Sixth Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
Had the title for this Sunday, Rogate, been continued in the churches, the readings might have been different and the Sunday would have at least two practical and related thrusts. One of these would be to continue the practice of some of the churches in the Northern Hemisphere, of blessing the fields, in the hope of avoiding natural disasters and anticipating a bountiful harvest. The other would extend the concern for farms and crops for this year to a care of the Earth Sunday as long as the earth remains, for all time. The Rogate title, however, came from the three Rogation Days which follow it, which were "asking" days, penitential in character, for the faithful. However, Rogate does not exist any longer, and the Sunday is simply labeled the Sixth Sunday of Easter, which is, in numerical sequence, the Fifth Sunday after Easter. But caring and concerned Christians observe every Sunday, every day, as care of the earth days, thanking God for all his blessings in the earth and doing all that they can to take care of it. The theology is not simply First article" theology, although that is basic, but is also related to the resurrection of our Lord, who makes all things new. (See my out-of-print The Garden And The Graveyard, Augsburg, for more on this, if close to a library.)
It is now five weeks since Easter has been celebrated as the resurrection of our Lord, and that tells us that the resurrection "seasonal celebration" has nearly been completed, liturgically; 40 days after Easter Sunday the Ascension of our Lord takes place. The significance of this day (which goes uncelebrated in many of our congregations) is partly that the Lord returns to the Father after this period of time, but also that his ascension means that Jesus' resurrection is completed; the ascension marks the climax of the resurrection event. Therefore, this Sunday remembers Easter from one perspective, and it anticipates the conclusion of Easter from another point of view (although the Sunday following the Ascension is now known as the Seventh Sunday of Easter, instead of the Sunday after the Ascension, taking its cue from the great 50 days of the Pasch, from Easter Sunday through Pentecost.) The propers for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, including the pericopes, are intended to remember the resurrection and anticipate the ascension.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter speaks to the concern that the people of God have for the earth and everything in it, in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It picks up the themes of responsiveness to the reality of the resurrection and obedience, that is living the "new life," to God's commands. It reads: "O God, from whom all good things do come: Grant to thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 67 (E, L); 67:1-2, 4-5, 7 (RC) - The ORDO makes multiple use of this psalm, assigning it to the Solemnity of Mary anually (January 1) and the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, or Proper 15, in Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Common lectionaries). The liturgical churches also concur on its selection as the psalmody for this Sunday; it is an appropriate choice, reflecting on God's blessings and benefits, acknowledging that even as the Ascension of Our Lord is about to be celebrated, the church should be anticipating the return of the Lord at the end of time: "May God be merciful and bless us, show the light of his countenance, and come to us." The refrain is repeated twice (verses 3 and 5): "Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you." And even the "blessing of the fields" and the "care of the earth" themes are suggested (verse 6): "The earth has brought forth her increase; may God, our own God, give us his blessing." The last verse suggests an "Easter stance:" "May God give us his blessing, and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him."
Psalm prayer (67 - LBW) - When this prayer was prepared, the author must have had in mind the dual themes of the Easter event and the traditional Rogate emphasis: "Father, through your power the earth has brought forth its noblest fruit, the tree of the cross. Unite all people in its embrace, and feed them with its fruits, everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC, C) - The Lutheran lectionary originally contained this reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, but joined the lectionary of The Book Of Common Prayer in substituting the Acts 14:8-14 pericope for it in a subsequent revision of the lectionary. It might be well to put this Acts 15 reading back in place, because it is extremely timely for some of the dilemmas of the contemporary Christian churches. The reading tells about the first apostolic conference in Jerusalem, which took place because there was trouble in Antioch over the question of circumcision. Some members of the congregation believed that Gentiles should be circumcised, as Jews had to be; others disagreed, saying that it was unnecessary for membership in the Christian community. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, apparently presented the case to the apostolic council, which reached a compromise agreement; they sent a letter, plus a couple of apostles, back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Christians, it had been concluded do not need to be circumcised, but they do need to observe certain moral and ethical standards accepted by the Jews. (Paul tells about this conference in Galatians 2, but scholars believe there were two conferences, and that Paul and Barnabas were not present at the second conference.) At any rate, the matter, which could not be settled locally, was sent to a higher jurisdiction, where the compromise was reached which was accepted gladly in Antioch and, thereby, prevented disunity in the congregation.
Joel 2:21-27 (E) - Those pastors who might wish to revive the Rogate theme, particularly in the blessing of the fields, might want to use this particular text as the basis for their sermons. It speaks to the Midwest, which was going through a three-year drought; suddenly, as in Joel's prophecy, there is "early rain," and because the drought seems to be ended, there is also the promise of the "later rain" and the prospects of a good crop to harvest. Whether or not a threatened near-plague of grasshoppers will be put off by the rain remains to be seen, but there is a promise to trust God's promise: "I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter ..." A bountiful harvest will provide food for millions of people, inside and outside our country, provided that we find some way equitably to supply it to the hungry nations of the world. Indeed, this is a timely text, which has an eschatological promise in its imagery, too, when it is read over against Revelation 21: "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you."
Revelation 21:10, 22-27 (C); 21:10-14, 22-23 (RC, L); 21:22--23:5 (E) - John's description of the heavenly city that descends to the earth continues and is elaborated upon in great detail for this reading. He adds that he saw no temple in the city, "for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb." It does not need the sun's energy or light, "for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb." The Episcopal lectionary begins where the reading of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran lectionaries end; the Common lectionary extends the reading to the end of Chapter 21, with a statement about the city that is a light to the world, a city with open gates where night is unknown. This reading concludes: "But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." The Episcopal pericope tells about the "river of life," which John saw, as well as the tree of life with "its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month." That tree will bring "healing to the nations. The throne of God will be there, and the blessed will "see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads."
Acts 14:8-18 (alternate reading - E) - Comments included in Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, for the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
John 14:23-29 (RC, E, L, C) - This pericope opens on the familiar "obedience" theme, which now has a promise connected to it; the Father will love those who accept and live by the word, and Jesus and the Father will come to such people and "make our home" with them. He warns, before his departure "to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also," for this is the context of the reading, that those who reject his words are actually rejecting the Father, because Jesus' words are his. So, Jesus prepares his disciples for his death and subsequent departure from the earth with the promise of the Holy Spirit, who will "teach you all things, and bring to you remembrance all that I have said to you." As a Counselor, the Holy Spirit inspires new understanding and new interpretations of Jesus' words, and quickens the memory of those who have heard the words of the Lord. The twist to all of this comes toward the end of the lection, when Jesus tells the disciples that he gives them "my peace" and that they should rejoice in his departure, because he is returning to the Father, and he has promised them that he "will come again." This was his way of strengthening their faith for the momentous things that were soon to happen to him and to them.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
John 14:23-29 (RC, E, L, C) - "Return Engagement" - It is one thing to promise someone that you expect to return to them from the grave, but it is quite another matter to pull it off. Christians believe that Jesus promised to return from the grave to life, and that he actually did what he declared he would do: "I go away, and I will come to you."
The late Loren Eiseley, in "The Last Magician" (in his The Invisible Pyramid) had that type of experience. He writes: "Every man in his youth - and who is to say when youth is ended - meets for the last time a magician, the man who made him what he finally is to be ... I was 50 years old when my youth ended, and it was, of all unlikely places, within that great unwieldy structure built to last forever and then hastily to be torn down - the Pennsylvania Station in New York." As he was about to descend a long flight of steps, he saw a man at the bottom who seemed to be waiting for him; the man turned and started up to meet him as Eiseley started down. "At the instant I saw his upturned face my feet faltered and I almost fell. I was walking to meet a man 10 years dead and buried, a man who had been my teacher and confidant." As he reviewed what he had learned from this professor and colleague, who was a Native American, "... a man of unusual mental powers and formidable personality," Eiseley declared: "In all my experience no dead man but he could have so wrenched time as to walk through its cleft of darkness unharmed into the light of day."
When the two men met, Eiseley says that he "strove to utter his name, (and) I was aware that he was passing me by as a stranger. I beheld the image but not the reality of a long dead man. Phantom or genetic twin, he passed on, and the crowds of New York closed inscrutably about him." Dr. Eiseley remarks that the incident shook him up so much that he had to hold on to the railing as he descended the steps. He knew that he was confronted with something beyond him, and that he would never know if the man had really been his friend. On the train back to Philadelphia the answer came to him; he had been in administration too long (at the University of Pennsylvania), and it was time to get back to the work - anthropology - that he had been trained for. After he thought about it for some time, as he sat in a cemetery near the university, he went back to his office, wrote a letter of resignation and "began to consult time tables." That incident changed his life - completely.
1. So it was with the disciples; they were told that they would see the Lord again, after he was dead and beyond that, he would return again, after his ascension. (Unlike them, Eiseley had no warning for his experiences; it just happened.)
2. When he rose from the dead, Jesus made it perfectly clear to the disciples that he was alive again; he had conquered death, just as he had overcome all temptations to sin! But to believe that he would return to the earth after he had left it would be an even greater feat, something that only a magician might attempt to do.
3. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the disciples so that they might believe what he told them. And this we know, that it is impossible to believe that Jesus is Lord, the resurrected and ascended Lord who will come again at the end of time, without the help of the Holy Spirit. No person can believe by his own powers or strengths.
4. Jesus is the "last magician;" he has made us what we will be, and he will see to it that we will be his, alive in his everlasting kingdom when time is no more. He is the only one who has been able to have "wrenched time so as to walk through its cleft of darkness" and in the last time, he will show us how to follow him through the darkness of death to eternity.
Acts 14:8-18 (E, L) - Please see the materials for the Fifth Sunday after Easter for a sermon suggestion.
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC, C) - "Resolution Of A Church Conflict" - "That sort of thing doesn't belong in the Christian church." How many times have you heard someone say something like that? Just the other day in a restaurant, I happened to hear two women in the next booth talking about a pastor, who had been accused of sexually abusing some young boys in his care. It seems that someone in his congregation had made the accusation, which resulted in his arrest and shameful publicity. "That shouldn't happen in the church," one woman said to the other. "He has given 25 years to the service of young people, and church people shouldn't throw all of that away." I suspect that, if one were to hear a number of people give their opinions on the matter, it would be perfectly obvious that there was a serious conflict in the parish.
1. So it was in Antioch. "That sort of thing doesn't belong in church" is too simplistic a statement, because there was an honest difference of opinion there, which had to be resolved rationally, not just emotionally. They were unable to do so in Antioch when questions of circumcision for Gentiles was a hot issue.
2. When a dispute cannot be settled on the local level, a congregation should take it to a higher court of appeal and that's the way it was in Antioch. (As so often happens, and this was in the part of the pericope that was omitted, a compromise is made to restore harmony in the group that is being destroyed by conflict.)
3. Harmony is restored when a congregation accepts the decision of the higher court and attempts to abide by it. That takes some understanding of the nature of the church - sound ecclesiology - and willingness to act as part of the church.
4. "That's the Christian way to do it," a Jewish friend of mine likes to say. And when conflict arises in a congregation, "That is the Christian way to resolve it."
Joel 2:21-27 (E) - "Relief And Restoration."
1. A plague of locusts is devastating to farmers and urban people alike; they simply destroy most crops. (People in the upper Midwest know this well, though the most recent plague had been grasshoppers, not locusts. Insecticides don't help too much.)
2. God was the only hope of the Israelites when they suffered such a plague - they had no modern means of controlling the pests. And God did step in, giving relief and restoration to the people and their crops.
3. The best thing about the whole experience should have been the knowledge that God is aware of the plight of his people, and he did something about it, so that they knew he was with them forever. ("God is in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else.")
4. God planted a cross in the "midst of us" to give us relief from sin and death and restore us to a right relationship with himself. That's an even greater act than delivering people from a plague of locusts - or grasshoppers!
Revelation 21:1-10, 22-23 (RC, L); 21:10, 22-27 (C); 21:22--22:5 (E) - "Mainstreet -Heaven." - One of the first impressions that one has of "Mainstreet, USA" in Disney World, is that this is something out of the past or out of the future; it is the mainstreet of a city or town, as it ideally ought to exist but does not any longer. But when one reflects on the cleanliness, the lack of violence, the joy and pleasure that people are experiencing - and the town - it becomes apparent that this is not like any town in America, because it has no church, no churches. Everyone knows that any town of this size would have at least one church building in it. But that is not the case in Disney World. It is incomplete without a church.
1. The heavenly city will have no churches in it (put gold painted streets and precious jewels and a wall around it and "Mainstreet, USA" might present something of an image of heaven - almost.)
2. A church, or temple, is unnecessary in the heavenly city, because the Father and the Son, the Lamb of God, are in that city, and God's throne takes the place of temple or church.
3. In that city, people will, at long last, see the "face of God" and that city of light, peace, and joy shall last forever, because the eternal God - Father and Son - reigns over it.
Acts 14:4-18 (alternate reading - E) - See the above materials for comments and sermon suggestions.
Had the title for this Sunday, Rogate, been continued in the churches, the readings might have been different and the Sunday would have at least two practical and related thrusts. One of these would be to continue the practice of some of the churches in the Northern Hemisphere, of blessing the fields, in the hope of avoiding natural disasters and anticipating a bountiful harvest. The other would extend the concern for farms and crops for this year to a care of the Earth Sunday as long as the earth remains, for all time. The Rogate title, however, came from the three Rogation Days which follow it, which were "asking" days, penitential in character, for the faithful. However, Rogate does not exist any longer, and the Sunday is simply labeled the Sixth Sunday of Easter, which is, in numerical sequence, the Fifth Sunday after Easter. But caring and concerned Christians observe every Sunday, every day, as care of the earth days, thanking God for all his blessings in the earth and doing all that they can to take care of it. The theology is not simply First article" theology, although that is basic, but is also related to the resurrection of our Lord, who makes all things new. (See my out-of-print The Garden And The Graveyard, Augsburg, for more on this, if close to a library.)
It is now five weeks since Easter has been celebrated as the resurrection of our Lord, and that tells us that the resurrection "seasonal celebration" has nearly been completed, liturgically; 40 days after Easter Sunday the Ascension of our Lord takes place. The significance of this day (which goes uncelebrated in many of our congregations) is partly that the Lord returns to the Father after this period of time, but also that his ascension means that Jesus' resurrection is completed; the ascension marks the climax of the resurrection event. Therefore, this Sunday remembers Easter from one perspective, and it anticipates the conclusion of Easter from another point of view (although the Sunday following the Ascension is now known as the Seventh Sunday of Easter, instead of the Sunday after the Ascension, taking its cue from the great 50 days of the Pasch, from Easter Sunday through Pentecost.) The propers for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, including the pericopes, are intended to remember the resurrection and anticipate the ascension.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter speaks to the concern that the people of God have for the earth and everything in it, in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It picks up the themes of responsiveness to the reality of the resurrection and obedience, that is living the "new life," to God's commands. It reads: "O God, from whom all good things do come: Grant to thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 67 (E, L); 67:1-2, 4-5, 7 (RC) - The ORDO makes multiple use of this psalm, assigning it to the Solemnity of Mary anually (January 1) and the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, or Proper 15, in Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Common lectionaries). The liturgical churches also concur on its selection as the psalmody for this Sunday; it is an appropriate choice, reflecting on God's blessings and benefits, acknowledging that even as the Ascension of Our Lord is about to be celebrated, the church should be anticipating the return of the Lord at the end of time: "May God be merciful and bless us, show the light of his countenance, and come to us." The refrain is repeated twice (verses 3 and 5): "Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you." And even the "blessing of the fields" and the "care of the earth" themes are suggested (verse 6): "The earth has brought forth her increase; may God, our own God, give us his blessing." The last verse suggests an "Easter stance:" "May God give us his blessing, and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him."
Psalm prayer (67 - LBW) - When this prayer was prepared, the author must have had in mind the dual themes of the Easter event and the traditional Rogate emphasis: "Father, through your power the earth has brought forth its noblest fruit, the tree of the cross. Unite all people in its embrace, and feed them with its fruits, everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC, C) - The Lutheran lectionary originally contained this reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, but joined the lectionary of The Book Of Common Prayer in substituting the Acts 14:8-14 pericope for it in a subsequent revision of the lectionary. It might be well to put this Acts 15 reading back in place, because it is extremely timely for some of the dilemmas of the contemporary Christian churches. The reading tells about the first apostolic conference in Jerusalem, which took place because there was trouble in Antioch over the question of circumcision. Some members of the congregation believed that Gentiles should be circumcised, as Jews had to be; others disagreed, saying that it was unnecessary for membership in the Christian community. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, apparently presented the case to the apostolic council, which reached a compromise agreement; they sent a letter, plus a couple of apostles, back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Christians, it had been concluded do not need to be circumcised, but they do need to observe certain moral and ethical standards accepted by the Jews. (Paul tells about this conference in Galatians 2, but scholars believe there were two conferences, and that Paul and Barnabas were not present at the second conference.) At any rate, the matter, which could not be settled locally, was sent to a higher jurisdiction, where the compromise was reached which was accepted gladly in Antioch and, thereby, prevented disunity in the congregation.
Joel 2:21-27 (E) - Those pastors who might wish to revive the Rogate theme, particularly in the blessing of the fields, might want to use this particular text as the basis for their sermons. It speaks to the Midwest, which was going through a three-year drought; suddenly, as in Joel's prophecy, there is "early rain," and because the drought seems to be ended, there is also the promise of the "later rain" and the prospects of a good crop to harvest. Whether or not a threatened near-plague of grasshoppers will be put off by the rain remains to be seen, but there is a promise to trust God's promise: "I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter ..." A bountiful harvest will provide food for millions of people, inside and outside our country, provided that we find some way equitably to supply it to the hungry nations of the world. Indeed, this is a timely text, which has an eschatological promise in its imagery, too, when it is read over against Revelation 21: "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you."
Revelation 21:10, 22-27 (C); 21:10-14, 22-23 (RC, L); 21:22--23:5 (E) - John's description of the heavenly city that descends to the earth continues and is elaborated upon in great detail for this reading. He adds that he saw no temple in the city, "for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb." It does not need the sun's energy or light, "for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb." The Episcopal lectionary begins where the reading of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran lectionaries end; the Common lectionary extends the reading to the end of Chapter 21, with a statement about the city that is a light to the world, a city with open gates where night is unknown. This reading concludes: "But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." The Episcopal pericope tells about the "river of life," which John saw, as well as the tree of life with "its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month." That tree will bring "healing to the nations. The throne of God will be there, and the blessed will "see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads."
Acts 14:8-18 (alternate reading - E) - Comments included in Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, for the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
John 14:23-29 (RC, E, L, C) - This pericope opens on the familiar "obedience" theme, which now has a promise connected to it; the Father will love those who accept and live by the word, and Jesus and the Father will come to such people and "make our home" with them. He warns, before his departure "to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also," for this is the context of the reading, that those who reject his words are actually rejecting the Father, because Jesus' words are his. So, Jesus prepares his disciples for his death and subsequent departure from the earth with the promise of the Holy Spirit, who will "teach you all things, and bring to you remembrance all that I have said to you." As a Counselor, the Holy Spirit inspires new understanding and new interpretations of Jesus' words, and quickens the memory of those who have heard the words of the Lord. The twist to all of this comes toward the end of the lection, when Jesus tells the disciples that he gives them "my peace" and that they should rejoice in his departure, because he is returning to the Father, and he has promised them that he "will come again." This was his way of strengthening their faith for the momentous things that were soon to happen to him and to them.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
John 14:23-29 (RC, E, L, C) - "Return Engagement" - It is one thing to promise someone that you expect to return to them from the grave, but it is quite another matter to pull it off. Christians believe that Jesus promised to return from the grave to life, and that he actually did what he declared he would do: "I go away, and I will come to you."
The late Loren Eiseley, in "The Last Magician" (in his The Invisible Pyramid) had that type of experience. He writes: "Every man in his youth - and who is to say when youth is ended - meets for the last time a magician, the man who made him what he finally is to be ... I was 50 years old when my youth ended, and it was, of all unlikely places, within that great unwieldy structure built to last forever and then hastily to be torn down - the Pennsylvania Station in New York." As he was about to descend a long flight of steps, he saw a man at the bottom who seemed to be waiting for him; the man turned and started up to meet him as Eiseley started down. "At the instant I saw his upturned face my feet faltered and I almost fell. I was walking to meet a man 10 years dead and buried, a man who had been my teacher and confidant." As he reviewed what he had learned from this professor and colleague, who was a Native American, "... a man of unusual mental powers and formidable personality," Eiseley declared: "In all my experience no dead man but he could have so wrenched time as to walk through its cleft of darkness unharmed into the light of day."
When the two men met, Eiseley says that he "strove to utter his name, (and) I was aware that he was passing me by as a stranger. I beheld the image but not the reality of a long dead man. Phantom or genetic twin, he passed on, and the crowds of New York closed inscrutably about him." Dr. Eiseley remarks that the incident shook him up so much that he had to hold on to the railing as he descended the steps. He knew that he was confronted with something beyond him, and that he would never know if the man had really been his friend. On the train back to Philadelphia the answer came to him; he had been in administration too long (at the University of Pennsylvania), and it was time to get back to the work - anthropology - that he had been trained for. After he thought about it for some time, as he sat in a cemetery near the university, he went back to his office, wrote a letter of resignation and "began to consult time tables." That incident changed his life - completely.
1. So it was with the disciples; they were told that they would see the Lord again, after he was dead and beyond that, he would return again, after his ascension. (Unlike them, Eiseley had no warning for his experiences; it just happened.)
2. When he rose from the dead, Jesus made it perfectly clear to the disciples that he was alive again; he had conquered death, just as he had overcome all temptations to sin! But to believe that he would return to the earth after he had left it would be an even greater feat, something that only a magician might attempt to do.
3. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the disciples so that they might believe what he told them. And this we know, that it is impossible to believe that Jesus is Lord, the resurrected and ascended Lord who will come again at the end of time, without the help of the Holy Spirit. No person can believe by his own powers or strengths.
4. Jesus is the "last magician;" he has made us what we will be, and he will see to it that we will be his, alive in his everlasting kingdom when time is no more. He is the only one who has been able to have "wrenched time so as to walk through its cleft of darkness" and in the last time, he will show us how to follow him through the darkness of death to eternity.
Acts 14:8-18 (E, L) - Please see the materials for the Fifth Sunday after Easter for a sermon suggestion.
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC, C) - "Resolution Of A Church Conflict" - "That sort of thing doesn't belong in the Christian church." How many times have you heard someone say something like that? Just the other day in a restaurant, I happened to hear two women in the next booth talking about a pastor, who had been accused of sexually abusing some young boys in his care. It seems that someone in his congregation had made the accusation, which resulted in his arrest and shameful publicity. "That shouldn't happen in the church," one woman said to the other. "He has given 25 years to the service of young people, and church people shouldn't throw all of that away." I suspect that, if one were to hear a number of people give their opinions on the matter, it would be perfectly obvious that there was a serious conflict in the parish.
1. So it was in Antioch. "That sort of thing doesn't belong in church" is too simplistic a statement, because there was an honest difference of opinion there, which had to be resolved rationally, not just emotionally. They were unable to do so in Antioch when questions of circumcision for Gentiles was a hot issue.
2. When a dispute cannot be settled on the local level, a congregation should take it to a higher court of appeal and that's the way it was in Antioch. (As so often happens, and this was in the part of the pericope that was omitted, a compromise is made to restore harmony in the group that is being destroyed by conflict.)
3. Harmony is restored when a congregation accepts the decision of the higher court and attempts to abide by it. That takes some understanding of the nature of the church - sound ecclesiology - and willingness to act as part of the church.
4. "That's the Christian way to do it," a Jewish friend of mine likes to say. And when conflict arises in a congregation, "That is the Christian way to resolve it."
Joel 2:21-27 (E) - "Relief And Restoration."
1. A plague of locusts is devastating to farmers and urban people alike; they simply destroy most crops. (People in the upper Midwest know this well, though the most recent plague had been grasshoppers, not locusts. Insecticides don't help too much.)
2. God was the only hope of the Israelites when they suffered such a plague - they had no modern means of controlling the pests. And God did step in, giving relief and restoration to the people and their crops.
3. The best thing about the whole experience should have been the knowledge that God is aware of the plight of his people, and he did something about it, so that they knew he was with them forever. ("God is in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else.")
4. God planted a cross in the "midst of us" to give us relief from sin and death and restore us to a right relationship with himself. That's an even greater act than delivering people from a plague of locusts - or grasshoppers!
Revelation 21:1-10, 22-23 (RC, L); 21:10, 22-27 (C); 21:22--22:5 (E) - "Mainstreet -Heaven." - One of the first impressions that one has of "Mainstreet, USA" in Disney World, is that this is something out of the past or out of the future; it is the mainstreet of a city or town, as it ideally ought to exist but does not any longer. But when one reflects on the cleanliness, the lack of violence, the joy and pleasure that people are experiencing - and the town - it becomes apparent that this is not like any town in America, because it has no church, no churches. Everyone knows that any town of this size would have at least one church building in it. But that is not the case in Disney World. It is incomplete without a church.
1. The heavenly city will have no churches in it (put gold painted streets and precious jewels and a wall around it and "Mainstreet, USA" might present something of an image of heaven - almost.)
2. A church, or temple, is unnecessary in the heavenly city, because the Father and the Son, the Lamb of God, are in that city, and God's throne takes the place of temple or church.
3. In that city, people will, at long last, see the "face of God" and that city of light, peace, and joy shall last forever, because the eternal God - Father and Son - reigns over it.
Acts 14:4-18 (alternate reading - E) - See the above materials for comments and sermon suggestions.
