Fifth Sunday in Lent

Readings — Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 7:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 The musician Johnny Nash was born in 1940.  His early years were filled with difficulty until 1972 when the fog of his life cleared.  That was the year he wrote this very popular song — v. 1  I can see clearly now, the rain…

Readings – Acts 2: 14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; I Peter 1: 3-9; John 20: 19-31 158 years ago, the Civil War was ending.  It was the war when those states who insisted on white supremacy and slavery pulled away.  They no longer wished to stretch to the value put forth in the Declaration of Independence:…

Readings – Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; I Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 Their world was crashing down with the Babylonian Empire’s forces destroying everything and everyone in their path.  In the 8th c. B.C.E. the prophet Jeremiah wrote: My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. The contemporary psalmist wrote: O God,…

Readings – Exodus 34: 29-35; Psalm 99; II Corinthians 3: 12-4: 2; Luke 9: 38-34a From the Gospel according to St. Luke: Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a…

Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11; Psalm 126; I Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28 WWJD.  What do those letters signify?  Not sure when the bracelets were popular, perhaps in the 1980’s.   “What Would Jesus Do?” is what I think St. Paul wrote about in I Thessalonians. “Pray without ceasing” is to be aware of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,…

Readings: II Samuel 7: 1-11, 16; Psalm 89: 1-4, 19-26; Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38 Scripture, Holy Scripture, does not always get it right. Yes, we can say that out loud. There are examples in our readings this morning. Nathan, the prophet, did not get it right. King David, fresh from his victories over…