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Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost A
Just before he ascended to the heavenly realm Jesus promised his disciples they’d his “witnesses … to the ends of the earth.” Yet nothing any of them had done or said up to that point had even hinted that they were up to that task. In fact, the gospels consistently portray Jesus’ disciples as a…
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Pentecost A
When you see a gift in action, it can be a wonder to behold. Think of the gift of administration, for instance. When I think of this, several people come to mind, including someone I once knew who I will call Ellen. Ellen worked for an organization that often required her at any given moment…
John 17:1-11
Easter 7A
Every once in a while someone discovers a recording that until then no one knew existed. Maybe it’s John F. Kennedy on the phone with Nikita Khrushchev or some other famous person having a conversation with yet another high profile person. Once the recording comes out, it’s fascinating because now we get to eavesdrop on…
Acts 1:6-14
Easter 7A
Why do you stand here looking into the sky? is the compelling question around which, in some ways, the text the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday revolves. However, it’s also a question that the Lord might pose to Acts 1’s preachers, teachers and those who listen to us: Why do you stand here looking into…
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Easter 7A
The novelist Richard Ford said once that the goal of the characters in his novels is this: “All we want is to get to the point where the past can say nothing about us.” In the postmodern world, people hanker to be free-floating. They want to live with the illusion that they are inventing reality…
John 14:15-21
Easter 6A
It’s relatively easy for us these days to read a passage like John 14 and to read it with a sense of detachment. Jesus packs a lot of theology into these discourses across John 13-17 and it can be a little tough sledding to get through it all. Thus, it is tempting to be a…
Acts 17:22-31
Easter 6A
How do Acts 17’s preachers, teachers and those who listen to us share our faith with those who know little or nothing about what it means to be a Christian? How do God’s adopted sons and daughters speak the gospel to people for whom words like “grace” and even “sin” may sound like so much…
1 Peter 3:13-22
Easter 6A
Back in the 19th century the Know-Nothing political party came into existence at least partly to demand that the government curb what many American Protestants perceived at the time to be an alarming increase in Roman Catholic immigration to this country. And fifty-seven years ago Senator John F. Kennedy had to appear before a convention…
John 14:1-14
Easter 5A
In the flow of John’s Gospel, what we see in John 14 takes place before the crucifixion. Yet in the Year A Lectionary we read this a month after Good Friday and in the Eastertide season. So what do we see here in John 14 that is startlingly instructive? As we will note, the disciples…
Acts 7:55-60
Easter 5A
Acts 7:55-60 may not be the best text to preach or teach in connection with a church ordaining deacons. In fact, after reading it, we may wonder why anyone would volunteer to serve as a deacon. After all, deacons expect needs that outstrip resources, sometimes impatient needy people and the odd bounced check. But death…
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