Words of Welcome

  Acts 4:5-12 When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray they encountered a man who had been lame since birth. When the man asked for alms, they healed him. After that the man who couldn’t walk got up and danced for joy. This display of excitement on the part of the man who had been healed drew a crowd. As this crowd gathered in Solomon’s Portico, Peter took that opportunity to preach a sermon that focused on the resurrection of Jesus ( Acts 3 ).  When the religious authorities heard about this disturbance in the Temple, they got annoyed, especially because Peter and John were proclaiming “that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.” You see, the Temple authorities, including Annas the High Priest, were members of the Sadducees Party, which didn’t believe in a resurrection. So they had Peter and John arrested ( Acts 4:1-4 ). This morning we pick up the story on the day Peter and John stood trial in the Temple Court because they had caused a commotion in the Temple. T

John 20:19-31 I like St. Thomas. He’s a realist who isn’t afraid to ask questions. He’s an empiricist who embraces the principle of “seeing is believing.” So, when he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to the other disciples, he was skeptical. He wanted to see and touch Jesus for himself.   While his skepticism led to an unfortunate nickname of “Doubting Thomas,” Thomas didn’t ask for anything that the other disciples hadn’t already received. The others believed Jesus rose from the dead because he appeared to them. Remember that Jesus’ male disciples didn’t believe Mary Magdalene’s testimony until he appeared to them. So Thomas was in good company when he made his demands.    Modern folks also struggle to make sense of Jesus’ resurrection. As the eighteenth-century skeptic, David Hume reminds us, resurrection isn’t an everyday occurrence. Even if we embrace the biblical message of resurrection, most of us follow Hume’s skepticism when it comes to other strange

  Mark 16:1-8; Isaiah 25:6-9 It was the morning of the first day of the week. Just a few days earlier, Roman officials crucified Jesus. Since the Sabbath was close at hand, a follower of Jesus named Joseph of Arimathea got permission to take Jesus down from the cross, and he simply placed the body in a tomb. Finishing the burial process would have to wait until after the Sabbath. On the day Jesus died, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched Joseph place the body in the tomb. Then after the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, along with Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices to the tomb so they could finish the burial process. As the three women walked toward the tomb, they remembered that a large stone covered the entrance. While they had the spices, they wondered who was going to reopen the tomb? After all, none of the men went with them.  When they arrived at the tomb, they were surprised to discover that the tomb was already open. When they looked into

  Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Mark 11:1-11 A crowd gathered around Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey that first Palm Sunday. They greeted him by shouting out: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” It’s possible that they sensed Jesus was enacting the 118th Psalm as he entered the gates of the city. Therefore, this must be the day the Lord had made, so the people rejoiced and were glad in it! This Psalm provides an important foundation for our Palm Sunday celebration. It invites us to sing a song of victory as we join in the parade leading to the Temple so we can celebrate God’s gift of salvation. As we approach the gates of the Temple, we hear the Psalmist declare: “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.”  We gather on this Palm Sunday while our world appears to be in disarray. There are wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan. Thousands are dying in these places while others are displaced. We’re also watching as

  John 2:13-25 I learned a nursery rhyme when I was a child that you might have learned as well. It described the church by having us interlace our fingers and repeat the rhyme: “Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open the doors, and see all the people.” It’s memorable, but what does it say about the church? Is it a building, with a steeple, or is it people?  When Paul described the church, he used the image of the “body of Christ.” That doesn’t sound like a building or an institution. When Paul envisions the church being the “body of Christ,” it’s clear that he has people in mind. In fact, this is a very relational image since Paul talks about how the members of the body are equipped with spiritual gifts, so they can work together for the common good ( 1 Cor. 12:4-11 ).   Now you might be wondering why I started out talking about the church when our Lenten reading from John 2 tells the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple. The reason I’m doing this is that in this story Jes

1 Corinthians 8:1-13              If you’re like me, you prize your freedom. You could call it an American thing, but it’s also a biblical thing. The problem is that when freedom goes rogue it can be quite destructive. Usually, freedom goes rogue when it becomes self-centered. That’s what happened in the Corinthian church. People were attracted to Paul’s message of freedom and then used it to their own benefit at the expense of their neighbors.             When we read the Corinthian letters, we discover that this congregation was, to quote Steve Martin, full of “Wild and Crazy Guys.” One of the reasons for this was that this congregation was rather unique for its time. Corinth itself was a very cosmopolitan port city. Because of this, the church in Corinth was very diverse in terms of economic status and probably ethnicity. Since Paul planted this church, he felt a certain responsibility for its success. Paul wrote at least two letters to help the congregation solve its numerous chall

    Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37 I have good news to share with you this morning. Advent has arrived and with it a new liturgical year begins. Today we begin a new journey that invites us to once again hear the story of God’s presence among us, as that presence is revealed in the life of Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If we pay close attention to the story as it unfolds, we discover that when God visits us, God tends to shake things up. In the words of the third prophet we call Isaiah, in his prayer of repentance, he calls on God to tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains would quake and God’s name would be made known to a distracted world. Yes, when God comes down, the nations tremble.  The season of Advent invites us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. The Gospel of Mark begins with the announcement that God is sending a messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord by making the pathway for the Lord straight ( Mk 1:1-3 ). According to M