[Propertalk] READINGS for the SIXTH SUNDAY of EASTER

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 29, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common Worship) lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, Canadian and C of E lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this day.


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FIRST READING: Acts 17: 22 - 31   (RCL) 

Acts 17:22 (NRSV) Then Paul stood in front of the Areop'agus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown god." What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For "In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 
"For we too are his offspring."
29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." 


Acts 8: 5 - 8, 14 - 17   (Roman Catholic) 

Acts 8:5 (NRSV) Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6 The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, 7 for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed; and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. 8 So there was great joy in that city. 

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 


Genesis 8: 20 - 9: 17   (alt. for C of E) 

Gene 8:20 (NRSV) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. 
22 As long as the earth endures, 
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, 
summer and winter, day and night, 
shall not cease." 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life. 
6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human, 
by a human shall that person's blood be shed; 
for in his own image 
God made humankind. 
7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it." 
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." 


PSALM 66: 8 - 20   (RCL) 
Psalm 66: 1 - 7, 16, 20   (Roman Catholic) 

Psal 66:1 (NRSV) Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; 
2 sing the glory of his name; 
give to him glorious praise. 
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! 
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you. 
4 All the earth worships you; 
they sing praises to you, 
sing praises to your name." [Se'lah] 
5 Come and see what God has done: 
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals. 
6 He turned the sea into dry land; 
they passed through the river on foot. 
There we rejoiced in him, 
7 who rules by his might forever, 
whose eyes keep watch on the nations-- 
let the rebellious not exalt themselves. [Se'lah] 
8 Bless our God, O peoples, 
let the sound of his praise be heard, 
9 who has kept us among the living, 
and has not let our feet slip. 
10 For you, O God, have tested us; 
you have tried us as silver is tried. 
11 You brought us into the net; 
you laid burdens on our backs; 
12 you let people ride over our heads; 
we went through fire and through water; 
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place. 
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; 
I will pay you my vows, 
14 those that my lips uttered 
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. 
15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, 
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; 
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. [Se'lah] 
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, 
and I will tell what he has done for me. 
17 I cried aloud to him, 
and he was extolled with my tongue. 
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, 
the Lord would not have listened. 
19 But truly God has listened; 
he has given heed to the words of my prayer. 
20 Blessed be God, 
because he has not rejected my prayer 
or removed his steadfast love from me. 



SECOND READING: 1 Peter 3: 13 - 22   (RCL) 
                                      1 Peter 3: 15 - 18   (Roman Catholic) 

1Pet 3:13 (NRSV)  Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. 


GOSPEL: John 14: 15 - 21   (RCL, Roman Catholic) 

John 14:15 (NRSV) "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 
18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." 



Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, Vermont    USA
chadwohl at satucket.com
cwohlers at bridgew.edu
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