Sunday Services

Sunday School - 9:30 am

Holy Communion - 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sundays, 10:30 am

Morning Prayer - 2nd and 4th Sundays, 10:30 am

Thursday Services

Evening Prayer 7 PM weekly

(April 2nd, Maundy Thursday Holy Communion Service, 7 pm

April 3rd, Good Friday Service - Seven Last Words of Jesus - 12 noon)

Reaching out to the least, the lonely, and the lost

Holy Communion Service at Friendship South

2nd and 4th Sundays, 2:30 pm

Thoughts from the Lectionary for the Fifth Sunday in Lent commonly called Passion Sunday

From the Gospel Lesson: St. John 8:46 – 59

In chapter 8 of St. John’s gospel account we see Jesus at the Temple teaching. Eventually we see him contending with several religious authorities at the Temple who were quite displeased with His words. He makes the case that He is speaking with His Father’s authority and that His teachings are not His own but His Father’s. The people he is speaking to then deride Him saying that they are of the lineage of Abraham and as such were in the Covenant family. Christ then says to them that if they were they would listen to His words because Abraham believed in the promised One who was now standing before them. “Backing off” they then appeal to their religious authority saying that God is their only Father to which Jesus states that if God were there father they’d believe in Him.

At the point of the listed passage the authorities blaspheme Jesus and accuse him of being possessed. He rebuffs their words by again stating that His authority comes from God the Father and that anyone who hears and believes His words will not see eternal death. At hearing this the men then imply that what He is saying is somewhat preposterous since Abraham and the prophet’s who believed the covenant promises were all dead. Christ then declares His divinity stating that those to whom he was speaking claimed to believe in God but truly didn’t know God. He mentions Abraham’s trust in God, that he would have rejoiced to see his Messiah and that He existed even before Abraham was born. At hearing this the authorities, understanding the implications of His statement, seek to stone Him but he slips away from the Temple.

What can we take away from this exchange? One thing we can note is that our family line and our religious heritage don’t amount to much if we don’t truly know God. All of the “pedigree” and religion in the world is naught if those who profess are not truly part of the Covenant Family of God by faith in our only Savior Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

Fr. Duane+