Visual Resources for the Lectionaries

This post offers visual resources for the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary for October 1, 2023. The RCL recounts the story of how God provided water from the rock for the grumbling Israelites in Exodus 17:1-7. It also continues a mini series with Philippians 2:1-13, the mind of Christ. The Gospel is Matthew 21:23-32 where Jesus tells the parable of the two sons. The NL tells the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-15.

Jump to Narrative Lectionary resources.

Revised Common Lectionary

Here are quick links to all the texts for this week:

Exodus 17:1-17

Philippians

Paul is urging his friends in Philippi to stay united in love. The context leads us to assume that the Philippians were beginning to fracture under the pressure of external forces that wanted to divide them. It is clear in the end of chapter one that the church in Philippi was under the same sort of attack that got Paul into prison. We see in chapter three that the pressure came, most likely, from Paul’s ubiquitous nemesis–those who would force Gentiles to conform to Jewish practices before being allowed to follow Jesus.

This is a timely message for those of us who are disciples of Jesus in the United States of America. The systemic powers of evil that seek to control our lives today feed off of fear, hatred, and division. This isn’t about Red vs. Blue, Conservative vs. Liberal. This is about an economic-power system that is fueled by hyper sensationalized sound bytes that whip people into a frenzy and cause them to throw money at “the correct side of the argument.”

Paul reminds the Philippians, and reminds us, that we are all one body. If there is any encouragement in love”, he says, “sharing in the Spirit, compassion, sympathy”…let those words soak in. My souls longs for them to be true in our society. Paul says, in verses 1-5, “be of the same mind…let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, strive to have “the mind of Christ.”

What does that look like? How do we do that? The answer lies in a hymn that the early disciples sang, which Paul recites in Philippians 2:6-11. read more…

From the Archives…

Preview PowerPoint

Feel free to use any or all of these slides and images in your own preaching and teaching.

The RCL Gospel Reading is Matthew 21:23-32. Jesus tells the parable of the two sons.

This image comes from page 16 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to Matthew.

Preview PowerPoint

Feel free to use any or all of these slides and images in your own preaching and teaching.

Narrative Lectionary

The NL takes us to the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-15. The images in the PowerPoint below are designed to help you frame the story of Moses leading up to the burning bush. CLICK HERE to preview the images that might work for this text.

From the Archives…

The Gospel is Mark 12:26-27. Jesus says that God is the God of the living, not the dead.

This is page 17 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to Mark.