The Adventurous Lectionary – The Seventh Sunday of Easter – June 1, 2025 Acts 16:16-34 Psalm 97 Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 John 17:20-26 Christian spirituality is, in its essence, adventurous, surprising and countercultural. God never stands still, nor should our faith. Faithfulness to God is openness to change. It is also mystical nature, opening us to deeper experiences of the Holy, from which we receive our life mission. God is in this place – our lives – and we can... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 25, 2025 Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5; John 5:1-9 In Search of the Miraculous Many people today are in search of the miraculous. We want to transcend the challenges of the daily news. We want a new world to emerge beyond the current injustices perpetrated by national leaders. We want to experience faith rather than hear about it. We want the living word of God’s presence and... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 18, 2025 Acts 11:1-18 Psalm 148 Revelation 21:1-6 John 13:31-35 Today’s readings describe the scope of grace and salvation and God’s revelation in the non-human as well as human world. Is salvation restricted to a small group or are the gates of salvation wide open? Is salvation restricted to humankind, or does it include the non-human world? If the non-human world can praise God, does that mean that God... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 11, 2025 Acts 9:36-43, Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30 On this Sunday, we focus on shepherds, lambs, and sheep as image of the divine-human relationship. In most churches, mothers – and the women who have shaped our lives spiritually and intellectually – if not biologically. Whether living or deceased, we give thanks for our good ancestors or good ancestors in the making who have provided guidance and inspiration... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Third Sunday of Easter – May 4,2025 Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 An Abundance of Possiblities Some Sundays give the preacher too many possibilities, and The Third Sunday of Easter is no exception. The Third Sunday of Easter is a mother lode of riches for the adventurous preacher, chock full of homiletical possibilities. The readings all have a mystical air, but they express the life-changing mystic vision in a variety of ways.... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday of Easter – April 27, 2025 Acts 5:22-27; Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 On one of the two Sundays of the Christian year, often described as “low Sundays,” (the other being the Sunday after Christmas) let the Easter celebrations continue! Let us sing Easter hymns and even repeat “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” Let us embrace resurrection along with the challenges that an uncertain, morally ambiguous world presents us. In these troubled... Read more
Embracing Resurrection without Supernaturalism There is no getting around Easter if you belong to the Christian family. Jesus’ first followers were transformed by their encounters with the Risen Christ. Once fearful, they became courageous; once uncertain, they became confident in that Jesus was unique, the savior of humankind, victorious over sickness, sin, and death. Something happened – something amazing – that changed everything, that raised their dead spirits and energized their lives. The power of the resurrection to transform lives... Read more
HOLY SATURDAY – THE DAY WHEN NOTHING HAPPENS What should we do with Holy Saturday? At first glance, Holy Saturday is a day in which nothing happens. In which the future is uncertain: the realm of God is here in God’s creative love and not-yet in the human choice to defy of God’s vision. In which no one expects a resurrection. Holy Saturday is the time in which we live, when our future, the future of our nation, and the... Read more
Good Friday Meditation – “Only A Suffering God Can Save” German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who spent his last days in a concentration camp, asserted that only a suffering God can save. Surely his words come alive as we reflect on the meaning of Good Friday. Jesus, God’s beloved child, is abandoned, beaten, and crucified by those he sought to save and heal. He came to bring light, yet some, especially the powerful, preferred darkness, and by their acts, crucified the... Read more
Beyond Divine Violence What do you do with Good Friday and the Cross when you’ve abandoned the doctrines of substitutionary atonement and the divine necessity of Jesus’ death? When you affirm that Jesus died because of sinful humankind, not to satisfy the wrath of God toward humanity? Like many progressive Christians, I grew up hearing the mantras “Jesus died for our sins,” “Jesus died so that we might have eternal life and escape God’s wrath,” “Jesus paid the price for... Read more
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