The Rev. Dr. Richard O. Johnson writes, “'Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.' And so it was that in the early church, forgiveness became the order of the day among Christians. Saul, the Pharisee who persecuted the church and even took part in the murder of some of the Christians, could later be forgiven and welcomed into the church as Paul the apostle. Today our Lord expects nothing less of us than to be…
Pastor Russell Saltzman writes, "This morning it is chilling cold; it is winter. This is why Jesus paced up and down the Temple corridors; it was to keep warm. Winter is a grief. The older I become the more of a grief I find it. It is the cold kind of grief that everyone knows, a grief that settles in the bones and stiffens up the joints. It is grief that threatens to fracture a human heart. Some know that…
We have a dispirited group of bored disciples who don’t know what do with themselves because they have had no Word from the Lord, so they go fishing on their own. But on their own, they can’t even catch a wad of seaweed. It is only at the Word of the Lord--his command to let the gospel-net out--only by his Word does their work have any success.
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, “If it is really true that you have seen the risen Lord in the face of fellow believers, in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of scripture--if it is really true that as Jesus was sent so he sends you--if it is really true that you have received his Spirit to undo sin--if all that is really true--why then do you not move? The point of Thomas’ 'doubt' is this: If you have…
Rev. Dr. Amy C. Schifrin writes, "'He is not here,' the men say. Well, that’s obvious. Remember what he told you? And they do. Remember that the Son of man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. If they hadn’t heard the words of their Lord, if they hadn’t listened to his teaching, if they hadn’t seen his love, there would have been nothing to remember and his absence from the…
The Rev. Dr. Amy C. Schifrin writes, "He takes us into himself. This is the power of salvation, and God is its author. He gives it freely to us with his arms outstretched, even as we run from the cross, having hidden so long in the shadows of our lies, or our fears, or whatever else we have use as a drug to keep us from feeling—feeling the world’s pain, feeling our own pain, just too afraid to feel the…
The Rev. Dr. Amy C. Schifrin writes, "Not every Christian will suffer persecution for the faith, but every Christian, simply as part of the human race, will suffer. And Christians will see and hear the end of this life come upon those whom they love. Knowing Christ, for some of us, will come with the piercing brilliance of the mid-day sun, when we don’t walk away, but stay and caress the cheek of the dying and hold their paper-thin hand.…
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "When Jesus said “Come to me, you who are heavy-laden,” he means those burdened by the weight imposed upon them by the might of the ritual law, a weight too heavy to move, a burden borne in life and death. So, when Jesus starts preaching, calling God a Father, claiming a special friendship with the Father, and--in the name of that Father--openly welcoming sinners and tax collectors, well, the reaction is nothing short of electric."
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "God becomes the means of relieving our own culpability. If we cannot blame ourselves, we certainly will blame God. It must be God. But it isn’t. God can’t protect us from our own inept behavior or someone else’s. He promises redemption from what we do and what life will do to us. But he can’t suspend free will, not even the freedom to foul something up so bad somebody dies. But we have a hope,…
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "We build our own temples brick by brick — out of the delusions of goodness within our hearts. We chide children when they act selfishly and evidence envy and greed. But we are children. We have simply grown more sophisticated, better able to suppress our worst instincts, most of the time. We all want what we want when we want it. By rights, we ought to be left to ourselves. But there is some good…
