The Themes
What this is: the same readings gathered into collections, so a household can stay with one thread as long as it holds them. Pick a theme and read its weeks in the order listed; when you finish, pick another.
How to use it: choose a collection that fits where your household is, the meals of Jesus, the hard teachings, the watching texts, and read through it. When you finish, pick another. Every unit appears in at least one theme; several appear in two, because a passage rarely says only one thing.
Who he was
Where to start if you want to meet the person before the teaching.
1, 2, 41, 42, 20, 4, 27, 29, 46
The meals of Jesus
He kept turning up at tables. This is the thread nearest our own practice.
The hard teachings
The sayings that cost something. Read them slowly.
Enemies and forgiveness
The hardest and most freeing thread: how to forgive, and how to be forgiven.
The least of these
Where Jesus said he is to be found. Care for the overlooked.
Money and worry
What we cling to for safety, and the God who feeds the birds.
Prayer and stillness
How to talk to God, and how to be quiet before him.
The watching texts
The heart of our vigil: watching for his coming, and how to tell the true from the false.
34, 35, 36, 37, 33, 4, 15, 38, 39, 40, 46, 49
The resurrection
He is risen. The appearances, and what they mean for our hope.
Healings and mercy
What his compassion looked like, up close, one person at a time.
The kingdom parables
The stories he told about what God's reign is like.
Born knowing right from wrong
The conscience we come into the world with, and how Jesus wakes it back up.
The cost
What following actually asks of us.
Love your neighbor
The second command that cannot be pulled apart from the first.