Fifth Sunday of Easter - A
David Kalas
What do you do between Act 2 and Act 3 of a performance? That depends upon who you are.
If you are like me, then you have attended a great many more shows, plays, and performances than you have participated in. And, as members of the audience, the time between acts is an intermission -- an opportunity to stretch your legs, to use the restroom, to enjoy some refreshments.
If you have ever been part of the stage crew for some performance, however, then you understand the minutes between acts quite differently. It is not a casual and relaxing time. On the contrary, it is a period marked by hustle and hard work. There's a clear sense of what needs to be done -- moved, changed, turned, or whatever else -- in order to be prepared for the next act, and the stage crew...
If you are like me, then you have attended a great many more shows, plays, and performances than you have participated in. And, as members of the audience, the time between acts is an intermission -- an opportunity to stretch your legs, to use the restroom, to enjoy some refreshments.
If you have ever been part of the stage crew for some performance, however, then you understand the minutes between acts quite differently. It is not a casual and relaxing time. On the contrary, it is a period marked by hustle and hard work. There's a clear sense of what needs to be done -- moved, changed, turned, or whatever else -- in order to be prepared for the next act, and the stage crew...
Sandra Herrmann
It is hard for us, living after the resurrection, to understand how Jesus, who was clearly a mortal man, could come to be worshipped as though he were God. Since we believe that Jesus did rise from the dead, we tend to endow his ministry with a divine glow. How could the authorities not see that Jesus was, indeed, the son of God? How did they explain away his miracles? How did they ignore how the average people felt about him?
David Kalas
Every day, multiple times a day, we are on our way somewhere. It most cases it is so routine that we don’t even think about it in those terms. We’re just going through the motions. But when you stop to reflect on it, you realize that, multiple times each day, you are on your way somewhere. Virtually every time you move you’re on your way somewhere, if only to the refrigerator, the desk, or the bathroom.
But whether we are highly conscious of a sense of journey or whether we are just mindlessly going through our routine, the fact is that we spend a lot of our lives being on the way somewhere. We are moving toward some destination. And the destination makes a difference.
But whether we are highly conscious of a sense of journey or whether we are just mindlessly going through our routine, the fact is that we spend a lot of our lives being on the way somewhere. We are moving toward some destination. And the destination makes a difference.
Frank Ramirez
God is willing to go to any lengths to create us as a people, sustain us in life and death, and bring us together into an eternal home. This is demonstrated in these three very different texts. Stephen, the first martyr of the church, is sustained during his execution by a revelation of the risen Jesus. We share an identity as one people though we come from many different backgrounds, an identity which God created. And the relationship we share in Jesus is for eternity. We’ll all have a room in the Household of God, an abiding place as Jesus abides in us. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Stephen demonstrates that Jesus is the Way when he asks God to forgive his murderers, following in the footsteps of the Master. God is making an extraordinary effort to create this new people in...
David Kalas
Take a survey of your congregation. Ask your folks to list their favorite Bible verses. It would be interesting, for starters, to see what percentage comes from the Old Testament. My guess is that the Old Testament would not be represented proportionately -- that is to say, though the Old Testament comprises about two thirds of the Bible, I doubt that it would account for two thirds of our people's favorite verses.
Meanwhile, of the folks who did choose a verse from the Old Testament, I wonder if any would cite Psalm 118:22. Probably not. And yet that seemingly obscure verse from the book of Psalms is arguably one of the favorite verses of the writers of the New Testament.
Five different times Psalm 118:22 appears in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all...
Meanwhile, of the folks who did choose a verse from the Old Testament, I wonder if any would cite Psalm 118:22. Probably not. And yet that seemingly obscure verse from the book of Psalms is arguably one of the favorite verses of the writers of the New Testament.
Five different times Psalm 118:22 appears in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all...
David Kalas
Schuyler Rhodes
You see it in every area of life. It's abundantly true in politics and sports. It's also true in business. And it rears its head -- sometimes appropriately and sometimes not -- in the life of the church. It is the us-them mentality: the way of looking at the world in terms of groups.
On the playing field, it's our team vs. the other team. In politics, it may be our party against the other. Or, on the larger stage, we see it manifested in international politics as we talk about our allies and our enemies. And in business, of course, there are always the competitors who embody the dreaded "them."
On the playing field, it's our team vs. the other team. In politics, it may be our party against the other. Or, on the larger stage, we see it manifested in international politics as we talk about our allies and our enemies. And in business, of course, there are always the competitors who embody the dreaded "them."
Wayne Brouwer
Decades ago, Andre Crouch's chorus "Jesus Is The Answer" was sung in every corner of
evangelical Christianity. Those who wished to make fun of these supposedly simplistic
religious folk often carried banners or shouted slogans of this kind: "What's the
question?"
To say "Jesus is the answer/for the world today" may seem trite, but it is absolutely true. All three of our lectionary passages have this theme as the key element. It was the crowning testimony of Stephen as he approached death by martyrdom. It was the essence of Peter's call to faithfulness in a challenging world that would cause his readers much suffering for their beliefs in the days just ahead. And, it is the powerful comfort that Jesus gives to his disciples on the night before he died. Jesus is the...
To say "Jesus is the answer/for the world today" may seem trite, but it is absolutely true. All three of our lectionary passages have this theme as the key element. It was the crowning testimony of Stephen as he approached death by martyrdom. It was the essence of Peter's call to faithfulness in a challenging world that would cause his readers much suffering for their beliefs in the days just ahead. And, it is the powerful comfort that Jesus gives to his disciples on the night before he died. Jesus is the...
Do we have room for people?
I'm sure most of us know somebody who is the perfect host or hostess. We've all probably been to a house where everything seems perfect. There is always plenty, even if you drop by unexpectedly. They can always squeeze just one more person in at the dinner table. There is always an extra baked potato. There is always another pork chop. There's always an empty bed if you're staying late. There are houses in which, no matter what it is you ask for, it always seems to be available. And it never puts them out when you ask for it. In fact, in those houses, no matter how many people there are, there is always room for more.
That's the assurance that Jesus gives his disciples as he prepares to leave them. "In my father's house there are many...
I'm sure most of us know somebody who is the perfect host or hostess. We've all probably been to a house where everything seems perfect. There is always plenty, even if you drop by unexpectedly. They can always squeeze just one more person in at the dinner table. There is always an extra baked potato. There is always another pork chop. There's always an empty bed if you're staying late. There are houses in which, no matter what it is you ask for, it always seems to be available. And it never puts them out when you ask for it. In fact, in those houses, no matter how many people there are, there is always room for more.
That's the assurance that Jesus gives his disciples as he prepares to leave them. "In my father's house there are many...
[Dr. Foster R. McCurley has had a distinguished career as St. John's Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. In addition to his career as a pastor, seminar leader, and international lecturer and consultant, he has written numerous books and articles and is currently the Theologian-in-Residence of Tressler Lutheran Services, LSS of South Central PA and LutherCare.]
We often say of teenagers that they're searching to find their place in the world. They are looking for identity, for how they fit into this extension of space and time, for meaning and purpose in the larger scheme of things. More than one of us has admitted to relief over not having to grow up in today's world where all those questions -- once so simple -- have...
We often say of teenagers that they're searching to find their place in the world. They are looking for identity, for how they fit into this extension of space and time, for meaning and purpose in the larger scheme of things. More than one of us has admitted to relief over not having to grow up in today's world where all those questions -- once so simple -- have...
Karl Barth liked to talk about "the strange world of the Bible." By that he meant that we can forget how removed is its revelation, how different are its disclosures, from the world we learn to know in our day-to-day existence. Because we have sung about this so often, we have seen representations in stained glass, have had believable people assert things about it, we have made it ordinary. We stop thinking about how extraordinary, in its own way upsetting, biblical witness is. When we stretch our imaginations or remain open to hearing the difference, we also hear words that save us.
Today is one of those days for stretching. We look into the skies and, if we are lucky, can still have awe and wonder about the vast distances, the darkness and the light. But we do not see...
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