After Holy Week and Easter Sunday, most of the pastors & priests I know who serve congregations took a very long, very well deserved, can’t-wake-Jesus-from-the-dead Easter nap — the kind of nap needed to recover one’s life from exhaustion and from the weariness that comes with holding stories of death & hope so intimately close.
Now, four Sundays (almost) after Easter, and four weeks after that fabulous Easter nap, life has resumed many of its routines and a great deal of its 24/7 busyness … as well as the threat of exhaustion that comes with both. It’s hard to remember that lily-filled Sunday one month ago when we celebrated the fullness of life with loud Alleluias! Thankfully, this coming Sunday’s Revised Common Lectionary texts are right on time with their reminder: new & renewed life wasn’t just for Jesus on Easter — life is meant for the rest of us too.
- Life that soaks its feet in still waters and rolls playfully in green pastures (Psalm 23).
- Life that knows to its core that its ears & feet are attuned to Christ, that no other self-proclaimed messiah can steal our hope from the One Who Loves Us (John 10:22-30).
- Life that is witnessed to and cared for by saints who will not let us slip into death (Acts 9:36-43).
- Life that has tricked the wolves of hunger and eluded the grasp of thirst, life that joins the endless song of praise (Revelation 7:9-17).
Take a deep breath, preachers. Get up — there is life for you too, and much life to proclaim!
How are your sermon plans coming together? Share trajectories and drafts and links in the comments.
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A good day to get to know Tabitha/Dorcas, the only woman explicitly identified as “disciple” in the book of Acts, and the ONLY time the feminine form of “disciple” is used in the WHOLE New Testament! Looking forward to building a message around this pillar of leadership in the baby church!
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Yep, I’m with Tabitha/Dorcas, too. I’ve used her frequently as a text for funeral sermons.
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I’ve been thinking about all the voices we hear especially in this election season and how we discern if they are voices of promise,mope, peace. And then this liturgy showed up on my newsfeed. It is so moving to read each name and recall the faithfulness of their voices.
http://www.pcusa.org/blogs/today/2016/4/12/justleros-more-just-nonsense-or-disparates/
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I appear to be preaching on “Our doctrines” – the four “faith statements” of the Methodist Church. “All need to be saved, all can be saved, all can know they are saved, and all can be saved to the uttermost.” Quite how I got here from “My sheep listen to my voice” I am not sure, only that it seems to be the right direction to go in.
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I am exploring Jesus as both Shepherd and Lamb and how as disciples we are both leaders and followers. As clergy, we are leaders (shepherds) of the church, but we cannot effectively lead if we do not follow Jesus in all we do (sheep). All Christians are called to be both Christ followers and leaders in feeding his sheep.
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I’m linking them all together as an invitation to live a life of Resurrection that is now. At least this is what I’m thinking at the moment. Here’s what I have so far: https://rachaelkeefe.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/resurrection-is-now/
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