
A Plain Account
A Plain Account is a Wesleyan lectionary resource.
Latest episodes

Sep 20, 2022 • 45min
Proper 21C | Luke 16:19-31
Our texts this week are here: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=281
Our prayer this week is from Malcolm Guite’s collection Parable and Paradox. We also mentioned the prayer of confession from The Book of Common Prayer. Browse the rest of our curated book lists through our Bookshop.org affiliate link here: https://bookshop.org/shop/aplainaccount. We’ll get a small commission if you purchase this way.
Alabaster Bibles integrate visual imagery and thoughtful design into different books of the Bible.
Join us on Patreon and become a friend of the show! https://patreon.com/aplainaccount Patreon, for those who don’t know, is an interface that allows supporters of the show to engage and build community, while sustaining our work on the podcast. The episodes on our main feed will continue to be freely available to everyone who wants to listen, but our Patreon community will be able to actively participate in so much more. Stay tuned for more information about how you can join us on Patreon, support our work, and participate in extra events/webinars/discussions as a friend of the show
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.

Sep 13, 2022 • 38min
Proper 20C | Luke 16:1-13
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer this week: “Mammon of Unrighteousness” by Malcolm Guite (from Parable and Paradox). Browse the rest of our curated book lists through our Bookshop.org affiliate link here: https://bookshop.org/shop/aplainaccount. We’ll get a small commission if you purchase this way.
Join us on Patreon and become a fried of the show! https://patreon.com/aplainaccount
We used our break from the podcast to come up with ways to make the work of the show more sustainable. The key way we’ll be doing that is through Patreon. Patreon, for those who don’t know, is an interface that allows supporters of the show to engage and build community, while sustaining our work on the podcast. The episodes on our main feed will continue to be freely available to everyone who wants to listen, but our Patreon community will be able to actively participate in so much more. Stay tuned for more information about how you can join us on Patreon, support our work, and participate in extra events/webinars/discussions as a friend of the show
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.

Sep 6, 2022 • 41min
Proper 19C | Luke 15:1-10
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer this week is “Forgive Us” by Malcolm Guite
Shop the books we’re reading and recommending through our affiliate links with Bookshop.org
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.
Join us on PATREON! This is a great way to support the show and make this work sustainable for us all.

Jun 8, 2022 • 8min
We're on a break! June-Aug 2022
We had a great time from Advent to Pentecost! We’re really proud of this content we’re producing! And we want it to be sustainable for the long haul! To that end– we’re taking a summer break– from June to August. Expect us back in your podcast feeds the first week of September discussing the Gospel of Luke
In the meantime, we’ll be working hard to find ways to make this project sustainable for the team– exploring options for funding and listener support. Fill out our listener survey here:
Also, we know that many lectionary preachers take a break during the summer– that’s us too! If that’s your plan as well, here are some things to consider for sermon planning:
Topics that need to be addressed—vision, discipleship, prayer, worship, service, etc…
Biblical books; only 10% of the OT is in the lectionary, so there's a lot to choose from! Consider shorter narrative books like Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Nehemiah, etc...
Interests/struggles of the congregation… lament, spiritual gifts, vocation, etc...
Sermon Series: Beatitudes, line by line. Lord’s Prayer, line by line. Fruit of the Spirit >>> the book Alicia mentioned is Analog Christian: Cultivating Contentment, Resilience, and Wisdom in the Digital Age by Jay Y. Kim, out July 26. The story of Exodus or other Old Testament story arcs. Women of Scripture. Table stories and hospitality. Racial Justice, Environmental justice, Economic Justice.

May 31, 2022 • 41min
Pentacost C | Acts 2:1-21
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer for this week is from Fran Pratt: A Litany for Walking in the Spirit
The common prayer from Refuge Home Church http://www.refugehomechurch.org/
Walter Brueggemann in The Prophetic Imagination – “Imagination comes before implementation.”
Quote from Jerusha Madsen Neal on workingpreacher.org; more from Jerusha Madsen Neal and the Spirit’s work in her book, The Overshadowed Preacher
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries. Commentaries mentioned –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N T Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
This episode is sponsored by: JPIXEL Web Design: visit www.jpixel.net or call or text J-PIXEL at 269-258-3200, mention the A Plain Account Podcast and receive an additional $150 off your J-PIXEL website design!

May 24, 2022 • 43min
Easter 7C | Acts 16:16-34
Our texts this week are here. Reader’s theatre of Acts 16.
Learn more about The New Jim Crow and Michelle Alexander’s work on her TEDxTalk or this interview with Krista Tippett
Our prayer for this week – “A blessing for a prisoner” from To Bless The Space Between Us by John O’Donohue
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries. Commentaries mentioned –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N T Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
Sponsor: visit www.jpixel.net or call or text J-PIXEL at 269-258-3200

May 17, 2022 • 41min
Easter 6C | Acts 16:9-15
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer for this week Every Moment Holy
A liturgy for those who employ others
A liturgy for those who feel awkward in social gatherings
"Lydia's faith becomes immediately active: she is baptized along with her whole household, and she opens her home. Social and cultural barriers crumble, and this corner of the empire is beginning to be changed by God's grace." – Brian Peterson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries. Commentaries mentioned –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N T Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.

May 11, 2022 • 39min
Easter 5C | Acts 11:1-18
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer for this week: Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries. Commentaries mentioned –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N T Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.

May 3, 2022 • 45min
Easter 4C | Acts 9:36-43
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer for this week – “A liturgy before serving others” from Every Moment Holy (vol 1)
“All day long, as I watch the breeze toss these clothes in the wind, I imagine my prayers spinning away over the tops of the trees. This is good work, this prayer. This is good prayer, this work. So is digging in the garden, cleaning the chicken pens, washing the potatoes, doing the dishes. I know there are people who would give anything to do these things, people whose bodies have become too numb, too busy, too old or painful to do them. These are the practices that sustain life—not only my life and the lives entwined with mine, but the lives of all living beings.” Barbara Brown Taylor, Altar in the World (p. 46-47)
Tabitha-type projects worth checking out:
Hookin' for Hope Project: https://olivebranchministry.org/faith-in-harm-reduction-1
Knitting for Peace Project: https://www.knitting4peace.org/what-we-do/patterns
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries, including –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N T Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.

Apr 26, 2022 • 38min
Easter 3C | Acts 9:1-20
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer for this week is “Not Held” by Walter Brueggeman, from the collection Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth
We highly recommend the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on Ilya Kaminsky’s poem, “We Lived Happily During War” in this episode of Poetry Unbound
We’ll be spending the Easter season in the book of Acts. Between Megan & Alicia, we will be reading from several Acts commentaries. Commentaries mentioned –
Acts by Willie Jennings (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible)
The NBBC Acts commentary by Richard P. Thompson
Acts For Everyone by N. T. Wright
Acts by Beverly Gaventa. (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries)
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.