Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
In our Gospel lesson from Luke 3, we hear of John the Baptist’s preaching to the crowds and his calling them to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. How does this preaching of repentance bring to the joy of the Lord? Is joy something we create in ourselves or is it something that God brings to us?
Image: Christ with the Winnowing Fan, photo taken by Lawrence OP, license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/52541480597
Advent is a season of repentant waiting for our Lord to come. The process of repentance is one that leads to us knowing the peace and refining work of God through Jesus for us.
Image: Molten Metal, picture by Pixabay, CC0. Image location: https://www.stockvault.net/photo/202116/utils/lib/utils/strings#
As we consider ‘hope’ in Advent, Father Jeremiah points out how it looks to the future while being rooted in the past that we might be sustained in the present. Advent helps us continue forward in this world knowing that God the Father will fulfill his promises.
Image: Second Coming icon, public domain, location: https://garystockbridge617.getarchive.net/media/icon-second-coming-d49e6f
When Jesus stood before Pilate, he confessed that his kingdom, and thus his kingship, was not from this world. What did he mean by this? Is his kingdom and kingship utterly separate from this world? Or do they overlap and interlock together, such that this world will be changed when Jesus returns?
Image: Boston at English Wikipedia & John Stephen Dwyer, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
When Jesus speaks during the Olivet Discourse about the destruction of the Temple, he was showing mercy with regard to the coming judgment of Jerusalem. He warns his disciples and those who follow them to flee when the time comes. How are we to understand this prophecy today? Is it about the future, or is it here to help us understand God’s desire to bring mercy and salvation in the midst of judgment against sin?
Image: The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, Francesco Hayez, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Father John Riebe reminds us that as Christians we are called to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This life is revealed fully through the act of the widow whose gift isn’t measured physically, but spiritually before the Lord.
Image: Le denier de la veuve (The Widow’s Mite), James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Widow%27s_Mite_(Le_denier_de_la_veuve)_-_James_Tissot.jpg
As we reflect upon the meaning of All Saints’ Day, we remember that the saints are the holy ones of God. The holiness they have though is not a holiness they create, but one that is given to them by the work of Christ.
Image: Johann König, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. File Location":https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Koenig_-_Allerheiligen.jpg
When Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus, we get to see something new about discipleship, but also a juxtaposition between this blind man and James and John in the previous passage. Jesus asks both, “What do you want me to do for you?” How we each answer that question gives shape to our walk with Jesus.
Image: Christ Healing a Blind Man, by Eustache Le Sueur, public domain. Image location: https://www.wikiart.org/en/eustache-le-sueur/christ-healing-the-blind-man
When James and John ask Jesus to sit at his right and left hand, he confronts them with the reality of suffering that must come before glory. What does that mean for us today? Does suffering come before glroy? Father Jeremiah considers Jesus’ words in response to James and John and the other apostles.
Image: Fra Angelico, frescoes, San Marco, picture posted by Frans Vandewalle, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/snarfel/4120035206/
The Reverend Harold Vandeveer filled in this Sunday for Fr Jeremiah. What good are the things of the world, when we have eternal salvation offered to us through Jesus? How are we going to respond to this reality?
Image: Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann, public domain. Image Location: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Hoffman-ChristAndTheRichYoungRuler.jpg
When Jesus speaks of marriage and children, he sets out to correct his time’s misuse and misunderstanding of these things. Likewise today, we must hear his words and take them to heart as we approach these most holy of subjects.
Image: Portrait of a Married Couple with a Child, by Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
We don’t often talk about angels, but they are important creatures in creation. Sunday was the Feast of Holy Michael and All Angels. Father Jeremiah reminded us about their importance and role in our lives and that they are but a pray to God the Father away from for our defense.
Image: St. Michael Triumph, by Johann M. Rottmayr. Public Domain. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rottmayr-Engelsturz.jpg
Jesus’ teaching about his own pending death to the disciples connected with his teaching on who is the greatest, reminds us that only by dying to self can we discover the greatness that God the Father intends for us.
Image: John Hazeland on His Deathbed, by Edvard Munch, uploaded by villarreal9, license CC BY-SA 4.0 (No changes made). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Hazeland_on_His_Deathbed.jpg
When Jesus comes down from the mountain after his transfiguration, he and the three disciples are confronted with a scene of chaos. The other disciples are arguing with the scribes about casting out a demon and healing a boy. The father of boy explains to Jesus what is happening and confesses his own unbelief mixed into his faith. What are we to make of such a story from the Bible? Is this a reminder to us that even small faith with unbelief can help us to grow in faith? Can that very unbelief be transformed?
Image: Jesus casting out demons, photo taken by Nick Thompson, mosiac located in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (No Changes made). Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/4670683038
When Jesus heals a deaf and mute man, he uses some ordinary things in the process. What does this mean about the ordinary and mundane? Are they important? Can Jesus work through simple things to bring forth praise? Father Jeremiah explores this in his sermon on Mark 7:31-37
Image: Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
When the Pharisees and Scribes confront Jesus about his disciples not ritually washing hands before eating, Jesus confronts them with their ability to sacrifice the rules of God with man-made traditions in order to justify themselves. In what ways do we do this today? How are we to overcome this desire?
Image: The Field of Derout-Lollichon, by Paul Gauguin, public domain by release from LACMA. Image location: https://collections.lacma.org/node/253530
After Jesus finished his teaching on feeding on him, many of his followers began leaving him. Jesus even question his own immediate twelve disciples about what they were going to do. How does this come to us today? Why would Jesus challenge even the Twelve on following him? Are we challenged in our following of Jesus?
Image: Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?, photo by Lawrence OP, no changes made (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/7862831170
As Jesus continues teaching about his being the bread of life that is necessary to salvation, he goes so far as to say that his flesh is true food and his blood is true drink! What does this mean? How does it relate to communion? Where can we find Jesus that we might feed on him always?
Image: Nheyob, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jesus continues teaching the crowds after feeding them with bread and fish. He gives attention to the reality that coming and believing Jesus are connected to being given and drawn to Jesus by the Father and that he will receive all who come because he is the bread of life that gives his flesh to the world.
Image: The Lord’s Supper, taken by Lawrence OP, used under license: CC BY-NC-ND 2 (no changes made). Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/25915485262
Jesus confronts the crowds after feeding them with the reality that they are seeking him, not for the life that he can bring, but simply because he gave them an abundance of bread. How often do we do the same? How should we respond to this one who can give to us the bread of life through himself?
Image: unknown artist. no known copyright
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
