Words of Welcome

John  14:23-29 We are one step further along the path that leads from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. One of the benefits of these seven weeks of Eastertide is that we get to hear more of Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse” that runs from John 14 to 17 . These words are intended to be heard as Jesus’ final instructions to the community that will carry the good news to the world. They are spoken, according to John, on the final evening of his life, but we hear them in worship as part of the season that follows the resurrection. As I read this “Farewell Discourse,” what I hear is a word of encouragement. Jesus may be leaving them physically, but he is not abandoning them. He goes to the Father, but the Father will send the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. So, don’t be afraid. Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Instead, rejoice at what is to come.  In the Gospel of John, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to be the continuing presence of Jesus with the church, te...

15th Century, Huntington Library John 13:31-35 We might be nearing the end of the Easter Season, but according to the lectionary we’re back at Maundy Thursday. We opened worship singing the ancient Easter hymn “Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness” as a reminder that we’re still celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We give voice to this celebration in the second stanza of the hymn, when we sing: ‘Tis the spring of souls today; Christ hath burst his prison, and from thee days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen; all the winter of our sins, long and bleak is flying from his light, to whom we give laud and praise undying.  ( Chalice Hymnal, 215) Though the “sun hath risen” we need to return to the upper room where we hear a word from the Gospel of John. Judas has just left the building following Jesus’ last meal with the disciples where he had washed the feet of his disciples, including the feet of Judas. With Judas off on his errand, Jesu...

John 20:19-31 Last Sunday the sanctuary was filled with color and the music was stirring. We declared: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today. ” And who can forget the powerful strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus” on the organ as the service concluded. Most of the tulips are gone, but there are still signs of Easter’s glory in the sanctuary. That’s good news, because the season of Easter has just gotten started. There are still Easter hymns like “Thine Is the Glory” to sing, and encounters with the risen Christ yet to be explored. In the Gospel of John, Easter morning begins with Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the Risen Christ. This makes her the first witness to the resurrection. After her encounter with Jesus, she went and shared the good news with the rest of the community. Despite Mary’s good news, fear still reigned among the disciples as evening rolled around. They locked themselves in a room somewhere in Jerusalem out of fear of the religious authorities. They’ve heard goo...

Isaiah 65:17-25 “Christ is risen! Shout hosanna! Celebrate this day of days.”   [Brian Wren, Chalice Hymnal 222].   Death had its say on Friday, but this morning we gather to celebrate the good news that life reigns victorious in the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, death has lost its sting.  We’ve already heard the Word of the Lord from the Book of Isaiah. The prophet speaks to people who have returned from exile, to find that things at home aren’t going as well as they had hoped. It’s in the midst of grief, that the people receive word that God “is about to create new heavens and a new earth.”  Because God is getting busy with acts of creation, the people needn’t remember former things, like the exile. Instead, they can “be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.” Like the returning exiles, the followers of Jesus had reason to grieve on that first Easter morning. They assumed that their teacher and leader lay dead in a tomb, ...

Entry into the City - John August Swanson Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29  Last Sunday we joined Jesus on the pilgrim trail, marching to Zion and singing  “Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall go rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.” As we took this journey toward Zion, we heard the call to sow seeds of kindness in a world filled with anything but kindness. Sowing seeds of kindness might seem like a small and insignificant effort, but when we bring in the harvest and gather up those sheaves of grain and take them to the Temple something powerful could happen. That pilgrim train we joined last Sunday has reached the gates of Zion. It’s Palm Sunday, and Jesus is in the lead. We wave palm branches as we sing “All glory, laud, and honor, to you, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!” Yes, “You are a child of Israel, Great David’s greater son; you ride in lowly triumph, Messiah, blessed one!”  Some of us lay our palm b...

Vincent Van Gogh, "Sheaves of Wheat" Psalm 126 I took the sermon title from an old gospel song written by the nineteenth-century Disciples’ “singing evangelist” Knowles Shaw . While the song isn’t in our hymnals, it pops up regularly in popular culture. You might have heard versions of it in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Batman, and especially the Simpsons. It’s even been featured in films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . For some reason it appeals to the popular mind, even if Mainline Protestants rarely sing it. That goes for Disciples, because even though Shaw was a Disciple, the last Disciple hymnal that includes it was published in 1953! This song is based on the sixth verse of Psalm 126 , though the version of the Psalm we shared this morning lacks the words “bringing in the sheaves.” But, if you go to the King James Version you’ll find the words that inspired Knowles Shaw to write this song.  “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious see...

Psalm 32 Are you happy? Then you must be forgiven! While none of us is  completely sinless, apparently it’s possible to be free of that nagging joy-killing sense of guilt that comes with sin. It appears that we can “be glad in the Lord and rejoice,” if we’re found to be among the righteous. We can “shout for joy,” if “we’re upright in heart.” The good news is we can start with the promise of forgiveness. So says the Psalmist. We’re at the halfway point in our Lenten journey, and during this season we’ve been spending time with the Psalms. We’ve mostly heard words of assurance. We’ve heard that God is our refuge and our fortress, and that we live under the protective cover of God’s wings. We’ve heard the promise of God’s steadfast love surrounding us.  These are words of divine grace that offer us comfort and encouragement, especially when life’s circumstances are challenging. Of course, Lent is a season of reflection and even penitence. So, could another s...