Rev. Zach

Psalm 24 ; John 12:12-27 Before the reading, I asked you to put yourself in the scene of the triumphal entry of Jesus and consider what core emotion you believe the characters in the story might have felt and I gave the example of joy, sadness, anger, fear, and amazement). So let’s hear what you felt like as a character in the story. [Prior to the reading I assigned them to groups of different characters. Here are their responses: Temple Priests and Leaders – concern and disgust; People in the crowd – amazement and wonder; Disciples – joy and amazement (Judas was mentioned as plotting against Jessus); Greeks – curiosity; Pilot or any of the Roman Cohorts – anxiety, concern for rebellion; which would be felt differently depending on their rank]. I want you to hold onto that emotional perspective as we continue to reflect on this story. It may help you understand what John had in mind when telling this story. Remember that the context of the audience also matters, because John was writin...

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19   Psalm 24     Ephesians 1:3-14     Mark 6:14-29 As a media rich culture we produce and consume vast and untold amounts of magazines, books, music and video.  It seems that we are constantly consuming or communicating about some idea or some opinion about recent events.  Whether you blog, tweet, pin – or even read one of those newspaper thingies – we are involved in constant conversations about the world and its events.  And when we aren’t doing that, some of us love to escape the world in a good book or even a terrible movie. And nothing draws us in like a tragic back-story – you know, the story before the story.  “Years ago you served my father in the clone wars,” said the princess, and we’ve been hooked to one of the most powerful film franchises in the universe for 38 years.  Perhaps it is because a good back-story makes us feel like their story could be our story.  We can believe a character’s ...