It is a blessing to have four Gospels.
The Gospels are not four views of the same event (not like the fabled elephant and the blind reviewers). None are first-hand accounts. It is unlikely that the authors of any of the Gospels ever met Jesus in person. Each Gospel is a retelling of a story well-known to a particular group of followers of Jesus.
Read MoreChristianity is an evangelical faith. From its beginning it has inspired its followers to proclaim good news. Thus Christians publicly proclaim things about their faith. And they say that what they proclaim is news, good, useful—and sometimes transforming—information to those who listen. Christians are convinced that they have good news worth sharing.
Read MoreThe oppressed, the outcast, and the disenfranchised are suspicious of prophets, who, they think, offer ineffective diatribes and platitudes and false comfort to those who are suffering. They have no patience with prophecy.
Read more on All Your Works Praise You…
Read MoreThere are so many ways not to understand this story in Genesis. They all boil down to the same single question: “How could God do this?”
How could God demand such an action? How could God test Abraham in such a way? What sensible God would ask a father to sacrifice his son?
Read MoreThis reading from the Gospel of Matthew seems like a mishmash of sayings about one thing or another. By my count, there are fourteen different ideas, vaguely related at best, in these sixteen short verses. What do sparrows have to do with secrets have to do with teachers have to do with families in conflict? And even if we can find some common thread—which I think we can do and will—even then, it is hard to see the good news, that is, the gospel, in them.
Read MorePreacher: Tim Snyder, Director of Christian Education
I. The End is the Beginning
Finally a gospel with a proper ending.
Today, in Matthew’s account, after twenty seven chapters that tell about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, we have an ending that really does the gospel justice. In Mark’s gospel the women run away from the tomb in fear and they tell no one. Later on, editors would try to clean it up with a few awkward cut and paste jobs. Luke’s ending is like when audio books used to be on cassette tapes: “You have reached the end of Part One. Please turn the cassette over and press play for Part Two: The Acts of the Apostles.” Biblical scholars have long suggested that John’s gospel likely ended with the now penultimate chapter 20. An extra chapter was apparently needed later on to secure some solid pro-Peter as leader / foundation of the church propaganda.
Read MoreWe are familiar with this story of Pentecost. It is an old standard.
We know how it goes. The disciples are in a locked room. They are touched by fire. They feel the wind of the Holy Spirit. They begin to speak in tongues. And everyone is amazed.
Read MoreThis is the last Sunday in Easter. Next week is Pentecost.
It marks a change of seasons. Today’s reading is the last for a while from the Gospel of John, who has been our guide for all of Easter. From now on it will be mostly Matthew. We leave the season of resurrection stories and enter a season of ordinary time, a time of the life of the Spirit sustaining and revealed in the daily lives of people here.
Read more on The Long Goodbye…
Read MoreNot exactly history, not exactly myth, the book of Acts is an origin story. Through episodes about the early church and its leaders, it attempts to explain why Christianity worked. Why we have even heard of it, much less be it. Why it did not fade away like so many of the political and religious movements that were its contemporaries. Or, if you say that the reason was that God intended it, then you could say that Acts explains how it worked.
Read more on Seductive Evangelism…
Read MoreWe are not alone.
This is a central characteristic of Christianity. We gather into groups for prayer, worship, fellowship, and service. Jesus was not a lone prophet. He traveled with a band of followers. The Gospel stories are as much about the disciples as they are about Jesus. The disciples are gathered at the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus and live beyond his life on this earth. The book of Acts—which is really the second volume of Luke—is the story of the community formed by the Spirit of Christ after his ascension.
Read more on Plenty of Room in God’s Household…
Read More