Today, with great joy, we gather to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Our Lenten fasting has ended and we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, even as the earth pours out its beauty in the flowers of spring. But what does it really mean to celebrate the resurrection today? What meaning can this feast have […]
A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (II Cor. 6).” We are now in a time of preparation for Pascha, when the love of God destroyed the ultimate power of sin and death. The Church calls us to increased prayer and fasting, to increased almsgiving, to self-examination and confession. […]
Septuagesima Sunday
Frequently, throughout the year, the introit, the first chant sung by the Choir at the beginning of Mass, sets the tone for the day. The introit for today clearly reminds us that something has changed. The choir sang these words of Psalm 18, “The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of hell came about […]
The Feast of the Epiphany
On this day, we celebrate the Epiphany – the Theophany, the showing, the manifestation – the revelation of God to man. In the icon of the Nativity of Christ, we see the shepherds coming from the fields and the wise men, the Magi, coming from the East to worship the Christ Child. In these two […]
A Homily for Christmas Eve
St. Ireneaus of Lyon was a student of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who was himself a student of St. John the beloved disciple. St. Irenaeus writing in the 2nd century tells us plainly that God became what we are that we might become what he is. This is the real meaning of Christmas. This […]
A Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent
I’m afraid that I have nearly reached the point of changing the radio station when I hear a Christmas Carol and cringing when I hear Christmas hymns while shopping at the hardware store. It seems that I have reached this point earlier than normal this year, but then the Christmas decorations have been in the […]
A Meditation for Election Day
Do we manifest Christ by the way we live? Most of us probably do live generally decent lives, Christian lives that include concern for truth and for the ways of God. But problems arise in those areas where we fall short – and we all do fall short in differing ways. To manifest Christ in […]
For the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
If we ever find a friend or relative in trouble, we will probably be inclined to help, to do whatever we can. But what about finding a stranger in distress? While it may be relatively easy to care for friends and family in time of need, today the church gives us the parable of the […]
A Sermon for Trinity Sunday
We sing the words week after week, year after year. We know them well, but do we consider what we are saying, do we think about these words, about their meaning and their importance for our lives? “I believe in one God…” These are tremendously powerful words that change everything for us – that shape […]
A Sermon for our Feast of Dedication
(Bishop JOHN blessed and dedicated our new home on May 21st, 2017. This sermon was preached in 2009 on the anniversary of the dedication of our former building.) Today we celebrate the Sunday within the Octave of our Feast of Dedication, as it was on May 6th of the year 2007 that His Grace, Bishop THOMAS, […]