Break Open the Word

The Second Sunday of Easter, 3 April 2016 Acts 5:27-32 Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150 Revelation 1:4-8 St. John 20:19-31 Background: Thomas It is this Gospel reading that we most readily associate with Thomas, identifying or perhaps put off by his skepticism, and then startled by his confession, “my Lord and my God”. There are other quotations by Thomas that lead us to this portrait of him in the Gospel of John. The first is from a scene in John 11:16 , where Jesus proposes going back to Judea, where there was an attempted stoning of Jesus. Thomas replies, “Let us go also, that we might die with him. Later in John 14:5 , Jesus describes his own going to prepare a place for his followers.   Perplexed, Thomas replies, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” It appears that Thomas was one of the most honest of the disciples. From here, the Thomas story diverges into two distinct possibilities. The first is the collection of Jes...

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Day, 27 March 2016 Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 65:17-25 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 I Corinthians 15:19-26 or Acts 10:34-43 St. Luke 24:1-12 or St. John 20:1-18 Background: Acts of the Apostles This account of the ministry of Paul that moves out of Palestine into Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke, and is believed to be by the same author. The date of its composition is thought to be around 85 CE, although others date it well into the next decade, and some see editing still being done in the second century. . In this account, we see how the ministry of Jesus becomes a movement that is not tied solely to Judaism, but becomes a force in the Gentile (Roman) world. Some see in the work an apology (an argument for) intended for the Jews who did not find the Jesus movement convincing. Thus Paul will make his initial attempts of mission work in the synagogues or the Diaspora. Others, outside of that purview...