Easter Day - A

Easter Day - A

Always finish what you start. This seems like a noble value to uphold until we examine all the things we start and never finish. Especially the things we start to work on and their usefulness quickly becomes irrelevant. Ordering 100 palms for the Palm Sunday processional and then having a shelter in place order made by the governor, for example. Or getting all your pants specially tailored and then working from home and spending all day on ZOOM meetings. In fact, buying pants at all right now seems like a complete waste of energy.

Maundy Thursday - A

There are many things in faith that only make sense if we understand the connection. Things like loving one another is the same as loving God, or God’s voice may come to us through the physical voice of a parent or close friend. Making connections in faith is important.

Good Friday - A

Easter Day - A

Easter Day - A

Second chances are important to us. Do you remember the story of Anastasia, the woman who claimed to be the long-lost daughter of the last emperor of Russia, Czar Nicholas II? She was found depressed and suicidal in an insane asylum. Through hypnosis, she recaptured a memory that seemed to confirm her place in royal history. Then the press got wind of the story and sensationalized it: Could this destitute woman be the heir to the Russian throne?

Easter Day - A

Acts 10:34-43
One of the most heartwarming moment of anyone’s life is to see a child teach another child what she or he has learned. I remember lounging on the beach one summer watching a dad teach his son how to build sandcastles. “The sand’s got to be wet,” he explained, packing sand into a mold.

Good Friday - A

In the 2002 movie Gran Torino Clint Eastwood plays the recently widowed and disgruntled retired auto worker Walt Kowalski. One of the subplots of the movie is Walt’s efforts to mentor the Hmong neighbor boy, Thao. Both Thao and his sister Sue Lao are being harassed by the Spider gang in the Detroit neighborhood. In efforts to try to appease the Spider gang, Thao fails to steal Walt’s beloved Gran Torino car. As the movie progresses, it occurs to Walt that Thao will never be free to pursue a job in construction that Walt arranged until the Spider gang leaves Thao alone.

Good Friday - A

Maundy Thursday - A

If your congregation(s) are typical for these United States, you’re possibly combining the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples with the readings for Good Friday. The older custom of businesses closing for three hours on Good Friday to give employees the time to attend worship services has passed, so only retired people and the occasional parent without outside employment can attend worship without losing income.

Maundy Thursday - A

Easter Day - A

Lily looked at the sign advertising the worship services on campus. She checked her calendar on her phone and scrolled through her activities and timetable. There were a couple of times when something was happening at the chapel that she was free. Maybe she should think about attending. She knew her Mom would really like it if she went to church while she was at university.

Good Friday - A

Contents
“Cries for Help” by C. David McKirachan
“Tremble” by C. David McKirachan
“It’s About the Cross Today, Not the Empty Tomb” by Frank Ramirez


Cries for Help
by C. David McKirachan
Psalm 22

Maundy Thursday - A

Contents
“A Waste of Time” by Keith Hewitt
“Lord, Where Are You Going? / Domine, Quo Vadis?” by David O. Bales
“Remembering Jesus In Corinth” by David O. Bales


A Waste of Time
by Keith Hewitt
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

Good Friday - B

Note to the preacher:

Easter Day - A

Then Peter began to speak to them: "... You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ -- he is Lord of all ... he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him ... They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day...."
-- Acts 10:34a, 36a, 38b, 39b-40

Maundy Thursday - A

One of the most interesting accounts of a creative and surprising story was of a father and his three-year-old daughter. During a long winter the little girl had enjoyed more and more using the sparse living room for her gymnasium and for the center of her imaginary world. All the room had in it was a large pillow. So the father set out to tell her a story about a pillow. He made up a story about a large pillow and a forest and animals that would come and play on the pillow. When all the animals slept, the pillow would go sleep with the clouds.

Easter Day - A

Jack was grief stricken. His favourite hen had died. Jack didn't know quite what had happened to Polly, he had simply discovered her one morning shortly before Easter, a broken bunch of feathers. Jack's Mum wondered whether a fox had got into the little hen run, as there were signs of blood and a few scattered feathers. That had made Jack even sadder, for it was bad enough that Polly had died, even worse to think of her suffering.