The Cross Ties the Whole Place Together - Easter 7A (May 14, 2026)

Comedians with Pastors Talking Bible is the show where Pittsburgh stand-up comedians and ELCA pastors sit down with the week's gospel text — and see what happens when nobody's too precious about it.

This week Abby Evans (@itsabbye) and Erick Williams (@comicaledubs) return as Resident Comic Theologians for a Short Take on John 17:1-11, the High Priestly Prayer — Jesus's long, looping, recursive prayer on the last night before the crucifixion. It's the 7th Sunday of Easter, the church where CPTB records is being sold to a Sheetz developer, and Jesus is praying in circles. Which, it turns out, might be the most honest thing anyone's ever done.

Expect:

• Why the Trinity doesn't work on a logical level, and why that might actually be the point
• The High Priestly Prayer as Jesus's big showstopper — his "Defying Gravity," the number where the lights dim down
• A religion founded on the Big Lebowski, and why the cross ties the whole place together
• Abby's assembled crack legal team (Brittany, Alexis, Rebecca Canterbury, James J. Hamilton — different specialties, all bases covered)
• Whether Hamlet is the Lion King or the Lion King is Hamlet — Abby rules, decisively
• The theological case that old church buildings are just holding cells for Spirit Halloween

"Jesus is proof that sometimes you have to trust your friends even when they're talking in a way that's really annoying." — Erick Williams

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Luke 24:44–53 (NRSVue)

[44] Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” [45] Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, [46] and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day [47] and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. [48] You are witnesses of these things. [49] And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” [50] Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. [51] While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. [52] And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, [53] and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Hosted by Pastor Eric Damon and Pastor Bob Schaefer.

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Music: Trickster by Phat Sounds
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10864-trickster
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Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.