John 13:31-35 (online here)Here’s Jesus at his last supper. Judas has left the building. It ought to be a somber time, but Jesus sounds pretty upbeat—God’s life in him is glorified even in betrayal. And then he says, “Oh, by the way, [...]
(Readings online here)The Fourth Sunday in Easter celebrates Jesus as "The Good Shepherd." In the Roman Catacombs one of the earliest paintings of Jesus depicts a beardless youth carrying a lamb on his shoulders.It's an appealing picture in some ways. In other [...]
Revelation 5:11-14 (online here)This year in Easter (that's a 7-week season, not just one Sunday) is one of the few times that Episcopal, Lutheran and Catholic services include readings from the Book of Revelation. Note, the book is called "Revelation" (singular) not [...]
John 20:19-31 (online here)We always hear about Thomas the Twin and his doubts on the second Sunday in Easter. That, John tells us, is when it happened—the second Sunday in Easter. I don't think anybody had come up with a Church Calendar [...]
(Readings online here and here)[Delivered at the Easter Vigil, but the same Gospel lesson (Luke 24:1-12) can be used on Easter Sunday] You know, what’s really disconcerting about tonight’s Gospel lesson is that nobody actually saw the risen Jesus—at least not yet. Did [...]
(Readings online here)At the Passover Seder it’s customary for a child to ask, “How is this night different from all other nights?” And the answer is a peculiar one. To paraphrase, “What makes this night different is the way it connects us [...]
(Readings online here)In the entire rhythm of our church year there are two services that affect me most deeply. One is the Easter Vigil. This is the other one. One starts in darkness and ends flooded with light and sound. The other, [...]
Philippians 2:5-11 (online here)Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. In my Church we start the liturgy with waving palm fronds and hosannas only to end with a story of betrayal, injustice and a singularly painful death. It’s almost [...]
John 12:1-8 (online here)Last week we heard Jesus tell a story about a son who squandered everything to his own detriment and a father who also squandered everything in joyful reconciliation. This week we’ve switched Gospels from Luke to John, but we’ve [...]
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (online here)“The Prodigal Son” is probably one of the best known parables in the Bible, but we sometimes get so sentimental about the story that we gloss over the discomforting details. To begin with, we don’t always notice how [...]