As surely as we “live and move and have our being” in “the God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:28, 24), the apostles and the early church were surely moved by the resurrection of that God. Again, this Sixth Sunday of Easter we see the propers, especially the First Reading from Acts, keyed by the fact that Christ…

First Peter (in general) and our text (in particular) speak to our baptismal identity as “newborn infants” (2:2). After addressing his hearers as “elect exiles” (1:1), Peter opens with a high doxology: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the…

The joy of Christ’s resurrection and the gifts He won for all by it are brought home as certainties in the lessons for this second celebration of Easter. Why are they certain? Because it’s God who has won them! The Epistle from Peter’s first letter assures the believer that hope, the gift of eternal life in Christ, is just as “living” for…

Throughout the Lenten season we looked at the kings of the Old Testament and found the truth of Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (vs 3–4). The plans of God are eternal, gracious…

Palm Sunday is that pivotal Sunday in the season of Lent. Through the preceding five Sundays, we have lamented our sins in contrite hearts, pleading the Lord’s mercy as we joyfully look toward His coming. And Jesus does come to us—descending from heaven above (to earth I come!). But now He ascends, up to Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice. We follow our…