Sixth Sunday of Easter

Year B: May 6, 2018

First Lesson: Acts 10:44-48

The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: Acts reports that even the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, an act that left the circumcised believers in a state of astonishment. In this brief text, we catch a glimpse of the way that God’s Spirit is present to all people, regardless of the barriers that we build between others and ourselves. In The Big Orange Splot, a seagull drops paint on the roof of Mr. Plumbean’s house. This leads Mr. Plumbean to decorate his property further, so much so that the neighbors complain about the extravagance of the decoration. Yet, one neighbor goes to talk to Mr. Plumbean about his house, rather than just judging it from afar, and the encounter inspires the neighbor to decorate his own house. The decoration bug then catches on among the rest of the neighbors, until the whole street is filled with extravagantly decorated homes that serve as bridges instead of barriers. How is the Holy Spirit working in your community to build bridges between people and take down the barriers that people build?

Second Lesson: 1 John 5:1-6

A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: John looks at the connection between belief and practice. For John, faith in God is tied up in obeying God’s commandments to love one another. Loving God as our heavenly parent means that we are to love all of God’s children. We can love one another in different ways. Vera Williams tells the story of how one family loves one another in A Chair for my Mother.  Told from a young girl’s perspective, readers learn of one family’s effort to save enough money to buy a new chair for the family to enjoy. The family needs a chair for the new apartment that they moved into, as a result of a house fire. As the young girl tells of how she and her mother and grandmother saved up enough money, readers are exposed to the other ways that they gave and received love. From strangers feeding them while they were moving in to the grandmother putting money in the jar that she saved while shopping, love is enacted in different ways. What are some different ways that your congregation shows love?

Gospel Lesson: John 15:9-17

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment:  The writer of John’s gospel speaks to a theme of identity in this text. Our identity is shaped by God’s love for us, the ways we obey God’s commandments, and the joy that is found in God’s love and commandments. Christ-followers are tasked to remain true to this identity and bear fruit, to be friends of Jesus, even in difficult life circumstances. Camilla Cream faces an identity crisis in A Bad Case of Stripes, when she comes down with a condition that leads her to be covered in colored stripes, or grow branches. She worries over fitting in, and when her worry was high, she found herself covered in stripes. Over the course of the book, Camilla’s condition takes different forms and a solution is nowhere to be found. It’s not until she embraces who she is (a person who loves lima beans no matter what other people think) that she returns to her true self.

Thanks to final level Union Presbyterian Seminary student Rosy Robson for writing the Revised Common Lectionary Links this week.

Lectionary Links (RCL): May 6, 2018 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.