St. Luke's Blogs

One of the great joys of new technology is the ability to rediscover the past.  I recently located the album “Underground” by “Abraham of Clymer Pennsylvania.”  The (fairly obscure) album was released on cassette tape in 1987, and the band was one of my favorites.  In fact, their concert in Corry, PA was one of the very first “rock concerts” I attended as a teenager.  My cassette tape (and player) was lost many years ago, but the iTunes version brought back so many memories…

One of my favorite hymns is, “I Love to Tell the Story.” This beautiful song is filled with language that makes our connection with Jesus seem so intimate. As you sing through the lyrics you hear the joy and passion that Jesus invokes in the person who has heard the great story of his love and his wonderful works done while on earth. This hymn lifts my spirits every time I sing it. On this day after Easter, it seems even more significant, as I think about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley, 1739

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Every year, there is a song that resonates with me throughout the Lenten season. The song is Were You There? It is an American spiritual that was first published in 1899 with William Eleazar Barton’s Old Plantation Hymns. Some years later in 1940, it was included in the Episcopal Church hymnal, making it the first American spiritual to be included in any major American hymnal…

Every year during Holy Week we celebrate Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means mandate or command. It’s a reminder of the commands Jesus gave the disciples on the night of the Last Supper. In John 15:12 Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” He also gave them the command to remember Him every time they shared communion, eating the bread and drinking from the cup. That’s why we often celebrate Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday. It’s a reminder of the love that Christ has shown to us, and the commandment for us to go and love others as well.

I was always very close to my Grandmother. I would spend lots of weekends staying with my grandparents growing up. Over the years, my love and respect for my Grandmother only grew as did my desire for her approval. It wasn’t that she withheld it from me, I had her approval, it was just that sense of wanting a loved one to be proud of me…

If you witnessed Jesus calm a storm, heal the sick, and raise the dead, would you ever doubt Him again?  The disciples did. After hearing the others say they had seen the risen Christ, Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) One week later, Jesus let him do exactly that, and then said, “Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27) Even during The Great Commission, when the eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee to hear the risen Christ, the Bible says, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17)…

Simon was the brother of Andrew. He was a fisherman from Galilee. He had a family and a home in Capernaum. Andrew first encountered Jesus, but he quickly went to tell his brother, “We have found the Messiah and he brought him to Jesus.” (John 1:41-42) Simon would quickly become a follower of Jesus and soon would be amongst Jesus’ closest disciples…

“Forgive our sins as we forgive,”
You taught us, Lord, to pray;
but You alone can grant us grace
to live the words we say. 

How can Your pardon reach
and bless the unforgiving heart
that broods on wrongs and
will not let old bitterness depart? 

In blazing light Your cross reveals
the truth we dimly knew:
what trivial debts are owed to us,
how great our debt to You! 

Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, bound to all in bonds of love,
our lives will spread Your peace.