Break Open the Word

The Ascension of Our Lord, 9 May 2013 Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47    Or Psalm 93 Ephesians 1:15-23 St. Luke 24:44-53                                                                                     Background:  The Feast of the Ascension Celebrated forty days following Easter, this feast actually might be quite ancient.  The first mention of the feast is made in the fifth century, and it is mentioned by St. Augustine as a feast of “apostolic” origin.  Egeria mentions the feast in her writings from the mid-fourth centur...

The Sixth Sunday of Easter, 5 May 2013 Acts 16:9-15 Psalm 67 Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 St. John 14:23-29    Or St. John 5:1-9                                                                                     Background:  The Program in Acts We find the first statement of purpose in the initial verses of Luke (Luke and Acts comprising one work): “ Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the...