Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
When Jesus receive the Holy Spirit in his baptism, that very Spirit drove him into the wilderness. There Jesus resists Satan for his people and brings to us who trust in him, deliverance from temptation and, ultimately, sin itself through his death and resurrection.
Image: The Temptation by the Devil by Gustave Dore, engraving, 1865. Public Domain. Image location: https://www.artbible.info/art/large/18.html
The sin and death that is within us is something that must be dealt with on Earth. It is the problem of Earth and not that of Heaven. Thus, Jesus comes to deal with it here on Earth that we might be saved from sin and death by his death and resurrection. On Ash Wednesday, we embrace that reality and enter the season of Lent recognizing that we can’t deal with death without Jesus.
Image: The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Hezekiah,_clouthed_in_sackcloth,_spreads_open_the_letter_before_the_Lord.jpg
What does Elijah meeting the Lord at Mt. Sinai and Jesus’ transfiguration have in common? Why is it important that the Lord isn’t in the wind, the earthquake, the fire? Why is it a low whisper? Father Jeremiah reflects on these questions
Photo by form PxHere. Public Domain.
On World Mission Sunday in the Anglican Church in North America, we step back to understand the grand calling upon the church to make disciples of all nations. What does this mean for us? How is it to be accomplished? How do we walk in this reality? Father Jeremiah teaches through the last few verses of Matthew 28 and shows how Jesus is the cornerstone of this grand work given to the church.
Image: Christ Great Commission Icon, photo taken by Ted. Used under license CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED. No changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frted/6849430658
In Mark 1:21-28, Jesus enters a synagogue to teach and then rebukes and casts out a demon. What does this mean for his day and what does it mean for us today? Father Jeremiah considers that Jesus’ authority is one that enables us to rebuke ourselves and embrace the transformation that he brings to us through the Holy Spirit.
Image: Die Bibel in Bildern [Picture Bible] von Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Leipzig: Georg Wigands, 1860. Hathi Digital Trust Library online version of a copy in the Getty Library. Web. 30 June 2016. Location: https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/german/schnorr/82.html
Jesus went forth preaching about the Kingdom of God being at hand and calling disciples to follow him. Are we all called to drop the work we are doing to follow Jesus or can he call us to follow him in the midst of the work he has given us? Father Jeremiah considers this as he teaches about the change that Jesus brings to us through his work.
Image: Calling of Peter and Andrew, by Duccio Di Buoninsegna. Public Domain. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_-_Calling_of_Peter_and_Andrew_-_WGA06774.jpg
St. Paul writes of the many things that people have done in the church at Corinth. Yet in listing out so many wrongdoings, he reminds the people, “Such were some of you.” St. Paul points us to the reality that in Jesus, all of our sinfulness is undone and broken. Through the washing, sanctification, and justification by Jesus, we are changed.
Image: Eustace the Dragon, illustration from C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist so that the Holy Spirit would descend upon him. Now, through Jesus, we receive the very same Holy Spirit. Father Jeremiah helps us to see the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own baptisms, that we might be more and more renewed by Jesus.
Image: The Baptism of Christ, James Fuller Queen. No known restrictions. Image location: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003677556/
John the Baptist is questioned in John 1:19-28 about who he is. He denies being the Christ, the Prophet, and even Elijah! But he points the priests and Levites to one who stands among them who is the great one to come. What kind of person is John to have his ministry overshadowed by another and to want it to be so? Father Jeremiah tells us about John’s humility and how it becomes his greatness because of the great one, Jesus.
Image: Interrogation of John the Baptist, Jacob de Weert, Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0). No changes made. Image location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YR0194173/Interrogation-of-John-the-Baptist.
As St. Mark opens his Gospel he reveals just what he thinks of Jesus Christ. Along with that we are directed in how to prepare the way of the Lord through the words of John the Baptist, who is the Elijah to come predicted by the prophet Malachi.
Image: Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness, by Annibale Carracci, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_John_the_Baptist_Bearing_Witness_MET_DP220449.jpg
With the beginning of Advent, there is a change in season and year for the Church! Father Jeremiah helps us consider how Advent should affect us and how walking through Advent leads us closer to Jesus as our King and Savior.
Image: Second Coming of Christ, by Rudolph Myer, Public Domain. Image Location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YR0377270/Second-Coming-of-Christ
When Jesus returns as king he will judge the living and the dead. In Matthew 25, we hear of this judgment as a separation of the sheep and the goats. We see a focus on the actions of the people in their lives, but what we can easily miss is the basis of the sheep’s actions. They are receiving an inheritance, something that can’t be earned. Their deeds are the basis, but the King, Jesus himself, and they are the recipients.
Image: The Graves Open on the Day of Judgment, Engraving by M Heemskerck. Public Domain. Image location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YW035018V/The-graves-open-on-the-day-of-judgement
For All Saints’ Sunday, Father Jeremiah explained where this feast day came from. He also showed its connection to baptism in preparation for baptizing some that day.
Image: Perm Art Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In this final confrontation with the Pharisees before his trial and crucifixion, Jesus answers a final question about the greatest commandment. He then quickly turns the tables on his questioners with a question about how the Messiah can be both the son of David and his Lord. How are these two moments connected? What does this mean for us who are unable to keep the commandments?
Image: Jesus with the Pharisees, by Jacques Callot, public domain. Image location: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.33324.html
When Jesus is asked about paying taxes, he carefully turns the tables on his questioners. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” What do we make of this response? How does it apply to us today? How did Jesus fulfill even this command through his death and resurrection? Father Jeremiah examines Matthew 22:15-22 and helps us to see these things.
Image: Denarius featuring emperor Marcus Aurelius, Rasiel at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcus_Aurelius_Denarius2.jpg
In the Bible, feasting and especially wedding feasts are a sign of the Kingdom of God and salvation being given to God’s people. Jesus reminds us that all has been prepared and accomplished and thus all is a gift for us when we are called to join him. Yet, when we fall, we must not remain speechless before the King, but should respond with confession that we might ever be changed and transformed by the King.
Image: Charlemange at Dinner, Talbot Master, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As we hear the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, our hearts should be drawn to the conclusion in which the wicked are cast out for those who will provide the fruit to the master. We are called to good works by the power of the Holy Spirit, works that the Father has prepared beforehand for us. How do we respond to these called out of us works? Do we resist? Or do we receive the work of the Spirit to enable us to fulfill God’s callings upon us?
Image: The Red Vineyard or Red Vineyard at Arles, Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_vineyards.jpg
Jesus’ parable of the Two Sons is a perfect rebuttal to the chief priests and elders refusal to answer Jesus’ question about John the Baptist. They know that he can challenge them on their lack of faith, yet he reminds them that they can turn any time to the Father’s will and believe in the one whom he has sent to bring salvation. That still applies today: Regardless of our having said no to the Father’s will, we can turn back and believe in Christ. And likewise, if we have said we will do the Father’s will and not done it, we can turn around and begin doing it.
Image: The Parable of the Father and His Two Sons in the Vineyard, from The Story of Christ, Georg Pencz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Master of the vineyard is free to reward and give to his workers as he pleases. In his freedom to do that, the workers are freed to do their work with no fear of not receiving good things from the master. Likewise for us, we are free to work in our vocations because God has given us the Kingdom and made us partakers of it through Jesus Christ.
Image: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, by Meester Van Antwerpan. Public Domain. Image location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YR0035483/Parable-of-the-workers-in-the-vineyard
How do we respond to the great generosity of the king in forgiving our infinite debt? Do we extend that kind of forgiveness to those who owe us or do we keep track of every infraction and debt and strive to squeeze it out of others? Are we quick to call out debts of others while wanting them to ignore what we owe to them? How does this kind of life play out for our souls? Bishop Terrell looks at the king’s forgiveness and the reaction of the unforgiving servant to his fellow servant and asks how are we to react when the king forgives us?
image: The King Forgiving His Servant, by Dirck Volckertz Coornhert after Maerten van Heemskerck, National Gallery of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
