Living the Lectionary is a weekly devotional tool intended to give you ideas for living out the Word of God that we encounter on Sundays in worship.
About this Season and Series: About this coming Sunday: 20th Sunday After Pentecost – Fellowship of the Lamb – God has not only made us to be family with Him, but has made us into a community ourselves and asks us to be careful with that community. Law: God created family so that we would not be alone, but have community – but we break community with one another through our sins, which come from the hardness of our hearts. Gospel: In sending Jesus Christ, God gave humanity a new helpmate.
Sundays After Pentecost/”The Gift of the Lamb” – The long season of the Sundays after Pentecost are split up into series here at University Lutheran, in the last weeks of this long season, we turn to a sermon series based on the Book of Hebrews called “The Gift of the Lamb”.
Reflecting on the Readings (readings are linked to text onESVbible.com)
Amos 5:6-15– Seek Good – Amos challenges the people to Israel to seek good for their community rather than continue to trample the poor and afflict the righteous. This problem is systemic and cultural at the time of Amos. In what ways to we systemically trample the poor and afflict the righteous? How might we go against this grain?
Psalm 90:12-17– Communal Time Keeping – This Psalm of Moses encourages the people of Israel together to remember God and remember their history with Him – the blessings and the disciplines. How do you commemorate and remember things with your communities of family, church, and other? How might you “number your days” with God in mind?
Hebrews 3:1-19 – Sharing in Christ – The writer of the Hebrews makes a point of connecting us with Jesus Christ rather than the old “religion of Moses” or of a new and current day rebellion/heresy. This work of sharing in Christ is more difficult than it may seem on the surface. How do you really connect with your fellow Christians and church members on the “voice of Christ” in your lives together?
Mark 10:17-22– Hindrance to Connection – Why does Jesus challenge the rich young ruler in the way that He does? What are the things (perhaps more than one in this section of Scripture) that hinder the man from connecting with Jesus? What are the things that hinder your connection with Him?
Living the Lectionary Ideas
Learn: Consider watching some of the Yale Divinity School Bible Study videos on Hebrews to get a sense of the book. View here.
Do: Celebrate a commemoration. Commemorations are dates selected to remember the faith of certain people. Look at the list of commemorations here, or commemorate the faith of someone meaningful in your own life somehow.
Live: All of these readings challenge us to live with the character trait of focus. Rather than being distracted by things, how can you focus on what God is doing in your life in your various vocations?