Sixth Sunday of Easter - A
William H. Shepherd
Schuyler Rhodes
In Garret Kreizer's novel, God of Beer (2002), the high school social studies teacher tells the class about Gandhi's assertion that if God ever came to India, he'd have to come as bread, in order to get the attention of the starving peasants. The teacher then asks the class what form God would have to take in order to get the attention of their high school. "Beer," says one student. "Yeah," another chimes in, "it's the only thing to do around here."
Mark Ellingsen
The lessons for the Sixth Sunday of Easter direct us to sermons on the great things God’s love does, appreciating in two cases this love’s cosmic character (especially leading to a stress on justification by grace). This is an appropriate theme with the festival of the Ascension in view, which celebrates Christ’s almighty power and cosmic vindication.
Acts 17:22-31
The first lesson is a good example of Luke’s concern to highlight the universal outreach of Paul’s mission. This is an account of Paul’s proclamation to the Athenians, especially his effort to make sense of faith in God in this largely secular context.
Acts 17:22-31
The first lesson is a good example of Luke’s concern to highlight the universal outreach of Paul’s mission. This is an account of Paul’s proclamation to the Athenians, especially his effort to make sense of faith in God in this largely secular context.
Frank Ramirez
Where is God to be found? Not in shrines made by human hands. God is in our midst. God is found in our suffering. God is found in the love we share. In the passage from Acts the Apostle Paul helps non-believers who have a totally different worldview see that they’ve already found God in the shrine to an unknown God, and in their own poets who, in effect, saw through a glass darkly. In First Peter, we are reminded that God is not found in human hierarchies, but in our common humanity in which the image of God is inscribed. It might even be seen in those in spiritual prisons, to whom the sacrificed Jesus preached following his crucifixion. And finally, in the gospel passage we are reminded that we are not alone. God is found standing at our side, supporting us, encouraging us, and speaking...
David Coffin
It was the high school graduation season in a certain community who had been blessed with the public high school hosting a baccalaureate service for their graduating seniors. This was a reminder of the spiritual dimension of life and that they always have a church in the home community from where they were raised. However, this year a new school administration has decided that “separation of church and state” laws forbid the school hosting of any faith-based events on public school property such as the gymnasium or performing arts auditorium. The local ministerial association is wondering if the days of the high school baccalaureate have passed?
Cathy Venkatesh
What if the resurrection happened and no one told anyone about it? There wouldn't be a church; no one would know Jesus ever existed; the world would be an entirely different place. I've heard it said that the church is always just one generation away from extinction. Often this is said out of fear that this generation will be the last, but when I hear this, I marvel at how Christianity has passed from one generation to the next for two millennia. Today, and throughout the Easter season, we have the opportunity to celebrate the first bearers of the good news of Jesus' resurrection, and we have the opportunity to celebrate how the Gospel transforms human lives and societies in every generation from the first apostles to our own.
Acts 17:22-31
Acts 17:22-31
Sandra Herrmann
Acts 17:22-31
Paul at the Areopagus. Can we imagine what it would be like to live in a city where people worship a number of different gods? A city like Athens had a multitude of temples, each one dedicated to a particular god. Each of the major gods had a large temple, featuring a statue of a size appropriate to their status which was made of marble or bronze, clad in gold or silver, or enameled in brilliant colors.
The minor gods had smaller temples with perhaps more modest trappings, but not necessarily smaller followings. The various concerns of life had deities that people believed had control over specific problems of life, and worshipers might go from one temple to another making offerings to the gods they thought had the power to make their lives...
Paul at the Areopagus. Can we imagine what it would be like to live in a city where people worship a number of different gods? A city like Athens had a multitude of temples, each one dedicated to a particular god. Each of the major gods had a large temple, featuring a statue of a size appropriate to their status which was made of marble or bronze, clad in gold or silver, or enameled in brilliant colors.
The minor gods had smaller temples with perhaps more modest trappings, but not necessarily smaller followings. The various concerns of life had deities that people believed had control over specific problems of life, and worshipers might go from one temple to another making offerings to the gods they thought had the power to make their lives...
David Kalas
Pulling off the exit ramp on a highway in Pennsylvania, I saw a sign that caught my
attention. It was part of a collection of blue informational signs that featured no words,
just icons accompanied by directional arrows. For example, here was a little blue sign
with images of a fork and spoon on it, along with an arrow pointing to the left. Then there
was a sign with a little gas pump icon and another arrow pointing to the left. Next there
was a sign with a picture of a tent and an arrow pointing to the right. And then, finally,
there was a sign with a question mark on it, and an arrow pointing to the right.
Now I presume that the question mark was the icon for some sort of an information center or travel center. Still, when I first saw it, it amused me. It was as...
Now I presume that the question mark was the icon for some sort of an information center or travel center. Still, when I first saw it, it amused me. It was as...
Are you planning a vacation to visit the relatives? If so, then make sure that you visit the side of the family that settled in Roswell, New Mexico. What? You didn't know that you had relatives there? Well, let me introduce you to the family you never knew.
Perhaps no issues are more difficult in Christian preaching and teaching than the relationship of the church to the world. The church itself is in effect an anticultural group insofar as it represents a community of sisters and brothers connected by baptism while simultaneously living in the world where everything the church stands for is rejected. On the other hand, the set of values that keeps the world running stands in sharp contrast to what the church espouses to be determinative for its guidance and life together.
Yet clearly the New Testament will not allow the church to separate itself from the world on the basis of the challenges that confront us when we leave worship on Sunday mornings. On the contrary, the Incarnation of the Word of God demonstrates that the world is...
Yet clearly the New Testament will not allow the church to separate itself from the world on the basis of the challenges that confront us when we leave worship on Sunday mornings. On the contrary, the Incarnation of the Word of God demonstrates that the world is...
Bridging the gap from the divine to the human, from God's
world to the human scene, from the heart and mind of Christ to us
ordinary folk, is the task of what we call revelation or
disclosure. We humans are not "naturally" in God and God is not
naturally in us. We have too little imagination to conceive the
ways of God; too little courage to take on the hard things; too
little moral fabric to embody the divine. Naturally.
The Bible shows many ways in which people make efforts to do
the bridging. The readings for today show three of these. One is
intellectual, apologetic: we make the faith credible by tying it
in to the way people think, and show them how plausible is the
mode of God's approach in Christ....
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