Welcome to Holy Textures, Year A, Season of Easter

   

Holy Textures is a spot for my musings on the various Biblical texts that come our way through the Revised Common Lectionary.

My goal is to provide timely, short, easy to use and thought-provoking background commentary for your sermon or bible study preparation.

Year A - Season of Easter - 2020

This year, Easter will arrive in the midst of the experience of a global pandemic and all of its consequences. One of the strengths of living within an ancient practice is being able to draw on the experiences and learned-from-experience wisdoms of those who have gone before. We are not the first generation to live with the stress and anxiety of a deadly present and unimaginable future. Nor are we the first generation to discover that our "faith" was actually based on taken-for-granted assumptions that we were unaware of - because those assumptions just happened every day - never needed to be thought about.

Whatever your context may be, I pray that Holy Textures will guide you in responding to these times with insights / wisdoms / faith that is adequate for these days.

I have been blessed with time to give a close reading to the Holy Week biblical texts and background information about life at the time of Jesus. I come away even more amazed at the courage of Jesus to voluntarily face the torture and humiliation of Roman execution on a cross, in order to remain faith to God's calling - God's purpose - for him: To proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Whatever else Easter may mean, it surely is a sign that God has vindicated the words and deeds of Jesus. We can trust him and what he stood for. And give our own lives for his vision.

As usual with the Season of Easter, we get to spend time with the Gospel of John.

I like to think of John as like a good day at the spa: Soaking in the swirling eddies and quiet back pools of his repetitive, non-sequitur, images and stories.

John wants us to really GET the life that is Jesus. May it be so.

   

See the place where he lay

Easter Vigil
April 11/12, 2020
Matthew 28:1-10 
"To deny the physicality of the resurrection is to deny that God vindicated the words and deeds of Jesus which are embodied in his flesh."
Sermon: "A Covenant Of Compassion."

   

But Mary Stayed weeping outside the empty tomb

Easter Day
April 12, 2020
John 20:1-18, Alternate Reading 1 
"As the Word descended from the Father and became flesh at the start of John's Gospel, Mary is experiencing the reverse process - of the flesh becoming Word."
Sermon: "The Rising."

   

See the place where he lay

Matthew 28:1-10, Alternate Reading 2 
"To deny the physicality of the resurrection is to deny that God vindicated the words and deeds of Jesus which are embodied in his flesh."
Sermon "A Covenant Of Compassion."

   

Jesus himself came near and went with them

Easter Evening
April 12, 2020
Luke 24:13-49  
"The details reported in Luke make it very clear that it was the same Jesus who was crucified who is now resurrected. And they are not seeing a ghost. However, Jesus-who-died-on-the-cross-and-is-now-resurrected has not come back simply to take up his old job. He now says: Over to you."
Sermon: "Road Trips."

   

Reach out your hand and put it in my side

Easter 2
April 19, 2020
John 20:19-31 
"John doesn't care what we see with our eyeballs. He wants us to SEE with our inner eye who Jesus really is. That is why he has written these signs for us. That in SEEing, we might believe; and in believing, we might have the life that is in Jesus."  
Sermon: "Can We Trust God?"

   

He took bread

Easter 3
April 26, 2020 
Luke 24:13-35 
"In this lesson - and in the Last Supper - breaking bread is an act of companionship and solidarity; of loyalty and friendship; of mutuality and sharing. Jesus-now-resurrected still appears to people in mystical visions. These are unique, individual experiences. But all of us can still recognize Jesus-now-resurrected in quite ordinary, everyday ways. Anyone here got some bread? Let's give thanks, break it, share it, and see what happens."
Sermon: "Road Trips."

   

I am the gate

Easter 4
May 3, 2020
John 10:1-10 
"Many voices call our name. Can we be like the good sheep in this lesson and recognize and respond to the voice of Jesus calling our name?"
Sermon: "Back To The Shepherd (Redux)."

   

And you know the way

Easter 5
May 10, 2020 
John 14:1-14 
"If we substitute the "me" with who Jesus says "me" is - the "I am" that he begins with - we get: No one comes to the Father, except through the way, the truth, and the life."
Sermon: "To be added."

   

God will give you another Advocate

Easter 6
May 17, 2020 
John 14:15-21 
"The underlying Greek word which is translated into English as 'truth' is alethea. In Greek, an initial letter 'a' is like our English 'un.' Lethe is the river in Greek mythology that the dead drank from in Hades in order to forget their past. And so 'a-lethea' - truth - has the sense of: waking up; remembering; overcoming oblivion and stupor; being alive and vital; not being deceived by false ideas or desires or scams; SEEING what is as it actually is."
Sermon: "Who Are You Going To Serve?"

   

Lifting his hands, he blessed them

Ascension Day
May 21, 2020 
Luke 24:44-53 
"And as if to emphasize that this blessing of his disciples has not been finished - is still on-going - Luke tells us that: While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:51) Might it not be that even in heaven Jesus-now-resurrected is still blessing his disciples?"
Sermon: "Discernment."

   

May they be one as we are one

Easter 7
May 24, 2020 
John 17:1-11 
"The blessing Jesus prays for is: That we may be one as Jesus and God are one. That is, the quality of companionship between Jesus and God is the measure of our companionship with each other. Shortening the quotation to: That all may be one; misquotes the verse as it omits the defining quality of the oneness to which we are called."
Sermon: "To be added."

   

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit

Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2020
Acts 2:1-21  
"We might all hear the same words - each in our own language - but we will not all hear and understand exactly the same meaning. The problem with life, and faith, and following Jesus is always: What does this mean?"
Sermon: "All We Need Is Love."

   

Jesus came and stood among them

John 20:19-23, Alternate Reading 1
"To be a spirit-filled community of peace requires that we learn and practice and experience the reality and art of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation." 
Sermon: "To be added."

   

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me

John 7:37-39, Alternate Reading 2
"In John, 'thirst' has the double meaning of literal thirst for real water and physical life; and 'spiritual' thirst for a real relationship with God and eternal life. Thus, those who come to Jesus and trust him will have floods of life flowing out of them." 
Sermon: "Baptized Into Paradise."

   

And here are key liturgical dates for 2020.

Key dates for 2020