Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
Jesus went to John to be baptized in the wilderness. In that baptism, the Father spoke and the Holy Spirit descended. This signals a change, not only in Jesus’ life, but in the life of the world.
Image: Baptism of Jesus, Andrea del Verrocchio, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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#
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Why was this? How does it connect to John’s ministry of baptism? What does it reveal about God’s actions in Jesus towards us who are sinners? Father Jeremiah reflects on these things in his sermon from Baptism of Our Lord Sunday.
Image: Christ’s Baptism (San Marco), from the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice. Photo taken by Jim Forest, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/3473212604
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2022/1/9/jesus-baptism-and-us-luke-315-22
The prophet Zephaniah has foretold of the coming judgment of God throughout his book, but at the end of it, he speaks of a picture of rejoicing that flows out of the work of Yahweh to bring the Gentiles and Israelites together into a single company that praises him. John the Baptist tells the people how they are to live in light of their repentance in the Gospel of Luke. How do these come together in light of the work of Jesus in us? Father Jeremiah helps us to understand that God’s joy in bringing out salvation becomes a foundation for our repentance and rejoicing through today’s text.
Image: Ghent AltarPiece-Music making Angels (right), Jan van Eych, public domain. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghent_Altarpiece_-_Music-making_Angels_(right).jpg
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2021/12/12/advent-confrontation-joy-received-zephaniah-314-20-luke-37-20
In this second week of Advent, we consider the relationship of peace to repentance. Through the work of Jesus, there is peace to be received. But how do we come to receive it and experience the peace of God in us? It is through faith and repentance, turning from our sinfulness and toward the One who brings us healing.
Image: Preaching of John the Baptist, Hans Liefrinck, CC0 1.0. Image location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YR0037838/Preaching-of-John-the-Baptist
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2021/12/5/advent-confrontation-peace-and-repentance-malachi-3-luke-31-6
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
