On the Fourth Sunday After Easter

James 1.17-21, John 16.5-15

Dear friends, I am very sorry for the delay in these lectionary posts. Between wrapping up my research stay in Switzerland, attending a conference in Vienna, doing a little travelling with family, and falling slightly ill, I have gotten a bit behind. But I am working to get caught up. To refresh your memory, the most recent lectionary reflection was on 2 Peter and John, and I focused in particular on Jesus’ parable of the woman in labour as like the suffering followed by joy which the disciples were to experience. For the Fourth Sunday after Easter, which was 18 May this year, the lectionary shifts the Epistle from 1 Peter to James, but for the Gospel we stay in John 16. In fact, this Gospel reading is immediately before the Gospel reading for the week previous.