The Adventurous Lectionary – The Third Sunday of Easter – May 1, 2022 Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 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 mystic vision in a variety of ways. We can encounter the Living God through revelation and transformation, angelic praise, and ethics and spirituality. We are all mystics, if... Read more
Faithful Agnosticism John 20:19-31 The gospels present four different pictures of the days following Jesus’ resurrection. While the original version of Mark ends with the empty tomb and frightened women, Matthew, Luke, and John provide a spiritual travelogue describing the fifty days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. It seems that the early church was content with different versions of the resurrection, based on different experiences and stories from Jesus’ first followers, and the needs and values of different communities and... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday of Easter – April 24, 2022 Acts 5:22-27; Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 On one of the two Sundays, often described as “low Sundays,” (the other being the Sunday after Christmas) let the Easter celebrations continue! Let us embrace resurrection along with the challenges that an uncertain, morally ambiguous world presents us. Resurrection is a present and future as well as past reality just as Christmas is as contemporary as each new experience... Read more
Embracing Resurrection without Supernaturalism There is no getting around Easter if you belong to the Jesus movement. 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
During Holy Week, most of us focus on the palms, the passion, and the resurrection, leaping over the wilderness of Holy Saturday. The movement from celebration to desolation and surprising celebration again characterizes not only Holy Week but the realities of a meaningful life. We can’t escape suffering but our suffering is often transformed into joy by surprising events or unexpected insights and experiences. In the shadow of loss, the light of new birth often emerges. For many Protestants –... Read more
GOOD FRIDAY: SALVATION WITHOUT DIVINE VIOLENCE What do you do with Good Friday and the Cross when you’ve abandoned the centrality of the doctrines of substitutionary atonement and the divine necessity of Jesus’ death? 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 our salvation,” and “Sin deserves death and Jesus stood in our place.” Recently,... Read more
Palm-Passion Sunday – April 10, 2022 Bruce G. Epperly The Triumphant Entry Luke 19:28-40 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 The Passion of Jesus Isaiah 53:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 23:1-49 At the ascending edge of Holy Week, the preacher must ponder whether to lean toward the violence and abandonment of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday or focus on the celebrative spirit of Palm Sunday or attempt a creative synthesis of both. Eventually we must deal with both to embrace the personal... Read more
Palm-Passion Sunday – April 10, 2022 Bruce G. Epperly The Triumphant Entry Luke 19:28-40 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 The Passion of Jesus Isaiah 53:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 23:1-49 At the ascending edge of Holy Week, the preacher must ponder whether to lean toward the violence and abandonment of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday or focus on the celebrative spirit of Palm Sunday or attempt a creative synthesis of both. Eventually we must deal with both to embrace the personal... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – April 3, 2022 Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8 The Fifth Sunday in Lent is an invitation to gratitude and adventure. The readings invite us to embrace God’s future while honoring the past. God is our help in ages past, and also our hope in years to come. God is constantly doing a new thing, and God’s new thing builds on God’s past faithfulness. God makes a way... Read more
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Adventurous Lectionary – Easter Sunday – April 17, 2022
The Adventurous Lectionary – Easter Sunday – April 17, 2022 Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 I Corinthians 15:19-26 John 20:1-18 and Mark 16:1-12 Despite the celebrations that attend the resurrection of Jesus, Easter is a challenge for most preachers. Perhaps more so this year, as we return to in-person worship in most parts of North America. We want to celebrate. We want to give thanks for new possibilities. We want an extra special sermon. We want to say something new... Read more