Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year C, RCL)

While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.

Given the environmental future we’re facing, we would do well to address it with resurrection hope.

Abundance is not always God’s modus operandi.

Each tree in my neighborhood is the tree of life.

The psalmist calls for something that is hard for us to imagine.

Like a girl jumping double dutch, Jesus has perfect timing.

At the heart of each lesson is storytelling and wondering.

The disruptive way of the Lamb

How can we overcome our anxiety? And should we even try?

John 14:15–21

I have always been intrigued by Lydia. Acts describes her as a worshiper of God, one whose heart has been opened, a dealer in purple cloth, and a woman willing to offer her home for others to stay. She is often associated with images of hospitality in the church.

It’s common to confuse ministry leaders with Jesus. We can see ourselves in Judas’s question to Jesus, “How is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Why do we have to carry the message?

The church’s recognition of the reality of radical evil opened its music to dissonant, jagged 20th-century soundscapes and what they could express.

People do not float through life in the bubble that is their skin. We are grounded, dependent beings that live through the lives and deaths of others.

I want the kingdom of God to be civilized. If possible I'd like to be able to keep sleeping in my own bed.

For my money, John’s is the only Gospel in which Jesus seems really lonely.