by Kwame
John 14:23-29
This reading from the Gospel of John deals with many interesting points, the first one being “we will… make our home with him” signifying that all of us who put our love in Jesus and obey his words will experience the immediate presence and love of the Father and the Son. And lastly, that when we give into anxiety or worry that shows a lack of faith in God’s fatherly care and love.
by AMN
Fifth Sunday of Easter C
Revelation 21:1-6
“The Endgame”
Before the foundation of the Earth was formed, our Heavenly Father already had the “happily ever after” all figured out. The life that exists today and everything in it is temporary.
by AMN
Fourth Sunday of Easter: Year C
John 10:22-30
When I was younger, I had a distorted view on how to worship God. Many times I would say, “I’m not ready yet.” I thought that before I can enter in his presence, I had to be perfect. That’s crazy, right? It was not until I heard his voice, that I realized I had it all wrong.
by AMN
Acts 9:1-20
“For His Name’s Sake”
How dramatic was the conversion of Paul? Well, it’s kind of like one of those instances that we should have been there. If you read it carefully along with prayer, you see that it’s an action-packed screenplay, just dying for the director Steven Spielberg to put on film.
My name is Charles Bonamy but I prefer to be called “Kwame” which is short for “Kwame Toure Kagale.” It means “He who fuels the fires for change and born in a time of trouble”. I took on this name when I became a pan-African and even though I don’t hold to all of the principles of this way of life as I once did, the name still fits me I think. I am a Catholic, my date of birth is 09 April 1970, and I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. My interests and hobbies are playing chess, writing short stories, essays, poems, working out, reading, going to church and bible study, and sharing the goodness of GOD with everyone I meet.I am working on writing a book on the life lessons I learned from being in prison for the better part of three decades.
Read contributions by Kwame here.
in dialogue with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
She rises before dawn on a Sunday
just to catch an early Southbound train.
She makes 800 miles round trip
just a single day
for a mere three hours together
then says after the initial squeeze
it’s already worth it.
She hires a driver from the station
just to avoid getting lost, getting late
pays him to idle the visitation hours
watching Southern asphalt bake in August swamp simmer.
She shirks off thanks
looks deep in my eyes
dusts the backs of my hands
(that she just won’t let go)
with tender kisses that seed tomorrows
into my pores.
She comes
simply shows
to visit at Greensville
(mid-70’s-Soviet-chic, turreted hell)
just to commingle our talk with presence and affection.
She cares little about frisks,
even less about growling coyotes
posturing in uniforms and scowls
flashing teeth and gnashing bad ‘tudes,
and not one bit about the sharp summer glare
reflecting off surround-sound razor wire, cuffs, and chains.
She enthusiastically proclaims
over the thrill of posing
just for a standard prison photo op
despite the full senior-prom-phony grins
and my state-issued, elastic-wasted attire.
by AMN
Acts 5:27-32
“We Are His Witnesses”
We are entering an age where the commandments of men are being transformed to totally disregard and disobey God’s sovereign rule. what are we to do?
Mark 16:6 – But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.
C.S. Lewis once wrote that without Easter all our hopes are in vain. I agree. Easter is the undeniable declaration that God is in command, and God is triumphant over the forces of the world that will steal, kill, and destroy. Whatever evil you know, whatever sins you are responsible for, whatever it is that you struggle with, God is over it all.
Isaiah 55:7 – Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thought; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon…
Psalm 42:1 – As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
Romans 6:4 – Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death…so we too might walk in newness of life
Matthew 28:7 – Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘he has been raised from the dead
All of these readings come to us from the service for the Easter Vigil, and together they sum up our faith journey.
The words from Isaiah are in a chapter that my Bible titles “invitation to an abundant life.” They are the words that invite us out of our old life of Sin, and into the life of God. We are a fallen people, and the only way back is through a proper relationship with our God. But we cannot go as we are. We cannot be with God when we love our wicked ways.
I am in constant fellowship with godly men who have been criminals of all kinds. The very foundation of their repentance and transformation is to forsake their wicked ways. There comes a day in every person’s life when they are just tired of being wrong, sinful, and alone. To give up what is wrong, and to return to the Lord, is the beginning of all good things.
When we first begin to turn from our sin, and to turn our face back to the Lord we have such a passionate hunger for our God. We want to be with God and to know God’s ways in all things. It is a sad truth that the ways of the world can make that passion dull in our minds and hearts over time. When we are complacent we can forget that there are bigger things than us. We lose our focus on God, and that puts the whole world out of focus. We have to take time to refocus our hearts and minds.
Christ’s death is something we like to talk about, and we cannot allow ourselves to forget that it is our death as well. When we were baptized we were buried with Christ, so that we could be raised in Christ. This Lent we have worked to put to death those things not of God, and to bring forth those things that are of God. This Easter morning we will celebrate Christ’s rebirth just as we celebrate our own rebirth through Christ. Through Christ all of us are in newness of Life.
Mary Magdalene has often been called the ‘disciple to the disciple’ because of the commandment given to her by the angel. It was she that was the first one told to ‘go’ and to tell the good news, and she did. But it did not stop there, and this commandment is given to us as well.
When we realized we are a fallen people, we turned to God; when we thirsted for God, we were filled; when we were crucified with Christ, we were resurrected to new life. In all things we have been given an unbelievable gift from the creator of all creation, and it is the only natural thing that we should go forth and proclaim this goodness to all people. If you are a Christian, how can you not want that very same thing for everyone?
Tonight is the Easter Vigil, and we sit and await the resurrection of our Lord. We sit as if we were children on Christmas Eve; we sit with great anticipation awaiting the new morning. We may already know what will happen on Easter morning, but we cannot allow ourselves to miss the majesty of it. So rise again this Easter. Rise again a new creation, forgiven of your sins, and alive in Christ. Trade your happiness for Joy, find Peace in a troubled world, and pass on the Love of Christ to everybody you meet.
O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP 295
Job 14:14 – If Mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come.
I live less than a hundred yards from Virginia’s Death Chamber. Death row is at another prison, but inmates are transferred here in a special van few days before their execution and we can see when it is parked outside the fence.
Tonight, over two thousand years ago, the Apostles locked themselves into an upper room and were in despair. Their leader and friend had just been brutally murdered and they had no anticipation of the resurrection. They probably sat and prayed, they may have hoped, they may have despaired.
Every time there is an execution here the chaplain is on call to minister to the condemned man in his last few hours. It is by far the most demanding job he has ever had in his decades of ministry. The night of an execution we are all on a modified lockdown status, and there is always a group of the believers who sit in their individual cells and pray. We pray for forgiveness for this man, for his faith, for the families of his victims, and for his family.
Ultimately, like Job, we do not know what happens after our death. But unlike those disciples of years ago we do know about the resurrection. We know what happened on Easter morning. I condemn the murder of murderers, I think it speaks to the depravity of our society, but I find strength in the word of the holocaust survivor Viktor Frankel: “We are the ones horrible enough to make a gas chamber, and also capable of walking into it with prayers and praise upon our lips.”
O God, creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of thy dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with Him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP 170
Prison Lectionary 