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Luke 24:1-12

Easter Day C

The resurrection of Jesus Christ represents as much as—if not more so—a turning point in the life of his disciples than any other point in their journeys. The same is true for us. Yes, it was a big deal for the twelve to be called to be his disciples, plucked out of their everyday tasks…

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Acts 10:34-43

Easter Day C

A lot happens preceding Peter’s conclusion voiced in verses 34-43.  Beginning in verse 9 of Acts chapter 10, we are told the incredible story of an afternoon siesta on the roof.  Peter dreams of a great white sheet being lowered from heaven.  It descends until Peter is at last able to peer over its hem. …

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1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Easter Day C

It’s a juxtaposition I’ll not forget as long as I have any memory. God graciously but quite suddenly brought my dad from life through death to Life on Easter Sunday, 2021. He died, as we reported in his obituary, “in the sure hope of the resurrection.” My dad’s death was for Jesus’ followers who loved…

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Philippians 2:5-11

Palm Sunday C

The most recent New International Version of the Bible offers a slight twist on this Sunday’s famous Epistolary Lesson. After all, while the 1985 edition of the NIV rendered Philippians 2:5 as, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus,” a more recent translation reads, “In your relationships with one another, have…

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Luke 19:28-40

Palm Sunday C

King Jesus has come. Palm Sunday makes the first explicit connection to Jesus’s kingship in the Gospel of Luke, but it’s a truth that’s been woven into the very fabric of his existence. From the prophets of old to the heavenly hosts at his birth, through the details of his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus is…

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John 12:1-8

Lent 5C

The little family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus are the prime example of disciples who were not the disciples (the twelve). They are front and center of some of Jesus’s most intimate moments as well as perhaps his most spectacular miracle. And though this scene is one of many positive encounters Jesus has with women,…

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Philippians 3:4b-14

Lent 5C

As I prayerfully contemplated this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, an old cliché kept coming to mind: “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” So, for example, my wife doesn’t enjoy eating beef liver. I, on the other hand, enjoy consuming a well-prepared liver. While I consider the Detroit Tigers baseball team to be the height of…

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Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Lent 4C

What makes someone resent repentance? That’s really the crux of the matter for the older brother, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s that the older brother doesn’t care about his younger brother’s repentance, but that he resents his father’s compassion. Jesus tells three stories about something lost being found and how being found is always worth…

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2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Lent 4C

Christians might argue that a source of the world’s hatred and violence is our failure to view people the way God views us. Countries wage wars and people launch verbal broadsides against each other in part because we believe that our enemies are something other than beloved image-bearers of the living God. Parts of North…

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All Locked Up

Why didn’t they go looking for him? Today we pick up right where we left off last week on Easter here in John 20.  When last we saw the disciples, Mary Magdalene had just burst in with the excited and exciting news, “I have seen the Lord!” Earlier that day, when Mary told these same…

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