As we continue our journey through the Easter season we focus on the core truths of our faith. This week we learn what it means to be church, not just as individual followers of Christ but how all of us together form the greater Body of Christ. Though the term “Body of Christ” is not specifically used in our readings this week, these stories help form the foundation of what Paul and the Apostles will eventually see as how we as church form the Body of Christ and what that means. The Word for the 5th Sunday of Easter Acts 9:26-31 Psalms 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32 1 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8 In our first reading from Acts of the Apostles we are introduced to Saul of Tarsus, a man whom the disciples feared, and with just cause. Saul was a devout Jew who not only persecuted the followers of Christ but actively hunted them down to bring them to Jerusalem for trial. Saul is also the same man whom we will come to know as Paul the Apostle. As we pick-up the narrative in this week’s passage, S
During Lent the focus of our readings was on our Salvation History, but during Easter we focus on the basic truths of our faith – those taught to us by Jesus, and then through the Apostles, who slowly realized these truths as they set out to spread the Gospel. In the Acts of the Apostles, we witness the evolution of both their ministry and their understanding of Jesus’ teaching. This week, we see the Trinity at work in our readings – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all acting in concert to reveal to us God’s love and how we should live as his people. The Word for the 4th Sunday of Easter Acts 4:8-12 Psalms 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18 We begin with Acts of the Apostles where Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, finds the courage to speak up to the people and the elders. His message is simple; the one you rejected is the one who can save you. While the story is powerful in its own right, the context of the events surrounding the story