Scriptures & Reflection Questions for May 7

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please click the "comments" button at the bottom.


May 7, 2006
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18

Acts 4:5-12
The next day after the healing of the crippled beggar, their
rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas
the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who
were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the
prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power
or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the
Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders,
if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to
someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been
healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of
Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is 'the stone that
was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."
________________________

Only a short time ago, a fearful Peter denied Jesus three times and fled from the scene of the crucifixion in fear. Now he is speaking boldly to the same people who engineered Jesus' death.
Can you remember a time when you had courage to reverse an earlier failure?
When I have spoken frankly to confront someone with their responsibility?
______________________________________________________

Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd; *
I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures *
and leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul *
and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those
who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
__________________

What is it about this psalm that makes it the most beloved of all the psalms?
When has this psalm been meaningful to you?
______________________________________________________

1 John 3:16-24
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we
ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love
abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or
sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in
truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the
truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts
condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows
everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have
boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask,
because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe
in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as
he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide
in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he
abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
__________________

What is your personal reaction to the second sentence of this passage?
What does it mean to say that "God is greater than our hearts"?
How is this message like Shakespeare's line "conscience doth make cowards of us all"?
______________________________________________________

John 10:11-18
Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down
his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and
does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep
and runs away--and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The
hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the
sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know
me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay
down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to
this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.
So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the
Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it
up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
up again. I have received this command from my Father."
_________________

What does the metaphor of Jesus the good shepherd mean to you?
__________________________________________________________________

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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Scriptures & Questions for April 30, 3 Easter

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this email and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.


April 30, 2006
Third Sunday of Easter, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Acts 3:12-19
Ps 4
1 Jn 3:1-7
Lk 24:36b-48

Acts 3:12-19
When Peter saw the astonishment of the people who had seen
the lame man healed, he addressed the people, "You Israelites,
why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by
our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors
has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and
rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to
release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and
asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author
of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man
strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through
Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of
you. "
And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as
did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had
foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped
out.
___________________

What have you done in ignorance that caused great pain or suffering?
How does this passage speak forgiveness, release and freedom to that memory?
___________________________________________________

Psalm 4

1 Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause; *
you set me free when I am hard-pressed;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 "You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory; *
how long will you worship dumb idols
and run after false gods?"
3 Know that the Lord does wonders for the faithful; *
when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.
4 Tremble, then, and do not sin; *
speak to your heart in silence upon your bed.
5 Offer the appointed sacrifices *
and put your trust in the Lord.
6 Many are saying, "Oh, that we might see better times!" *
Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.
7 You have put gladness in my heart, *
more than when grain and wine and oil increase.
8 I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; *
for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
__________________

Read this psalm very carefully as if it were your own prayer in the evening.
How would you read between the lines?
What personal content would you attach to these words?
____________________________________________________

1 John 3:1-7
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called
children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world
does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are
God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like
him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in
him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin
is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no
one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children,
let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is
righteous, just as he is righteous.
__________________

1. Know yourself as God's child.
2. Feel your ultimate destiny: you will be revealed as being "like him."
3. Now, think about your sins as being violations of your essential being, your true self.

How does that process help you think about yourself and your call to transformation?
_________________________________________________

Luke 24:36b-48
Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with
you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they
were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened,
and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my
feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does
not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had
said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their
joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them,
"Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled
fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke
to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me
in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he
said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and
to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and
forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
things.
__________________________

Although the stories of the resurrection appearances offered by the various gospel writers are very different from one another, the greeting of the risen Christ -- "Peace be with you" -- is a common feature.

When have you experienced a kind of peace that seemed to come from something more than yourself?