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Today in the Spirit: Proper 22B

Posted on September 30, 2024
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In Mark 10:2-16, the assigned Gospel reading for Proper 22B, Mark (and Matthew) has placed back-to-back Jesusโ€™ teachings on marriage and divorce and receiving the kingdom of God like a child as the first teachings he delivers on the road to Jerusalem. In the region of Perea, east of the Jordan, we find Jesus responding…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 21B

Posted on September 22, 2024
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The readings in Proper 21B come around Markโ€™s recording of Jesusโ€™ final teachings to his disciples in Galilee prior to his departure for Jerusalem. The appointed Gospel reading out of Mark 9:38-48 begins with our Lordโ€™s response to John, who had reported the twelve attempted to stop a man from casting out demons in Jesusโ€™…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 20B

Posted on September 15, 2024
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At Proper 20B, we continue following Jesus (in Mark) in the last year of his ministry. It is obvious by Markโ€™s ordering of events and dialogue that Jesus is communicating his hardest teaching to his disciples in preparation for his departure. The Church assigns Mark 9:30-37, the narrative following last weekโ€™s Gospel reading. In it,…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 19B

Posted on September 8, 2024
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At Proper 19B, the church moves forward the last year of Jesusโ€™ ministry (two chapters ahead in the Gospel of Mark) to an incident immediately following the Transfiguration. Mark 9:14-29 tells the story of Jesusโ€™ healing a boy with an evil spirit, a deed his disciples (those who did not climb the mountain) could not…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 18B

Posted on September 1, 2024
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Coming to Proper 18B in the lectionary, we find Jesus and his disciples (in Markโ€™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

Daily Office Booklet 2024: Septemberโ€“December

Posted on August 25, 2024
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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…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 15B

Posted on August 11, 2024
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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…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 14B

Posted on August 4, 2024
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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 Lordโ€™s conversation with the Jews who refuse to believe what he…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 5B

Posted on June 2, 2024
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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…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 4B

Posted on May 26, 2024
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In our walk with Jesus through the lectionary year, the โ€œordinaryโ€ (numbered) season โ€œAfter Pentecostโ€ generally begins with Gospel selections highlighting the teachings and events of our Lordโ€™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 Jesusโ€™ conflict…