11th Hour Preacher Party: "Hello Again, Sunday!" Edition

Is it just me, or was this a very short week between Easter Sunday and Easter 2 Sunday? 

Here we are again, getting sermons ready to go and putting the finishing touches on worship services.  

How many ways are there, I wonder, to say, "God loves you. Believe it and act like it."?

No matter that the week after Easter is often called "Low Sunday."  Let's say, "Hello, Sunday!"  

One of the joys of hosting these Saturday preacher gatherings is reading your sermons as you post them.  You take so many different approaches; you come up with so many different ways to share love and grace and new life. Thank you for your sermon gifts and for the conversation that fuels our sermon work.

The 11th Hour Preacher Party is where we work it all out and where we come up with the next sermon for this new week. 

Welcome, familiar faces and new friends!

Come on in and pull up a chair. Pour yourself a cuppa something. The coffee and tea are always Fair Trade and ready to go.  Help yourselves to an extra serving of encouragement and good humor and resources.  

If you don't see what you need, please ask.  

And greetings to each of you!  Welcome to the party!  

Tuesday Lectionary Leanings: doubting Thomas edition

Complete lections here
After all the intensity of Holy Week, it's all too easy to slump into exhaustion as soon as the final alleluias of Sunday fade into silence, but since Easter lasts 50 days that's really not an option, even for clapped out clergy! And of course for many in our churches, the transition from the pain and emptiness of Good Friday to the jubillation of Easter Sunday may just have been too abrupt. So though this coming Sunday is traditionally "Low Sunday", we need to give them an opportunity to share the joy...which, for me, is where Thomas would come in. Late to the celebrations, out of step with the prevailing mood, and, bless the man, needing proof. You have to love him (while being glad that we're not all branded for centuries on account of one aspect of our characters; you can so imagine it..."She's a bit of a panicking Kathryn, you know...")
The whole story is such good news for we who walk by faith rather than knowledge - there's much you could explore there I'm sure.

Or maybe you'll offer your congregation the challenge presented by the Acts community
4:34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. Dare we believe that there might truly be enough to go round, if we really tried to give in the same way that we have received? With many anxious souls in our congregations, that could be really transformative.

You know, I'm almost regretting that I have a Sunday off - do share the direction you're heading...and Happy Easter!

Tuesday Lectionary Leanings: Peace and Joy Edition

Lessons for this coming Sunday can be found here .

Peace and joy. Joy and peace. Those words, and their connotations, can be found throughout our readings. No matter how bad things have been, or are -- it's not the end of the story. That's Jesus' message to his frightened, uncomprehending friends. It's the message Peter proclaims to his listeners in the reading from Acts. And it's the message of the Epistle lesson as well.

Perhaps I'm in an unseasonably pensive mood this morning, but I experienced a bit of cognitive dissonance visiting the lessons after first skimming through a contentious online Christian forum I frequent where the atmosphere is anything but peaceful and joyful, even in the glorious wake of Easter Sunday.

Why is it so hard for us to live into Christ's peace? Do we even understand what peace means? Why do the "Easter people" often seem to be the least joyful of all?

What would our faith communities look and sound like if we truly let ourselves believe that Christ's resurrection gives us reason to be peaceful and joyful right here, right now?

As always, please post your thoughts and ideas and questions here.