Spiritual Renewal for the Dog Days of Summer

Posted on July 30, 2018
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Summer I and Summer II Summer seems to be two seasons in one. One really should distinguish between Summer I and Summer II, for they are vastly different, both in the weather of the world and the weather of the soul. Summer I Beginning on Memorial Day weekend and ending around the Fourth of July…

Week of the Sunday from May 29 to June 4: A Collect Reflection

Posted on June 2, 2018
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Week of the Sunday from May 29 to June 4 O God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not…

What They Are Saying About The Trinity

Posted on May 19, 2016
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It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, โ€œLet us make manโ€. It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, โ€œLet us save manโ€. โ€” J. C. Ryle The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship…

Help for that Tricky Trinity Sunday Sermon

Posted on May 18, 2016
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For many years, when I preached or taught on the Holy Trinity, I always started by saying basically the same thing, something like this: โ€œI am as unsure as anyone how the doctrine of the Trinity makes sense or is directly relevant to daily life. However, it is a true biblical and Christian belief, and…

Ascension Day and the Real Absence of Christ

Posted on May 14, 2015
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Ascension Day is forty days after Easter. After Jesus rose again, he spent forty days with the disciples, then, “while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24). Wait, what? Imagine the roller coaster ride the disciples went through, from their disappointment at Jesus’s death to their…

The Church Year and Gospel Time (Re-Post)

Posted on December 23, 2013
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Time is a mysterious quantity that we are constantly affected by, sometimes ruled by, and often fighting with.  There is a natural rhythm to human life, with tiny cycles of seconds like heartbeats, embedded in larger body of minutes, hours, and days.  There are months and years, a constant tick-tock of change.  And there are…