At Proper 19B, the church moves forward the last year of Jesus’ ministry (two chapters ahead in the Gospel of Mark) to an incident immediately following the Transfiguration. Mark 9:14-29 tells the story of Jesus’ healing a boy with an evil spirit, a deed his disciples (those who did not climb the mountain) could not…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 18B
Coming to Proper 18B in the lectionary, we find Jesus and his disciples (in Mark’s Gospel) at the beginning of an eventful trek away from Galilee in the region of Decapolis, east of the Jordan River. There, according to the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:31-37, Jesus heals a deaf and mute man. In response,…
Daily Office Booklet 2024: September–December
Good news! We’ve completed the latest edition of the Daily Office Booklet. We even cleaned up the design to make it more readable. This edition will take you through Morning and Evening Prayer with the lectionary readings from September through December 2024. As always, we’ve rendered PDFs for you to print in both booklet and…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 15B
The basis for the readings selected for Proper 15B (except for the NT reading from Ephesians, which continues its own course) is the forceful determination with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks into the teeth of opposition by those John the Evangelist calls the Jews. The appointed Gospel reading from John 6:53-59 gives us the last…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 14B
In this next week of the Pentecost season, following the Proper 14B schedule of readings, we dig deeper into our meditation on Jesus as the bread of life. The assigned Gospel reading out of John 6:37-51 takes us to the next phase of our Lord’s conversation with the Jews who refuse to believe what he…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 5B
At this early stage in the post-Pentecost ordinary season, we continue tracking Jesus through his early months of ministry in and around Capernaum of Galilee. For Proper 5B, the assigned Gospel reading out of Mark 3:20-35 gives us what appears to be two important teachings of Jesus delivered in one day: the first to religious…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 4B
In our walk with Jesus through the lectionary year, the “ordinary” (numbered) season “After Pentecost” generally begins with Gospel selections highlighting the teachings and events of our Lord’s life after the calling of the disciples (the calling itself being featured in Epiphany). As the Gospel of Mark exposes the reader early on to Jesus’ conflict…
Today in the Spirit: Trinity Sunday B
The Church of England, from its beginning, established Trinity Sunday as a principal feast on the church calendar, the Sunday following Pentecost Sunday (Whitsunday), and before the Sundays that followed during the long “ordinary” (numbered) phase of Sundays After Pentecost (or After Trinity). The assigned readings for Trinity Sunday are different in each of the…
Today in the Spirit: Pentecost Sunday B (Whitsunday)
“Pentecost Sunday already!?” While this might well be our reaction to the arrival of this feast day on the church calendar every year, we can only imagine how the disciples felt when Jesus ordered them to go to Jerusalem and wait until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). As they gathered…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 7B (The Sunday After Ascension)
As opposed to the Ascension Day readings, which center around the narrative of the event itself, the Sunday after Ascension Day (never Easter 7 as in the BCP 2019) assignments focus more on the implications of Christ’s ascending and taking the throne with the Father for the life of the believer. Particularly in Year B,…
