The sin and guilt in the readings this week have to do with guile: David’s cunning to get Uriah out of the way in order to have Bathsheba and Simon the Pharisee’s in-the-end-less-than-hospitable dinner invitation; but the forgiven person, the psalm says, has a spirit in which “there is no guile”—no dishonesty and hypocrisy and manipulation.

It’s very likely that at times in your life you have been doubted, mistrusted, or had your abilities questioned. As you can hear in this Sunday’s readings, Ezekiel, Saint Paul, and Jesus experienced the same thing.

As you may be aware, the word Eucharist comes from the Greek for “thanksgiving”—in the gospel story this Sunday Christ “gives thanks” at his last supper.

The first reading talks about the important role of wisdom in the creation of the world and the “delight” wisdom found in humanity.

In one of the gospel readings for the Solemnity of Pentecost, Jesus promises his disciples he will send his Spirit to them to “teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

Saint Stephen was the church’s first martyr—“witness”—the first of those to “wash their robes,” in the words of the Book of Revelation, to die because they held to their faith in the face of hostility.

From the most abstract theological arguments to comparisons to sunbeams and shamrocks, the Trinity has always been hard to explain.

Just last Sunday we heard in the Book of Revelation how those who worship before God’s throne “will not hunger or thirst anymore. . . . and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In the passage from the Book of Revelation, something on the outside—the washing white of robes—symbolizes something on the inside—the faith of a person.

Why praise God? Because, of course, God is worthy of praise.