'Lazarus' Tagged Posts
GOD’S ACRE
You may recall that this past April 12th, we observed Easter in a way we had never observed it before…virtually…live streaming the service with as much joyful noise as a few voices and instruments could make amid the shut-down. Today’s hymns are Easter hymns! This is on purpose. With as many as are able to come to our sanctuary, we will celebrate “a little Easter in August.” We shall stand in a little graveyard in the village of Bethany and…
TENDER MERCIES
The trigger for the attack of the Jewish leaders against Jesus in this morning’s chapter from John’s Gospel was His healing of a man who spent 38 years of his life unable to walk. With a single word, Jesus healed him. Jesus worked a great many miracles of healing during His earthly ministry. But have you ever wondered why these miracles seemed so selective? What about all the other people at the pool of Bethesda that day who were not…
WAITING FOR JESUS
Young or old, it is true that we are waiting. The psalmist said: “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.” To wait on the Lord is another way of describing faith in the Lord. St. Paul said that the whole creation waits in eager expectation, standing on tip-toes like a little boy waiting for the first unit of the parade to come down the street. Think of the patience it took for Abraham to…
GOD’S SECRET SERVICE
In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus speaks of when He will come “in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” As we traditionally ponder the Lord’s final coming in these closing Sundays of the Church Year, it may be helpful to review what the Bible says about the angels. The angels are spirits which God created in the beginning to praise Him and to serve you and me. Usually these angels are invisible. Sometimes, in the days before all…
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS
Our week by week journey through The Acts of the Apostles brings us to the third chapter. By the Savior’s power Peter heals a lame man at the gate of the temple. It brings to mind Christ’s own miracles of healing on the pages of the four Gospels. The Gospels portray a beautiful scene. In the haunting, red rays of the setting sun, when the Sabbath is officially over, the multitudes gather at the door of Simon Peter’s house from…
TENDER MERCIES
The closing verses of Mark’s 10th chapter recount the dramatic healing of the blind man, Bartimaeus. Jesus worked a great many miracles of healing during His earthly ministry. But have you ever wondered why it seemed so selective? What about all the people in the world who never met up with Jesus, who died from their illnesses? And what about all the people Jesus did heal? Didn’t they all eventually die from something else? It is true that Jesus raised…