Listening First Thoughts on the First Readings -Joe Frankenfield 6th Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Jesus preached to an audience that was totally clear about what it hoped to hear. The Jewish people were looking for their Messiah, a person who would lift the weight of Roman occupation from their shoulders and lead them [...]

In Wars Over Faith Everyone Loses Thoughts on the First Readings -Joe Frankenfield 5th Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 Hellenists vs. Hebrews: the thought sets few hearts racing now but in the years after Jesus’ execution and resurrection this was the Christian community’s culture war. The Hellenists were Christians comfortable with opening the new faith [...]

The Key Is The Promise – Not The Problem Thoughts on the First Readings -Joe Frankenfield 4th Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 36-41 A mother told me the following tale. She had walked into her kitchen to find her five year old lighting matches and throwing them into the wastebasket. She, naturally, sat him down [...]

Giving The Life We’re Given Thoughts on the First Readings -Joe Frankenfield 3rd Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14, 22-33 I remember reading a story about pirates when I was a child. They weren’t very bright pirates. They had waylaid a ship carrying gold pieces to pay an army. They searched that ship high and low [...]

The Struggle To Be Christ Thoughts on the First Readings -Joe Frankenfield 2nd Sunday of Easter Acts 2:42-47 Jesus continued to live and act in his disciples after his execution and resurrection. That was the message that Luke wanted to get across in the second part of his gospel that we know as the Acts [...]