April 29, 2018 Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 15:1-5  (The Message)

1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. 2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. 3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

There is no doubt about it; by our fruits we are known.  Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together.  For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”

Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”.  When we remain in Him good things will come from our living.  For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.




“It is no use walking any where
to preach unless our walking
is our preaching.”
St. Francis of Assisi









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to live what I believe;  to produce good fruit each and every day.”

April 22, 2018 Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:14  (The Message)

14 "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me.

Life is not discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!

Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” wrote after his seeming success in finding the fullness of life,
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people consider
the dream life of America:  success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York,
forays to Hollywood, the companionship of pretty women,
all before l was 24.  There I was in the realms of gold.
But even as I lived this conventional smart existence
of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams,
IT ALL SEEMED THIN.”           (Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine)

Life is relationships.  It is knowing and being known.  The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him.  When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.



“There are people who use up
their entire lives making money
so they can enjoy the lives
they have entirely used up.”
Frederick Buechner









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me in touch this week with what is really
important, people not things.  And You!”

April 15, 2018 Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:36b-48  (The Message)

36 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, "Peace be with you." 37 They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. 38 He continued with them, "Don't be upset, and don't let all these doubting questions take over. 39 Look at my hands; look at my feet - it's really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn't have muscle and bone like this." 40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 They still couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true. 42 They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. 43 He took it and ate it right before their eyes. 44 Then he said, "Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled." 45 He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. 46 He said, "You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, 47 and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations - starting from here, from Jerusalem! 48 You're the first to hear and see it. You're the witnesses.

Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe.  It is too good to be true.

To “disbelieve for joy”, as some versions depict the disciples reaction to the risen Jesus, is to believe that which is too good to be true.  It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.

As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, “Believing”, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”  For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection.  And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!






"The great challenge of faith
is to be surprised by joy."
Henri Nouwen












Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord surprise me again, and again, and again
with that which is too good to not be true.  Open my eyes to see the resurrection
which happened and happens again and again and again.

April 8, 2018 2 Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31  (The Message)

19 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." 20 Then he showed them his hands and side. 21 Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you." 22 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. 23 "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?" 24 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master." But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." 27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe." 28 Thomas said, "My Master! My God!" 29 Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing." 30 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. 31 These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

Be a doubting Thomas!  It is a part of healthy faith.
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty.  Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says,  “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision.  (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt.  Such are the distinguishing marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church (or totalitarian individual).  (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith (where we become not blind believers) but one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope (in a world of hopelessness and despair.)”  (Soul Making, pp.117,119)

“In a world where there is no room
for  doubt, ambiguity, or questioning,
there is no room for genuine faith.”
Alan Jones











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.  Help me to doubt my way into a living active faith.  And be one of God’s spies making room for hope in my world.”

April 1, 2018 Easter Sunday

John 20:1-18  (The Message)

1 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. 2 She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him." 3 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. 4 They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. 5 Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. 6 Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. 9 No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 10 The disciples then went back home. 11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?" "They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." 14 After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him. 15 Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him." 16 Jesus said, "Mary." Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!" 17 Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.

No one expected Jesus to rise from the dead.
Pilate didn’t.  The Centurion didn’t.  The Pharisee’s didn’t.  The disciples didn’t.  Not even Mary Magdalene expected to find an empty tomb.  Then it happened!   And nothing has been the same since - for them or for us!

Everything we believe hinges on the resurrection.  The words our Lord spoke; the sacrifice he made; the promises He gave, all rest on the resurrection.  Without it they are empty.  With it they become words of life and hope, enabling us to trust that nothing now can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ!  It is eternal!




“Without it the whole thing
would be just a sick joke,
a sick, sick joke.”
Morton Kelsey







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, it is no joke, unbelievable as it is, you live!
And I have eternal hope!”