The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 26, 2019 Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5; John 5:1-9 Many people today are in search of the miraculous. We want to experience faith rather than hear about it. We want the living word of God’s presence and not just doctrinal words and ethical rules. We want the Spirit to well up within us as a living reality, not just a story from the past. We want the... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 19, 2019 Acts 11:1-18 Psalm 148 Revelation 21:1-6 John 13:31-35 Today’s readings describe the scope of grace and salvation. 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? Often, our faith has been parochial, xenophobic, and anthropocentric. We privilege our brand of spirituality and ecclesiology, our culture, ethnicity, or species, assuming... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 12, 2019 Acts 9:36-43, Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30 Today’s readings address mortality, miracles, and the scope of salvation. Movie-going congregants may be reminded of the Easter-released film, “Breakthrough” and its portray of a teenager’s miraculous recovery from a comatose state, apparently due to God’s response to the intercessions of his family and friends. The readings raise many questions and raise many challenges for today’s Christians. How can... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Third Sunday of Easter – May 5, 2019 Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 Some weeks, the readings are chockfull of sermon possibilities, and the Third Sunday of Easter is a mother lode of riches for the adventurous preacher. 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.... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday of Easter – April 3, 2016 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,” let the Easter celebrations continue! Resurrection is a present and future as well as past reality just as Christmas is as contemporary as each new experience of divine incarnation. Jesus is born in us and resurrection gives new life! Christ the Lord is risen today, and every day! Resurrection... Read more
Affirming the resurrection doesn’t come easy for many of us. Frankly, many of us find it difficult to celebrate life these days. Holy Saturday, the time of uncertainty and waiting, the experience of suspense and the provisional nature of life, seems a far more realistic assessment of the human and cosmic condition than the bursting forth of new life on Easter. Even devout Christians, reflecting on Easter Sunday, struggle for a realistic and life-transforming message to affirm. According to Jesus’... Read more
To me, Holy Saturday is one of most important moments of Holy Week. Sure, I love the Palm Sunday Hosannas, and wave my palm with gusto as we parade around the church, and rejoice each Easter with the emergence of Resurrection Life. I recognize the power of love demonstrated by Jesus on Maundy Thursday and God’s suffering love on Good Friday. Still the uncertainty of Holy Saturday speaks to me. Holy Sunday plunges us into the void of unknowing. Most... Read more
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, I saw a billboard with the... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Easter Sunday – April 21, 2019 Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 I Corinthians 15:19-26 John 20:1-18 and Mark 16:1-12 Easter is a challenge for most preachers. We want to say something new and life-transforming. We want to awaken our congregations to the unexpected resurrection event. We know that Easter is incomprehensible, a miracle, beyond belief, or any sort of “objective” proof. And, yet the resurrection is at the heart of our faith and gave birth to... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Easter Sunday – April 21, 2019 Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 I Corinthians 15:19-26 John 20:1-18 and Mark 16:1-12 Easter is a challenge for most preachers. We want to say something new and life-transforming. We want to awaken our congregations to the unexpected resurrection event. We know that Easter is incomprehensible, a miracle, beyond belief, or any sort of “objective” proof. And, yet the resurrection is at the heart of our faith and gave birth to... Read more
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