1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Mark 13:32-37, Isaiah 63:7--64:12
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 63:16--64:8
Theme: Human alienation and divine absence
Exegetical Note
In this poem (or psalm) of lamentation, Trito-Isaiah describes the alienation and iniquity of his people, who have returned from Babylonian exile to a devastated, and therefore demoralized, Jerusalem. In this context, the prophet longs for divine intervention, though the possibility seems remote.
Call to...
First Lesson: Isaiah 40:1-11
Theme: Loving God of might, liberating God of right
Exegetical Note
In this beginning of the prophecies of Second Isaiah, the writer anticipates - in comforting, tender, yet triumphal language - the mighty return of God to liberate his still exiled people from Babylon, to return them to their own land, and to reestablish the covenant with them.
Call to Worship
Leade...
Isaiah 61:1-11, John 1:1-18, John 1:19-28, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Theme: A promise of divine liberation in a predicament of human desperation
Exegetical Note
Speaking to a postexilic, yet still oppressed community, this prophet is announcing the imminent, sweeping liberating activity of God - from affliction, heartbreak, captivity, mourning, faintheartedness, devastation, and even robbery - that still must have seemed to his a...
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:8-16
Theme: Human dynasties, divine destinies
Exegetical Note
In this passage, God’s promise, extended to David through Nathan, that the great king’s dynasty would be divinely established in perpetuity underscores the recurring biblical notion that God does choose certain human agents - individuals, bloodlines, and even nations - for special relationships and responsibil...
Revelation 21:1-27, Colossians 1:1-14, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Revelation 21:1-6a
Theme: Future bliss for God’s saints
Exegetical note
The vision of the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem delivered here by John of Patmos includes an auditory component in which God promises to dwell with humanity (presumably the saints), with the result that grief, pain and death will be eliminated as part of the former, displaced order of things.
Call t...
Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:36-49, Luke 24:50-53, Mark 16:1-20
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Acts 1:1-11
Theme: The ascension of the master means the activation of his disciples
Exegetical note
Luke begins his second volume, and thus his account of the second phase of the Gospel, with his version of the ascension of Jesus. The author’s intention here - with the disciples’ question, Jesus’ answer, and the angels’ closing exhortation - is to change the church’s perspective f...
Joel 2:1-11, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2, 2 Corinthians 6:3-13, Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a
Theme: Real repentance versus ritualized regret
Exegetical Note
Prophesying during a plague of locusts and a drought, both of which he takes as signs of divine judgment ("the day of the Lord"), Joel here calls the people to a repentance that, though connected with standard ritual acts (e.g., fasting, weeping, and mourning), is not just a superficial expression of...
Isaiah 9:1-7, Titus 2:1-15, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 9:2-7
Theme: Marks of the new reign
Exegetical Note
This apparent "birth announcement," though probably a coronation poem for a king, joyously anticipates a divinely appointed new reign of peace, political stability, justice and righteousness.
Call to Worship
Leader: We who once walked in darkness have seen a great light!
People: GOD HAS INCREASED OUR JOY AND GIVEN US GREAT...
Isaiah 61:1-11, Isaiah 62:1-12, Galatians 3:26--4:7, Luke 2:21-40
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Theme: A holy family, a wholesome future
Exegetical Note
The first part of this poetic text contains two loosely related metaphors, wedding and germination, which celebrate Jerusalem’s present and future salvation. Taken together, the two images suggest fertility and the promise inherent in a truly nurturing environment.
Call to Worship
Leader: Good Christian pe...
Isaiah 62:1-12, Titus 3:1-11, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 62:6-7, 10-12
Theme: The ransomed and redeemed people of God
Exegetical Note
The Judaean prophet confidently announces a renewed Jerusalem, and proclaims that with its approaching salvation (i.e., savior) its inhabitants will prove not only unforsaken, but indeed the holy, redeemed and ransomed people of God.
Call to Worship
Leader: Behold, God has proclaimed it far and wid...
Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Ephesians 1:1-14, Ephesians 1:15-23, John 1:1-18
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Jeremiah 31:7-14
Theme: Hope of the helpless
Exegetical Note
This passage celebrates the return of the children of Israel from their Babylonian exile and, in looking toward eventual restoration by virtue of God’s activity, anticipates prosperity, joy, abundance, and fulfillment for all, but especially for those who have hitherto suffered the most.
Call to Worship
Leader: Rejoice, ...
First Lesson: Isaiah 52:7-10
Theme: God’s mercy to redeem and might to reign
Exegetical Note
The prophet, probably celebrating a return from exile, proclaims the same good news that will resound again and again in ages to come: God has returned to rule in mercy and might, bringing peace, goodness, comfort and salvation.
Call to Worship
Leader: How welcome is the person who brings us good news, ...
Acts 4:32-37, 1 John 1:5--2:14, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Acts 4:32-35
Theme: A shared faith means much in common
Exegetical note
Luke here portrays the earliest Christian community as strongly unified by their faith in the resurrection of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. This spirit of unity spilled over naturally and spontaneously into a communal sharing of all goods, with the result that need within the community was elimina...
First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19
Theme: Times of restoration and refreshing repentance
Exegetical note
In the aftermath of his and John’s healing of a lame man, Peter delivers a sermon attributing the power behind the event to the name of Jesus, the Resurrected one, faith in which leads to the restoration of health. Peter therefore urges everyone to repent, promising them "refreshing times" as a resul...
First Lesson: Acts 4:8-12
Theme: The name of Jesus, the power of God
Exegetical note
This third of Peter’s speeches after Pentecost recorded in Acts comes as a result of his having been questioned by Jewish leaders about the authority ("name") by which he had performed a healing. The question, like his response, points to the ancient view that one’s name was an integral and intimate part of his ...
First Lesson: Acts 8:26-40
Theme: The Spirit’s surprising, subversive strategies
Exegetical note
The real central character in this well-known story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is the Holy Spirit, under whose guidance the disciple is "subverted" from his succcessful Samarian mission to make a "least likely" but most promising contact: a foreigner (Ethiopian) of a different race (Nubian) a...
First Lesson: Acts 10:44-48
Theme: The impartial (and impatient) Spirit
Exegetical note
Chapter 10, which begins with the conversion to Christianity of the first Gentile, Cornelius, recounts the story of Peter’s gradual realization of the universality of the Christian mission. While Peter is relating this insight in a sermon, the Spirit does not even wait for him to finish or for the moment of b...
First Lesson: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Theme: Apostolic continuity
Exegetical note
Luke here recounts the selection of a replacement for Judas from among the disciples who had been with Jesus throughout his ministry. Notable here are (1) the need, perceived either by Peter or the author, to maintain the symbolic number of twelve; and (2) the dependence on the divine will rather than human choice in t...
First Lesson: Isaiah 60:1-6
Theme: A glorious light for all nations
Exegetical Note
Speaking in a post-exilic context, Trito-Isaiah here strikes a note of universal salvation by declaring to Jerusalem that because the glorious light of Jahweh has risen to shine upon it, henceforth the nations of the world - and their riches - will be drawn to the holy city.
Call to Worship
Leader: Arise! Shine!...
1 Samuel 3:1--4:1, John 1:35-42, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
Old Testament: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Theme: Human receptivity in times of divine silence
Exegetical Note
This well-known account of Samuel’s eventual response to God’s persistent but misperceived call is rich in possibilities, not the least of which is its claim that the event occurred in days when "the word of the Lord was rare" (RSV) and visions either infrequent or nonexistent.
Call to Wor...
Jonah 3:1-10, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:14-20
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Theme: The universality of God’s mercy
Exegetical note
After some initial reluctance, and a legendary bout with the digestive system of a large fish, Jonah accedes to the will of God and delivers God’s word of warning to the Gentile city of Nineveh, which promptly repents and believes in God, who in turn mercifully forestalls the threatened judgment. The entire stor...
Mark 1:35-39, Mark 1:29-34, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Job 6:1-7:21
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Job 7:1-7
Theme: Absurdities and defeats, anguish, and despair
Exegetical Note
It is important to set the expressions of meaninglessness, misery, and mortality in this passage within the context of Job’s experience of having lost everything despite his righteousness, and to connect that experience with the testimony of the entire Bible that somehow, paradoxically, God is present ev...
2 Kings 5:1-27, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Mark 1:40-45
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Theme: The universal scope of God’s concern
Exegetical Note
This account of Elisha’s healing of a foreigner, Naaman - and an unclean (leprous) and uncooperative one at that - suggests that God’s concern and care extend beyond the confines of Israel and toward the Gentiles. Luke 4:27 records Jesus himself as referring to this incident in order to justify to his fellow...
Isaiah 42:18-25, Mark 2:1-12, 2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Isaiah 43:18-25
Theme: The forgetfulness of God
Exegetical Note
Speaking out of the context of captivity, Deutero-Isaiah here tells the hope of the future defeat of the Babylonian captors and a return by the Israelites to the Promised Land. The promise here is for a new Exodus for an undeserving people, whose transgressions, sins, and general faithlessness, however, God will choose...
Hosea 2:2-23, Mark 2:18-22, 2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Hosea 2:14-20
Theme: Reclaiming the fallen and restoring their faith
Exegetical Note
The prophet of the northern kingdom here uses love and marriage imagery drawn from contemporary pagan worship as well as from his own experience of spousal infidelity in order to affirm that God is prepared to seduce adulterous, Baal-chasing Israel and to restore her lovingly to marital fidelity an...