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…