The new edition of With Love to the World is out now

With Love to the World is a daily Bible reading resource, written and produced within the Uniting Church in Australia. For many decades it has followed the Revised Common Lectionary. From September this year, it will be including the main Narrative Lectionary reading each Monday, along with a short commentary on the passage. This is an important step in the development of the resource, to cater specifically for preachers who are now using this lectionary.

For almost 50 years this Australian-produced resource has offered Sunday worshippers the opportunity to prepare for hearing passages of scripture in the week leading to that day of worship. It seeks to foster “an informed faith” amongst the people of God.

The Narrative Lectionary is a four-year lectionary which provides just one reading for each Sunday during the northern hemisphere’s working year. It cycles through the major themes of scripture each year, with one of the four Gospels featured each year. Since it began, With Love to the World has been based on the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary. Increasingly, however, preachers are now making use of the Narrative Lectionary.

This lectionary is an initiative that began a decade ago at the Luther Seminary in St Paul’s Minnesota, USA. The seminary states that it is “committed to robust, passionate, and respectful dialogue with one another—both those with whom we agree and those with whom we disagree”. This makes it an ideal partner for With Love to the World, which reflects the Uniting Church's commitment to "an informed faith" and values the importance of engaging with contemporary ideas and understandings.

For the 2024–2025 year, the commentary on the Narrative Lectionary passage is being provided by the Rev. Dr Ockert Meyer, who teaches Theology and Preaching at United Theological College in Sydney, NSW. The Narrative Lectionary is a four-year lectionary which runs from early September through to late May or early June each year.

The passages chosen follow the sweep of the biblical story, from Creation through to the early Christian church. The website for the Narrative Lectionary notes that “The texts show the breadth and variety of voices within Scripture. They invite people to hear the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the prophets, Jesus, and Paul. Listening to the many different voices within Scripture enriches preaching and the life of faith.”

The website explains that these stories “tell of hope and disappointment, suffering and redemption. In all these varied contexts, we find God dealing with the complexities of human life.”

Each year begins in September with Old Testament readings; it moves through the story of God’s dealings with Israel and culminates in Advent with the prophets who speak of longing and hope, before moving to the Gospel from Christmas to Lent, and then to Acts and selected epistles through to Pentecost Sunday.

Each year of the four in the cycle focusses on a different Gospel, meaning that John has its own “year”. The stories from the gospels differ each year, avoiding repetition and highlighting what is distinctive about each gospel’s telling of the story of Jesus.

The Creation 2024 issue of With Love to the World is currently making its way to subscribers. It features a striking cover: an original artwork by Howard Wallace, a calligrapher and former Professor of Old Testament. The image, Faith and Flora, offers an Australian version of a "still life" painting, which was a style that flourished in the Dutch Golden Age of the early 17th century. "Let it be a reminder", he writes, "that our own bush and flora can be ways of keeping our faith before us".

This issue of With Love to the World has contributors from across Australia, with people of Anglo and Asian heritage, reflecting the diversity of the church and indeed of multicultural Australia. Alongside the commentary on a daily passage of scripture, there is a prayer, a song suggestion, a psalm for the day, and a question for discussion. The resource is produced by the Uniting Church in Australia.

You can subscribe to With Love to the World on your phone or iPad via an App, for a subscription of $28 per year. Search for With Love to the World on the App Store, or UCA—With Love to the World on Google Play. For the hard copy resource, for just $28 for a year’s subscription, email Trevor at wlwuca@bigpond.com or phone +61 (2) 9747-1369.