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Notable Feast Days this Week

April 16 - Fructuosus, Bishop of Braga, 665
April 17 - Donnan and Co, Hebrides, 618
April 18 - Apollonius the Apologist, c. 185 (Roman Catholic)
April 19 - Alphege of Canterbury, 1012
April 20 - Marcellinus, Embrun, 374
April 21 - Anselm of Canterbury, 1109 (Western)
April 22 - Theodore, Sykeon, 613

Revised Common Lectionary

Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18

Daily Readings (RCL)
Liturgical Color - White

Forward

-------- Fourth Sunday of Easter -------- April 22, 2018 (Year B)

The Good Shepherd

"Lord, we are the sheep (John 10:11-18) and you are our good shepherd (Psalm 23). The stone that has been rejected has become the chief cornerstone (Acts 4:5-12). Love one another; keep his commandments (1 John 3:16-24)." - Thomas Oden

"Good Shepherd" etching by Maria Laughlin

Psalm of the Week

Scripture Readings

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me

Commentary on Psalm 23
Augustine, Aquinas,
Benedict XVI, John Calvin,
Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon

Audio
Psalm 23, Acts 4, 1 John 3, John 10

Acts 4:5-12
Salvation in the name of Jesus

1 John 3:16-24
Love in truth and action

John 10:11-18
Our Good Shepherd

Daily Readings
Revised Common Lectionary

Daily Readings
Book of Common Prayer

The Entire Bible in One Year

Chronological

Quotes

"Christ hath trampled down death by death and become the first-born from the dead. he hath delivered us from the depths of Hades, granting the world great mercy."
— From an Orthodox hymn, Basil Kazan (1915-2001)

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair.
We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”
― John Paul II

“Thus on Easter we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection as something that happened and still happens to us. For each one of us received the gift of that new life and the power to accept it and to live by it. It is a gift which radically alters our attitude toward everything in this world, including death. It makes it possible for us joyfully to affirm: "Death is no more!" Oh, death is still there, to be sure and we still face it and someday it will come and take us. But it is our whole faith that by His own death Christ changed the very nature of death, made it a passage—a "passover," a "Pascha"—into the Kingdom of God, transforming the tragedy of tragedies into the ultimate victory. "Trampling down death by death," He made us partakes of His Resurrection. This is why at the end of the Paschal Matins we say: "Christ is risen and life reigneth! Christ is risen and not one dead remains in the grave!”
― Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha

Resources

Bible Project Video - John 1-12
Eastertide resources from t hechristianyear.com
Art - Bowden Collection "Jesus: Good Shepherd and Lamb of God"
Psalm 23 translation by George Herbert (1633)
Psalm 23 translation by Eugene Peterson (1993)
Orthodox Easter Chants from Uganda and Ghana
Stations of the Resurrection
Sermon Starters for The Fourth Week of Easter

Practicing Prayer

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-The Book of Common Prayer

Contemplative Prayer (View and Download)

Morning Prayer (View and Download)

Further Prayer Resources

Morning and Evening Prayer (Church of England-Protestant)
Liturgy of the Hours and Sung Breviary (Roman Catholic)
Sung Morning Prayer by Calvin Peters (Eastern Orthodox)
Audio Prayer Meditation (Pray as You Go)

Psalm Spotify Playlist

Singing Psalms and Hymns

Jesus has Risen - by Bruce Benedict

Alleluia, Sing to Jesus - by William Dix

Up From the Grave He Arose - by Robert Lowry

I Know that My Redeemer Lives (Glory, Hallelujah) - by Samuel Medley

Christ the Lord is Risen Today - Charlie Hall Arrangement

Commentary on John 10:11-18

When Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father,” it is equivalent to saying, I shall enter into a close relationship with my sheep, and my sheep shall be brought into a close relationship with me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with me, and again I also am intimate with the Father... In the same way, we also, being brought into a close relationship with God the Father, are called his family and are spoken of as children, according to what he himself said: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me.” Truly, we are called the family of the Son ... Through our relationship to the Son, we are related to God the Father, because the Only Begotten, who is God of God, was made man, and though separate from all sin, he assumed our human nature.
-Cyril of Alexandria

More Historic Commentary
(View and Download)

Music for Listening

Art

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