No Other Name

Acts 4:5-12

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

In this account from the Book of Acts, chapter 4, the lectionary committee has really just given us the middle of a whole sequence, so I want to tell you what goes before and after. Before is that they, the Twelve, were standing there in Jerusalem. They had replaced Judas. Along came a crippled and he was healed. Everyone was excited. They knew Jesus had healed, but here it was continuing. What the authorities did was throw the apostles in prison because it had excited and disturbed the people. Then we have the verses for today. Peter stands us and says: “There is no other name under heaven by which we shall be saved.”

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God doesn’t want nice people; he wants new people.

Luke 24:36b-48

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter

The Gospel text for today is another text about an appearance of Jesus after the resurrection. In order to get at what it’s about I’d like to go through the Nicene Creed with you. The Nicene Creed is the most widely held creed in Christendom, and of course, it is about the resurrection.

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Doubting Thomas

John 20:19-31

Every Year this Sunday we have Doubting Thomas. Everybody likes Doubting Thomas. Thomas the Apostle and the Twin, but it’s that “Doubting” that says he’s my kind of a guy. I understand that because after all, doubting is what it’s about. How do you know? When we ask ourselves: Why, of the apostles and the early church, is Thomas so well known and so favored? What’s happening here? What is this Doubting Thomas about?

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Psalm 23

A sermon for the Season of Lent (Maundy Thursday)

Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the high holy days which are the center of the Christian year. The word “Maundy” comes from the word “mandated,” that is, we are commanded, or called on, to celebrate this because it is the beginning of the Lord’s Supper. It is “three days” from Thursday night to Sunday morning.

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