Luke 24:13-35 Something we often say to one another now is that every day feels the same. We forget what day it is, even what time it is, because we have abandoned our normal routines. It happens in my house, too – although I need to be extra careful to remember when Sunday comes around. Other than that, it’s easy to forget what day it is. Time is almost meaningless. So, maybe it won’t surprise anyone when I point out that, in the biblical texts for this Easter season, it has been the same day for three weeks. Really. From the perspective of our reading for today, it was only this morning that Mary found the tomb empty. And they still don’t really know what’s going on. Now, on that same day, we have two of these disciples – one named Cleopas and the other unnamed – who are walking […]
Continue readingMore TagMonth: April 2020
The Power of Forgiveness
Reading: John 20:19-31 If you have ever seen the film, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” maybe you remember the baptism scene. A group of people all dressed in white, singing, as they slowly walk in single file into the river. One by one they get dunked in the water and come out cleansed, forgiven, renewed. Delmar, an escaped convict, gets swept up in the beauty of it and runs in to the water to get baptized too. He comes back to his two buddies all dripping wet, smiling, and says “Well that’s it, boys, I’ve been redeemed! The preacher’s done washed away all my sins and transgressions. Including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.” One of the others says, “Delmar, I thought you said you was innocent of those charges.” “Well, I was lying,” Delmar says, “and the preacher says that sin’s been washed away too. Neither God […]
Continue readingMore TagHeart to Heart Talks, Part 6: While Mary Stood Weeping
Today’s Easter Service video sermon John 20:1-18 Preachers often say that Easter is the hardest day to preach. Because what can you say about this story that hasn’t already been said a million times before? Well, let’s see if we can look at the story this morning with fresh eyes. Mary came to the tomb so early on Sunday morning it was still dark. But when she got near she could see that something was amiss. The stone that was covering the tomb had been moved aside. If it looked like anything, it looked like foul play. It looked like somebody had broken into the grave and taken the body away. Mary didn’t go any nearer to investigate. Mary was smart – not like some character in a scary movie who walks into the dark, empty house with the broken windows. Mary was smart; she turned and ran the other […]
Continue readingMore TagHeart to Heart Talks, Part 5: A Different Way
Matthew 21:1-11 On the day that Jesus and his followers came into Jerusalem, it was approaching the Passover celebration. This was and is a time of great celebration for the children of Israel. Most of the Jews didn’t live in Jerusalem – just like most Americans don’t live in New York – but they traveled there for the holiday. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish religious life. The temple made it so; it was the place to offer thanksgiving to God, the place to offer repentance, the place to receive forgiveness. But Jerusalem was more than that. It was not only a center of religious life, it was a center of political life and even financial life. It was like Washington DC and Manhattan rolled into one – the center of power in the region. It was the time of the Roman occupation; Rome placed its own chosen governor in […]
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