[RCL] Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35 Our services for the Easter Season this year feature readings from the Revelation to John, the last book of the Bible and perhaps the most mysterious. Much of the drama in Revelation is centered around the throne of God and the Lamb, or as it is…

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” With these eleven words, Jesus turns the world order upside-down—in first-century Palestine and here, today. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” Jesus tells us that everyone will know we are his disciples if we have love for one another….

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise the Lord from the earth! Let us praise the name of the Lord, for God’s name only is exalted, God’s splendor is over earth and heaven. Amen. Today’s readings situate the early church within the Jewish culture of first-century Judea. The passage from the Acts of the…

By now, our bold and joyful refrain of “Alleluia!” has surely lost a bit of its shiny newness. The bright dawn of Easter Sunday has passed, and the news of our Lord’s triumphant resurrection has begun to settle into our hearts and minds. But as was the case with the first Christians, the full magnitude…

The Collect for today asks for us to be able to know Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life that we may follow in the way that leads to eternal life. Once there was a church that had the phrase “I am the way, the truth and the life” on a sign above…

Think about filling up a cup with water. You can fill it only so far, right? Once it has been filled to the brim, what happens when you try to add more water to it? It overflows, of course. The same is true of a sponge that, submerged in water, becomes so saturated it can…

[Y]ou shall love your neighbor as yourself… Leviticus 19:18 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34 Here we have, from two separate stories and two separate times, the instruction to love each other. The first is from…

[The first part of this sermon talks about Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch, a celebrated author of children’s books. This is one of those books that appeals to adults as well as children. If the preacher has this book available, it might be helpful to read it (it is short) before going on to…

This gospel text is read in Eastertide, in anticipation of Jesus leaving a particular place, at a particular time, and a particular group of people. As might be suspected, there was some anxiety about that in his leaving a particular group of people. We can imagine how they must have felt. Life and feelings had…