Third Sunday of Easter - A
Wayne Brouwer
Schuyler Rhodes
Ian Maclaren tells the story of a young woman in his book Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush. She's raised in a Christian home but leaves it behind in search of a better life, a freer self. She finds the kind of life she thinks is free, and she gets for herself all that she's ever desired.
But it's never enough, and what she possesses begins to possess her. Finally she doesn't even know what it means to be free. One day she decides to go home. When she gets near the cottage of her birth, she wants to turn around. Her footsteps falter. She begins to turn her body. But then the dogs in the yard catch scent of her. They haven't forgotten her, even though it's been so long.
Then the light comes on at the door. The door opens. All she can see is her father, bathed in...
But it's never enough, and what she possesses begins to possess her. Finally she doesn't even know what it means to be free. One day she decides to go home. When she gets near the cottage of her birth, she wants to turn around. Her footsteps falter. She begins to turn her body. But then the dogs in the yard catch scent of her. They haven't forgotten her, even though it's been so long.
Then the light comes on at the door. The door opens. All she can see is her father, bathed in...
David Kalas
Go to a fireworks show on the Fourth of July or some other festive occasion, and you will
be treated to a multisensory experience. Colors, lights, sounds, and perhaps even music.
Different pyrotechnic operations do things differently, of course, but they all have this in
common: the big finish.
Fireworks displays, by design, are never anticlimactic. They do not end with moments of contemplative serenity. Instead, they purposely end with bombast and spectacle, with rapid-fire explosions and overwhelming sound, color, and light. The crowds "ooh" and "ah," and they erupt with applause at the grand conclusion.
Musicals, on both stage and screen, generally work the same way. The finale is usually grand. It doesn't pay for some song-and-dance in the...
Fireworks displays, by design, are never anticlimactic. They do not end with moments of contemplative serenity. Instead, they purposely end with bombast and spectacle, with rapid-fire explosions and overwhelming sound, color, and light. The crowds "ooh" and "ah," and they erupt with applause at the grand conclusion.
Musicals, on both stage and screen, generally work the same way. The finale is usually grand. It doesn't pay for some song-and-dance in the...
The best way to learn about modern culture is to have a teenager; you learn quickly what is valued highly. One of those things that a teenager can teach you is the extreme value of being cool. Now "cool" means different things in different contexts. In general, it means desirable. In talking about clothes, it means fashionable. For 14-year-old boys talking about girls, cool means attractive. But at its root, cool means ... the opposite of hot. It means the opposite of passion. It means looking like nothing will get you stirred up. Like nothing bothers you. Like nothing can affect you. All of the other meanings come from this one meaning.
Cool is of great value in our culture. To call somebody cool is one of the highest compliments you can pay. Somewhere we got the idea that it...
Cool is of great value in our culture. To call somebody cool is one of the highest compliments you can pay. Somewhere we got the idea that it...
Knowing Jesus, that is, in the biblical sense of knowing, assumes that we are in an intimate relationship with him that goes far beyond our rational or intellectual awareness of his life and time. Not even the ability to quote a myriad Bible verses enables us to know him.
Actually, our ability to know Jesus is God's work. That work, our three lessons tell us in different ways, is the baptism by which we are brought into relationship with the Triune God. Through that sacrament we discover who we are: children of God in Christ Jesus and sisters and brothers to one another. Those new relationships also make us strangers to the world and its ways, strangers to certain ways of living and acting and even thinking.
The further we become estranged from the world, the closer...
Actually, our ability to know Jesus is God's work. That work, our three lessons tell us in different ways, is the baptism by which we are brought into relationship with the Triune God. Through that sacrament we discover who we are: children of God in Christ Jesus and sisters and brothers to one another. Those new relationships also make us strangers to the world and its ways, strangers to certain ways of living and acting and even thinking.
The further we become estranged from the world, the closer...
Pope John Paul II wrote his doctoral dissertation on a philosopher named Max Scheler. Scheler liked to talk about the meaning of repentance, the change that must come from within, under the agency of God, if there is to be newness of life.
Let me rework the theme, based on clues from Scheler and later improvisations. Most people think repenting is to be long-faced and sad. Yet New Testament stories show it to be an act of joy: here is a bridegroom; why be sad? Here is new wine; doesn't it
need new wineskins?
Repentance has to do with the past. But the past is past, we say. Yes, but it lives in the minds of the present. The repenter first makes amends to the one offended. But still, most people remain haunted. They say, "Alas! What have my ancestors...
William H. Shepherd
My friend was overwhelmed by his first church convention. "It's all so big," he wrote in his report. "There is so much going on. I wish I had a manual to instruct me on what to do, where to go, and how to vote."
Someone responded to his report with a letter to an editor. "How sad," said the letter, "that a leader of our church would not know that we Christians already have a manual on how to live the Christian life. It's called the Bible."
The letter writer was vastly unfair to my friend, who was asking for a manual to the convention, not to the faith. But the letter writer was also unfair to the Bible itself, which is far from a manual. It is not a set of instructions. It contains history, poetry, and fiction as well as instruction. It must be read in a...
Someone responded to his report with a letter to an editor. "How sad," said the letter, "that a leader of our church would not know that we Christians already have a manual on how to live the Christian life. It's called the Bible."
The letter writer was vastly unfair to my friend, who was asking for a manual to the convention, not to the faith. But the letter writer was also unfair to the Bible itself, which is far from a manual. It is not a set of instructions. It contains history, poetry, and fiction as well as instruction. It must be read in a...
Sandra Herrmann
Many years ago, I was invited to the home of a parish family for Easter dinner. It was a big family, and some of us were standing around the edges of the dining room, waiting for the fragrant aromas to turn into something to eat. It’s always tricky for a woman pastor too. Should I be helping in the kitchen? No. I was the pastor. Still, the offer was greeted with smiles. The grandfather of the clan walked over to me and said, “Pastor, I have a question about your sermon this morning. What’s your definition of a Christian?”
“That’s easy. A Christian is a person who believes that Jesus rose from the dead.”
“What??? Seriously?”
“Well, yes. Without the resurrection, all we have is a guy who died because it was becoming clear to those with the power that he...
“That’s easy. A Christian is a person who believes that Jesus rose from the dead.”
“What??? Seriously?”
“Well, yes. Without the resurrection, all we have is a guy who died because it was becoming clear to those with the power that he...
Frank Ramirez
What does it take to become the church? Where is Jesus to be found in our midst? What rituals are essential for us as Christians and where do they come from?
We break bread, real bread, to symbolize the body of Christ in our presence. We use words on a page to discover the Living Word in our midst. Our symbolic cleansing of baptism is based on the real cleansing we desire in our daily lives.
That about which we may say, “It’s nothing special” is where we draw what is truly special and eternal.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
We break bread, real bread, to symbolize the body of Christ in our presence. We use words on a page to discover the Living Word in our midst. Our symbolic cleansing of baptism is based on the real cleansing we desire in our daily lives.
That about which we may say, “It’s nothing special” is where we draw what is truly special and eternal.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
David Coffin
On this third Sunday of Easter, where does one find the new life of the Easter season? Imagine a small group of church leaders from a cross section of denominations which use both the liturgical infant baptism/confirmation and evangelistic adult conversion methods with later baptism of the Holy Spirit. The liturgical church leaders speak of a long journey of becoming a Christian with open ended outcomes. The evangelistic leader critiques such leaders with the idea they do not “close the deal” with a conversion experience that commits the person like purchasing a house or car. Both have cherished traditions in the world. Both are informed by narratives as to where one finds the crucified and risen Christ. Quite often people are informed by the books and literature they read.
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