January 5 – 1 John 5 St. John wants you to know something. He wants those who believe in the name of the Son of God to know and remember that you have eternal life, and he wants you to continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (verse 13.) This is the same John who wrote in his Gospel, “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,... Read more
January 4 – 1 John 4 I think I need about a week to meditate on 1 John 4, but since I have only a day I want to focus on God. In particular, I want to try to understand two things about God: first, that God is love, and second that no one has seen God at any time. If you put these two things together, then you’ll understand both why people have a hard time believing God... Read more
January 3 – 1 John 3:13-24 St. John has a one-track mind. Now normally we say this as a negative thing, meaning that a person is so fixed on one aspect of life that he doesn’t experience some of the other aspects that he should. But if your one-track mind is fixed on God and His commandments, then having a one-track mind is a great blessing. In this passage, St. John joins the choir of voices that teach us that... Read more
January 2 – 1 John 3:1-12 “You are a child of God.” That’s what God tells you in 1 John 3:1. What a wonderful way for God to greet us in the New Year! Here is the source of St. John’s teaching about how we ought to love one another: it is that God first loved us. We know from this same John that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. But what enraptures... Read more
The Circumcision of Christ – Luke 2:15-21 Happy New Year! Although the lesson from today’s daily lectionary is taken from Ephesians 2:11-22, since today is the celebration of the Circumcision of Christ, I’m choosing to write about the lesson related to that event, which we celebrate on January 1. There is one, unobtrusive verse in the Gospels that most of us skip over each year. It’s tucked away right after the justly famous Christmas passage in St. Luke’s Gospel. But... Read more
December 31 – 1 John 2:18-29 St. John’s message this morning is a timely one, coming as it does at the end of another civil year. December 31 is a time to contemplate the sorrows and joys of the previous year, to anticipate with hope the new year, to examine ourselves for what we did wrong last year, and to resolve to be more faithful in the new year. And so John’s theme of abiding in Christ is a most... Read more
December 29 – 1 John 1 1 John 1 could be called the Gospel of St. John because in it is contained the essence of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The good news Great News is that God has made it possible for man to have eternal life with the Father. Before, this was not the case, because we walked in darkness and were children of darkness, separated from God by our sins. But at Christmas, God the Father... Read more
Feast of the Holy Innocents – Matthew 18:1-14 With the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we come to the third of three celebrations of martyrs, or those who gave their lives for the Christ who gave His life for them. St. Stephen was put to death, a willing martyr for Jesus Christ; St. John was a “martyr” of love who willing offered his life while alive; and the Holy Innocents gave their lives vicariously for the Christ, whom Herod sought. The... Read more
St. John the Evangelist Day – December 27 – John 13:20-26, 31-35 I love St. John, for He is the apostle of love and the disciple whom Jesus loved! At the Last Supper, as with the Lord’s Supper, the stakes of life are raised. The sheep become most clearly sheep who are fed by the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. But the goats become more clearly the goats, eating and drinking judgment on themselves if... Read more
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Monday of First Sunday after Epiphany – Ephesians 1
Ephesians 1 Have you ever been excited to be a part of something bigger than yourself? To be in on a very important goal whose greatness brings you glory? In the book of Ephesians, we find that God has let us in on the Greatest Goal of All – to bring blessing to mankind, who does not deserve it. St. Paul’s message is that as a result of God’s blessing us, we live in a new cosmos, a new world. ... Read more