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Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 31, 2019, Year C

Please see How to Use Lection Connection

Full lections can be read here.

Based on the Readings as Set

First Reading (Joshua 5:9-12)

After the Israelites cross over into the Promised Land, the Lord tells Joshua that they had finally gotten over the disgrace of Egypt. In Canaan at last, they celebrated the Passover and began to live off the produce of the land instead of the manna that God had provided in the wilderness.

Psalm (32)

Beginning by noting the happiness of forgiven sin, the Psalmist recalls his burden of sin and how it was forgiven when he confessed it to the Lord. While he is our saviour in times of trouble, we are responsible to listen to and obey divine instruction, confident of his steadfast love as we do.

Second Reading (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

Paul writes that those who are reconciled to God through Christ are actually new creatures entering into a new reality. The sinless Christ was made sin so that we sinners could be made righteous. Paul considers himself, as a preacher of this message, to be Christ’s ambassador.

Gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32)

Jesus explains his socializing with sinners by telling the parable of a man with two sons. The older is obedient while the younger runs away from home and squanders his inheritance. When he finally returns home, his father is delighted to have him back, but his brother can only sulk.

CONNECTION SUGGESTIONS

  • God’s salvation involves a new kind of existence for the redeemed
  • Confession/repentance is good for the soul
  • God has provided a way for our sin to be dealt with in order for us to be reconciled to him
  • God has taken the initiative in saving sinners and delights in their return to him
  • Sin is a burden not worth carrying

 

 

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Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 10, 2019, Year C

Please see How to Use Lection Connection

Full lections can be read here.

Based on the Readings as Set

First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13])

Isaiah is granted a compelling vision of the Lord, majestic and holy in his temple. Having his sinful lips purified from the altar, the shaken prophet agrees to deliver a message of judgment on a sinful people that will be ignored until it is too late. But from the ashes will come new life.

Psalm (138)

The Psalmist gives thanks to the Lord because his cries for help have been answered. Even kings will be impressed by his testimony of how the Lord lifts up the lowly. Confident of help in the midst of his troubles, he asks for the Lord’s support in order to fulfill his divine purpose.

Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

Paul reminds the Corinthians that their faith and salvation are based on the truth of the apostolic witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. His own encounter with the risen Christ while actively persecuting the Church is the perfect example of God’s grace at work.

Gospel (Luke 5:1-11)

At the seaside, Jesus teaches the crowd from Simon Peter’s boat and then instructs him to go into deeper water in order to fish. Peter, having tried earlier with no results, reluctantly agrees. Shaken after a huge catch, he and his partners leave all behind to catch people with Jesus.

CONNECTION SUGGESTIONS

  • Even though we are sinful and undeserving people, the Lord still uses us
  • Our witness to the work of God in our lives is part of his purpose for us
  • Our inability is no obstacle to God
  • With God, new life arises out of dead circumstances

 

 

 

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First Sunday after Christmas, December 30, 2018, Year C

Please see How to Use Lection Connection

Full lections can be read here.

Based on the Readings as Set

First Reading (1 Samuel 2:18-20, 36)

Hannah made young Samuel a new sacred robe each year and brought it to him in Jerusalem when she and her husband went to the yearly sacrifice. Eli the priest would bless her and pray that she might have more children. Meanwhile, Samuel grew physically, socially and spiritually.

Psalm (148)

The Psalmist enthusiastically calls on all the elements of both heaven and earth to praise the Lord who has created them all, animate and inanimate together. Now he has raised up a horn for his faithful people, a mighty deliverer to save them at last.

Second Reading (Colossians 3:12-17)

Paul instructs the Christians at Colossae in how to live together harmoniously as God’s beloved and chosen people. Led by deep concern for others and shunning self-interest, they are to instruct and discipline one another in the word of Christ, always giving thanks to the Father.

Gospel (Luke 2:41-52)

Every year Jesus and his parents go to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. At age twelve he goes missing and they find him in the temple maturely engaging Israel’s teachers and claiming that it is his Father’s house. He returns with them where he grows physically, socially and spiritually.

CONNECTION SUGGESTIONS

  • Youth is not a barrier to being used by God
  • We should be open to instruction from one another in the Word of God
  • The Lord is in his house
  • The importance of a loving family life, natural and supernatural