A Holy and Acceptable Offering
Read: Romans 12:1-4 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice . . . which is your spiritual worship. (v. 1) Every Sunday, Christians gather to worship God—in person at church, with family members at home, or virtually online. We often think of “worship” as singing or praying. Both of these are a part of worship. […]
A Living Sacrifice
Read: Romans 12:1-2 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. (v. 1) It takes a certain kind of person to be a police officer or firefighter: determination, grit, and a sense of duty. In their line of work, they run a lot of risk. The police officer goes into harm’s […]
All We Need to Know
Read: John 20:30-31; Romans 11:33-36 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31 NRSV) The Belgic Confession, one of the historic confessions of the church tradition to which I belong, […]
So I Send You
Read: John 20:21; Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21 NRSV) Matthew’s Gospel is where we find the Great Commission, Jesus’ charge to his disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name […]
The Eighth Day
Read: John 20:26; 2 Corinthians 5 Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:26 NRSV) There is a theological tradition in the church that refers to the day of resurrection as the eighth day. The eighth day is meant to draw our attention to the seven days of creation. […]
The Lord’s Day
Read: John 20:19-23; Revelation 1:10 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19 NRSV) Any time a seemingly […]
The Power to Forgive
Read: John 20:1-10; Matthew 6:14-15 So she ran and went to Simon Peter. (John 20:2 NRSV) This is the first time Peter’s name shows up in the Gospel of John following his denial of Jesus. On the dark night we call Good Friday, Peter acted as if he did not know the man. Now, with […]
Meeting Our Doubts
Read: John 20:24-29; Revelation 3:20 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25 NRSV) […]
Presence in Grief
Read: John 20:11-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb. (John 20:11 NRSV) Even though we believe in the resurrection, there is a place for grief in the Christian faith. Mary was the first to reach Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning. […]