Lectionary Date: February 21, 2021 [1st Sunday in Lent, Year B]

Taking a second look at the rainbow—in historical context!

Lectionary Date: February 14, 2021 [Transfiguration Sunday, Year B]

A different sort of episode this week! First, if you want to think through some of the Hebrew tidbits and cultural context of 2 Kings 2, listen to this past episode of First Reading. In addition, I'm giving a sample of a COVID-era, online sermon on the lectionary psalm from last week, Psalm 111, to help spark your creative homiletical strategies (see below). If you'd like to view the whole service attached to this little sermon (about 30 min total), you can find that service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reAf5hU0YKo.

Lectionary Date: February 7, 2021 [5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B]

Rachel shares a deep insight from one of her students.

Lectionary Date: January 31, 2021 [4th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B]

How do we hear what God wants to say to us?

Lectionary Date: January 24, 2021 [3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B]

It's our 100th podcast episode! We give some interpretive tips for Jonah 3, and then look back at some of the highlights of our first 100 episodes of First Reading! Also: take two minutes to check out our 100th celebration video here: https://youtu.be/m34A459ENYY

Lectionary Date: January 17, 2021 [2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B]

The calling of Samuel is a nice story, but don't forget the message itself!

Lectionary Date: January 10, 2021 [1st Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B]

Fun with Hebrew, and a look at the connections between Genesis and the Baptism of Jesus in Mark's Gospel.

Lectionary Date: January 3, 2021 [2nd Sunday after Christmas, Year B]

A window of hope in a book full of doom—might be just what we need for the first Sunday of 2021!

Lectionary Date: December 27, 2020 [1st Sunday after Christmas, Year B]

We're going with the psalm reading, for a change of pace. What does this litany of praise have to do with the Christmas story?

Lectionary Date: December 20, 2020 [4th Sunday of Advent, Year B]

What does a proposed temple-building project 3,000 years ago have to do with Advent this year? Rachel and Tim consider 2 Samuel 7 in an Advent context, and play an "encore" of their very first First Reading episode, with guest Dr. Jacob Wright, professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University and Candler School of Theology. Jacob's latest book, War, Memory, and National Identity in the Hebrew Bible, is hot off the press (July 2020) and very relevant to the issues we discussed when we recorded our pilot episode of First Reading!

Learn more about Jacob Wright, and check out his other books: David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory and Rebuilding Identity: the Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest Readers.