Tag: #SundayVibe

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#SV – Thomas Unfiltered

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

There is something quietly courageous about Thomas. While the others had already seen the risen Lord, Thomas refused to perform a faith he did not yet possess. He would not pretend. In a room full of rejoicing, that takes a certain kind of integrity. Jesus does not punish him for it. He shows up again, specifically for Thomas, and offers his wounds as evidence. Not a rebuke, but an invitation: “Put your finger here” (Jn. 20:27). Here, the risen Christ meets honest doubt with patient, tangible grace. This is the logic of the early Church too. In Acts, signs and … Continue reading #SV – Thomas Unfiltered

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#SV – On the First Day

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

The opening from John 20 echoes Genesis 1 and reframes everything that follows. Christ, through his death and resurrection, re-ordered a history that had veered off its original trajectory, and restored it once again to the path of salvation. Peter’s speech in Acts 10 grounds the resurrection in testimony (“witnesses”), while Colossians 3 makes it personal and present-tense (“you have been raised”). We have been raised, indeed, to be witnesses to this truth. Not witnesses in a courtroom, but witnesses in the street, in the home, in the quiet courage of a life lived differently because of this empty tomb. Alleluia, … Continue reading #SV – On the First Day

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#SV – The Lazarus Stone

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

Jesus asks them to roll the stone away, thus reminding us that human agency is also important in bringing forth the miracle of God. Faith requires our responsibility for our ability to act is itself a miracle of God. Reading I Ezekiel 37:12-14 Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will … Continue reading #SV – The Lazarus Stone

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#SV – The ‘Second Sight’

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

Reading II Ephesians 5:8-14 Brothers and sisters:You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.Therefore, it says:    “Awake, O sleeper,    and arise from the dead,    and Christ will give you light.” Continue reading #SV – The ‘Second Sight’

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#SV – Spring of Water

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

Gospel John 4:5-42 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there.Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water.Jesus said to her,“Give me a drink.”His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.The Samaritan woman said to him,“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—Jesus answered and said to her,“If you knew the gift of Godand who is … Continue reading #SV – Spring of Water