April 26, 2015 Psalm 23 John 10: 11-18 Rev. Catherine Purves I learned something new this week. I was reading about our two Scripture passages for this fourth Sunday of the Easter season and I learned that Middle Eastern shepherding is different from Western shepherding, and the difference is significant. In this country or in Europe the shepherd follows the herd. But in the Middle East, shepherds walk out in front of the…
April 19, 2015 Acts 3: 12-19 Luke 24: 36b-48 Rev. Catherine Purves When I was growing up, after my father died, I had to carry a key to let myself into the house after school. That was still a little unusual back then, but my mother needed to go back to work, and it was the way it had to be. The only problem was that our front door had a quirky lock. …
April 12, 2015 1 John 1: 1-2: 2 Acts 4: 32-37 Rev. Catherine Purves We’re all supposed to learn how to share in Kindergarten, and perhaps we do. But somewhere along the line after that, many of us forget that lesson. Sharing does not seem to come naturally. On the contrary, greed and self-centeredness are more natural to our human temperament. That makes the story about the generosity of the first Christian converts…
Easter April 5, 2015 John 20: 1-18 Rev. Catherine Purves It was a beautiful spring morning, a Sunday. The sun was just up; it was early. But you would have expected some people to be out and about. It was almost too peaceful. Where was everybody? The garden was empty. Where were his friends and his followers? Where were the Roman guards? Where was his family? Where were those who had wanted him…
Good Friday April 3, 2015 Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12 Rev. Catherine Purves Three crosses stood on the hill known as Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. One was the cross of Jesus. On either side of him two criminals were crucified. They all suffered and died together. One went to his death deriding Jesus as a powerless Messiah. The other turned to Jesus, repenting of his sin, and begged Jesus to…