Preacher: Nathan Hosler Scripture: Luke 24:1-12, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 We need a resurrection. We need a resurrection. I first thought this phrase while in church last Sunday, feeling beleaguered and discouraged in this very sanctuary. We need a resurrection. The next day on Monday, the 5th Anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok…
Category: resurrection
Nobody’s Perfect. Is it Possible to Be Like Jesus?
Preacher: Micah Bales Scripture Readings: Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48 “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” We are the children of God. I know that for a lot of us today, this phrase, “children of God,” has…
NO CROSS, NO CROWN
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38 Micah Bales When I first read through the scripture readings for this Sunday, it wasn’t immediately clear to me how our gospel reading relates to the passage from Genesis. The story of Abraham and Sarah seems to be all about God bestowing unconditional blessing and abundance on…
O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN
Isaiah 64:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, & Mark 13:24-37 Micah Bales The first Sunday in Advent I’ve been accused of many things. But I’ve never been accused of being without imagination. When I was a child, I had what you could probably describe as an overactive imagination. Every book I read, every cartoon I watched,…
NOW AND THEN
Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9 Jeff Davidson Sometimes the lectionary suggests passages that don’t seem to make a lot of sense. We’re just a week after Easter. You would expect that we should still be in celebration mode, shouldn’t we? You would think that we should still be shouting “Alleluia!” and rejoicing in the risen…
YEARNING FOR SUNDAY
John 20:1-18, Romans 6:1-14 Jenn Hosler A Saturday Vignette At the end of the meal, one of us stepped out. Judas was often heading in and out, so I assumed it was something with his duties as the keeper of the common purse. We didn’t think anything of it, I guess, but I wondered a…
WE HAVE SEEN THE LORD
John 20:19-31, Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8 Micah Bales I’ve joked with Jenn and Nate that I feel like I tend to get some really tough lectionary readings on the Sundays that I’m asked to preach. Lots of passages about death, destruction, judgment, and Jesus’ command to give away all our possessions to the poor. I…
THE LAST ENEMY
Luke 24:1-12, I Corinthians 15:19-26 Nathan Hosler The “original” Easter happened once. This was long before Easter became a holiday and got associated with abnormally colored eggs or abnormal bunnies or abnormally colored chicks or perhaps most abnormal of all—little brightly colored chicks made of marshmallow. Of course the “original” Easter was in fact much…
BAD NEWS: GOOD NEWS
Romans 10:5-13 The First Sunday in Lent Jeff Davidson Does anyone here besides me remember watching the TV show Hee Haw in its original run? It ran on CBS from 1969 through 1971, and then ran in syndication for over 20 years. It was a good show, and it introduced us to a lot…
He’s Back
“He’s Back” – Nathan Hosler Acts 2:14a, 22-32, John 20:19-31, 1 Peter 1:3-9 The year was 2002. Just 24 months into the new millennium and there I was—sent but sitting in the dark. I was in Weierhof, a small German village of about 900 people an hour southwest of Frankfurt. Was with Eastern Mennonite…