Mark 1:1-13 Happy New Year! No, it’s not January 1, the civil calendar’s New Year’s Day. It’s not the middle of August and the New Year’s Day of the school calendar, and it’s not October 1, the New Year’s Day of the U.S. government fiscal calendar. Yesterday was the First Sunday in Advent and marked the beginning of the Christian calendar or year. So Happy New Year! In Advent, we prepare for the Advent or Coming of Jesus Christ in... Read more
Revelation 3:7-22 It’s very tempting to write today about the Laodicean church. I think there’s a common perception that today’s church is the church in Laodicea and is a lukewarm church. In truth, parts of the church have always been like this. But I am persuaded of better things for us, and so today I want to learn more about the incredible blessings Jesus Christ offers us today. Today He tells us that if we overcome the difficulties and obstacles... Read more
Revelation 3:1-6 There are a lot of Sardis Christians and churches today. There always have been, wherever Christians are willing to compromise with the culture of the day. It’s not so easy to be a Sardis Christian when you’re busy being persecuted, but in times of peace and especially at times when Christianity is identified with the dominant culture, it’s easy. What is a Sardis church or Christian? One who looks alive but is really dead. There are many such... Read more
Revelation 2:12-17 I love the words with which the Alpha and Omega closes each message to the 7 churches. They are each a picture of what life with Christ will be like in heaven for those who prove faithful. They are the most persuasive motivators for those who dare to imagine them. How would you like to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God? That Tree of Life, I believe, is... Read more
Revelation 2:1-11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” One of the most remarkable things about Scripture is how one of its writers like St. John can be writing to a specifically 1st century audience such as the 7 churches of Asia Minor and yet sound as if he’s writing today to you and to me! What the Spirit says to the churches is what the Spirit says to the Church and... Read more
Revelation 1:9-20 Who is Jesus Christ? There are many ways in which He has revealed Himself to us, and all of these are important. Sometimes I think the dominant way contemporary Christians see Jesus is as a good friend. He’s kinda just one of the guys, though definitely the leader of the pack. We can almost picture Him in blue jeans, and we’re sure He would never be caught dead wearing vestments! At other times, particularly in contemporary praise choruses,... Read more
Revelation 1:1-8 “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” That’s how St. John begins the last and most difficult book in the Bible. But too often, we approach St. John’s Revelation as if it were St. John’s Obfuscation. I can hear it now: “The first lesson is taken from the twenty-first chapter of The Obfuscation of St. John.” And all the people said, “Huh?!” I’ll say right at the beginning of my devotionals on John’s Revelation that I don’t believe that John... Read more
Matthew 28:11-20 Matthew 28:18-20 has rightly been called the Great Commission, for great it is. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.” Why is the Great Commission so great? Because in the Great Commission we see... Read more
Matthew 28:1-10 For some reason, something totally unexpected dazzles me about the resurrection passage this morning. It’s not the great earthquake. It’s not the countenance like lightning and the clothing white as snow of the angel. It’s not the resurrected Jesus. What I find deafening is the relative quiet of the passage, and what I find dazzling are the subdued tones with which St. Matthew paints his picture. This is why God didn’t choose me to write one of the... Read more
Matthew 27:57-66 Today’s passage is just a little bit eerie. But Holy Saturday is always that way to me. It’s like the unearthly eye of the storm, in which you feel calm but can’t feel peace because you just know something big is about to happen. For today, we must allow Jesus to be dead. Not dying, as on Good Friday, which we know how to think about and meditate on. Not alive and resurrected, as on Easter Sunday, which... Read more
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