Resources

Daily Bible Readings

All Christians are encouraged to read the Bible daily to gain spiritual strength and wisdom for our lives and stay in dialogue with God through the Word and prayer. The Bible readings are based on The Revised Common Lectionary for Sundays and festivals, which is mostly used in our Churches on Sundays. The daily readings are linked to it so that on the second half of the week (Thursday to Saturday) the texts help to prepare for Sunday, and the following days (Monday to Wednesday) we reflect on previous Sunday’s theme.

The Lectionary has at times two parallel series for the Old Testament: semicontinuous and complementary. Semicontinuous track moves through Old Testament stories, but the complementary series links the Old Testament reading with the Gospel text. In the Calendar if there are two Old Testament and Psalm texts the first reading is semicontinuous and the second is the complementary series. The complementary track is more commonly used in the Lutheran and Anglican Churches.

Revised Common Lectionary, Copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts, admin Augsburg Fortress. Posted by permission. No further use or transmission allowed without written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, Copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts, admin Augsburg Fortress. Posted by permission. No further use or transmission allowed without written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

Calendaring provided by the Revised Common Lectionary website of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

The RSV Bible text is displayed via BLB ScriptTagger.

Prayer

Porvoo Prayer Diary

The Porvoo Declaration commits the churches which have signed it ‘to share a common life’ and ‘to pray for and with one another’. An important way of doing this is to pray through the year for the Porvoo churches and their Dioceses.

The Prayer Diary is a list of Porvoo Communion Dioceses or churches covering each Sunday of the year, mindful of the many calls upon compilers of intercessions, and the environmental and production costs of printing a more elaborate list.

Those using the calendar are invited to choose one day each week on which they will pray for the Porvoo churches. It is hoped that individuals and parishes, cathedrals and religious orders will make use of the Calendar in their own cycle of prayer week by week.

Download: http://porvoocommunion.org/prayer-diary-2020/

From Luther’s Small Catechism

Morning Prayer.

1] In the morning, when you rise, you shall bless yourself with the holy cross and say:

In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

2] Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may, in addition, say this little prayer:

I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray Thee to keep me this day also from sin and all evil, that all my doings and life may please Thee. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.

3] Then go to your work with joy, singing a hymn, as the Ten Commandments, or what your devotion may suggest.

Evening Prayer.

4] In the evening, when you go to bed, you shall bless yourself with the holy cross and say:

In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

5] Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may, in addition, say this little prayer:

I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast graciously kept me this day, and I pray Thee to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Then go to sleep promptly and cheerfully.