Readings

About

Search the scriptures, sanctify the year, together.

Daily (or sometimes Divine) Office comes from the Latin officium, meaning service. We often speak of worship service, for the words have shared meaning in the Scriptures (e.g., Luke 4:8). Therefore, what Daily Office is all about is our daily worship of God, devoting our life in service to him. Christians throughout the world and its history have practiced this in various ways. Today, we simply call this our devotional life.

It occurred to me a while back that my own devotional life was lacking. To say nothing of my sluggish heart (Luke 24:25), modern life doesn’t help. Picking a devotional off the free market begins with consumerism, bringing a thorny theological dimension as well a Netflix-scroll-until-I-fall-asleep decisional velocity. How do we choose? Do we really need all the value-adds to the Bible? Then there’s the frenetic pace of life, with time measured not by sun and moon and stars (Genesis 1:14) but by the endless 24-hour grid of calendar slots. Are we just too busy or have we actually lost touch with time itself? Finally, there’s the guilt spiral. The perfect becomes the enemy of the good. The missed days and their homework pile up. Why do we even bother?

This endeavor is my attempt to recover a more ancient, rhythmic, dynamic, and stable devotional life. It’s a simple plan to get back in touch with God and keep in closer daily communion with him through his word arrayed according to the church’s Christological story expressed by a broad consensus of the Christian Year. Its features are outlined below.

This is a work in progress, but I use it with my family, and I share it with you.
I’d love to talk to you about how we can use it together.

Search the scriptures

• The Whole Counsel of God – Every chapter of Scripture is offered. Wisdom (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), the Psalms, and the writings of Paul along with Hebrews are all offered twice.
• Balanced – Every day encounters a Wisdom, two Old Testament, a New Testament, and a Psalm reading for balance and textual connection.
• In Sequence – Chapters are read through together as books, not isolated from their context.

Sanctify the Year

• The Year – A single, unified, annual reading plan.
• Cruciform – Reading selections texture the year Christologically. The changing seasons are colored by the approach, advent, birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• In Season – Days, Seasons (Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost, Ordinary Time), and selected major milestones of the Christian Year are observed.

Together

• Devotion – Dedicate your days, seasons, and years to God. Approach him in his word. Wait on his voice. Vow to meet with him under the auspices of his grace, remembering that he knows well our feeble frame.
• Free – Open to all, binding upon none. A plan that mercifully doesn’t wait on you, knowing not your missed days but only today’s texts. Readable at your own pacing (read just one text offering daily, different selections for different hours, some for groups and some for private, etc.).
• In Community – Reference (here), access (subscribe to Google Calendar above) and share with families or groups. Get friends on the same literal page of Scripture. Strike up a conversation about the day’s readings with partners.