RCL Reflection, Pentecost Sunday, Year A, June 4, 2017:
What languages are spoken in your congregation? What message are people hearing? How do you hear the good news? Most importantly, is the language of love infused in every song, every sermon, every handshake and hug? Is love woven into the fibers of ministry and the mission of all disciples? Is love the last word in all you say and do in the name of Jesus? (Photo: Denise Krebs, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary reflection, Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 28, 2017
Listen. Can you hear the voice of Jesus praying for you? Can you feel yourself surrounded by his love for you and for this world? Can you feel in the words of John’s gospel this week what it means to be in Christ, to be covered with his abiding love and the divine desire for relationship? Can you sense the power of prayer as these words enter your mind, heart, and being? Listen again. Breathe in the power of prayer. Now, go and share that power with others so that all may know Christ’s love. (Photo: David Morris, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 21, 2017
Suffering from a case of fuzzy spiritual vision? Have no fear! Jesus is near. The great physician is ready and able to adjust our sight and fit us with corrective, discipleship lenses through which we may see the world aright. In this Sunday’s gospel lesson, Jesus reassures his disciples that even though he must leave them for a while, they will not be abandoned or left alone. The same promise applies to us today. (Photo: Kamaljith K V, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 14, 2017
Just what does it really mean to be God’s people? How do we explain ourselves in today’s world to people who see what we do as weird, antiquated, or inaccessible? These are questions we need to ask one another frequently and ponder well. Yes, we have received mercy, and yes, we belong to God, but now what? And what does this have to do with stewardship anyway? (Photo: Keoni Cabral, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 7, 2017
If we are to be effective as the people of God reaching out to the world and ushering in the reign of Christ right now and right here, then it is time to look our practice with fresh eyes. Where are we stale? What makes us tired? Are we simply going through the motions and trying to stay afloat in our congregations? Can we articulate our congregational identity, our sense of vision and mission? We can learn a thing or two from the early church’s understanding and application of “glad and generous hearts” and “life abundant.” (Photo: minkmonkeymoo, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year A, April 30, 2017
Just like on that Emmaus Road, Jesus is still showing up and bringing people moments of poignant clarity that can be fully expressed and shared only in the telling and recounting. It happens in many ways both great and small, ordinary and miraculous, but no matter how, when, or where, rest assured that your witness to how you have encountered Jesus is enough and needs to be shared. (Photo: Jaymis Loveday, Creative Commons)
RCL reflection, 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A, April 23, 2017
Like Jesus inviting Thomas to reach out and touch his wounds, we must be willing to invite people into our lives. What they know of Jesus may be only what they see in those who call themselves “Christians.” That means we have both great opportunity and great responsibility, and that my friends is an act of stewardship. (Photo: Doubting Thomas, painting by Caravaggio)
RCL Reflection for the Resurrection of our Lord, Year A, April 16, 2017
Jesus’ words to his first evangelists–the women–and his first disciples are equally applicable to us today. We are not to hide our light under a basket. We are not to lock our faith away in fear. We are to go. We are to tell. We are to be Christ’s witnesses sent out of our sanctuaries and comfort zones into the hustle of the marketplace and bustle of the world. (Photo: TED, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for Palm/Passion Sunday, Year A, April 9, 2017
There is a story between the Palm Sunday and Easter “parades” that we do well not to miss. The work and witness of Holy Week beckons. Without fully experiencing Holy Week, we lose something valuable–a behind the scenes look at the real cost of our salvation and the dirty work it took to accomplish it. It is, indeed, an act of stewardship to devote our time and attention to this week. (Photo: Doug Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire, Creative Commons)
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A, April 2, 2017
If God can animate dry bones, if Jesus can bring about the restoration of rotting flesh, imagine what the Spirit can do for a tired congregation, for a group of weary and battered disciples, and for the communities in which our congregations are rooted! Where there is God, there is indeed hope. (Photo: Tim, Creative Commons. Thanks!)
