Lectio for Tuesday Advent 3 year A

First, the Lectionary. Lectionary, Lectio, etc. all come from the latin word for reading.

The Episcopal Church reads most of the Bible in three years: Year A, B, and C. The Church all reads together in unity each Sunday. We read from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Prophets, an Epistle, and the Gospel. Every reading is optional except the Gospel, meaning the readings can be used or not, there are also alternate readign for each week. All the readings follow the Christian year and are eerily connected thematically.

The collection of readings are called the Revised Common Lectionary. The daily portion is the also part of the revised common lectionary but is called the Daily Office, which is the readings with prayers. The daily office is used by Churches for daily prayer and Eucharist celebrations. For families and individuals the daily office is for prayer, devotion, and meditation. All this can be found in the Book of Common Prayer. Perhaps this is why one doesn't find many Episcopal Devotionals, we've had one since 1549.

So wherever you go there you are when it comes to the Bible and the Episcopal Church.I find this very comforting because all the Churches are together. Also, the Bible is read in its entirety, so the people can't ignore those difficult passages such as when JC talks about making friends with dishonest wealth or that you must hate your family to follow him.

While we all read together we are far from unity on interpretation of the Scriptures. This is good.