Words of Welcome

    Acts 1:3-14 The season of Eastertide invites us to reflect on the ways Jesus revealed himself alive to his disciples. According to the Book of Acts, Jesus ended his time on earth after spending forty days with his followers, speaking about the kingdom of God. On the fortieth day, Jesus gathered one more time with his followers. Before he departed, he gave his followers final instructions.   The key verse in our reading this morning is found in verse eight, where Jesus gave the disciples their marching orders. He told them: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This verse serves as an outline to the Book of Acts, because things start getting interesting on the day of Pentecost. It was on that day, as the believers gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, that the Holy Spirit descended on them, em...

  1 Peter 2:2-10 Perhaps you can remember picking teams for a PE class or some other athletic event. No one wants to be the last person chosen. It’s not a good feeling. However, it’s a different story if you’re among the first picks. Perhaps you watched or paid attention to last week’s NFL draft. The Lions took Right Tackle Blake Miller from Clemson with its first pick, but the first overall pick was quarterback Fernando Mendoza, formerly of the Indiana Hoosiers. While it is a great honor to be the first pick, it does come with certain risks. That’s because the team with the first pick had the worst record in the league the year before. So, sometimes it’s better to be drafted near the end of the first round, so you can go to a good team. Then there’s the final pick of the draft. They call this person “Mr. Irrelevant” because everyone assumes he won’t make it in the NFL. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Sometimes Mr. Irrelevant can go on to be a star, as is the case wi...

  Maximino Cerezo Barredo (Spanish, 1932–), “In the Breaking of Bread,” 2001.  Luke 24:13-35      On Easter Sunday, we heard John’s story of Jesus’ resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18) . This morning, we heard Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance to two of his followers, one of whom was named Cleopas. Luke tells us that the two disciples were traveling to a place called Emmaus. As they walked along the road to Emmaus, they discussed the events that took place over the weekend, including reports that some of the women in their group had encountered angels at Jesus’ tomb who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, as well as the report of others in their group that the tomb was empty ( Luke 24:1-12 ). Despite these reports, these two disciples had chosen to head out of town toward a place called Emmaus. Although Luke tells us they were going to Emmaus, some seven miles from Jerusalem, you won’t find a place by that name on any map. So,...

  John 20:19-31 According to the Easter Sunday reading from the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene got up early in the morning to visit the tomb where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had laid Jesus’ body after his death on the cross. When she arrived at the tomb, to her horror, she discovered that the stone sealing the tomb had been rolled away and the body missing. Of course, Mary will end up encountering the risen Jesus who commissioned her to tell his followers the good news that he had risen from the dead. This morning, we pick up John’s story a few hours after Mary’s encounter with Jesus. While Mary had told Jesus’ disciples that he was alive, it doesn’t appear that everyone believed her story. That’s because they had hidden themselves behind locked doors out of fear of the authorities. Then suddenly Jesus appeared in the room, greeting them with a word of peace. After greeting his stunned followers, he showed them his wounds so they would know that he wasn’t a ghost.  Wh...

  John 20:1-18 “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb” (Jn. 20:1). This morning the Gospel of John invites us to join Mary Magdalene at the tomb where, a day before Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laid Jesus’ body. What might Mary have expected to find when she arrived at the tomb? Do you think she expected that the stone would have been removed and the body missing? The same would have been true for Peter and the Beloved Disciple after they ran to the tomb to check out Mary’s report.  Nevertheless, that is what John reports. Each of the four gospels tells the Easter story a bit differently. According to John’s account, for some untold reason, Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers, decided to visit the tomb that first Easter morning. Maybe she went there to pay her respects to her beloved teacher. John doesn’t say why she went to the tomb, but when she discovere...

  Eph esians 5:8-14 You may have heard the phrase “It has come to light.” That phrase often suggests that you are about to hear bad news. Whether it is a matter of moral or criminal behavior, you never want to hear those words. That is especially true if you’ve had some dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. If you’re in his files or visited his island, you might be in trouble. Look at what happened to the guy formerly known as Prince Andrew. Not only did he lose his title and place in the line of succession, but he was arrested for making the monarchy look bad. So, when the light shines in the darkness, it usually brings to light the bad things done under the cover of darkness.  Our reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent from Ephesians 5 talks about leaving behind darkness and walking in the light. This letter addresses a number of practical questions about what it means to live the Christian life in the context of a pagan culture, which embraced ethical and moral conduct that dif...

  Romans 5:1-11 Six years ago, the world was shutting down because COVID was on the march. That included our church services. Everyone was uncertain about what the future held. Would this last a few days or weeks? No one knew at that moment. Just a few weeks earlier, I had shared with the folks at Central Woodward my plan to retire at the end of June 2021. Since I was giving them a nearly eighteen-month head start, I thought we had lots of time to prepare the church for the future. Suffice it to say, things didn’t work out the way I planned.  As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. While we might not be facing a global pandemic, the recently launched war with Iran is making people just as anxious, uncertain, and fearful as we were six years ago. That’s because we don’t know what the future holds. We know that gas prices are going up dramatically, and the stock market is going down. We don’t know how long the war will last and what form it w...