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Scripture Reading Plan
Prayer for Blessing
O Holy God, you have revealed to us in your Son what it is to be blessed in your Kingdom. I pray now o Father, by your Holy Spirit, that I too may find my heart conformed to the image of your son Christ Jesus my Lord and receive those glorious blessings you have reserved for all who are in Him:
O Holy God, make poor my spirit,
That I may receive the Kingdom of Heaven;
O Holy God, make me as one who mourns all sorrows,
That I may likewise know your comfort;
O Holy God, make meek my mind and soul,
That I may receive the world to your honor;
O Holy God, famish and parch my will for righteousness,
That I may be satisfied in the righteousness of Christ alone;
O Holy God, make me merciful,
That I may know your mercy, O Father;
O Holy God, make pure my heart,
That I might behold you, O Lord;
O Holy God, make me a peacemaker,
That I too may be counted among your household;
O Holy God, make me bold even unto persecution for the sake of your righteousness,
That I may receive the Kingdom of Heaven;
O Holy God, make me bold unto reviling, persecution, and all kinds of evil uttered falsely on Christ’s account by others,
That I may, with the prophets and apostles before me, rejoice and be glad for the heavenly reward of life in Christ.
Prayer for Love
O Holy God, you have made known to us your love by sending your beloved Son and by the gift of your Holy Spirit that we may be equipped to be people transformed by your grace. Therefore I pray to you O Father to be ever more shaped in the love of your Son:
By your love O God, grant me patience and kindness;
By your love O God, deprive my heart of envy or boasting;
By your love O God, deprive my heart of arrogance or rudeness;
By your love O God, deprive my heart of insistence on its own way;
By your love O God, deprive my heart of irritability or resentfulness;
By your love O God, deprive my heart of rejoicing at wrongdoing but rather inspire it to rejoice in all truth;
By your love O God, equip me to bear all things;
By your love O God, equip me to believe all things;
By your love O God, equip me to hope for all things;
By your love O God, equip me to endure all things;
By your love O God, let no such gifting ever cease in me.
Prayer for Spiritual Fruit
O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who poured out your Spirit upon us, produce in me those fruits that accord with your righteousness, that I may be equipped for every good work in your Kingdom:
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me love;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me joy;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me peace;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me patience;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me kindness;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me goodness;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me faithfulness;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me gentleness;
O Holy Spirit of the Living God, produce in me self-control;
For against such things there is no law, but such are true freedom in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This tool surfaces my daily readings. Every day, I strive to do the full readings from the 2019 BCP Daily Office lectionary utilizing the 30 day psalter cycle. Since this will provide nearly the entirety of the scriptures at least once a year but does leave some passages out, I augment this lectionary with a midday lectionary (produced by Fr. Bench) that supplements the missing canonical and apocryphal readings, ensuring that through the course of the year, I read the entire canon and Anglican Apocrypha at least once by the lectionary. February’s psalter readings are adjusted to ensure that the full 30 day cycle is still completed within 28 days, with leap day being treated like the 31st day of the month.
On the high unfixed feast days (those set by the date of Easter), the lectionary readings for both the calendar day and the holiday are read to ensure no passages are omitted in the course of the year but that the unique readings for the day are also prayerfully attended to.
Additionally, I have a separate daily reading schedule that reads through the entire canon and Anglican Apocrypha once in six months, completing this cycle twice a year. This cycle includes a reading from the Old Testament/Apocrypha and the New Testament daily, although there is no thematic pairing between the two. The Old Testament/Apocrypha is read through chapter by chapter in the order it appears in the Authorized Version of the Bible, and likewise with the New Testament. The two exceptions are the additional materials from Daniel and Esther are included in with the Hebrew material of those books, read through in the order that appears in the Septuagint.
Finally, given these two reading plans in tandem see a brief stretch in June as well as All Saints day with no reading from any of the four Gospels, I include readings from St. Mark’s Gospel on those days.
As a result, I end up reading:
The entire Old Testament, Anglican Apocrypha, and Revelation no fewer than 3 times in a year
The entire New Testament (excluding Revelation) no fewer than 4 times in a year
The Gospel according to St. Mark no fewer than 5 times in a year
The Psalms no fewer than 14 times in a year
A reading from a Gospel text every day
It is worth noting that not all days include a midday lectionary reading, and the last three days of the year do not include a Bible Study reading.
I also strive to complete the Sunday lectionary readings each Sunday as well if I am unable to attend a service that reads from the lectionary or that does not read from all of the entire lectionary or shortens the readings.