If I were asked, “what scripture was being read most today around the world?”, I would guess the Daily Mass readings of the Roman Catholic Church. These are shared by Anglicans and others as well. People are reading them prayerfully not just at the Eucharist. If they do not attend a daily Eucharist, many would be using them in their personal devotions. I would encourage you, if you do not have a daily systematic devotion, to use the daily Mass readings as a starter.
Each day in the Easter Season I have been sending the daily Gospel reading to facebook followers. I have been tweeting it. Yesterday’s Gospel reading, John 15:9-11, resulted in an interesting dialogue on twitter with regular-visitor-here, Jeffrey Pinyan. He referred to a Bible study he had done on “as […], so […]” in the Gospels (particularly John), and put a list up on his site.
The Greek καθὼς… κἀγὼ… appears to bear the weight of the reflection – especially that we are called, empowered, to be like Jesus…
Mt 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.
Mt 13:40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
Mt 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Mt 24:37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Lu 11:30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation.
Lu 17:24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Lu 17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
Joh 1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
Joh 3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 5:21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
Joh 5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;
Joh 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
Joh 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
Joh 17:18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
Joh 17:21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Joh 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,
Joh 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Joh 20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Remember there are good places online to find the daily Mass readings:
in the online Chapel.
You can also find the NRSV version of the daily Eucharistic readings online here. There is an easy-to-use calendar view where you simply click on the date and then use the readings in the right-hand column.
Update: I’ve just read the tweet from Jeffrey Pinyan where he let me know that he put up his Bible study on his site after yesterday’s conversation. Read it here.
Too right, Bosco! This cycle of readings is superb and is the perfect daily Scripture devotion.
I’ve recently invested in a copy of the non-virtual C of E’s edition of the Daily Eucharistic Lectionary for use during power outages:
http://www.canterburypress.co.uk/books/9781853118968/Common-Worship-Daily-Eucharistic-Lectionary
It was a little pricey but the Biblical text is the Anglicized NRSV and the P salms taken from the Common Worship Psalter.
The congregational response to the Psalm portion is given in a long and short form and is more memorable than the Roman Lectionary’s often convoluted take on the psalm verse chosen as the people’s response.
The compilers didn’t include the proper readings for the Red Letter Days. That’s in another volume. They did include Holy Week and on Easter Eve it’s stated the Eucharist is not celebrated ‘according to ancient custom’.
They also provide Canonical alternatives for the Apocryphobists. How Anglican! Even though the Apocrypha is authorized in the Articles of Religion for reading in church, we still give those of tender conscience alternatives from the ‘real’ Bible.
Thanks, Steve. I have this book and recommend it. In my own community we regularly sing the psalm. When we say the psalm we have a limited number of refrains with a cue so that the focus is on the psalm, not on trying to remember the refrain that has just verbally been presented. Blessings.