Seventh Sunday of Easter: Our Ascended Lord

Our passage is but one text, yet it pictures three different time periods for Jesus. In effect, it is a 3D picture: Past, present and future. The ascension shows His act of returning to His heavenly throne, His present ministry to the church and His future hope for the church.

Sixth Sunday of Easter: When Philosophy Meets Theology

The Super Bowl, professional football's mightiest conflict, takes place early each year. Two conference champions enter, and one ultimate champion emerges. Would that philosophical conflicts were settled that easily and forthrightly! Conflict over ideas can pit nations against each other (remember the battle of communism vs. democracy in the Cold War?) and even a nation against itself (e.g. America's monumental battle of states' rights vs. federalism).

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Fanning the Flames

October 8, 1871, is a date forever etched in the consciousness of Chicago, for it was the date of the Great Chicago Fire that ultimately cost more than $200 million. The exact origin of the fire has been debated through the years, and the original story of Catherine O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern has been debunked as the fruit of a reporter's imagination.

Fourth Sunday of Easter: His Sheep Am I

Can you imagine a shepherd so cruel as to toss one of his sheep over the wall and out of the sheepfold? Jesus healed a man blind from birth. It happened on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees were so angry they excommunicated the man. They physically expelled him from the synagogue. Violently! This is the background to our text. In this teaching, Jesus reveals several wonderful truths about Himself.

Third Sunday of Easter: A Walk with the Risen Lord

Wouldn't you like to have been one of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus when Jesus suddenly joined their journey? What things He must have taught them as He surveyed the Hebrew Scripture! What wonderful insight they gained about how it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer death and then enter into His glory.

Second Sunday in Easter: The Secret of Joy in Trials

If Jesus is your Savior, your inheritance is one that "is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you," Moses was able to forsake the palace of Pharaoh because he had the long view. Those who live as if this world is all there is do not have such assurance. We have a living hope.

Easter Sunday: Good News, Good Words

I have tried everything. Really, I have worked so hard at it. My sincere desire is to be successful, but I don't do well at it. Memory is not my forte. Folklore tells me my memory will improve the older I getwell at least for things in the past, not necessarily for the things in the current stream of life.

Palm/Passion Sunday: Loyalty Lessons

Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor of agriculture at the University of Tokyo in 1924, wanted a dog for companionship. After looking at some dogs, he chose an Akita born on a farm near the city of Odate whose name was Hachiko. The Japanese name was a combination of hachi, meaning "he was the eighth born in the litter" and ko, meaning "prince or duke."

Fifth Sunday of Lent: Overcoming the Onions of Life

Cooking relaxes me, especially grilling. I can taste the brats or the marinated chicken breasts basted in raspberry vinegar and oil, the grilled vegetables or corn in the husks. My lips are smacking already as my taste buds are fantasizing about juicy hamburgers as the smoke and smell rise from the grill.