Words of Welcome

  Luke 24:44-53 We’re not a patient society. Whether it’s waiting in line at the gas station, grocery store, or TSA, we want to get in and out quickly. Or consider that childhood moment when school is about to let out for summer vacation. It’s hard to be patient when all you can think about are your summertime activities. Every step of the way in life, we face moments when we have to patiently wait for what comes next.   This morning we find ourselves in the closing verses of the Gospel of Luke. In this story, Jesus is about to take his leave from his followers. So, after Jesus shares one last meal with the disciples, he opens the Scriptures and shares how they spoke of his death and resurrection. When he finished with this Bible Study, he commissioned them to proclaim a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem. I found the First Nations Version of this commission revealing. It was foretold that, beginning in th...

  Twenty-Third Psalm by Frank Wesley Revelation 7:9-17 This morning we encounter a great multitude gathered around the throne of God. Once again John of Patmos serves as our eyes and ears, interpreting the scene for us. John sees a crowd of people clothed in white garments and carrying palm branches. One of the elders tells John that this multitude is composed of the saints of God who went through the great ordeal. They’re drawn from every nation and tribe and people and language. Together they declare that “salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They are accompanied by the angels,  the elders, and the four living creatures. They sing a song of praise to God and to the Lamb: “Blessing and honor and power and might to our God forever and ever! Amen!” What a grand sight this is. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed. If you’re like me and you love to sing the great hymns and songs of the faith, you’ll want to join this heavenly choir. Oh, what ...

  Revelation 1:1-8 The Easter baskets and candy quickly went on sale this past Monday morning if not before so the stores can get ready for the next big holiday. Though the stores prepare for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, the season of Easter is still with us. Eastertide reminds us that Jesus spent time with his followers after his resurrection, encouraging them for the journey ahead. Besides, in the Eastern Churches, today is Easter Sunday, what they call Pascha.   This morning’s reading from the Gospel of John takes us to a locked room somewhere in Jerusalem on the evening of Jesus’ resurrection. While Jesus’ followers listened to Mary Magdalene once again give her account of meeting Jesus in the Garden, Jesus himself appears in their midst. When he appeared, he showed them his hands and feet, and his pierced side. Then as his followers rejoiced at seeing him alive, he commissioned them. He told them “as the Father has sent me, so I send you. Then he breathed on th...

  Isaiah 65:17-25, Luke 24:1-12 “Christ is risen! Shout Hosanna! Celebrate this day of days.” [Brian Wren, Glory to God, 248 ].  Death had its say on Friday, but death’s victory was short-lived. We gather this morning to celebrate the good news that life has triumphed over death. We shout “Christ is risen!” because death has lost its sting.    The word we heard from Isaiah 65 was spoken to exiles returning from Babylon. The prophet speaks to their grief at the devastation they found in Jerusalem by telling them that God “is about to create new heavens and a new earth.” So forget about the past and embrace the future. Yes, “be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.” This is a good word, especially the promise that no one will be hurt or destroyed on God’s holy mountain (Is. 65:25). We hear this word from Isaiah, this Easter morning, knowing that there is war in Ukraine that is destroying lives and communities. There is the continued threat of COVID, whi...

  Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29   The time has come to join Jesus in the festal procession to Jerusalem. Let us wave our palm branches and 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!”  [ Glory to God, 196] If we take the 118th Psalm as our guide, our parade of palms serves to welcome Jesus not only into Zion but also into our lives. As we do this, we can give thanks to God who is good and whose steadfast love endures forever. The reading from the Gospel of John tells us that a crowd greeted Jesus as he approached Jerusalem. They waved palm branches and shouted out “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord the King of Israel!” ( Jn 12:12-16 ) When Jesus rode into the city that day mounted on a donkey, many in the crowd believed that Jesus was the one who would throw out the Romans and l...

  Psalm 126 Once upon a time, the nineteenth-century “singing evangelist” Knowles Shaw wrote a gospel song titled “Bringing in the Sheaves.” While it isn’t in our hymnals, it regularly pops up in popular culture. You might have heard versions of it in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Batman , and especially the Simpsons . For some reason, it appeals to the popular mind, even if Mainline Protestants rarely sing it. Shaw found his inspiration for the song in the King James Version of the sixth verse of Psalm 126: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”  And so we sing: Bringing in the sheaves,  bringing in the sheaves, We shall come rejoicing,  bringing in the sheaves. If we’re going to bring in the sheaves, what’s a sheave? The answer: It’s a bundle of grain. Since  Shaw was the son of a farmer from Ohio, he knew what a sheave was. The same was true of t...

Psalm 32 Are you happy? Do you feel blessed by God? Then you must be forgiven. While none of us is sinless, the good news is we can be free from that nagging joy-killing sense of guilt that comes with sin. Therefore, let the recipients of God’s grace and mercy “be glad in the Lord.”  During our Lenten journey, we’ve heard the Psalmist declare that God is our refuge and strength. Indeed, God’s steadfast love surrounds us when life proves challenging. Today’s reading from Psalm 32 begins with a pair of beatitudes that assure us that God forgives our transgressions so we can experience God’s peace.  The Psalmist speaks of his transgressions weighing down on him. When it comes to our transgressions, our sins, they come in different forms, but each form is corrosive. Sin eats at our being. It disrupts our relationship with God, with each other, and with the world itself. There is good news, however. The Psalmist tells us that if we acknowledge and confess our sins and transgr...