Today in the Spirit: Easter Day B

Posted on March 24, 2024
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โ€œAlleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!โ€ At no time is the thrill of shouting out this acclamation greater than on Easter Day. โ€œEnter then, all of you, into the joy of your Master. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who have fasted and you…

10 Ways to Preach on Maundy Thursday

Posted on March 20, 2024
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What is Maundy Thursday? The liturgy for Maundy Thursday begins a three-day observance of the most holy events in the Christian Liturgical calendar. Known as the Triduum, the service of Maundy Thursday, followed by Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and the Easter Vigil, cover a four-day/three-night journey into the heart of the Christian Gospel. The name…

Today in the Spirit: Palm Sunday B

Posted on March 17, 2024
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Thus far in Lent, having walked in Mark and John with Jesus through conflict, we now come to Holy Week and the final upsurge of opposition ending in our Lordโ€™s death in Jerusalem. As always on Palm Sunday, the combining of the Triumphal Entry and the Passion narratives will send us as worshipers reeling in…

10 Ways to Preach the Palm Sunday Sermon

Posted on March 11, 2024
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In David Roseberryโ€™s ongoing series of posts on 10 Ways to Preach, we come to Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Palm Sunday features a diverse mix of stories and traditions, encompassing the events from the Lordโ€™s triumphal entry to his burial in a tomb. For that reason, it is challenging to determine what…

Today in the Spirit: Lent 5B (Passion Sunday)

Posted on March 10, 2024
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In the BCP 2019, you will find that the Fifth Sunday in Lent is also titled Passion Sunday. This is a pre-Vatican II designation for the Sunday beginning the week of Passiontide, which lasts through the Saturday before Palm Sunday in those churches that still observe it. The readings this deep in Lent bring us…

Advent and Lent alternate

Today in the Spirit: Lent 4B (Laetare Sunday)

Posted on March 3, 2024
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The church takes us this week to another event of Jesusโ€™ ministry in which he comes into conflict with unbelief in the world. In Lent, the church intends for us to meditate carefully on the challenges we face with unbelief in our daily lives, both our own and those we face from others. The assigned…

Today in the Spirit: Lent 3B

Posted on February 25, 2024
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As we walk in the lenten season with the Son of God incarnate, the church exposes us to instances in the Gospel narratives in which Jesus comes into conflict with the religious establishment of his day and the spiritual powers of darkness which have perverted the revelation of the law. On Sundays in Years A…

Today in the Spirit: Lent 2B

Posted on February 18, 2024
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Lent is a season of self-examination and allowing God to speak honestly into our hearts about the quality of our discipleship, corporate and individual. With the readings assigned for this particular Sunday, Lent 2B, we could assign the title for the week, โ€œEven unto Death.โ€ The theme of death and dying appears in every selection….

Today in the Spirit: Lent 1B

Posted on February 11, 2024
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We transition now to a season of forty days (not including Sundays) of walking with Jesus through the trials of his earthly ministry right up to the cross. In Lent, we observe from the Gospels and other parts of Scripture what the Son of God in the flesh endures on our behalf, how he handles…

10 Ways to Preach on Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 7, 2024
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In David Roseberryโ€™s ongoing series of posts on 10 Ways to Preach Liturgical Events, we come to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. If a congregation gathers to observe Ash Wednesday, it will likely include these dramatic liturgical moments: It is a deep and profound service; as you can see, it can…