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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The following are the readings for the Second
Sunday of Easter, April 15, 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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><BR>FIRST READING: Acts 5: 27 - 32 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Acts 5:27 (NRSV) When they had brought them, they had them stand before the
council. The high priest questioned them, 28 saying, "We gave you strict orders
not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us." 29 But Peter and the
apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God
of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these
things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Acts 5: 12 - 16 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Acts 5:12 (NRSV) Now many signs and wonders were done among the people
through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None
of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 Yet
more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and
women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them
on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he
came by. 16 A great number of people would also gather from the towns around
Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they
were all cured. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>PSALM 118: 14 - 29
(RCL)<BR>
118: 2 - 4, 13 - 15, 22 - 24, Resp. v. 1 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 118:1 (NRSV) O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; <BR>his
steadfast love endures forever! <BR>2 Let Israel say, <BR>"His steadfast love
endures forever." <BR>3 Let the house of Aaron say, <BR>"His steadfast love
endures forever." <BR>4 Let those who fear the LORD say, <BR>"His steadfast love
endures forever." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, <BR>but the LORD helped me.
<BR>14 The LORD is my strength and my might; <BR>he has become my salvation.
<BR>15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: <BR>"The
right hand of the LORD does valiantly; <BR>16 the right hand of the LORD is
exalted; <BR>the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." <BR>17 I shall not die,
but I shall live, <BR>and recount the deeds of the LORD. <BR>18 The LORD has
punished me severely, <BR>but he did not give me over to death. <BR>19 Open to
me the gates of righteousness, <BR>that I may enter through them <BR>and give
thanks to the LORD. <BR>20 This is the gate of the LORD; <BR>the righteous shall
enter through it. <BR>21 I thank you that you have answered me <BR>and have
become my salvation. <BR>22 The stone that the builders rejected <BR>has become
the chief cornerstone. <BR>23 This is the LORD's doing; <BR>it is marvelous in
our eyes. <BR>24 This is the day that the LORD has made; <BR>let us rejoice and
be glad in it. <BR>25 Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! <BR>O LORD, we beseech
you, give us success! <BR>26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the
LORD. <BR>We bless you from the house of the LORD. <BR>27 The LORD is God,
<BR>and he has given us light. <BR>Bind the festal procession with branches,
<BR>up to the horns of the altar. <BR>28 You are my God, and I will give thanks
to you; <BR>you are my God, I will extol you. <BR>29 O give thanks to the LORD,
for he is good, <BR>for his steadfast love endures forever. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psalm 150 (alt. for RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 150:1 (NRSV) Praise the LORD! <BR>Praise God in his sanctuary;
<BR>praise him in his mighty firmament! <BR>2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
<BR>praise him according to his surpassing greatness! <BR>3 Praise him with
trumpet sound; <BR>praise him with lute and harp! <BR>4 Praise him with
tambourine and dance; <BR>praise him with strings and pipe! <BR>5 Praise him
with clanging cymbals; <BR>praise him with loud clashing cymbals! <BR>6 Let
everything that breathes praise the LORD! <BR>Praise the LORD! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psalm 2 (Can. BAS)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 2:1 (NRSV) Why do the nations conspire, <BR>and the peoples plot in
vain? <BR>2 The kings of the earth set themselves, <BR>and the rulers take
counsel together, <BR>against the LORD and his anointed, saying, <BR>3 "Let us
burst their bonds asunder, <BR>and cast their cords from us." <BR>4 He who sits
in the heavens laughs; <BR>the LORD has them in derision. <BR>5 Then he will
speak to them in his wrath, <BR>and terrify them in his fury, saying, <BR>6 "I
have set my king on Zion, my holy hill." <BR>7 I will tell of the decree of the
LORD: <BR>He said to me, "You are my son; <BR>today I have begotten you. <BR>8
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, <BR>and the ends of the
earth your possession. <BR>9 You shall break them with a rod of iron, <BR>and
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." <BR>10 Now therefore, O kings, be
wise; <BR>be warned, O rulers of the earth. <BR>11 Serve the LORD with fear,
<BR>with trembling 12 kiss his feet, <BR>or he will be angry, and you will
perish in the way; <BR>for his wrath is quickly kindled. <BR>Happy are all who
take refuge in him. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>SECOND READING: Revelation 1: 4 - 8 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Reve 1:1 (NRSV) The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show
his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to
his servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of
Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. <BR>3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud
the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is
written in it; for the time is near. <BR>4 John to the seven churches that are
in Asia: <BR>Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to
come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth. <BR>To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his
blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. <BR>7 Look! He is coming with the
clouds; <BR>every eye will see him, <BR>even those who pierced him; <BR>and on
his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. <BR>So it is to be. Amen.
<BR>8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and
who is to come, the Almighty. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Revelation 1: 9 - 11a, 12 - 13, 17 - 19 (Roman
Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Reve 1:9 (NRSV) I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the
persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called
Pat'mos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the
spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11
saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to
Eph'esus, to Smyrna, to Per'gamum, to Thyati'ra, to Sar'dis, to Philadelphia,
and to Laodice'a." <BR>12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to
me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the
lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a
golden sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white as white wool,
white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like
burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of
many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a
sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.
<BR>17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his
right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and
the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the
keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Now write what you have seen, what is, and what
is to take place after this. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: John 20: 19 - 31 (all)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John 20:19 (NRSV) When it was evening on that day, the first day of the
week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for
fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples
rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive
the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained." <BR>24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was
not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen
the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his
hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I
will not believe." <BR>26 A week later his disciples were again in the house,
and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your
finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not
doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said
to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have come to believe." <BR>30 Now Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these
are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son
of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Chad Wohlers<BR>Woodbury, Vermont
USA<BR><A href="mailto:chadwohl@satucket.com">chadwohl@satucket.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:cwohlers@bridgew.edu">cwohlers@bridgew.edu</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>