6th Sunday of Easter (Graduation Sunday)
Scripture: Acts 16:9-15
God doesn’t tap us on the shoulder and then leave us alone to figure it out from there. God is a constant presence, guiding, advising, hinting, strengthening us for the journey into discipleship. But how do we hear that voice? How do we know what God wants to say to us? How do we discern God’s voice in the midst of all the other voices in our talkative world?
Scripture: Acts 11:1-18
Change is all around us, even in the church. And change is never easy. Our text this week is about a whole new direction for the beginnings of the church. It has to do with who was considered worthy to include and who should be avoided. Peter pushed the church to go further than they were comfortable going. Wait, no, it wasn’t Peter. The Holy Spirit pushed the church to go further than they were comfortable. And that has been the church’s story from then on.
Scripture: Acts 9: 36-43
Celebrate a life not by titles but by labors. To celebrate a teacher, for example, gather the students and show the impact. To celebrate a knitter, gather the prayer shawls contributed. To celebrate an engineer, show the buildings built or systems employed. We celebrate a life by talking about lives touched. Some may be less visible, more difficult to gather in one place; in which case, you tell the story or stories. Celebrate the ripples that radiate out from one life and intersect with many others.
Scripture: Acts 9:1-6
Saul needed to be introduced to the one who was calling. We might need to be reintroduced to the one who directs us. What does it mean to say we are followers of Christ?
Scripture: Acts 5:27-32
A life of faith is a life of fruitfulness. Even as we are in the business of changing the world, we are being transformed too. And wherever we are on the discipleship journey, we can make an impact; we can be witnesses for the kin-dom of God. Worship issues a challenge to live out our faith daily. It is where we make our promise to the God we praise that we will follow; we will represent the faith; we will be witnesses.
Scripture: Luke 24: 1-12; Acts 10: 34-43
And everything changed in that moment. Moment? Event, perhaps. Everything changed with that event. Easter is a new start, a new creation. We didn’t go back to Eden, but the way to the kin-dom of God was opened on that day.
Scripture: Luke 19:28-40; 23:1-49
It is far too easy to go straight from a parade to a Resurrection party without acknowledging that valley of death that goes between – accepting the gift of new life without the call to surrender the old. Too often we present a “having your cake and eating it too” kind of mentality that produces a watered-down faith that won’t sustain us when the shadows envelop, and grief arises. We need to know; we need to be introduced to a savior who is acquainted with sorrow and knows our pain. This is the savior who would gather us up; this is the one who can redeem us.
Scripture: John 12: 1-8
We are nearing the end of this season; next week is Palm/Passion Sunday. So, here we can focus on giving honor to the Christ who as journeyed with us throughout this difficult season. Like Mary, we can pour out in blessing praise and worship as we gather. We can offer something precious as we approach the one who loves us more than his own life. What could we leave at the Table as we come forward for the sacrament? An offering? A prayer? A commitment of self, or gift, or time? We consider what we receive, and we should. But this time, what can we give? What act of service could we perform as we move into community at Table together?
Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Today is a day to thank God for welcoming us home from our wandering, but it is also a day of extending that welcome in as many ways as possible. Draw the circle wide. These are the ones Jesus longs to gather under his wings – the ones outside our doors, the ones not like us. How do we enlarge our vision? How do we open our hearts to see as Jesus sees? How do we scan the horizon outside our walls, longing for those who have not yet found their way home, eagerly hoping for them, for any to come? How far will we run down the road to embrace them? How might we gather them up in Jesus’ name?
Scripture: Luke 13: 1-9
We all want our lives to amount to something. Jesus gives us that sense of purpose and direction. We are called to bear fruit. Of course, this needs to be explained further. What is fruitful? What kind of fruit? Who benefits from this fruit? But that’s part of the exercise: to learn to understand and experience our own fruitfulness. In the end, we proclaim the word that to be gathered up in Jesus is not simply for our own benefit, not simply to make us better, or feel better about ourselves. Being gathered up in Jesus has an impact on the world around us. The fruit we bear is where transformation can begin to take root.
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