Sacred Exercises: Daily Readings
November 20th, 2014 | John Chandler
Our Sacred Time series has come to an end, but I will continue to share some Sacred Exercises for you to consider as we head toward a new year. We consider these because we believe that the patterns of how we live today will have a direct impact on who we are tomorrow.
For much of the history of Christian faith, there was limited availability to Scriptures for the common person. They would gather multiple times a week to hear readings from Scripture. Now we live in a time with higher rates of literacy and immediate access to almost any text, a time where we can daily sit in the Scriptures to look back on God’s story in the world and imagine how it is still unfolding.
My favorite guide for daily readings of Scripture is called the Moravian Daily Texts Each daily reading includes assigned Scriptures, a few lines of verse from a hymn or other poetry, and a brief reflective prayer. Sundays feature the lectionary readings for that week, while the rest of the week has a daily reading each from the Psalms, the Old Testament, and the New Testament, so that you read all the way through each over two years. Since they are spread out over two years, theses are briefer than other plans making it easier to catch up if you miss some days here and there.
An ebook version of the Moravian Daily Texts for 2015 is already available if you want to have it ready to go for the new year. You could also start now, of course, as the 2014 readings now cost only a few dollars.