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 they eat and drink unworthily. At the same Last... Read more
Acts 7:55-60 Those of you who are following the Prayer Book lectionary will recognize that I have taken this morning’s lesson from the Epistle Lesson appointed for St. Stephen’s Day, and not from the daily lectionary. We are entering a brief but intense period in the lectionary when there are many special commemorations and therefore special lessons. At first glance, the life and death of St. Stephen may seem intended to produce a case of theological whiplash. We have just... Read more
Let us learn from the whole creation which was represented at the birth of Jesus Christ to praise God. Read more
Luke 1:67-80 After Zacharias’ tongue is loosed again, and after he has demonstrated his faith by obediently naming John what God had named him, Zacharias is filled with the Holy Spirit. And what does the Holy Spirit inspire Zacharias to do? To sing a hymn of praise to God with his newly loosened tongue. Zacharias is a picture of how we are to respond to God and his mercy. As we learned yesterday, with Zacharias and through him, it’s better... Read more
Luke 1:26-38 While Roman Catholics may exalt Mary to an inappropriate place and Protestants may ignore her altogether, Mary is to be an example of faith for us. There is no denying that she was, to quote the angel, “full of grace.” But Mary is a prototype for us, and what was true for her is now true for us. And therefore, today, God says to you: “Hail, Christian, full of grace!” The first thing to notice about Mary’s blessed... Read more
I love the opening of St. Luke’s Gospel because I feel, even more than in the other Gospels, that St. Luke is talking to me. “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?” we ask. St. Luke’s answer (which is really God’s) is, simply, “Yes.” Why do I feel as if St. Luke is talking to me? First, Luke is the only Gentile privileged to have been inspired to write a book of the Bible. In fact, he was privileged... Read more
Matthew 9:35-10:15 “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” The compassion of Jesus never fails to move me to compassion. I want to see what He and feel what He felt, and what He saw was a multitude of people who were weary and scattered and were like sheep without a shepherd. What He felt was compassion. My favorite word in the Greek... Read more
Christ was born of flesh that we might be born of the Spirit. This is the message this morning, as the birth pangs of Christmas and miracle of the Incarnation come even closer to us. St. Paul doesn’t deal directly with the Incarnation here in 2 Corinthians 5, but in the context of the last days of Advent before Christmas, his message takes on a new and wonderful meaning. Christ was born of flesh that we might be born of... Read more
Mark 6:1-6 As we approach our celebration of God made man in Jesus Christ, I find that this little passage in Mark 6 is a wonderful picture of the mystery of God made man. Although by the beginning of Mark 6 we have already seen ample evidence that Jesus is God, we see it here again: Jesus lays His hands on a few sick people and heals them. But perhaps the greatest miracle God ever performed, along with the Resurrection... Read more
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December 29 – 1 John 1
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 so loved the... Read more