Posted in Church Year on May 24th, 2009
Ascension—the day we commemorate Jesus’ returning to Heaven—was on Thursday, though many churches will celebrate it today. The lectionary passages for Ascension focus on royal imagery—God the king (Ps 47), Christ the king (Eph 1)—and on the stories from Luke and Acts of Jesus commissioning the Apostles.
Before he leaves them, Jesus opens their minds [...]
Posted in Church Year on May 17th, 2009
This week’s Gospel passage continues Jesus’ discourse on the vine and the branches, which I wrote about last week. In her comment on that post, Catherine wisely pointed out the importance of receiving God’s love. Inherent in this image of abiding, of being a branch grafted to a vine, is the notion of receptivity. The [...]
Posted in Church Year on May 10th, 2009
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus commands His disciples to “abide in me.” A few verses later, he says, “Abide in my love.” In the church, we talk about God’s love a great deal. But a lot of this God-is-love talk glosses over how costly that love is—not just for Jesus, but for us, too.
Right after [...]