Worship

Worship: Sunday Readings

Between Sundays: Spiritual Practices of Everyday Living – Weekly Videos (The Five Loaves) – Between Sundays is a video reflection on the Sunday Catholic Lectionary readings that includes a commentary, storytelling, and music video.

Catholic Mom Sunday Gospel Activities – Coloring pages, lesson plans, Mass worksheets, crossword and word search puzzles and more to help prepare children and families for Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word (Catholic Lectionary).

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship – The Institute is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center located at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. Their website offers a wide range of practical resources and scholarly works for congregational leaders, pastors, teachers of worships, students, artists, and all interested in worship. These resources serve as tools for preparing, planning for, and leading worship as well as for studying the history, theology, and practice of worship worldwide. The website provides free resources primarily in the form of articles, audio files, slideshow and video presentations.

Enlivening Hearts and Minds – A St. Mary’s Press Blog – St. Mary’s Press provides a three-part weekly reflection on the Gospel reading: Context, Tradition, and Wisdom.

Hear the Word Podcast – Weekly Revised Common Lectionary (Presbyterian Church USA) – Each podcast includes four lectionary readings for one of the Sundays or festivals of the church year: an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, an Epistle and a Gospel reading. Following each set of readings is a prayer for the day from the Book of Common Worship.

God Pauses (Luther Seminary) –  God Pause e-mail devotions are short, meaningful reflections on the following Sunday’s lessons and gospel delivered by e-mail.

Lectio Divina (American Bible Society) – a weekly framework for a faithful and respectful reading of the Bible, coordinated with the Catholic lectionary calendar, delivered via email or online.

Liturgy Podcast at Spirit & Song (OCP) – Spiritandsong.com is a virtual faith community, a place where Christians of all ages can experience faith-building music, online prayers, devotions and much more. Liturgy Podcast is a weekly liturgy planning resource for musicians, liturgists, homilists, youth groups, faith sharing groups, and all who look to the liturgical readings for inspiration and nourishment – that explores the Scripture and plays suggested tracks from the spiritandsong.com repertoire.

Sunday Connection (Loyola Press) – God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings of the Catholic Lectionary. The Sunday Connection provides useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday’s Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way. There is a Background on Sunday readings and focused activities for Grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, and the whole Family. Subscribe to the weekly email with the upcoming Sunday readings and activities.

The Text This Week – The Text this Week features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. The purpose of this website is to provide links to resources for study, reflection and liturgy which correspond to the RCL readings. Resources are not limited to any one particular Christian tradition. The site includes a Scripture Index, Art Index, and Movie Index.

Working Preacher (Luther Seminary) – Working Preacher contains exegetical material geared to the weekly lectionary (Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary) and to other biblical material; resources and insight regarding the craft of preaching; and viewpoints and commentary on our contemporary culture. The website has audio and video resources.

Lesson Plans That Work – Revised Common Lectionary (Episcopal Digital Network) – Lesson Plans That Work are weekly  Lectionary-based lesson plans that follow the Revised Common Lectionary for young children, older children, and adults. Intergenerational lesson plans are available at the beginning of each season and for many major feast days throughout the liturgical year. Most lesson plans are based on the Gospel, and some also have an Old Testament Lesson Plan. These lesson plans can be used as written, or they are easy to adapt to reflect the context of your congregation.

Worship: Church Year Seasons

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship – The Institute is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center located at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. Their website offers a wide range of practical resources and scholarly works for congregational leaders, pastors, teachers of worships, students, artists, and all interested in worship. These resources serve as tools for preparing, planning for, and leading worship as well as for studying the history, theology, and practice of worship worldwide. The website provides free resources primarily in the form of articles, audio files, slideshow and video presentations.


Catholic Mom Seasonal Activities – The Catholic Mom website provides a variety of activities and content for the Church Year Seasons that is downloadable from the website or has links to other sources.

Catholic Relief Services Advent & Lent Resources – CRS provides Advent and Lent digital activities for churches and families. The Lenten center also includes video presentations.

The Christian Year (Presbyterian Church USA) – This section of the national church website provides commentaries, articles, resources, and activities for the festivals and seasons of the entire Christian year (or liturgical calendar), and the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary. Included in each section is an overview of the season or feast, Lectionary readings, and downloadable resources, prayers, activities, and rituals. Go the home page for The Christian Year and follow the links to the individual feasts and seasons of the Church Year.

Liturgical Year Activities from Loyola Press – Loyola Press offers a variety of free resources and activities on the seasons and feasts of the Catholic liturgical year with related activities to celebrate various feasts, and resources on the Sunday readings.

Luther Seminary Advent & Lent Devotionals

Seasonal Activities (The Religion Teacher) – At The Religion Teacher you can find a large collection of Catholic religious education activities for various liturgical seasons, topics, and age levels, including Advent, Lent, and Easter. The activities on these pages include crafts, worksheets, prayer ideas, and more.

St. Mary’s Press Resource Center – St. Mary’s Press offers an extensive (free) resource center with hundreds of digital activities, including a section on Church Year Feasts and Seasons. Some of the activities are specifically Catholic, but much of the content can be used effectively in all Christian Churches.

Worship: Liturgies & Learning Activities

Liturgy and Worship Aids (Presbyterian Church USA) – This section of the national church website provides liturgies on a variety of themes and resources for worship.

Vibrant Faith at Home (Vibrant Faith) – a multi-age faith formation resource center – young families, teen families, young adults, adults/couples – with hundreds of faith forming activities to equip and empower households to: talk with each other about their faith, pray together, ritualize their important moments, reach out in service and support of others, learn about the Christian faith, and explore and read the Bible.