Lectionary Links: Sunday, February 20, 2011
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A: February 20, 2011
Old Testament Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 8-18
God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Witten for ages 4 and up)
Comment: Archbishop Tutu uses simple poetic language to give voice to both the desires of a child and the dream of God for their lives. Where our scripture passage offers a list of “Do Nots” which will help to bring about the Kingdom of God, God’s Dream paints a picture of ways in which children can really embody that Kingdom. The book touches on the themes present in today’s scripture passage including hospitality, forgiveness, and of course, loving your neighbor as yourself.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5: 38-48
Down the Road by Alice Schertle (Written for ages 6-8)
Comment: Down the Road is a story of forgiveness. Little Hetty is asked by her parents to walk into town by herself for the first time to by a basket of eggs. Though she is very careful, on the way home the eggs fall from the basket and break as she is trying to pick apples for her parents. She is so upset she climbs high into the apple tree, afraid to go home. The reaction of her parents is a wonderful picture of the type of forgiveness and justice God’s people are called to live out in today’s scripture passage. They not only forgive Hetty, but climb into the apple tree with her to enjoy the view and the sweet apples, and make apple pie for breakfast the next morning.
Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
God In Between by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (Written for ages 4 and up)
Comment: This Scripture passage refers to a conflict in the Corinthian Church where the people are unsure who to look to or claim for guidance and leadership. Paul is explaining that they should look only to God in Jesus Christ, and the place to find that is the Spirit that dwells within each of them. God In Between could be written about the Corinthian Church! Sasso tells the story of a village with no roads, homes with no windows and a people stumbling around, searching for God. Two people in the village go out and search for God only to find God in each other. They bring the good news back to the village and the people begin to learn that God can be found in each of them and in the in-between.
This lectionary links post was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Megan Argabrite.
Lectionary Links: Sunday, February 20, 2011 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
