Reflections

As the Easter story moves forward, we hear how the church is now needing structures and organization beyond simply following the original disciples. Paul and Barnabas are appointing “elders” for their new groups of believers, using a framework familiar in Jewish life anywhere away from Jerusalem and its temple rituals.  But there is more to this next phase of development of the early church than some management innovations. The coming break with Judaism is visible, on the one hand in the outreach to and acceptance of Gentiles into the Christian community, but…

Continue Reading Fifth Sunday of Easter

The Easter stories we have heard so far are stories of joy, stories of discovery, of discovery of something that was thought lost, discovery of something even better than what went before. This week we hear how there is also a dark side to these stories. Or, if not exactly dark, that there are challenges amid the joy and hopefulness.  Last week the disciples were hauled in front of the Sanhedrin and given a severe talking to. But it’s clear the dressing down didn’t amount to much. This week (Acts 13:14, 43-52)…

Continue Reading Fourth Sunday of Easter

This week we continue with readings illustrating three very different types of Easter experience.  For John of Patmos his mystical experience now extends from the personal and individual that he started with, to encompass “everything in the universe” (Revelation 5:11-14). This is a common feature of mysticism in all religious traditions, combining the intensely personal with an experience of unity with the whole of creation. Most of us see at most a glimpse of this ecstasy, and most likely will know it through poetry or other great art.  At the other extreme,…

Continue Reading Third Sunday of Easter

Last week we reflected on how we are “an Easter people” and what that means. Now as we enter into our 50 day long celebration of Easter we might ask an even more basic question – what is Easter? This might seem a strange question – isn’t the answer obvious? It’s the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection.  But is it? There are a some problems with this answer. First it turns Easter into the celebration of an event. Christmas marks the beginning of Jesus life, Easter marks the end.  But when…

Continue Reading Second Sunday of Easter