John 14:1-14
Easter 5A
[…] did in that room that night in John 14 or from our Eastertide perspective just on the other side of our annual celebration of Good Friday and Easter, the effect is the same: utter startlement and even bewilderment that this can be true. The Way to life is through a cross. The humble man […]
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
Easter 3A
Clearly, Psalm 116 was chosen for this Third Sunday of Easter because it is a Psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from death. It reverses the order of things in ordinary life, where we move from life to death. Here the Psalmist moves from death.to life, like Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed, Jesus […]
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. […]
Acts 7:55-60
Easter 5A
On this fifth Sunday of the Easter season, we continue our journey through the Acts of the Apostles or, as some call it, the Acts of the Holy Spirit. That title fits Luke’s constant emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in the growth of the early church. That is surely the case […]
Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)
Easter 3C
As I said last week in my comments on Acts 5, during the season of Easter the Lectionary switches from its customary focus on the Old Testament in the first reading, in order to follow the effects of Easter on the early church in the book of Acts. It is an ingenious way to […]
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Easter Day C
[…] 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 […]
Psalm 23
Easter 4B
[…] and during graveside services. So those who wish to preach and teach Psalm 23 may feel like those who try to preach and teach the Christmas and Easter stories. We may assume we just don’t have anything new or dramatic to say about it. Yet those who proclaim the gospel don’t necessarily look to […]
Psalm 23
Easter 4B
Even though the RCL uses Psalm 23 on the Fourth Sunday of the Easter season in all three years, and even adds it to the Lenten readings in one year, the enterprising preacher should not despair when assigned this lovely piece of poetry yet again. It is so rich that there is no end […]
Acts 1:6-14
Easter 7A
On this Seventh Sunday of the Easter season, it is fitting that the first reading is about the Ascension of Jesus. There is a real sense in which Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension are two parts of one glorious act; he rose from the dead and he kept rising into heaven. Between the two […]
Acts 10:34-43
Easter Day A
[…] 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. If you want to focus on the implications of the resurrection for the ancient and modern church, this […]
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