Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord Is Always Merciful

The Story of Creation

The First Day

^3 (A) God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. ⁴ God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness ⁵ and named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening came, then morning—that was the first day.^[d]

The Second Day

^6 (B) God said, “I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it.” ⁷ And that's what happened. God made the dome ⁸ and named it “Sky.” Evening came, then morning—that was the second day.

The Third Day

⁹ God said, “I command the water under the sky to come together in one place, so there will be dry ground.” And that's what happened. ¹⁰ God named the dry ground “Land,” and he named the water “Ocean.” God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good.

¹¹ God said, “I command the earth to produce all kinds of plants, including fruit trees and grain.” And that's what happened. ¹² The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹³ Evening came, then morning—that was the third day.

The Fourth Day

¹⁴ God said, “I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years. ¹⁵ I command them to shine on the earth.” And that's what happened. ¹⁶ God made two powerful lights, the brighter one to rule the day and the other^[e] to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ Then God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule day and night, and to separate light from darkness. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. ¹⁹ Evening came, then morning—that was the fourth day.

What Our Bodies Will Be Like

³⁵ Some of you have asked, “How will the dead be raised to life? What kind of bodies will they have?” ³⁶ Don't be foolish. A seed must die before it can sprout from the ground. ³⁷ Wheat seeds and all other seeds look different from the sprouts that come up. ³⁸ This is because God gives everything the kind of body he wants it to have. ³⁹ People, animals, birds, and fish are each made of flesh, but none of them are alike. ⁴⁰ Everything in the heavens has a body, and so does everything on earth. But each one is very different from all the others. ⁴¹ The sun isn't like the moon, the moon isn't like the stars, and each star is different.

⁴² That's how it will be when our bodies are raised to life. These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever. ⁴³ These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong. ⁴⁴ As surely as there are physical bodies, there are spiritual bodies. And our physical bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies.

^45 (A) The first man was named Adam, and the Scriptures tell us that he was a living person. But Jesus, who may be called the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ We see that the one with a spiritual body did not come first. He came after the one who had a physical body. ⁴⁷ The first man was made from the dust of the earth, but the second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸ Everyone on earth has a body like the body of the one who was made from the dust of the earth. And everyone in heaven has a body like the body of the one who came from heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we are like the one who was made out of earth, we will be like the one who came from heaven.