Each liturgical year, the second readings for the first eight weeks of the Season of the Year are taken from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians. In Year A we read sections from chapters 1-4; in Year B from chapters 6-10; and in Year C from chapters 12-15. The letter is also read at key points in each of the seasons and feast days.
Like in every one of the 13 letters that are found in the New Testament that bear the name of Paul as author, this first letter to the church in Corinth begins with a greeting:
May God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ send
you grace and peace.
Every time that Paul wrote a letter to either a whole community or to an individual, he began with this declaration that he wanted the people he wrote to know. He wanted them to know that the gift of God that was revealed in the person of Jesus, through the unity of the Holy Spirit was all about grace – “The absolutely free expression of the love of God finding its only motive in the abundance of God” – and peace – “the creative and life-giving gift of everything that is good and harmonious in this present moment.” Which sounds rather good to me.
Recorded at Ignite Summer Camp, Mapleton (14 mins)
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