Month: May 2021

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” [John 3:1-3, a portion of the Gospel reading for Trinity Sunday, the First Sunday After Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. I suspect that if you asked ten Christians if they could recite John 3:16 without opening their Bible, nine…

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know” [Ezekiel 37:1-3, a portion of the Old Testament lesson (Ezekiel 37:1-14), the Day of Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. He poured himself a second mug of strong, black coffee and sauntered back to his make-shift home office. As was his morning habit,…

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God [Luke 24:50-53]. Our Faith teaches us that our risen Lord appeared to various groups of His disciples for a period of 40 days following that first Easter morning, when Mary, questioning a man whom she thought was a gardener, heard the voice of her “Rabbouni!” [John 20:16] and realized that Jesus indeed had risen from His tomb. Later…