discipleship
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Based on the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, 2008-2009 The csw is a guide to daily scripture reading for the whole community, designed to complement the weekly Sunday readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. Our community follows the lectionary, an ecumenical selection of scripture passages for preaching and worship (for more about the lectionary, click here). We have added to these readings to journey together in scripture throughout the year. These readings will set us up for discussion at mid-week evening scripture studies and worship in our corporate worship gatherings. Sometimes a reading will be repeated twice within one week or several times over a couple of weeks. This is not a mistake. Fight the temptation to think, “I don’t need to read this...I already did.” Try and see things in a new light. Most weeks, the psalm for the week is read on Monday, the text for mid-week corporate study on Tuesday, the Old Testament reading on Wednesday, the epistle reading on Thursday, and the gospel reading on Friday. There is some freedom for Saturday and Sunday: sometime before the worship gathering, read the planned passages and any you may have missed earlier in the week. Over the course of the church year, we will finish up our corporate study begun last year in Genesis and then in Lent, we’ll begin a study in the gospel of John. In addition, we will read the whole of I John, Mark, Ephesians, Ruth, James, and Hebrews. The way corresponds with the various seasons and holy-days of the liturgical church year. Various colors of the church year help separate the seasons (for more about liturgical colors, click here). It’s important to remember that this is a way...not the end. Reading scripture is not the end (or the goal). The end is to live in community in Christ. With our individual intentional effort and reliance on the Holy Spirit, the scripture readings help lead us to that: community in Christ. So do not get overly obsessive with reading the readings to the point that the when one is missed, failure sets in. On the other hand, we humans are creatures of habit, and establishing a pattern of reading will be important to be able to make reading scripture a regular part of our lives, which will take time and discipline. If you miss a day, just go on with the next day. Catch up when you can, but if and when you get too far behind, just start fresh on the current day. The community scripture way is best used in with a prayerful heart All the while, know that you are being prayed for, that you are reading the same passages together with the local community, and that each and every week, hundreds of thousands of followers of Christ around the world are reading the same passages that you are. May the Spirit of God and his Word bring us together! |
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