Week 04

Introduction For hundreds of years many Christian traditions have read passages of scripture using a tool called a lectionary. During this ordinary season, our devotional team decided to resource you with selections from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Source: the Revised Common Lectionary Year A

(Note. If you desire to read these passages in a different version of the Bible, this link will provide all the readings for week 4 in ESV in Bible Gateway where you may also choose other versions of these passages.)

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

13:2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.

13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.

13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

13:5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.

13:6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.

13:7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

13:8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!”

13:18 “Hear then the parable of the sower.

13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.

13:20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

13:21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.

13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.

13:23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Meditate on this text, and then you can pray this prayer:

Soften the soil of my heart. Make my life a healthy place for your truth to land.
Let the seeds of your truth grow and flourish in my life
so that the fruit of my obedience will bring sustenance to the world around me.

Introduction: For hundreds of years many Christian traditions have read passages of scripture using a tool called a lectionary. During this ordinary season, our devotional team decided to resource you with selections from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Source: the Revised Common Lectionary Year A

(Note. If you desire to read these passages in a different version of the Bible, this link will provide all the readings for week 4 in ESV in Bible Gateway where you may also choose other versions of these passages.)

Romans 8:1-11
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

8:4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed it cannot,

8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Meditate on this text and then you can pray this prayer:

Thank you for the truth that there is no condemnation for me,
I believe, and I ask you to help my unbelief.
In my weakness, I confess that believing in your forgiveness is hard.
Show me your love and confirm your gift of grace. Amen

Introduction: For hundreds of years many Christian traditions have read passages of scripture using a tool called a lectionary. During this ordinary season, our devotional team decided to resource you with selections from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Source: the Revised Common Lectionary Year A

(Note. If you desire to read these passages in a different version of the Bible, this link will provide all the readings for week 4 in ESV in Bible Gateway where you may also choose other versions of these passages.)

Isaiah 55:10-13
55:10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

55:12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
65:1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed,

65:2 O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come.

65:3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions.

65:4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.

65:5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

65:6 By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might.

65:7 You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.

65:8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

65:9 You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it.

65:10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

65:11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness.

65:12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,

65:13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

Meditate on these texts and the you can pray this prayer:

Seed-planting, fish-netting, bread-baking, pearl-hunting God,
you shape me into living a parable.
Pray with your Spirit in me
so that I may understand my experiences as healing metaphors,
and become creative and abundant stewards
of the environment you entrusted to my love. Amen.

Introduction: For hundreds of years, many Christian traditions have read passages of scripture using a tool called a lectionary. During this ordinary season, our devotional team decided to resource you with selections from the Revised Common Lectionary. You will encounter texts from the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament as well as formal prayers.

Source: the Revised Common Lectionary Year A

(Note. If you desire to read these passages in a different version of the Bible, this link will provide all the readings for week 4 in ESV in Bible Gateway where you may also choose other versions of these passages.)

Genesis 25:19-34
25:19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,

25:20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.

25:21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

25:22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

25:23 And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

25:24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.

25:25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.

25:26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

25:28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

25:29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

25:30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.)

25:31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

25:32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

25:33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Psalm 119:105-112
119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

119:106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.

119:107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word.

119:108 Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your ordinances.

119:109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.

119:110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.

119:111 Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

119:112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Ponder these texts and then you can pray this prayer:

Hear my prayers, God of power,
and through the ministry of your Son
free me from the grip of the tomb,
that I may desire you as the fullness of life
and proclaim your saving deeds to all the world. Amen.