Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
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
On this Sunday, we are transported back to Maundy Thursday to hear the new commandment that Jesus gave to his disciples. This commandment is an old one but is now fully connected to what Jesus is about to do for the world. Through his forgiveness of our sins, we are enabled to begin living out a new kind of sacrificial love that aligns with all of his commands.
Image: The Messiah Gives the New Law, (Stained glass detail of a window by Douglas Strachan in SS Andrew & George in Edinburgh), photo by Lawrence OP. Licensed under: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (No Changes Made). Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/12559943145
While the Apostles were waiting for Jesus to direct them forward, they went fishing. Jesus meets them at the sea and grants restoration to them and especially Peter. Father Jeremiah reminds us that through Jesus we receive restoration to the Father also.
Image: John 21:1-14. Once more Jesus showeth himself to Peter and others by the Sea of Galilee, by William Hole, no known restrictions. Image location: Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/matpc.23148/
On Ash Wednesday, we gather to get an ashen cross marked upon our foreheads. What is the purpose of this? How does it relate to our faith? What does it tell us about ourselves and the work of Christ? Father Jeremiah helps us to understand that this ashen cross directs us to the cross of Christ and the death of our old self that we might live in new life.
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2022/3/2/hope-through-an-ashen-cross-joel-2-matthew-6
This Sunday is World Mission Sunday. Father Jeremiah reflects upon the coming of Christ to his disciples from John 20 and how this event undergirds all that they then go out to do. We must lay hold of the forgiveness and peace that Christ brings to us through his cross and that is what we take with us into the world as we become his witnesses.
Image: See page for author, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2022/2/20/sent-to-proclaim-forgiveness-john-2019-32
Peace and doubt come together in our text from St. John 20.19-31 today. Our doubts can be overcome when we discover the peace that Jesus brings to us through his death and resurrection. Father Jeremiah draws our attention to this to this movement today in his sermon.
Image: Christ and St. Thomas by Andrea del Verrocchio, photo taken by Glenfarclas, CC BY-SA 3.0, no changes made. image location:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Verrocchio_Christ_and_St._Thomas_closeup.JPG
As we wrestle with God telling Jeremiah that he will not listen to his people in Jeremiah 14, we hear the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. What is the relationship between these two accounts in the Bible? How does repentance relate to both? Where do we fall when it comes to the Pharisee and the tax collector? Here’s a hint: If you’re proud that you are a tax collector, you’re really a Pharisee.
image: Pharisee and the Tax Collector, posted by WELS MLP, (Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49102781@N03/4500062279/in/photostream/
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
