The Praying and Sharing Community: Week 3 of Ordinary Time
We’re in the season of Ordinary Time - the long stretch of weeks between Pentecost and Advent. If the historic liturgical calendar teaches us to number our days to gain a heart of wisdom, there must be a lot of wisdom to be gained in our regular, working, resting, and worshipping lives. This is the model Christ seemed to have lived, and the church invites us to embrace the same pathway.
Look: World’s Smallest Seed, James B. Janknegt - Source
Listen: Teach Us Your Ways, The Porter’s Gate - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
I made us a new playlist! Ordinary Time, pt. 1: World and Church
Read: Ezekiel 31:1-6; Ezekiel 31:7-9; Ezekiel 31:10-14; Psalm 92; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Mark 4:26-34
Readings for the rest of the week*: Psalm 2; Luke 11:1-13; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 4:23-5:11; Philippians 4:4-20
(The weekly readings during Ordinary Time come from Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. If you’d prefer to keep tracking with the Daily Office Lectionary from the 1979 BCP, you can find those references here.)
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Third Week After Pentecost
O Lord, from whom all good proceeds: Grant us the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may always think those things that are good, and by your merciful guidance may accomplish the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Do: For the first eight weeks of Ordinary Time, we’ll consider how we embody God’s love in the world and the church. This week reconnect with a praying and sharing community. Has the last year interrupted your regular rhythms of gathering with your church community? Are you part of a small group of fellow Christians that meets regularly to share in each other’s lives, to learn together, to seek God in prayer, and to support one another in tangible ways? If not, could this be the time to find or form such a praying and sharing community?
Also, I warmly (and with much excitement) invite you to use one of the two options below to register for A Sacramental Life’s Retreat Series for Ordinary Time 2021.
*Note: All retreats will be recorded for those unable to attend the live Zoom session.
Early-bird pricing lasts until June 24!
OPTION 2
Become a member of A Sacramental Life Community and receive the entire retreat series (plus all of those extra goodies) and additional encouragement and connection every month. For $17 a month, A Sacramental Life Community members also receive access to all of our previous retreats plus ongoing personal connection and encouragement from me. If you’re already a member, you can also purchase a gift card at my new online SHOP for a friend you’d like to invite to join us for the retreat series.
*During Ordinary Time this year, I’ll be sharing readings from the excellent devotional guide, Living the Christain Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross. While it’s not necessary to purchase the book to follow along with us, it’s an excellent resource we’ve dog-eared so often the pages are falling out of our copy!