Looking through a glass darkly

Matthew 9:35-10:8 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’ Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructio...

Matthew 28:16-20 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Credit:  Rev Cécile Schnyder (used with permission) The phrase "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" can be both a logical puzzle and something we take for granted. We create analogies of increasing complexity to explain how three persons can exist as one divine being, which are inevitably both incomplete and imperfect in many ways, but often get used as sermon illustrations. I can remember being in a primary school assembly in which the priest got three children ...

O Spirit of God, This fiery anger which you have brought to me today, is too hot It feels like it will burn me up, like it will consume me Its scalding heat is evaporating my insulation from this world I surely cannot bear this furnace I almost want to ask you to take it away Please come another day I have had as much as I can bear, today But I can still breathe. And as surely as the heat blazes on, still you breathe deep into my lungs You give me mouth-to-mouth, resuscitating me with the breath of life I can still breathe, still open my eyes to see and know How cruelly we have snatched the breath of others away. How could we be responsible for such evil, for such vicious hatred? I breathe and I can't believe it. I breathe and I can believe it. I breathe and I yearn to be changed. Do not leave me, Spirit of God. Do not hide your truth from me. Through your painful love, remake me  And show me the path of life. Ahmaud Arbery. Eric Garner. George Floyd. #BlackLivesMatter

John 20: 19-23 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ By Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90810366 Forgiveness is an absolutely central concept for Christian living. The life of Jesus is one of abundant forgiveness: he forgives throughout his ministry as he encounters the sins of many different people, from all walks of life. When asked how often Christians should forgive on...

John 17:1-11 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. ”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world,...

Luke 24:44-end 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. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. By Hannes Grobe/AWI - Own work, CC ...