Good Shepherd : Fourth Sunday of Easter

Happy Resurrection Day, friends! Easter Sunday kicks off a week in the liturgical calendar known as the Easter Octave and a seven-week festival called Eastertide or The Great Fifty Days. I'll be posting little bits of beauty each day of the Easter Octave and each Sunday following that. May you know new life, peace, and hope today, tomorrow, and forever.

Read all the way to the end of the post for a way you can help us practice resurrection!

Look: Mural Pasterz, Bielsko-Biała, Poland - Source

Listen: Mizmor L'Dovid, Composed by Ben Zion Shenker, performed by Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot - Text & Translation | YouTube | Spotify

Read: Acts 4:32-37; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:1-10; John 10:11-16

Daily readings for the fourth week of Eastertide

Sunday (4/25) Psalm 63, 98; Psalm 103; Wisdom 1:1-15; 1 Peter 5:1-11; Matthew 7:15-29

Monday (4/26) Psalm 41, 52; Psalm 44; Wisdom 1:16--2:11, 21-24; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 6:1-11

Tuesday (4/27) Psalm 45; Psalm 47-48; Wisdom 3:1-9; Colossians 1:15-23; Luke 6:12-26

Wednesday (4/28) Psalm 119:49-72; Psalm 49; Wisdom 4:16--5:8; Colossians 1:24--2:7; Luke 6:27-38

Thursday (4/29) Psalm 50; Psalm 114-115; Wisdom 5:9-23; Colossians 2:8-23; Luke 6:39-49

Friday (4/30) Psalm 40, 54; Psalm 51; Wisdom 6:12-23; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 7:1-17

Saturday (5/1) Psalm 55; Psalm 138-139; Wisdom 7:1-14; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 7:18-35

Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Third Sunday in Easter

O God, whose Son Jesus Christ 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.

Do: Send me a photo and caption of yourself practicing resurrection. If you need inspiration, here’s a list of 50 ways to celebrate all 50 days! Choose 1 idea or 50, but whatever you do, do it with gusto!

Here are a few photo stories you shared on Instagram from our photo-a-day fun for the first week of Eastertide.

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Still

Spring fights through

Stubborn

Like the God who

Whispers her out of winter

Only a stubborn God

Would crack the frozen earth

To force hope upon us

Until our eyes can almost see

What we will someday be

Small, but for beauty

Weak, but for winds

Spring sneaks in

And breaks out

Like a prisoner

The eternal middle child

Vying for our attention

A God who will not beg

Nor leave us be

Until have truly seen Spring

She is a salve

Soothing our winter-chapped spirits

She is a folk singer

Carrying stories through generations

Like the hydrangea bush in our yard

Even weeds

In their attempt to choke her

Unwittingly add to her glory

Carrying our wishes

To the inventor of dreams

How bright must she be?

How sweet must she smell?

How glorious must she gleam?

Before we notice her

No wonder she has given up

On merely bleating

No wonder

She learned to roar

- Natalie Murphy, Austin, TX

(all photos taken in my neighborhood)



You might also enjoy:
A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON

During Eastertide, A Sacramental Life Community members will gather every other Thursday from 1-1:45 (Eastern) to celebrate and to consider the spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational practices of Eastertide. Members also enjoy exclusive access to downloadable resources, including a 47-page guidebook to help you practice resurrection for Eastertide, recorded conversation, and guided spiritual practices. created a Practice Resurrection page for the Sacramental Life Community members.

I’d love for you to join us! Subscribe to A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON with this coupon code for $5 off their your first month: NEWCOMMUNITYMEMBER