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Weekly Commentaries

John 14:1-14

During the stay at home orders, with our church meeting via Zoom, my sermons became shorter – about 7 minutes. This commentary will also be short. Here is one major insight about this passage that I have found helpful. I hope you do, too: My view of life after death has been strongly influenced by NT Wright. After reading and studying his work, I am convinced that Christian hope – when speaking of afterlife – is a bodily resurrection on a renewed earth, not a disembodied spir

Matt Rundio

2 min read

Acts 7:55-60

These verses in Acts describe the death of the first martyr: Stephen. According to Acts 6:8, Stephen was “a man full of God’s grace and power” and he “performed great wonders and signs among the people.” This seems like the kind of man who would rise to the top of the religious power structures, right? Wrong. According to Robert W. Wall’s commentary, Luke’s reference to the “Synagogue of the Freedmen” seems to represent a Hellenistic Jewish faction which opposed the Hellenis

Marissa Coblentz

2 days ago4 min read

1 Peter 2:2-10

N. T. Wright concludes his essay on this Sunday’s pericope by saying, ”If we find it hard to keep up with the bewildering range of scriptural references which Peter is pouring into the letter at this point, that what it was like for ex-pagan converts in rural Turkey in the first century.”[1] It is not exactly helpful for a preacher who expected to give her people a “takeaway.” It is helpful, however, for an entry into this passage because preachers can warn their congregation

Ryan Quanstrom

5 min read

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

I’m guessing I’m not alone in being drawn directly to verse 5 in this Psalm, remembering that Jesus speaks these words right before breathing his last in the Gospel of Luke, and Stephen speaks them while being stoned to death in Acts (found in this week’s lection). Reading this week’s selection of Psalm 31 sets up an interesting juxtaposition between these dark and heavy moments and a fairly optimistic Psalm. Declarations of hope and confidence in God as a “rock” and a “ref

Chris Nafis

3 min read

Rhythm

A weekly discipleship experience for students

The Fourth Week of December

Because of Jesus’s suffering on earth, we are not alone in our suffering.

Addison Gildner

Dec 22, 20257 min read

Vocatio

A weekly discipleship experience for adults.

John 14:1-14

Leader Guide Participant Handout Lesson Focus: We know who God is because we have seen Jesus. Jesus has shown us the way to go forward in life and faith. Catching up on the story: Jesus is stuck in perpetual conflict with the Jewish religious leadership over his identity. Jesus, over and over again, proclaims that he and the Father are one. To know Jesus is to know who the Father is. Jesus is also constantly doing things, saying things so that those who are around him will be

Jason Buckwalter

2 days ago7 min read

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Rev. Jason Hill

Rev. Jason Buckwalter

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APA LITURGICS

Liturgics seeks to resource clergy with ancient, modern, and creative worship elements that will help to connect our churches more to each other and to the church historic.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Call to Worship: Charles Wesley One: Blessed be God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. + Many: And blessed be God's Kingdom, now and forever. Amen. One: O God, you called us by name to come, and we respond with delight and gladness Many: In joyful obedience, we come to worship our God. One: Rising out of the depths of despair, we gratefully gather for worship. Many: In joyful hope, we come to worship our loving God. One: Our God had given us a new song of praise to sing to our Aw

Brent Neely

4 min read

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Your Wesleyan

LECTIONARY RESOURCE

Weekly Commentaries

John 14:1-14

Acts 7:55-60

1 Peter 2:2-10

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

Rhythm

The Fourth Week of December

Vocatio

John 14:1-14

DISCIPLESHIP RESOURCES

Sacred and Small

Rev. Jason Hill

Rev. Jason Buckwalter

APA LITURGICS

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

SUPPORT APA

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BUY on BOOKSHOP

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John 14:1-14

Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

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