Trinity Sunday is the only principal feast in the Prayer Book assigned in recognition of a church doctrine. So central is the church’s confession of God as one in three persons, and so hard-won in its early history, that the appointment of the first Sunday after Pentecost as Trinity Sunday became a fixture in the…
Today in the Spirit: Pentecost Sunday A (Whitsunday)
“Pentecost Sunday already!?” While this might well be our reaction to the arrival of this feast day on the church calendar every year, we can only imagine how the disciples felt who were ordered by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and wait until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). As they…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 7A (Sunday After Ascension)
The Sunday after Ascension Day is the seventh Sunday of the Easter season (just as Pentecost Sunday is the eighth Sunday of Easter). Titling the Sunday as such in the BCP 2019 is a return to the tradition of earlier Anglican Prayer Books, which distinguished Ascensiontide (the ten-day period from Ascension Day to Pentecost) from…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 6A
Easter 6 Sunday is the last before Ascensiontide, the ten-day period between the remembrance of Jesus’ ascension on the Thursday following this Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. From earlier prayer books, the BCP 2019 has restored the title “Rogation Sunday” to this day. Rogation comes from the Latin rogatio which means “asking.” This Sunday precedes the…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 5A
By Easter 5A, we have noticed in our Sunday worship that this year the church is leading us through a series of the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In fact, five of the seven “I am” statements in John are contained in the assigned Gospel readings over nine weeks from…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 4A (Good Shepherd)
Easter 4 is Good Shepherd Sunday every year. The collect and most of the readings through the three-year cycle on this day make explicit reference to God as the shepherd of his people. The assigned Gospel readings for Easter 4 over the three years take us sequentially through most of John 10. Ironically, while we…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 3A
On Sunday, Easter 3, the church moves forward with its messaging on Christian living, grounded in the truth of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and appearance. In Year A, the assigned Gospel reading out of Luke 24:13-35 recounts Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke’s skillful narration in this passage demonstrates…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 2A
The church reserves the six Sundays after Easter Day and before Pentecost Sunday for worshipers to contemplate the New Testament resurrection appearances of Jesus and his most significant teachings on life in the power of his resurrection. Our attention in this period is directed mainly to the Gospel of John, and especially our Lord’s last…
Today in the Spirit: Easter Day A
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” At no time is the thrill of shouting out this cheer louder than on Easter Day. “Enter 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…
Today in the Spirit: Palm Sunday A
In our walk with Jesus through the liturgical year, Palm Sunday is designed so that we might contemplate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his death on the cross as a unit. Yes, the reading of the Passion or our Lord on Palm Sunday is no doubt an accommodation to the fact that many churchgoers would…
Today in the Spirit: Lent 5A
The designation of Lent 5 Sunday as “Passion Sunday” in the BCP 2019 is a return to the same designation in the BCP 1928, where the two-week period from Lent 5 Sunday through Holy Saturday is also called “Passiontide.” The Collect and readings assigned in Lent 5A continue the trajectory of the penitential season, highlighting…
Today in the Spirit: Lent 4A
Lent is a season the church employs to teach that, by the light of the Son of God coming into the world, darkness opposed to his arrival is exposed. In these middle weeks of Lent Year A, the church assigns long Gospel readings from the Book of John in which there is significant dialogue between…
