The Seventh (and final) Sunday of Easter holds a unique position in the salvation story, as it is the only Sunday in the ten-day window after the ascension but before Pentecost. This reality is reflected as every year the Church reads the account of Matthias succeeding Judas (First Reading, Acts 1:12–26), which did indeed immediately follow the ascension (Acts 1:6–11) and did…

In today’s Gospel, from the middle of Jesus’ farewell message to His disciples (Jn 13:31–17:26), our Lord emphasizes love: His Father’s love to Him, His love for His disciples, and His disciples’ love for one another. And His sacrifice is the greatest love. Let us love as Jesus loves us. Link to Service video on Vimeo Link to service bulletin

In the Sundays of Easter, we see that the resurrected Jesus changes lives. How dramatically that is demonstrated in the life of Philip, who in our First Reading receives the call to “go” (Acts 8:26) in the power of “the good news about Jesus” (8:35). As God’s faithful people, we are also to go and come alongside others (8:29) with the same…

In the Sundays of the Easter season, we celebrate the truths and promises of what the resurrected Christ offers. We are loved by God the Father, whose plan from eternity was to redeem and restore lost sheep. This is notably expressed on Good Shepherd Sunday. Our risen Christ authenticates the truth that He truly is the Good Shepherd who lovingly cares for…

Easter is here again this Sunday. There are three things to observe. First, Jesus demonstrates that He really is alive, in the flesh, by pointing to His hands and feet and by eating some fish. Then He demonstrates the significance of Easter from the Scriptures as the basis for proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Finally, He commissions His hearers as…

The Day of the Resurrection of our Lord, the First Sunday of Easter, is the climax of the church year. This fifty-day season proclaims the victory of Christ, who overcame sin, death, and the devil. It follows the forty-day season of Lent that reveals the weight of humankind’s sin, the need for repentance, and the saving work of Christ’s death on the…

In today’s Epistle (Phil 2:5–11) the apostle Paul manages to capture the mystery and majesty of this day in one simple sentence: “And being found in human form, Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8). The humility of Jesus is also accented through the preaching of Zechariah in today’s Old Testament Reading…

The Propers for the Fifth Sunday in Lent take us to the heart of our Lord’s saving work on behalf of the whole world. In the Old Testament Reading, the prophet Jeremiah succinctly lays out the Lord’s promise of a new covenant. From this new covenant flows a gracious promise: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no…

Last week the lectionary gave us one of the most famous readings in all Scripture: the Ten Commandments. This week, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, the lectionary tops that: Ephesians 2:8–9 and John 3:16! So much to say. So much already said. So familiar. Let us listen closely. Link to Service video on Vimeo Link to service bulletin

We would not expect a Sunday in Lent to be without confrontation, and the Third Sunday in Lent does not disappoint. Lent is the season of the church year in which we are most powerfully reminded that our sin sent Jesus to the cross. The penitential character of Lent comes into stark relief this Sunday as the sacred confronts the profane. God,…