June 1, 2025
Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year C – Katharine Armentrout
Revealing God and Our Lord Jesus Christ
One of the gifts of working on a sermon is an “aha” moment that can come…not always but sometimes.
And this past week, as I have been reading, studying, thinking and praying about the scripture we have, I had such an “aha” moment.
Like many of you, for years I have studied Jesus, his parables, his miracles, his intellectual skirmishes with the Pharisees, His prayer times.
And it has been about “Jesus” and what He was doing, and is doing for us. It was clear to me that Jesus was faithful to what He believed God was calling Him to do and to be.
But this week, it became clear to me that all this time in Jesus’ ministry it was much more: He was revealing to those he was with, and to us, the very nature of our God!! Who our God is, what our God desires, what our God wants.
Now… for many of you that might not be a revelation but it was to me.
Jesus, when he fed the 5,000, when He healed the paralytic, confronted the authorities, comforted the widow, raised the daughter of Jairius, He was not only being Jesus, Son of God, not only showing us the priorities of our God
but He was revealing the very nature of our God…
the very nature of our God.
May 25, 2025
Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year C – Byron Tindall
This section of John’s Gospel is a portion of what is called the final discourses. Among other things, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is about to take place in Jerusalem. He is also getting them ready to take over his ministry after he is gone.
In 2 weeks, on June 8, we celebrate our yearly remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. To me, it’s the birthday of the church. Jesus’s work on earth is done. He has returned to his Father in Heaven, wherever that is.
This is the arrival of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, about which Jesus discusses with his disciples in the Gospel lesson from John appointed to be read today.
The spoken word and action-teaching of Jesus is rapidly coming to an abrupt halt with his arrest, death, resurrection and ascension. But fear not, Jesus tells his followers. The Counselor, The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost, and there are other names applied to her, is going to help the disciples, AND US, understand what Jesus was trying to teach them and us all along. Unlike the disciples, we don’t have to wait for that arrival.
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives,” Jesus told his followers. When you stop and think about the peace of Rome,
May 18, 2025
Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year C – Bill Harkins
The Collect of the DayAlmighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel: John 13:31-35
At the last supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now, I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
In the Name of the God of Creation who loves us all, Amen. Good morning! And welcome to Holy Family on this 5th Sunday of Easter. If you are visiting us this morning,
May 11, 2025
Fourth Sunday of Easter – Year C – Bill Harkins
The Collect of the Day
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel: John 10:22-30
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
In the name of the God of Creation who loves us all. Amen. Good morning,