Month: May 2023

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An Extra Week this Year: 53 instead of 52 weeks

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Every five or six years there are fifty-three weeks in the church calendar. This occurs when Christmas is on a Sunday or on a Saturday when the following year is a leap year. In those years, there is an extra week added.  For the first half of the 21st century, they are as follows: ’06, ’12, ’17, ’23, ’28, ’34, ’40, ’45, and ’50.

Why does this occur?  In a fifty-two week year, the result will be 364 days, not the usual 365.  Every five or six years an extra week is inserted to adjust the calendar to a return to fifty-two-week years.

In The Bible Through the Seasons, when the extra weeks occur, there are no Monday to Friday readings. In 2023, we Read Pentecost Sunday, with the Sabbath reading which will be posted at this site on June 3. 

It’s a week off from the readings.  Here’s an opportunity to look back over those passages that especially moved you, do some extra spiritual readings or whatever the Spirit prompts in your heart.

With blessings and love,

Nick Connolly

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A Night of Expectation 

Shavuot was originally a spring harvest in Israel. The first wheat was ripe about fifty days after the first barley harvest. The crop of barley was brought to the Temple the day after Passover began. The people were then instructed to count fifty days or seven weeks from one harvest to the other.

As time passed, the festival became one to celebrate the revelation of God on Sinai, the true harvest of God’s life to the human family. The very meaning of the word Torah is to rain or flow down. The Torah Reading is the giving of the Ten Commandments found in Portion 17 B and C, God’s revelation and teaching flowing down the mountain.

There is a tradition of taking a long nap the afternoon before the beginning of Shavuot, which begins at sundown. This is to be ready to participate in an all night vigil that many Jewish communities observe. One mystical work praises those who stay up all night in expectation of receiving the Torah.

The Christian expression of this revelation is the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the first disciples—the flowing down of God’s Spirit upon us.

Exodus 19:1—20:26

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Speak to me: I will listen. 20:18

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information

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Secure in Jesus’ s Hands

Jesus meets persistent resistance in the Jewish leaders. They choose to argue Jesus out of their lives. Arguments have no place with faith. Mental battles keep energy in the head, blocking that faith which comes from the heart. We are called to pass from death to life in Jesus.

Belief is a vigorous, total surrender to the Lord. Surrender in faith and rest secure in the hands of Jesus. The Lord Jesus is with you; no one can snatch you away from his hands.

Tell whatever or whomever else pushes for prominence to back off. All that matters is the presence of the Lord in whom you live, move, and have your being.

John 10:22–42

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: You know me; I follow You. v. 27

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the seasons of Lent and Easter we read the Gospel of John.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.