Nurture

May 2026 Bible readings

stjohnstmarkchurchburySaturday, April 25, 2026

Here are the May 2026 Bible readings that we’ll be using in our churches as we continue through the Easter season into Pentecost and Trinity.

• May 3rd – 5th of Easter: Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14;
• May 10th – 6th of Easter: Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
• May 17th – 7th of Easter: Acts 1:6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14 and 5:6-11; John 17:1-11;
• May 24th – Pentecost: Acts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39;
• May 31st – Trinity: Isaiah 40:12-17 and 27-31; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20;

If you don’t have access to a Bible, then please go to the Vanderbilt Divinity Library by following this link. It’s not always the same but it’s normally close.

In summary

The Gospel has Jesus as ‘the way, the truth and the life’; then promising the Spirit; praying for the disciples; giving peace and the Spirit – and finally giving the Great Commission ‘to go’.

We’ll be sticking with the Book of Acts in place of the Old Testament readings until we get to Pentecost. We have Stephen’s vision of Christ; Paul in Athens and the unknown G(g)od; the Ascension – and the coming of the Spirit. Then on Trinity Sunday, it’s Isaiah and ‘who has measured the waters…’

Then the New Testament readings continue initially with 1 Peter before switching to Corinthians. We have living stones; hope in Christ; faith amid suffering; many gifts, one Spirit; then the grace, love and fellowship of the Spirit.

The May 2026 Bible readings also include this from Psalm 8. This version has ‘Governor’ instead of ‘Sovereign’ and always makes me think it should be read in a Ray Winstone accent…

Divine majesty and human dignity

O Lord, our governor,
    how exalted is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
    and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our governor,
    how exalted is your name in all the earth!

Thanks once again to Olivia Snow for the photo on Unsplash