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Acts 2:42-47
Easter 4A
We are in our fourth Sunday of reflections on Easter, using the book of Acts as our guide. We began on Easter in Acts 10, where we saw the world-changing significance of Christ’s Resurrection in Peter’s startling realization that God includes people from every nation in his covenantal embrace. Then we backed up to Peter’s…
1 Peter 2:19-25
Easter 4A
Many members of the American civil rights movement embraced Peter’s commendation of Christians who put up with unjust suffering’s pain. In fact, that movement produced a treasure trove of photos of people bearing up under such misery. One could fill books with pictures of people kneeling in non-violent resistance to beatings and submitting to attacks…
Luke 24:13-35
Easter 3A
After his wife died, C.S. Lewis once wrote that he thought that his grief might be less if he intentionally avoided the places he and his wife Joy had frequented and so he limited his travels to only those places where they had never been together. He switched grocery stores, tried different restaurants, walked only…
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Easter 3A
As I said last week, the RCL doesn’t want us to celebrate Easter for one glorious day and then move on to something else. It invites us to spend 7 Sundays reflecting on this world changing event with a leisurely journey through the book of Acts. We began on Easter Sunday with Acts 10, where…
1 Peter 1:17-23
Easter 3A
A few years ago the University of Maryland’s football team found itself in trouble at halftime of one of the biggest games in its history. It didn’t just trail North Carolina State’s team. Maryland’s team also hadn’t played very well. Maryland’s head coach Ralph Friedgen knew he had to motivate his team to play better…
John 20:19-31
Easter 2A
Locked inside because of fear. Sound familiar to anyone? Well, alas, yes it does just now. We will loop back to this COVID-19 related thought below but first let’s look at the disciple at the center of this post-Easter story. Poor Thomas. He is the classic example of the old saying, “Make just one little…
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Easter 2A
For those who follow the RCL, Easter is not just a one off event. The RCL devotes 7 Sundays to the Easter season, so that the church has ample opportunity to reflect on the most earthshaking event in history. As a relative newcomer to the Lectionary, I think that is a superb idea. But it…
1 Peter 1:3-9
Easter 2A
When my wife and I drew up our first will after our oldest son was born, we didn’t have many material assets. So our will mostly addressed who would care for our children if we predeceased them. We later revised our will to include instructions about who will inherit what when we die. Yet, candidly,…
John 20:1-18
Easter Day A
In a recent article on preaching in these days of COVID-19 isolation and fear, I suggested that despite the sadness we are all feeling at not being able to gather for Easter services in 2020, we don’t want to preach downer sermons. We don’t want our own disappointment at not being able to preach to…
Acts 10:34-43
Easter Day A
In this (Old Testament?) reading, we hear not the original story about how Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified by Roman soldiers, but a retelling of that story to a Roman soldier. If you want to emphasize the fact of the resurrection in your Easter sermon, choose the Gospel readings for your text. …
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