Fifth Sunday in Lent - A
David Kalas
Schuyler Rhodes
As I look out on my congregation on any given Sunday, I recognize that a significant percentage of the folks gathered here are involved in matters of life and death.
For some, it comes with their profession. Doctors, fire fighters, police officers, members of the military -- these are folks in our flocks who deal with matters of life and death every week. They don't have to look very far from any given Sunday to find a high-stakes experience in their work.
For others, however, the experience is not professional, but personal. The young couple that is eagerly expecting a new life in their home. The middle-aged woman who is watching her mother die gradually. The older man who has recently received a diagnosis that has brought mortality so close to home. The widow...
For some, it comes with their profession. Doctors, fire fighters, police officers, members of the military -- these are folks in our flocks who deal with matters of life and death every week. They don't have to look very far from any given Sunday to find a high-stakes experience in their work.
For others, however, the experience is not professional, but personal. The young couple that is eagerly expecting a new life in their home. The middle-aged woman who is watching her mother die gradually. The older man who has recently received a diagnosis that has brought mortality so close to home. The widow...
David Kalas
The old spiritual sings of "dem bones," but that reference is just a step removed, isn't it?
After all, God doesn't ask Ezekiel about "them bones" or "those bones." Rather, God asks
Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?"
"These bones," you see, are a little closer to home than "dem bones."
That's typical of God, is it not? To ask questions that are close to home? We are the ones who want to ask questions that are theoretical, at arm's length, a safe distance away, about someone else (see, for example, John 4:19-20; 21:20-21). But he doesn't ask us about those bones -- the ones over there, the ones at a safe distance, the ones that belong to someone else. Rather, he asks about these bones. He asks us about the bones right here in our own living room -- in...
"These bones," you see, are a little closer to home than "dem bones."
That's typical of God, is it not? To ask questions that are close to home? We are the ones who want to ask questions that are theoretical, at arm's length, a safe distance away, about someone else (see, for example, John 4:19-20; 21:20-21). But he doesn't ask us about those bones -- the ones over there, the ones at a safe distance, the ones that belong to someone else. Rather, he asks about these bones. He asks us about the bones right here in our own living room -- in...
From The Washington Post, November 25, 2001: "Scientists in Massachusetts said today they had succeeded in creating the first cloned human embryos, a controversial advance intended to speed the development of new medical therapies but which could also hasten the arrival of the world's first cloned baby."
The controversy that has been on-again and off-again is on again. Cloning: the scientific manipulation of cells and their genetic structures in order to produce an identical copy of an organism. It began with Dolly, the Scottish sheep that was a clone of another sheep. It has moved on to deal with issues of abortion and stem-cell research and the possibility of growing new organs from stem cells to replace diseased and damaged organs. There is the issue of whether the...
The controversy that has been on-again and off-again is on again. Cloning: the scientific manipulation of cells and their genetic structures in order to produce an identical copy of an organism. It began with Dolly, the Scottish sheep that was a clone of another sheep. It has moved on to deal with issues of abortion and stem-cell research and the possibility of growing new organs from stem cells to replace diseased and damaged organs. There is the issue of whether the...
Dry bones. Fleshly living. Stinking body in the grave. This is not a day for natural exuberance. How much nicer to look at a world in the week of its creation, when all is green and vivid with promise; to caress an animal and feel it pulsing; to reach out to the hand of a friend.
The Christian church, however, is not a museum, an antique shop, a house of the dead, a desert scene -- though it often looks like each of these. It is a place of life: of people returned from exile, of those who would naturally limp but can dance, whose eyes were dimmed but now they see.
How move from one vision to the other? In the scene with Martha in the gospel we come across a well-schooled character who had learned from the rabbis a doctrine, the doctrine of the resurrection. She...
The Christian church, however, is not a museum, an antique shop, a house of the dead, a desert scene -- though it often looks like each of these. It is a place of life: of people returned from exile, of those who would naturally limp but can dance, whose eyes were dimmed but now they see.
How move from one vision to the other? In the scene with Martha in the gospel we come across a well-schooled character who had learned from the rabbis a doctrine, the doctrine of the resurrection. She...
David Kalas
Each year about this time, we in the church are fond of making a misplaced analogy. Tennyson wrote, "In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." Perhaps if he had observed the contemporary American church, he would have written, "In the spring a preacher's fancy turns to thoughts of nature and Easter." Again and again each March or April, we see trotted out the symbolic connection between the event we celebrate on Easter -- Christ's resurrection -- and the season in which we celebrate it -- springtime. Spring, we are told, is the season of new life, and so the resurrection of Christ is tied to nature's annual display of spring flowers and buds on trees.
The association between Easter and spring is a lovely one and quite sentimental. Unfortunately,...
The association between Easter and spring is a lovely one and quite sentimental. Unfortunately,...
David Coffin
Usually we emphasize the spirit around the season of Pentecost. However, this same spirit is present for all believers even during times of trials, testing, and journey though life’s difficulties. All three of this week’s lessons serve to remind us that the outcome of the Lenten journey is intended to point toward new life. While Christians are reminded all year that we might see and experience the shadow of the cross, the spirit of life is also ever present.
How does anybody get out of bed in the morning during Lent? This year, it is the end of March and the beginning of April. The winter Christmas holidays are a distant memory and the only thing people have to look forward to in April is “tax deadline” day on April 15. Some people have had their share of “cabin fever,” being...
How does anybody get out of bed in the morning during Lent? This year, it is the end of March and the beginning of April. The winter Christmas holidays are a distant memory and the only thing people have to look forward to in April is “tax deadline” day on April 15. Some people have had their share of “cabin fever,” being...
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