The Sixth Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)

Psalm 66:1-7;16-20, Acts 8:5-8;14-17, 1 Peter 3:15-18, John 14:15-21

The tie in between today’s readings: A Sacramental Life

Let’s take a different angle on Psalm 66 today. Imagine that God is your favorite movie star. You belong to His fan club, read every Tweet, and can even mouth the dialogue of your favorite scenes. Verses 1-4 will sound a lot like your conversations about Him. He is nothing short of awesome! Now, let’s say that you score two tickets to the Hollywood premier of His next movie (verses 5-7). You call tour friend, “OMG! This guy is the greatest! I’ve seen the trailers! This movie is awesome! It has to win an Oscar! We can’t miss it!” Your friend agrees. We finish our scenario with verses 16-20. The movie is epic; it blows everyone away. Someone who knows the actor…

Fifth Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Psalm 33:1-5;18-19, Acts 6:1-7, 1 Peter 2:4-9, John 14:1-12

One of the chief objections that I find people have to Christianity is its insistence on Jesus being the sole access to God the Father. In a world of clichés like: “There are many paths to God.”, “All religions are the same.”, and “You have your truth, I have mine.” Jesus’ declaration in John 12:6 that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, grates on them like fingernails on a blackboard. After all, who does He think He is? Out of respect for the historical Christ, they usually will not refute Him head on, but soften His statements with slanting interpretations and work arounds, so that in the end, the Master seems to have agreed with their…

The Fourth Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: The Way of the Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6, Acts 2:36-41, 1 Peter 2:20-25, John 10:1-10

I asked a pastor acquaintance of mine one day tell me what his job was like. “Basically,” he joked, “I hatch (baptize), match (wedding), and dispatch (funerals), and throw in a little golf on the side.” Of course, the job of the clergy is much more difficult than my friend lets on. There are meetings to run, bills to pay, tears to dry, wrongs to right, sick to see…and all before lunch. The job is so tough, so special, so unique, that when a person enters the ministry, we say that they have a calling. When you answer that call, it is life’s most important and rewarding pursuit. Not everyone in religious work has that calling, though. Today’s gospel, John…

Second Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Signs and Wonders

Psalm 118:2-4;13-15;22-24, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Peter 1:2-9, John 20:19-31

When you talk about religion, miracles inevitably enter the conversation. As you pursue the subject you’ll discover that it all boils down to personal perspectives. For instance, you can start with the “miracle” of creation and conclude (or not) that something put it all together. When we come to our reading in Psalm 118:2-4, we discover that the something out there is really a Someone and surprise, surprise, He wants to have a relationship with you. God, in His lovingkindness, became a man. His name is Jesus. He lived with us, taught us about Himself, and performed miracles to back up His claim to deity.

Psalm 118:13 and 22 tell us that many rejected Him. Why? Perspective! They did not want to believe…

Easter Sunday the Resurrection of Our Lord (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Steps of Faith

Psalm 118:1-2; 16-17; 22-23, Acts 10:34-43, Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-9

Easter is here! The most important celebration in the Christian calendar. Advent has its charm in anticipation. Christmas is beautiful in its fulfilled promises. Lent is special in its preparation, but Easter is the victory! For the believer, Christ’s triumph over death and the Devil provides deliverance from sin and eternal life. So, there is no better time than now to assess where you are concerning your faith.

Psalm 118:17 (NASB)

I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord.

John 20:1-9 (NASB)

The Empty Tomb

No one back then believed that the Messiah would die as He did, let alone, rise from the grave. Even after repeated attempts by the Lord to explain it, the apostles…

Palm Sunday (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Faith’s Spiritual Dimension

Psalm 22:8-24, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Matthew 26:14-27:66

Our readings on this Palm Sunday focus on Good Friday. Matthew 26:14-27:66 is the Apostle’s account from Judas’s betrayal to Jesus’ burial. Even though you may be familiar with the story, it will be worthwhile to read it again. Like rewatching a good movie, you pick up on things that you may have missed the first time around. With that in mind, you can approach our Lord’s sacrifice from quite a few different angles. Many sermons explain Jesus’ physical sufferings from a medical point of view. Some pastors go for emotion as they ask you to place yourself at the cross and react to His agony. You may have even sat through character analysis that explain the actions of the Good Friday participants. All of these…

The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Coming back

Psalm 130:1-8, Ezekiel 37:12-14, Romans 8:8-11, John 11:1-45

We say that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. A good lawyer can keep you from the one. Exercise, supplements, and checkups can postpone the other as we keep that nagging knowledge in the back closets of our minds that nobody gets out of here alive. That’s not the scariest part. Along with the mortality rate, the immortality rate is 100% also and it can be best guess to figure out where we’ll end up when we pass over. With that said, no matter what you are dealing with right now: bills, family, job, etc., it’s the afterlife that’s your biggest problem.

Some deny that there is anything after death. I’ll deal with that later. The vast majority “knows” that there…

The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Unity in the Flock

Psalm 23:1-6, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41

Probably the most familiar and loved section of scripture is our reading today in Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd. In it, God promises His provisions and protection with a happily ever after thrown in. After further examination of this Psalm, I discovered one more reason for its popularity: this Psalm is all about me! Every line of verse has a “me”, “my”, or an “I” in it. How could you not love it? The reality is that the church is not just Jesus and me. I am part of a flock, a flock as diverse as a Whitman Sampler. Some of the other sheep make me uncomfortable with their different ideas of worship and doctrine to the point where I…

The Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Do You Hear His Voice?

Psalm 95:1-9, Exodus 17:1-7,Romans 5:1-8, John 4:5-42

Our reading in Psalm 95:1-9 opens with the word “joy” occurring 3 times in the first two verses. As he continues, the Psalmist revels in God’s power in creation and reaches his crescendo with the heartfelt shout, “Let’s go to church!” I can’t remember ever being that excited about sitting in a pew on a Sunday morning, but this guy is. That’s because he has a deep relationship with his God. He sees himself as a sheep of the Lord’s pasture and as Jesus, The Good Shepherd, said, “My sheep hear my voice.” In verse 7, he invites us to join him. We can hear His voice also…if we want to. The Psalm ends with some advice: If you want to hear His…