First Reading

First Reading

By Rev. Rachel Wrenn, PhD; Rosy Kandathil, JD; Paul Essah, MDiv; Tim McNinch, PhDReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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First Reading episodes

  • Proverbs 25:6–7
    Genuine Humility

    Lectionary Date: August 28, 2022 [12th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rosy percolates in a deceptively simple proverb.

    18 min
  • Isaiah 58:9b–14
    Feeling God's Call

    Lectionary Date: August 21, 2022 [11th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rachel connects the language of Isaiah to our own experiences of divine calling.

    11 min
  • Isaiah 5:1–7
    A Metaphor Inside a Metaphor

    Lectionary Date: August 14, 2022 [10th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Tim dips into the First Reading vault to pull out a classic episode.

    13 min
  • Psalm 33:12–22
    Things are not Always as they Seem

    Lectionary Date: August 7, 2022 [9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rachel traces the surprising development of a hopeful psalm.

    15 min
  • Hosea 1:2–10, with Gale Yee
    A Challenging Marriage Metaphor in Context

    Lectionary Date: July 24, 2022 [7th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    This week, First Reading is thrilled to have Dr. Gale Yee as our guest scholar to help us with a dense, troubling, and rich text. Dr. Yee is the Nancy W. King Professor of Biblical Studies, emerita, at Episcopal Divinity School. She served as the President of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2019. Her contributions to feminist biblical interpretation have influenced the entire field of Biblical Studies, one of the reasons we are so excited to talk with her today! If you are interested in more of her work, check out Towards an Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics: An Intersectional Anthology (Cascade, 2021) or The Hebrew Bible: Feminist and Intersectional Perspectives (Fortress, 2018).

    33 min
  • Genesis 18:1–10a
    The Ministry that Happens at Tables

    Lectionary Date: July 17, 2022 [6th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rosy puts Abraham and Sarah's pop-up dinner party in conversation with Martha's ministry.

    10 min
  • Psalm 82 (“In Parallel” with Brent Strawn)
    A Somewhat Confusing Poem

    Lectionary Date: July 10, 2022 [5th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    This week, we'd love to promote an episode by friend-of-the-podcast, Dr. Brent Strawn. Brent is a past guest on First Reading, and has a great episode all about Psalm 82 on his podcast, "In Parallel." Here's a link to the episode. Enjoy!

    3 min
  • Isaiah 66:10–14
    An Embodied Experience of God

    Lectionary Date: July 3, 2022 [4th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rachel explores a passage with fascinatingly embodied imagery.

    12 min
  • 1 Kings 19:15–16, 19–21
    First, Let Me Say Good-bye

    Lectionary Date: June 26, 2022 [3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]

    Rosy explores Elisha's transition when he decided to follow a new divine call.

    21 min

About First Reading

From the publisher's feed

First Reading offers exegetical resources for the Old Testament Lectionary reading each week. Dr. Rachel Wrenn is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Capital…