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