Ephesians 2:1-10 What would you give to a doctor who told you, when someone you love is at the point of death, that he could cure him? That he would give him back his life – and not just for a few months hooked up to a roomful of machines and monitors – but that he would give back life in all its fullness? Of course, our first thought is not to wonder how we would reward or think about... Read more
John 1:1-18 Years ago one Christmas, in my adventures with a friend of mine, we stumbled across the New Mexico town of Madrid. Madrid had formerly been a coal mining town and then a ghost town, and most recently artists had started to re-colonize it. But back in the 1930s Madrid had a spectacular display of Christmas lights, so bright that TWA re-routed their flights to behold the glory of this small mining town’s lights. When the town died, so... Read more
Romans 11:13-27 As with a lot of the book of Romans, the thorny issue of election and predestination sprouts up here in Romans 11. But this time in a different way. This time, though St. Paul reminds us of Israel’s election (verse 28) and that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (verse 29), he also lays before us the terrible possibility of apostasy. The truth is that though God is absolutely sovereign and elects His chosen people, we... Read more
Romans 10:1-21 “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” St. Paul says. The connection between these 3 things – the Word of God, our mouths, and our hearts – is at the center of the mystery of how God comes down and saves man. Of course, it is all of God through and through, as the loving will of the Father is faithfully executed through the Son and by the Spirit. But these are the... Read more
Acts 28:23-31 God certainly does work in mysterious ways His wonders to perform! Exhibit A: St. Paul, who began life not as St. Paul but as Saul of Tarsus: Scourge of the Christians. Only after a most unlikely cosmic smackdown did Saul become Paul. But it’s not just St. Paul who reveals God’s mysterious way of ministering to us this Epiphany but also his ministry itself. Going first to the Jews, in keeping with prophecy, the Jews rejected Paul and... Read more
Acts 26:1, 13-23 There are three aspects of the life of St. Paul that we must not confuse, or else we will become confused and ineffective as ministers in God’s Kingdom. The first is the ministry that St. Paul received, the second is the scope of his ministry, and the third is the manner in which he received his commission to ministry. The conversion of St. Paul and the ministry of St. Paul were written by God in such fiery... Read more
Acts 11:1-18 “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (verse 9). That is the message this morning. St. Peter had a hard time accepting that when God called all foods clean, he, Peter, had better stop calling some of them unclean (or “common” or “profane”). The Jews had a hard time accepting that when God called the Gentiles clean they had better stop calling them unclean. And us? We seem to have a hard time accepting that when... Read more
Romans 15:8-21 The vast majority of you who are reading this are Gentiles and if so, God has a special message of hope for you this morning. For this is the Day of Epiphany when the whole Church celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. More than just an asterisk in world or sacred history, the coming of Christ to the Gentiles is nothing less than the destruction of the Old Covenant and the birth of the much... Read more
January 4 – Hebrews 6:1-12 Once again, the writer of Hebrews gives us a terrible warning about the ultimate sin of apostasy, or turning from God, having once been enlightened. Lest we become too snug and smug in our faith, we must remember the real possibility of our falling away from God. This is not a merely hypothetical possibility: it is the real-life tragedy of countless Christians, or else why would Scripture contain so many warnings against it? And you... Read more
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Wednesday of Epiphany 1 – Ephesians 2:11-22
Ephesians 2:11-22 Open almost any page of almost any newspaper and you can’t help but be struck by the fact that the world is in chaos. We sent 1000s of our troops to Iraq because Saddam Hussein threatened the peace of the region and of the entire world. We have 1000s more troops in many places around the world – all to keep the peace. In our own neighborhoods, we read of robberies and murders, and in the Episcopal Church... Read more