Readings – Acts 10: 34-43; Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15: 1-11; John 20: 1-18 Our God is just awesome, inviting and embracing with love, giving second chance after second chance after second chance. Remember Thomas? Following the arrest of Jesus, what did he do? He fled. When Jesus appeared on Easter Sunday, the […]
The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
Readings – Mark 11: 1-11; Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a; Psalm 31: 9 -16; Philippians 2: 5 – 11; Mark 14: 1 – 15: 47 One of my favorite Christmas carols, yes, Christmas carols, is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, Hymn #56. The first verse is as follows: Holy Week proclaims, without a doubt, that […]
Easter Letter 2021
Dear Friends, It is with great joy that we approach the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Morning. The effort of quarantining, masking, distancing, and temperature taking by the people of Snyder County, our neighbors, has given us the gift of resuming community worship. Come with your bells to make a joyful noise, and […]
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Readings – Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Psalm 51: 1-13; Hebrews 5: 5-10; John 12: 20-33 Our readings for today highlight the reality that faith is an affair of the heart. The proper collect for today states “… our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found”. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking for […]
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
Readings – Numbers 21: 4-9; Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2; 1-10; John 3: 14-21 The freed slaves, the Hebrew people, were complaining again as they journeyed toward The Promised Land. They detested the “manna from heaven” that God was providing for them in the wilderness. They were “impatient on the way”, as children in […]
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Readings — Isaiah 40: 21-31; Psalm 147: 1-12, 21c; I Corinthians 9: 16-23; Mark 1: 29-39 Let’s begin with St. Paul’s letter to the congregation in Corinth, Greece. He wrote, “… I am entrusted with a commission…”. I think we all have been entrusted with a commission, to love God, to love neighbor, and to […]
Wednesday Morning Bible Study – Spring 2021
Elijah the Prophet For our Jewish friends, the Passover supper is the most important meal of the year. It is known as the Seder. At the table that evening there is always an empty chair and, on the table, an empty wine glass. This place is reserved for Elijah who just might come in […]
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Readings – Deuteronomy 18: 15-20, Psalm 111, I Corinthians 8: 1- 13, Mark 1:21-28 Moses was nearing the end of his days. It was time to pass on the baton, to pass on the torch, to pass on the leadership to the next leader of the people of Israel. The Promised Land was in sight […]
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Readings – Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62: 6-14; I Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20 Immediately, following the arrest of John, the Baptist, his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth stepped up and stepped into public view, declaring, as written in the Gospel according to St. Mark, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come […]
Homily by Bruce Johnson 17 January 2021
Listening for the Voice of God The writers of the Old Testament included quite a few stories about a prophet named Samuel. One of those stories is our lectionary reading for today. The setting for this story is in a place called Shiloh. Long before Solomon built his famous temple in Jerusalem there were […]