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Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Easter 3C
Acts 9 is one of those stories that has proven to have a pretty wide reach. Mention the phrases “Damascus road experience” or “scales falling from your eyes” to most anyone—even to people who are not regular churchgoers—and they’ll know what you mean for the most part. And to the minds of some of those…
Acts 5:27-32
Easter 2C
Oh how I wish the Lectionary had extended this lection to include the words of Gamaliel that follow. Because there this key leader of the Sanhedrin says something that is at once utterly sensible and miraculously prescient. Once Peter makes it clear that they cannot be frightened into silence by the likes of the Sanhedrin,…
Acts 10:34-43
Easter Sunday
Comments, Observations, and Questions When you are a devout person who wants nothing more than to serve God, then there are few shocks to the system quite as great as spiritual shocks. Just ask the apostle Peter. He knows all about this kind of thing. Because unlike some of our religious customs and taboos today—the…
Acts 8:14-17
Epiphany 1C
Familiarity may, as the old cliche goes, breed contempt. But sometimes it also breeds a kind of blindness. I’ve written a sermon commentary on Acts 8:14-17. I’ve preached on it multiple times. My familiarity with it hasn’t yet dimmed my fascination with one of the Scriptures’ most mysterious and intriguing stories. However, my relative familiarity…
Acts 2:2-21
Pentecost B
Arguably it is harder to write a fresh sermon on Pentecost than on Christmas or Easter. Those last two major events in redemptive history are proclaimed in multiple Biblical texts, so there are different angles to take on Christmas and Easter. Pentecost, on the other hand, is reported in only one text, our text for…
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Easter 7B
If I were to preach on this passage, my sermon would be entitled, “And Then There Were Twelve.” Here’s why. To begin with, I was a bit surprised by the RCL’s choice for today. We’ve been following the progress of the Gospel out into the world, following Jesus directions/prophecy in Acts 1:8. And given that…
Acts 10:44-48
Easter 6B
We are swiftly coming to the end of the Lectionary’s celebration of the mighty acts of God in Christ. Ordinary Time is nearly upon us. But first we commemorate Christ’s Ascension next Sunday and Pentecost the Sunday after that. Today our focus is on what many scholars call “The Gentile Pentecost.” Our text is one…
Acts 8:26-40
Easter 5B
On this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we continue to watch the march of the Easter Gospel across the ancient world as the early Christians followed the marching orders of Jesus given in Acts 1:8. Actually, it was not so much a march as a meander, particularly in the case of Philip in our text. At…
Acts 4:5-12
Easter 4B
Until now, the story of early Christianity has been all good, very good, in fact. Pentecost has filled the infant church with the Holy Spirit. Peter has preached the first Christian sermon with the crucified and risen Christ at the very center, and the result was spectacular—3000 converts in one day! Then came the first…
Acts 3:12-19
Easter 3B
This is the second major sermon in the early church. Like the first one, it was occasioned by a miraculous event, in this case the healing of a beggar who had been crippled since birth. “While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in…
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