Category: Supplemental Resources

Reference material, prayers in the Christian tradition, sermons, links to additional online resources for study, follow up to questions raised in the Sunday Morning Forum. and so on. Resources to invite further study and aid further study of the weekly texts in order to hear what the Spirit is saying.

Pentecost +6, Proper 11C

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (July 17, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, we’ll explore the opening words of the letter to the Colossians. We’ll especially look at who Jesus is to us individually and to us as a community of Christ-followers.

Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, July 17, 2022.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 11, Year C.

View or download the Art for Sunday, July 17, 2022 (Proper 11C) with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

On July 22nd, annually, we remember and celebrate Mary Magdalene. Read more about this woman who is “the Apostle to the Apostles.”

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Pentecost +5, Proper 10C

In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (July 10, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, we’ll explore the opening words of the letter to the Colossians. We will explore the appointed verses from Colossians through our own prayer experiences and hopes.

Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, July 10, 2022.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 10, Year C.

View or download the Art for Sunday, July 10, 2022 (Proper 10C) with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Pentecost +4, Proper 9C

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost (July 3, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, we’ll explore the final portion of the letter to the Galatians. Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, July 3, 2022.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 9, Year C.

View or download the Art for Sunday, July 3, 2022 (Proper 9C) with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Pentecost +3, Proper 8C

If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Third Sunday After Pentecost (June 26, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, we’ll explore the portion of the letter to the Galatians that includes Paul’s understanding of the “fruit of the Spirit” and his admonition: ” If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, June 26, 2022.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 8, Year C.

View or download Art for Proper 8, Year C. with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Pentecost +2, Proper 7C

O my help, come quickly to my aid!

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Third Sunday After Pentecost (June 19, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

If we follow the lectionary reading for this Sunday, we enter Psalm 22 right in the middle of an anguished scream.

The psalmist has begun the psalm with a desolate cry of abandonment (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), and then has detailed his 5 Hear what the Spirit is saying Pentecost +2 Proper 7C Week of June 19, 2022 troubles, using vivid metaphors. He is a “worm, and not human” (verse 6). He is surrounded by “bulls,” “lions,” and “dogs” (verses 12-13, 16). He is “poured out like water” (verse 14). And he is not afraid to place blame where blame is due: “You [God] lay me in the dust of death” (verse 15).

And yet, the psalmist also knows where his help lies; strangely enough, from the same source he has just accused of foul play. As we enter the psalm, the psalmist cries, “But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!” (verse 19).

Kathryn M. Schifferdecker Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament Luther Seminary Saint Paul, MN on Working Preacher June 20, 2010

In our Forum on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, we’ll explore Psalm 22 (the entire Psalm, though only verses 18-27 will be used in worship). Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 7, Year C including short biographies for Adelaide Teague Case, James Weldon Johnson, and Alban—commemorated by the Church this week.

View or download Art for Proper 7, Year C. with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Trinity Sunday, Year C

We believe in one God … and are instantly at a loss for words.

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for Trinity Sunday (June 12, 2022) in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

The well-known hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” sings, “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.” Less well known, though, and even less understood is what this hymn truly means. How can God be three persons? Why is the Trinity blessed? Our hearts sing what our minds cannot grasp. We sing of things too wonderful for ourselves.

James McTyre, Pastor, Lake Hills Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, Tennessee in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2

In our Forum on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, we’ll explore Psalm 8 (appointed for Trinity Sunday) and wonder at the relationship we have with God and with each other. Please view or download the handout we’ll use in our discussion as your own exploration continues.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Trinity Sunday, Year C including short biographies for GK Chesterton, Evelyn Undersell, and Marina the Monk—commemorated by the Church this week.

View or download Art for Trinity Sunday, Year C. with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

The Day of Pentecost, Year C

Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit… Act 2:3-4

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for Pentecost (June 5, 2022) in Year C of our Lectionary.

The text [Acts 2:1-21] startles us with a scene of almost unimaginable liveliness verging on chaos: sound like the rush of a mighty wind filled the whole house; tongues of fire appeared among the people; and as the crowd was filled with the Spirit of God, they spoke a cacophony of languages. Galileans, Parthians, Medes … a roll call of peoples all represented in the crush of humanity as the winds of God’s Spirit blew and the ecstatic fire spread.

Michael Jinkins in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for The Day of Pentecost, Year C including short biographies for Saint Barnabas and Melania the Elder. Also we will celebrate and explore our Book of Common Prayer that was first used on the Day of Pentecost in 1549. Over the centuries and throughout the world the Book of Common Prayer has been, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, revised, renewed, and revitalized to inspire our worship and faith.

View or download Art for Pentecost, Year C. with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt by Communication Resources

Seventh Sunday After Easter Year C

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. Revelation 22:17

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Seventh Sunday After Easter (May 29, 2022) in Year C of our Lectionary.

We listen to this text [Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21], not as passive receivers, but as active participants asked to be prepared to enter into the community. This is a call to ministry, not a ticketed invitation to sit in a stadium and watch a spectacle. It is a reminder that being a Christian assumes an active disposition and an attitude of grace-filled practice within the community of faith.

Paul “Skip” Johnson in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2

“Skip” Johnson is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. His commentary on the reading from the Book of Revelation is featured in our handout for study in the week beginning May 29, 2022 (see link below).

Rather than predict the time of Christ’s return, Professor Johnson suggests that we are invited to be active with grace-filled practices, right here, right now. What practices come to mind for you as you await Christ’s return?

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for The Seventh Sunday After Easter, Year C including short biographies for Blandina and her companions and the Martyrs of Uganda.

View or download Art for Easter +7C. with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: Communication Resources

Ascension Day Year C

May you be strengthened to proclaim Jesus Christ ….

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for Ascension Day (May 26, 2022) in Year C of our Lectionary.

Jerusha Matsen Neal an Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School writes, “Jesus’ ascension in Acts is no text of glory. It is a text that stands with those in countries far from home, those whose witness has been costly, and those who do not see “convincing proofs” (verse 3) of resurrection. It is, in fact, a passage about a community of faith that relinquishes the “proof” of Christ’s risen body for the “promise” of a Spirit (verses 4-5) coming.”

Ascension Day, for Acts’s disciples, looks more like trust in the face of uncertainty. It looks more like prayerful commitment and costly witness. It looks a lot like today. 

Jerusha Matsen Neal

Called to trust in the face of uncertainty, how do you move to that place of trust? What is called forth in your heart? in your mind? in your will to do something?

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Ascension Day, Year C. The full commentary by Jerusha Matsen Neal is included.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Sixth Sunday After Easter Year C

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” –Acts 16:9

Welcome. Our handout features the readings for the Sixth Sunday After Easter (May 22, 2022) in Year C of our Lectionary.

São Paulo batizando Lídia e sua família – Batistério de Santa Lídia, Cavala (Grécia) – Foto: Reprodução

Lydia is prominent in the reading from Acts (Acts 16:9-15) shared on the Sixth Sunday after Easter in Year C (May 22, 2022). One commentary on this reading notes an important aspect of “biblical faith” …

In the biblical witness, visions from God are not the exception but the norm. Beginning with Adam and Eve and moving throughout the Scriptures to the Apocalypse at the end, God is demonstratively engaged with human affairs to catch our attention and transform us.

David C. Forney, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Clarksville, Tennessee in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, vol. 2 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)

Paul trusted his vision. Do you trust that God is still gracing us with visions? Can you trust your visions? How have you come to trust the God who wants to “catch our attention and transform us”? What do you make of Paul’s experience since the vision and the conclusion seem to be different?

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for The Sixth Sunday After Easter, Year C including short biographies for Lydia, Helena of Constantinople, and Mechthild of Magdeburg.

View or download Art for Easter +6C. “The Heavenly Jerusalem” a fresco (1090-1100) by an unknown artist with commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image source: St. Lydia of Thyatira – Unpretentiousness and Generosity by Lorena Mellow in Catholic Magazine, May 2021