April 2, 2015 John 17:1-26 Rebecca DePoe Tonight we continue our journey through Holy Week by reflecting upon Jesus’ prayer for unity in the gospel of John. You may have noticed that in all four gospels, Jesus prays to the Father on the eve of his arrest. Clearly, prayer is important to Jesus. But Jesus’ prayer looks different in John than it does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In John’s gospel there is…
Palm Sunday March 29, 2015 John 12: 12-19 Rev. Catherine Purves They didn’t understand. The disciples didn’t understand the events of Palm Sunday – the singing, the shouting, the donkey, the palm branches – they didn’t understand all these things that happened to Jesus until later. It was certainly a grand entrance, so grand that it didn’t go unnoticed by the Pharisees who were already plotting the downfall of Jesus. The crowds were…
March 22, 2015 Psalm 119: 1-3, 10-16 Jeremiah 31: 31-34 Rev. Catherine Purves Have you ever run a red light? I did, just the other day. It was an accident, I should hasten to add. I was coming down Balph and there was a big fat PAT bus ahead of me. It was lumbering around the corner onto Lincoln Avenue at a snail’s pace. I was following along after it, lamenting my bad…
March 15, 2015 Numbers 21: 4-9 John 3: 14-21 Rev. Catherine Purves You can’t beat a visual image for grabbing people’s attention. I could talk until I’m blue in the face about sins and the dangers they pose for us, but that will have nothing like the impact of that single image of the Hebrews’ camp in the wilderness overrun with poisonous snakes biting everyone in sight. And in the middle of this…
March 8, 2015 I Corinthians 1: 18-25 John 2: 13-22 Rev. Catherine Purves It’s almost time for spring cleaning. It has to be. This winter has dragged on long enough. We have been more or less housebound for months, only venturing forth between snow storms and sub-zero days, patiently driving behind snow plows and blessing homeowners who salt their sidewalks. It feels like an awful lot of my energy and efforts are focused…