Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 
~2 Corinthians 13:11
 
Put things in order. Listen. Find agreement. If you rush to the end of this blessing, you can too easily find you’ve arrived at an empty promise: live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you.
 
Peace is not an accident; it is not simply an absence of conflict—an unresolved ceasefire, a claim lacking evidence. Peace is about right relationships. It comes by way of justice. And as long as justice is denied, as long as our most vulnerable siblings are threatened, as long as force and unilateral power is the primary lever, peace will be delayed. This is true in the international theater, in our neighborhoods, and in the quiet of our own heart and soul. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another…” The apostle charts the way to peace here. It is filled with active verbs, with activity. It does not stand still. So let us together, in agreement, listening to this Word, move forward through worship and through thoughtful, intentional action.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 1:1-2:4a † Psalm 8 † 2 Corinthians 13:11-12 † Matthew 28:16-20
 
About the Art: Sun and Moon, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57384 [retrieved May 16, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_and_Moon,_Nagy_Imre_Community_Centre,_2016_Csepel-Csillagtelep.jpg.
Readings:  Acts 2:1-21 † Psalm 104:24-34, 35b6 † 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 † John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” … When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
~John 20:19, 22-23

The featured story of Pentecost Sunday, of course, is the receiving of the Holy Spirit in the familiar passage in Acts 2—a sweeping and mighty telling of God’s Spirit falling on people fabulously and almost indiscriminately—much like the story of creation to which it refers. But here in John is a quieter version, an inner reading of the same thing, the same event, you could say.

The context of John’s story is one failure after another of humanity—Jesus’ complete abandonment by his closest followers. When he enters that locked room, he even takes a moment to offer evidence of that betrayal: his pierced hands and feet. And what does he say? “Peace be with you.” He says it twice. And in so doing he shows the way to renewal, to a new creation of peace. And then Jesus gives them the power to do the same thing, to be creators of something new: If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

Here again we see in Jesus the image, the very light of God shining out of a life in which there is no violence, only forgiveness, only love, only new and just possibilities, only new understanding, only peace. A new heaven and a new earth.
What if forgiveness is how God keeps creating the world? What is being held closed in your life that only forgiveness can open?

Enter into worship. Wear red!


Readings:  Acts 2:1-21 † Psalm 104:24-34, 35b6 † 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 † John 20:19-23

​About the Art: Miller, Mary Jane. Pentecost (A Second Version), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59681 [retrieved May 18, 2026]. Original source: Mary Jane Miller, https://www.millericons.com/.

About the Artist: Mary Jane Miller is a self-taught Byzantine style iconographer with over 28 years of experience, born in New York and living in Mexico full time. Her collections of sacred art are contemporary, with a proficient command of egg tempera. The work is extraordinarily rich in style and has been exhibited in museums and churches in both the United States and Mexico. As an author, Miller blends historical content and personal insights to arrive at contemporary conclusions about faith. Her six self-published books include Icon Painting Revealed, Mary in iconography, In Light of Women, and Life in Christ and The Stations. Miller has been published online and in publications such as Divine Temple, Russian Orthodox Journal, Faith and Forum Magazine, Liturgy Today and Profiles of Catholicism. She teaches 4 courses annually, 5-day immersion workshops throughout the US and Mexico. Website: https://www.millericons.com/, https://sanmiguelicons.com/Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iin_the_beginning_34x28_by_Brian_Whelan.jpg - photographed by Wendy Roseberry with permission from Brian Whelan.

So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
~John 17:5
 
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on God, because God cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering…
~1 Peter 5:6-9
 
Glory is essentially reputation. Jesus isn’t looking for some big statue of himself. He is not looking for status, spotlight or spectacle. This is something more intimate and constructive. Father, glorify your son is a prayer that what is about to happen, including his own lynching as a scapegoat by bloodthirsty political and religious systems, might reveal the truth about God.
 
But that may not be the most astonishing or unsettling part of all of this because Jesus also associates himself with his disciples. “I have been glorified in them,” he prays. In them. That we could become the bearers of this same glory, this same reputational witness, the visible presence of God’s life in the world not by way of performance or importance or status but, in fact, the polar opposite—because we have been drawn into a relationship of humility, in which being loved and forgiven is a way of life. This is the way of God’s life. And the circle of God’s life is never drawn with anyone on the outside. Not even you!
 
Now that, once we begin to engage the implications, is a wonder! Enter into worship.
 
Readings:  Acts 1:6-14 † Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 † 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 † John 17:1-11
 
About the Art: Whelan, Brian, 1957-. In the Beginning, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57418 [retrieved April 27, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iin_the_beginning_34x28_by_Brian_Whelan.jpg - photographed by Wendy Roseberry with permission from Brian Whelan.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my [Abba’s] house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
~John 14:1-3
 
Trouble and togetherness. Belief and belonging. We are never promised that things will go easy for us. Indeed, if things are too easy, we may need to check our privilege, to scrutinize what we may have done to ensure our safety and security at the expense of others.
 
But in the context of a troubled time, John’s gospel reaches out again and again to remind not only those early disciples, but us as well that we are in this together, and God is with us in the midst. Even locked doors and hearts cannot keep our Abba at bay!
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Acts 7:55-60 † Psalm 31 † 1 Peter 2:2-10 † John 14:1-14
 
About the Art: Andō, Tadao, 1941-. Interior of the Church of the Light, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55848 [retrieved May 2, 2023]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_Light.JPG.