May 9, 2021
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Rogation Sunday
Year B
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Themes for the Week: Holy Spirit, mission to the Gentiles, victory, praise, incarnation, commandments, abiding in Christ, friendship
This Sunday's Readings: Acts 10:44-48 • Ps. 98 • 1 John 5:1-6 • John 15:9-17
The Holy Spirit inspires new speech and exultation, songs and marvels, victory and vindication, joy breaking forth in all the earth. The lyre makes a melody, the trumpet blasts, the horn blows, the seas roar, the hills sing, and yet every sound is an eruption from the deepest silence, the hidden ground of love. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love” (John 15:9). Read it all.
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Get even more lectionary resources with The Living Word Plus, our expanded edition of The Living Word. Learn more.
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Preaching Today
Dan Edwards: He Calls Us Friends
“People who experience the universe as cold and indifferent become cold and indifferent themselves. But those who accept the friendship of God become friends of all creation. So, if we want to ride upon the heights of the earth, where do we begin? We take a serious look at Jesus and dare to trust that he enjoys us and longs for us to enjoy him.”
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Classic Texts
First Book of Homilies: To Love Every One
“Charity is also to love every one, good and evil, friend and foe, and whatsoever cause be given to the contrary, yet nevertheless to bear good will and heart unto every one, to use ourselves well unto them as well in words and countenance and all our outward acts and deeds. For so Christ himself taught, and so also he performed in deed.”
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Articles on This Sunday's Texts
Linda Buskirk: Blessing All the Neighborhood
“On Rogation Days, instead of praying for the work inside the church, Holy Trinity processes down sidewalks, stopping to pray for people who work in the neighborhood. Mother Terri explains the church asked store owners in advance for permission to come on their property and pray. She then wrote special prayers for each place.”
Marcia Hotchkiss: Holy Listening
“In training programs, spiritual directors are taught to think of any direction as a three-way conversation that includes God. Some call this the image of the third chair, and they put a third chair out for the deity. Others light a candle to signify the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Neil Dhingra: Ideal Friendship?
“The Gospel of John emphasizes that Jesus’ death is voluntary, an expression of love for ‘his own who were in the world,’ a love that is ‘to the end’ (13:1). Jesus calls his followers to this very same ‘love,’ which is entangled with being his ‘friends’ (15:14) and entails the willingness to lay down one’s own life as a martyr.”
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