natural materials: the cross itself, the nails, the reed used to strike Jesus. In how many ways do we also misuse and abuse natural things, and grieve God’s heart of love?The darkness (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) and the earthquake (Matthew 27:51) show that the crucifixion of God’s Son is an event of cosmic significance, not only important for humanity. |
| Year B Isaiah 50:4-9a | The crown of thorns (Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17) exemplifies the misuse of the resources of nature as a means of inflicting harm and indignity. Reflecting on such abuses can be a rich source of penitence. The passion story includes other examples of the misuse of natural materials: the cross itself, the nails, the reed used to strike Jesus. In how many ways do we also misuse and abuse natural things, and grieve God’s heart of love?The darkness (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) and the earthquake (Matthew 27:51) show that the crucifixion of God’s Son is an event of cosmic significance, not only important for humanity. |
| Year C Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16, [17-18] Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 22:14-23:56 or 23:1-49 | The crown of thorns (Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17) exemplifies the misuse of the resources of nature as a means of inflicting harm and indignity. Reflecting on such abuses can be a rich source of penitence. The passion story includes other examples of the misuse of natural materials: the cross itself, the nails, the reed used to strike Jesus. In how many ways do we also misuse and abuse natural things, and grieve God’s heart of love?The darkness (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) and the earthquake (Matthew 27:51) show that the crucifixion of God’s Son is an event of cosmic significance, not only important for humanity. |
| Maundy Thursday: Year A Year B | |
| Exodus 12:1-4, [5-10,] 11-14 Psalm 116:1, 10-17 (or 9-17) I Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 | ‘Ecological’ themes around the institution of the Eucharist are the sacramental character of material things (the material creation lends itself to the revelation of the divine); and the fact that what ‘earth has given and human hands have made’ can be charged with spiritual meaning. The meaning however is not arbitrary but is controlled by God’s Word. |
| Easter 2 | |
| Year A (Sun 19 Apr 2020) Acts 2:14a, 22-32 | The language of Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:22-32) shows that what human beings killed, i.e. the physical body of Christ, was what God raised from death. It was the ‘flesh’ of the Messiah which did not suffer corruption (Acts 2:31). Psalm 16 which is applied here to Christ, speaks in very physical terms.The risen Christ kindly accepts Thomas’s demand for personal physical proof of the resurrection (John 20:24-29). Thomas is invited to feel Christ’s hand and side. At the same time he is rebuked for unbelief: faith is a trusting response to Jesus, not a merely logical conclusion (cf. 1 Peter 1:8). This story clearly shows that Christ’s transformed body could be felt – it was not just an appearance. The Gospel speaks not of escape from the physical, but of its perfecting. |
| Year B (Sun 4 April 2021) | The Apostles’ witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which was borne with ‘great power’ (Acts 4:33), took place in a Christian community economically transformed. The sharing of possessions (Acts 4:32-35) was a fruit of the new life of Christ among them.The risen Christ kindly accepts Thomas’s demand for personal physical proof of the resurrection (John 20:24-29). Thomas is invited to feel Christ’s hand and side. This story clearly shows that Christ’s transformed body could be felt – it was not just an appearance. The Gospel speaks not of escape from the physical, but of its perfecting. |
| Year C (28 April 2019) Acts 5:27-32 | The threefold description of Jesus (Revelation 1:5) as ‘the faithful witness, the first born of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth’ assures us that he is the first of many: all his believing people will follow him into the resurrection life. By the power of his cross he has power to redeem the world. He also makes us a royal priesthood (verse 6), bringing his redemption to all creation (cf. Romans 8:19-21).The risen Christ kindly accepts Thomas’s demand for personal physical proof of the resurrection (John 20:24-29). Thomas is invited to feel Christ’s hand and side. This story clearly shows that Christ’s transformed body could be felt – it was not just an appearance. The Gospel speaks not of escape from the physical, but of its perfecting. |
| Easter 3 | |
| Year A
| Ecological Christianity is sometimes seen as opposed to the Gospel of personal salvation. But a truly biblical faith includes both. We need to repent and receive forgiveness of our sins – against God, creation and other humans (Acts 2:38). The discovery that God hears our cry, values and saves us (Psalm 116) is the most precious experience of believers. We have been set free by the Cross of Christ, by him brought to faith and a new life (1 Peter 1:17-23). The story of the appearance of Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) shows Jesus after his resurrection as personal, physical, and recognisable, but changed. It shows the possibility of different modes of physical existence. We cannot tell whether Jesus’s post-resurrection body is like the post-resurrection bodies of believers, nor how the new heaven and earth will relate to our present universe. What we do know is that God’s purpose for us is not a destiny as disembodied spirits. |
| Year B | The appearance of Jesus after his resurrection includes both continuity and difference from the mode of his earthly life. He is personal, physical, but changed. We cannot tell whether Jesus’s post-resurrection body is like the post-resurrection bodies of believers, nor how the new heaven and earth will relate to our present universe. What we do know is that God’s purpose for us is not a destiny as disembodied spirits. |
| Year C | The story of St Paul’s encounter with Christ modifies the account of the Resurrection given elsewhere in the New Testament. Although Jesus is said in Acts 9:17 to have ‘appeared’ to him, what he saw actually seems to have been a light (the accounts in Acts 22:6-16, 26:12-18 show slightly different emphases). Moreover Christ’s Body, as in Paul’s letters, was the Church which Paul was persecuting. But elsewhere in Acts, including sermons attributed to Paul, the appearances before the Ascension are mentioned just as in the Gospels (Acts 13:31), and Paul places himself alongside the other apostles as a witness of the Resurrection. The change marked by the Ascension (Acts 1:6-11) accounts for the distinctive features of Paul’s experience. In the vision of Revelation 5:11-14 all created beings – animal, human and angelic – give praise to God. The appearance of the risen Christ (John 21:1-19) shows him as personal, physical, and recognisable, although changed. It shows the possibility of different modes of physical existence. We cannot tell whether Jesus’s post-resurrection body is like the post-resurrection bodies of believers, nor how the new heaven and earth will relate to our present universe. What we do know is that God’s purpose for us is not a destiny as disembodied spirits. |
| Rogation Sunday Rogation Sunday There is lots of material for Rogation Sunday on the Arthur Rank Centre Site | |
| Easter 6 | |
| Year A (Rogation Sunday) | Acts 17:22-31: That God is creator of all, near to his creatures, loving yet judging, is basic to the Gospel. He wishes all peoples and cultures to have their time and place, to know him and repent. The offering of animal sacrifices (Psalm 66:13) may raise difficulties for us. The custom was universal in the ancient world, and God started with people where they were, regulated sacrifice and forbade the sacrifice of humans. The system also enshrined the great principle that forgiveness is only possible through the laying down of life in death. The death of Christ alone suffices, and has put a stop to all other sacrifices (1 Peter 3:18-22; see also Hebrews 9:22-28). The way is now open for us to enter into intimate fellowship with the Father through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21). |
| Year B | The worship of the Lord’s people is to complement and articulate the worship of all creation (Psalm 98:4-9). The terminology of fruit-bearing (John 15:16) to express the life that Christians are called to live, is an example of the application of natural, ecological language to the spiritual life. |
This Sunday (The Sunday before Ascension Day) is Rogation Sunday) Year C | Psalm 67:6: The fruitfulness of the earth is a sign of God’s blessing. Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5: For a fuller understanding, we should read from 21:1. In the perfection of God’s will for his creation, the perfect community (21:10) and the healed world (22:2) are different aspects of the new heaven and earth (21:1). Membership is open to all who have accepted Christ’s new life and been included in his ‘book of life’ (20:11-15). |
| Ascension Day | |
Acts 1:1-11 or Daniel 7:9-14 Psalm 47 or Psalm 93 Ephesians 1:15-23 or Acts 1:1-11 Luke 24:44-53 | This season teaches us that Christ, having united earthly things to himself in his incarnation, also transcends them. He is King of creation, and is not limited or confined by it. |
| Easter 7 | |
| Year A Acts 1:6-14 | The ascension to heaven of Jesus, human and divine, assures us that in him heaven and earth are reconciled. The needs of earth are represented, so to speak, in heaven. |
| Year B | In a sense the world is enemy-occupied territory, because it has been invaded by the forces of sin and rebellion. Christ has sent his people, belonging to him, sustained by his prayer and by the grace of his Father, to brave the opposition and carry out his mission (John 17). The fulfilment of God’s purposes for the care of creation is one aspect of that mission, alongside worship, evangelism and social responsibility. |
| Year C Acts 16:16-34 | God’s judgment is described in terms of lightning, earthquake, and volcano(?) (Psalm 97:3-5). We should never forget that God is a holy as well as a loving God; God’s light means exposure as well as joy (11). Nature in its fearsome destructiveness as well as its mellow beauty can reveal God’s nature. The vigorous shoot growing from an old stock is a picture of Christ’s humanity, and the morning star, whose presence promises the new day, symbolises his coming (Revelation 22:16). |
| Trinity Sunday | |
| Year A Isaiah 40:12-17, 27-31 | Today’s readings are full of paradox. Worship of God as Creator causes human concerns to shrink, for God is great and all-knowing (Isaiah 40:12-17); yet the message of God’s greatness also brings hope to his people, because he gives strength to all who work for him (Isaiah 40:27-31). According to Psalm 8 God is infintely glorious, yet even the voices of babies acknowledge his glory; although his majestic creation dwarfs humanity, he has chosen to entrust us with responsibility in his world. In the light of the New Testament the Church discerns that the Creator God, majestic in holy love, is in himself a perfect Community of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our power in the creation is only safe when we also tremble and bow low before his glory. |
| Year B Isaiah 6:1-8 | Creation, holiness, redemption and mission are all embraced in the vision of Isaiah 6:1-8. God glory is expressed by all creation (Isaiah 6:3). God is revealed to the prophets and also in the thunder which is God’s voice and proclaims God’s glory; God also gives strength and well-being to people (Psalm 29). Spiritual rebirth (John 3:3) fulfils natural birth; God loves human beings in and with the rest of creation (John 3:16-17).Note the first Sunday in June is also Environment Sunday – |
| Year C | The wisdom , given by God, that enables the healthy ordering of human lives and communities, is also the guiding force in creation (Proverbs 8). We are only fit to exercise our God-given power on earth when we acknowledge God’s transcendent power and authority, ruling in holy love (Psalm 8). In the light of the New Testament we see that God’s wisdom is summed up in Christ, and released in our lives by the Holy Spirit. |
| Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time- Sunday between 24 and 28 May inclusive | ||
| Year A | ||
| Year B | ||
| Year C | ||
| Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday between 5 and 11 June inclusive – Proper 5 | |
| June 5th is World Environment Day . Each year A Rocha prepares material for Environment Sunday: http://en.arocha.org/ukconsunday/index.html You can use material from previous years. The material for 2005 is scheduled to come out in April | |
| Year A Continuous Genesis 12:1-9 | Abram’s journey and the Lord’s revelations to him took place in different places in the promised land. Thus his faith was automatically ‘earthed’. Again, the fulfilment of the promise took place through the restoration of his potency and Sarah’s ability to bear children (Romans 4:19). Our faith differs in that, in Christ, all believers are heirs of the whole earth (Romans 4:13, compare Matthew 5:5). But it too has to be lived out in the context of nature. The physical is not the enemy of the spiritual but its vehicle. The healing miracles of Jesus, spiritual and physical (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26) can be seen as a foretaste of the age to come, when all creation will be saved, forgiven and healed. The faith of ancient Israel was faith in the Creator (Psalm 33:6-7). Creation was not a ‘bolted-on’ extra to their faith, as it often is with us. The system of animal sacrifices had a temporary place in the Old Testament, but even then some recognised that its meaning was symbolic (Psalm 50:7-15). In the background was the recognition that all animals already belong to God, who values and cares for them. |
| Year B Continuous 1 Samuel 8:4-11, [12-15,] 16-20; [11:14-15] Psalm 138 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 Mark 3:20-35 Related | In the fable of the serpent, condemned to crawl and eat dust (Genesis 3:14-15), one layer of meaning is the dislocation by sin of relationships between humanity and the beasts.The destiny of the people of God is not to be disembodied spirits but to be covered with a new ‘house’ or body (2 Corinthians 5:1). Our present bodies are temporary accommodation, imperfect as yet, hindering and hurting us sometimes, but one day to be fulfilled by new bodies. A devaluation of the body and its environment is no part of Christianity. |
| Year C Continuous 1 Kings 17:8-16, [17-24] Related | God wished to sustain the lives of the widow and her son (1 Kings 17:8-16), but used the presence and words of the prophet to do so. The supply of the needs of all the world’s inhabitants today likewise depends on attending to God’s words and wisdom, and loyal obedience to him. By living lives of praise, we too can live in harmony with the Lord who cares especially for the needy and disadvantaged. In biblical faith, the Lord is the God of creation, salvation and providence. |
| Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday between 12 and 18 June inclusive – Proper 6 | ||
| Year A Continuous Genesis 18:1-15; [21:1-7] Exodus 19:2-8a | The simplicity of lifestyle that Jesus enjoined on his apostles (Matthew 10:9-10) has proved, with some shining exceptions, elusive for the church ever since. For the church in the West today a new reason exists for a basic simplicity, since on a purely economic basis, we must ‘live more simply, so that all may simply live.’ | |
| Year B Continuous 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalm 20 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, [11-13,] 14-17 Mark 4:26-34 Related | The new world that has dawned in those united to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) is not just a subjective experience, but a foretaste of the future fulfilment of heaven and earth. It should lead us to seek God’s will for the natural world as well as human societies. | |
| Year C Continuous 1 Kings 21:1-10, [11-14,] 15-21a Psalm 5:1-8 Galatians 2:15-21 Luke 7:36-8:3 Related | The ownership and use of land lie at the heart of ecological concern (1 Kings 21). Its seizure by the greedy and powerful, with the dispossession of the humble and poor, is a potent source of pollution, poverty and suffering. It is an affront to God’s Kingdom (Psalm 5:5-6, cf. Matthew 5:5). | |
| Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday between 19 and 25 June inclusive – Proper 7 | |
| Year A Continuous Genesis 21:8-21 Psalm 86:1-10, [16-17] Romans 6:1b-11 Matthew 10:24-39Related Jeremiah 20:7-13 Psalm 69:8-11, [12-17,] 18-20 (or 14-20) Romans 6:1b-11 Matthew 10:24-39 | The background to God’s love for God’s people is the divine presence, love and sustaining power to all creatures (Matthew 10:29-31). |
| Year B Continuous 1 Samuel 17:[1a, 4-11, 19-23,] 32-49 Psalm 9:9-20 or: 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16 Psalm 133 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41Related Job 38:1-11 Psalm 107:[1-3,] 23-32 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 | The whole of nature is symbolic. In Psalm 133 dew as well as oil is compared to brotherly love. Whatever difficulties the idea of God’s being in control of nature may cause us, we dare not abandon it if we are true to God’s Word. To God the Son, Jesus the Messiah, even the wind and sea are obedient (Mark 4:35-41, cf. Psalm 107:23-32). Job discovered (38:1-11) that, far from challenging God, he was challenged by the mystery and majesty of God revealed in creation. |
| Year C Continuous 1 Kings 19:1-4, [5-7,] 8-15a Psalms 42, 43 Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39Related Isaiah 65:1-9 Psalm 22:19-28 Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39 | Elijah discovered God, not identical with creation, but accompanying it, ordering and forming it (1 Kings 19:1-15). The psalmist’s depression (Psalm 42:6-7), overwhelming like Elijah’s (1 Kings 19:4), felt like submersion beneath chaotic waters. The earth is troubled by destructive spiritual forces (Luke 8:26-39) – destructive of human personality and community, and of other creatures. The deliverance of creation from evil is one aspect of God’s kingdom, inaugurated by Jesus, whose completion is not yet. And not all worship associated with nature is good; true worship is a response to the self-revelation of the true God (Isaiah 65:1-7, cf. Galatians 3:23-29, Psalm 22:19-28). |
| Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday between 26 June and 2 July inclusive – Proper 8 | |
| Year A Continuous Genesis 22:1-14 Psalm 13 Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42Related Jeremiah 28:5-9 Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 (or 8-18) Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42 | The sin from which Christ sets us free (Romans 6:18) includes the abuse and destruction of creation; the right conduct to which he has delivered us includes the cherishing and service of God’s handiwork. |
| Year B Continuous 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43Related Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 Lamentations 3:22-33 or Psalm 30 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43 | The principle behind Paul’s collection for the famine-stricken church in Jerusalem is the equal sharing of natural resources. Also implied is the idea of sufficiency: ‘enough is enough’. The Gospel always tends towards equality and simplicity (2 Corinthians 8:7-15). These qualities are essential for the healing of the earth as well as humanity. |
| Year C Continuous 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 Psalm 77:[1-2,] 11-20 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62Related 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62 | From the Old Testament onward people who were exceptionally close to God and controlled by his Spirit often exhibited rapport with nature and authority in the natural realm (2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14). We can only rule rightly in God’s creation if we obey his word and his Spirit. God, who rules his people like a Shepherd, is present with the world he has created (Psalm 77:16-20). In an integrated Christian lifestyle, the character of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) will be seen in our relationship with non-human as well as human fellow-creatures. |
| Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday between 3 July and 9 July inclusive – Proper 9 | |
| Year A Continuous Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 Psalm 45:11-18 or Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30Related Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-15 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew11:16-19, 25-30 | All God’s works render God service and declare God’s praise (Psalm 145:10). The biodiversity celebrated in Song 2:12-13 is now under threat from human activities. Only Christ can redeem us from our innate sinfulness which is at the root of the earth’s degradation (Romans 7:15-25a). In his gentle yoke lie the inner comfort and rest from which life-giving service to creation can flow (Matthew 11:28-30). |
| Year B Continuous 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 Psalm 48 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13Related Ezekiel 2:1-5 Psalm 123 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13 | The language of shepherding, applied to the King (2 Samuel 5:2), reminds us that the power over creation given to humans is to be used pastorally, for the benefit of all, and not selfishly in our own interests alone.The Church could well ponder the basic simplicity of the first Christian missionaries (Mark 6:8-9) as it engages in Christ’s mission now. The dangers of unbridled exploitation give an added reason for the quest for simplicity and moderated demands.The beauty of the city of God (Psalm 48) does not come from human extravagance but from God’s glory. |
| Year C Continuous 2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 Galatians 6:[1-6,] 7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20Related Isaiah 66:10-14 Psalm 66:1-8 Galatians 6:[1-6,] 7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 | These readings are full of natural symbolism: washing in water is ‘sacramental’ of the removal of disease (2 Kings 5:10); a river is a simile of prosperity (Isaiah 66:12); life-choices and God’s judgment are a spiritual sowing and harvest (Galatians 6:7-9); the fruits of evangelism are another kind of harvest (Luke 10:2).The Church could well ponder the basic simplicity of the first Christian missionaries (Luke 10:4) as it engages in Christ’s mission now. The dangers of unbridled exploitation give an added reason for the quest for simplicity and moderated demands. |