Resources for These Times
This month I’m sharing what I use to keep spiritually healthy these days. I use the phrase “these days” intentionally. In this article, I am refraining from using the name(s) of the current pandemic because I believe we are all fully saturated with communications about it.
On a daily basis, I use the Book of Common Worship, Daily Prayer (2018) published by Westminster John Knox Press. If you are interested, Amazon sells copies of this book and even has a Kindle edition available. I have both the physical book and the Kindle edition. I prefer the physical book because, being a reference source, there is a lot of flipping back and forth from section to section. I find it much easier to do this with a physical book.
As a companion to the Book of Common Worship, I use Vanderbilt University’s Revised Common Lectionary. This online resource has links to the Lectionary daily Bible readings, related works of arts, hymn suggestions, prayers, and more. I’ll use the Book of Common Prayer as a guide and access the daily scripture lessons through Vanderbilt’s Revised Common Lectionary site on my cell phone. The Vanderbilt site has an option to put the Lectionary scriptures on your calendar app, e.g., Google Calendar. To do this, just go to the Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary website and click on the calendar icon at the top right of the page. It will provide instructions about how to add the calendar to your calendar.
In addition, I find inspiration at the Hymnary.org website. This site, originating at Calvin University, partners with The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and houses the Dictionary of North American Hymnology. It has inspirational and historic material about hymns, hymn lyricists, and hymn composers. It also has a Lectionary page with links to hymns of the day. Many hymn pages have audio files available as well. The director of Hymnary.org, Harry Plantinga, has an inspirational blog I find meaningful.
I use YouTube as well to find inspiration and entertainment. I enjoy the Voce8 YouTube channel and the Atlanta Master Chorale YouTube channel. They both have a number of high-quality videos to watch and both groups are incredible musicians.
Finally, I occasionally check in on Ken Medema through his Facebook page. Occasionally, he will post links to online concerts and some of his latest compositions.
I earnestly hope you are staying safe “these days.”