I tend to preach from what’s called the Revised Common Lectionary. It’s a three-year cycle that follows the Christian year, offering recommended passages for devotion and worship. I like using it because it keeps me from recycling the same dozen or so favorite passages. And sometimes I even like it because I feel the Holy Spirit nudging me towards passages I might have otherwise avoided.
This week’s readings were the opposite: which to choose?!? Acts 9 shares the incredible story of Paul’s conversion, baptism, and the beginnings of his Christian ministry. The richness of Psalm 30 which cries out to God from a place of hurting, reminding us not just that God is with us, but that God wants us to speak from truth, even in our lack of understanding or doubt. The incredible scene of Jesus on the shore, coming to meet the disciples in their grief and share with them in John 21, and the powerful throne room revelation of Revelation 5.
As I wrestled with these, I remembered a sermon on John 21 shared by our Bishop, Tom Berlin, called “Hope Does Not Put Us to Shame”. Its title and brief description piqued my interest… but it was Holy Week. It arrived on Maundy Thursday. And watching it was just not going to happen. So, it languished in my inbox.
Finally this afternoon I watched it and loved it. It spoke to me, gave me hope and energy, and I believe it will for you as well. If, as he shares, you are someone that has experienced a wavering of your faith, if your burdens have you turning elsewhere for answers, God has a message for you. I invite you to receive his thoughts, his words of hope, on this promise.
Which leaves Revelation 5 to me and us on Sunday. In the meantime, here’s my boss, Bishop Tom Berlin, on John 21:1–14 and Romans 4:18–5:5. See you Sunday.
Rev. Ben Richards
