April 24, 2028

23Prayer of the Community. After their release they went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them. 24And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, 25you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly? 26The kings of the earth took their stand and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.’ 27Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28to do what your hand and [your] will had long ago planned to take place. 29And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30as you stretch forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Life in the Christian Community.

1Psalm 2 A Psalm for a Royal Coronation - Why do the nations protest and the peoples conspire in vain? 2Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one: 3“Let us break their shackles and cast off their chains from us!” 4The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord derides them, 5Then he speaks to them in his anger, in his wrath he terrifies them: 6“I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7I will proclaim the decree of the LORD, he said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you. 8Ask it of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and, as your possession, the ends of the earth. 9With an iron rod you will shepherd them, like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.”

1If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

1Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”