{"id":442,"date":"2026-04-06T12:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/?p=442"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:55:21","slug":"a-living-breathing-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/2026\/04\/06\/a-living-breathing-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"A Living, Breathing Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome back from Spring Break. Christ is Risen! Alleluia!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We resume our regular weekly rhythm of communal spiritual practices, starting Tuesday (no text study on Monday, April 6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am | Contemplative Practice<\/strong> \u2013 OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am |\u00a0Service of Holy Communion<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Chapel of the Incarnation or on\u00a0YouTube<\/a>. Rev. Dr. Mark Granquist,\u00a0Professor and Lloyd and Annelotte Svendsbye Chair in Church History; Editor, Word & World, <\/em>is preaching this week on 1 Peter 1:3-9.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11:45am |\u00a0Chapel Cafe<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Luther Cafe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am |\u00a0Lunch Church<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Dining Room A <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Reflection on the Readings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Readings from the Revised Common Lectionary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16:1-11
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first week of our Easter journey to Pentecost. The first and second readings and Psalms are all about Peter\u2019s witness to the resurrection of Jesus and its power for salvation. We hear him quote Joel 2\u00a0and Psalm 16\u00a0to connect this event with the Hebrew theological expectation of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The opening statment of his letter establishes a foundation of hope to bolster his people who are experiencing extreme persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel reading shows us John\u2019s version of how the Spirit came upon the disciples. Jesus breathed the Spirit upon them. The word\u00a0breathed<\/em>\u00a0is the Greek word\u00a0emphusao<\/em>\u00a0and is used only here in the NT and only in\u00a0Genesis 2:7\u00a0in the Septuagint, translating the Hebrew Word\u00a0nephesh<\/em>, when God breathed into Adam\u2019s nostrils and gave him life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas missed out on this moment. He doubted it when the disciples described it during the week. Jesus breathes hope into Thomas in a different way the next Sunday. Jesus says to Thomas, \u201cput your finger here and see my hands.\u201d Thomas breathed in hope that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope is the breath of resurrection. It seems that we have been holding our breath a lot lately. Things have seemed more precarious than usual in the last several months. My prayer for you this Easter season is that you might breathe again. God is with you, through it all. God has given us \u201ca new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alleluia!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jesus<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back from Spring Break. Christ is Risen! Alleluia! We resume our regular weekly rhythm of communal spiritual practices, starting Tuesday (no text study on Monday, April 6). Tuesday 11:00am | Contemplative Practice \u2013 OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom Wednesday 11:00am |\u00a0Service of Holy Communion\u00a0\u2013 Chapel of the Incarnation or on\u00a0YouTube. Rev. Dr. Mark Granquist,\u00a0Professor and Lloyd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions\/445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}