Dear friend,
It’s May, and it’s still Easter – right up to the last day of the month. Of course, there is also Mother’s Day, and graduation season, and Memorial Day weekend. Have you noticed that secular holidays have also morphed into holi-seasons? Somewhere amidst all of these attention-grabbers, however, lies an opportunity to continue exploring the unfolding narrative of resurrection and its implications for our lives. Grace and peace,
Rev. Gary R. Cook
Director of Church Relations
Lectionary Reflections
This month, George Johnson leads us through the remaining Sundays in Easter to the celebration of Pentecost. George finds many connections in the Easter season texts to the church’s calling to justice and compassion. Central to the season is his observation on the Fifth Sunday in Easter, “that believing and loving one’s neighbor are part of the same truth. To believe is to love, and to love is to believe.” Each Sunday, his reflections amplify the meaning of that truth.
May 3, Fourth Sunday of Easter
There are few more provocative, disturbing, and soul-searching verses in Scripture than 1 John 3:17. It brings us right into the core of our faith with its economic implications. (4th Sunday of Easter-Year B). Read more »
May 10, Fifth Sunday of Easter
The Gospel and epistle readings help us to remember that believing and loving one’s neighbor are part of the same truth. To believe is to love, and to love is to believe. They are not so much cause and effect as two ways of talking about the same experience. (5th Sunday of Easter-Year B). Read more »
May 17, Sixth Sunday of Easter
Last words before parting are always important, often summarizing what has been said or taught. Jesus doesn’t want his people to forget some very important lessons concerning their calling to love their neighbor. Our calling to care for poor and hungry people is rooted in Jesus’ final words before going to the cross. (6th Sunday of Easter-Year B). Read more »
May 21, The Ascension of the Lord
Unfortunately, the concept of oppression is not a major theme in much of the theological training offered in the First World. There are more than three thousand references to it in the Bible, where it’s identified as the main cause of hunger and poverty. What we see in the Scriptures depends on where we stand. From the position of privilege in the world, we often read the Bible with our own economic lenses, so oppression is not a major theme in our biblical exegesis. (The Ascension of the Lord-Year B). Read more »
May 24, Seventh Sunday of Easter
This psalm, which introduces all the psalms, pictures two ways, two kinds of people, two choices, two results. Jesus also talks in the Gospels about two paths, two gates, two masters, two foundations, two consequences, two interpretations, and two allegiances. We will make a difference in the world if we resist the powerful pressures that cause suffering and if we make wise decisions and choices. (7th Sunday of Easter-Year B). Read more »
May 31, Pentecost Sunday
Signs of death, pain, and hopelessness are all around us. In spite of advances in science and technology, the world is still torn apart by poverty, hatred, and violence. The Christian religion, not to mention all the other religions, has had two thousand years to make a difference, to bring about change. But is the world better today? As one looks out on the human landscape, it reminds us of the valley of dry bones. And we ask, “Can these bones live?” (Pentecost Sunday-Year B). Read more »
Praying Together
Overcoming the Cross of Hunger
Easter prayer from the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
Risen Lord,
Shed your light on those who live in the shadow of death and warm the hearts of those who have lost hope, that they who daily bear the cross of hunger may find your Promised Land, and move from slavery to freedom.
As we proclaim your Easter song, help us to die to greed and rise to justice, to abandon apathy and take up action, so that rich and poor together may travel the road to freedom, and be restored to your resurrection life.
Amen
Resources for Your Ministry
- “Rejoice, Hope, Act” is the theme for Bread for the World’s Gathering 2009, to be held June 14-16 in Washington. Join us for the whole event, for the June 15th Thirty-fifth Anniversary Dinner, or for Lobby Day on June 16th. Find more information at www.bread.org/gathering2009.
- On May 15, Bread for the World and 11 partners will release Getting Ready to Come Back: An Advocacy Guide for Mission Teams. The guide prepares short-term mission teams to be advocates upon their return home. Designed to complement rather than replace other mission trip resources, it offers research tools, journaling suggestions, discussion guides, and practical suggestions for advocacy. Find out more about the guide at www.bread.org/advocacyguide.
- Bread for the Preacher is now a year old, and we hope that you have found it to be a useful tool. We are very thankful to the writers who contributed to the Hunger for the Word series, from which our lectionary reflections are excerpted. That series of three books is available for purchase at www.breadstore.org.
