Upcoming Men’s Fellowship Night, 12/13/2024
Calling all gentlemen! Come out for a night of fellowship and encouragement and maybe a scotch and/or a cigar on Friday, December 13th at the vicarage. We will be starting around 6 pm. Bring friends, side dishes, other food and drinks to share, and did I mention to bring friends? Highly recommended to dress warmly as cigars are more of an outside activity.
Page Turners, Women’s book club for December
The ladies will be reading and discussing J.R.R. Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas on Dec. 10 at 6:45 pm at Heather White’s house. This is a fun read and copies of the book can be purchased at the links below: Abebooks Amazon Audiobooks.com
Photos from Our Hymn Workshop, 11/15-11/17
We all had a really great time learning about music, being encouraged to sing out, and practicing singing some of our great hymns better. Again – special thanks to our guest instructor, Andrew Dittman, from Chapel of the Cross, in Dallas, Texas! Did you know that the tune from God the Omnipotent is the bass line from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture? Practicing Chanting on Saturday Afternoon Saturday Night Dinner at the Johansens! Good Food! Good Fellowship! Sunday After Church – Great Singing this Weekend!
Sermon, 25th Sunday after Trinity, 2024
For the 25th Sunday after Epiphany, we almost always use the readings and collect from the 6th Sunday after Epiphany. The theme of the Epiphany season is Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles, and these propers focus not only upon the fact of His manifestation, but also the reasons for His manifestation – “… that he might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life” (see 1 John 3). In our readings we are not only reminded of the things that Christ has done for us already, but also that His work in us of purifying and completing our salvation is…
Holy Communion, 24th Sunday after Trinity, 2024
God is good even though life is hard, even though He allows us to struggle. It is in the struggle and the trials that we are purified, that we become more like Christ. Our purification and sanctification is a life-long project, but, thanks be to God, He is faithful. Hold on to Jesus. When life is challenging and difficult, hold on to Him all the more. You will grow. In the pain, through the pain, you will know healing, joy, and peace. Propers Manuscript Sermon Archive
Sermon, 23rd Sunday after Trinity, 2024
This Sunday, we wrapped up the Unification cycle of our Trinity series on the Seven Deadly Sins by revisiting one final time, the sin of covetousness. Covetousness desires what belongs to another person. Christ said to the Pharisees, render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar’s, and render unto God, the things that are God’s. As ancient coins bore the image of the sovereign that minted them, we bear the image of the sovereign that created us. We belong to God. Will we render ourselves unto Him? Or do we withhold ourselves from Him in our self-covetousness? This is the challenge for us today and every day. Propers Manuscript …
Sermon, 21st Sunday After Trinity, 2024
Do you believe in the gospel or do you BE-LIEVE in the Gospel? The difference between a superficial belief and a more deeply rooted faith is closely connected with how much effort we put into our spiritual life in Christ. Unfortunately, many professing believers are stifled in their Christian maturity because of spiritual sloth. We might show up to church on Sunday, but then we ignore Christ for the rest of the week. St. Paul reminds us this morning that we are in a spiritual battle, and if we do not actively prepare for the daily battle, then we risk, at the least, being ineffective for the Kingdom of God,…
Sermon, 15th Sunday after Trinity, 2024
Covetousness is, at its core, a distrust of God through an attempt to provide for ourselves. Yet we cannot make the sun rise or set, we cannot make it rain or shine, we cannot control the vast majority of what happens to us. So how exactly are we going to provide what we need for life? The virtue we need which opposes our greediness is justice – giving to all his due. The just person understands the relative value of things and does not clamor for that which cannot satisfy and which cannot save. God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. God takes care of…
Sermon, 14th after Trinity, 2024
Will we live in the flesh or in the Spirit? This question is posed to us by St. Paul in the epistle lesson this morning. The sins of the flesh may seem attractive to us, but then the gospel lesson illustrates for us that such a life is like having leprosy. How then, are we to live in the Spirit? The virtue we need is Temperance. As followers of Jesus, this isn’t simply a strength of will to avoid sin, but it is a longing for something greater to be found in our relationship with Christ. Propers Manuscript
Sermon, 13th after Trinity, 2024
Too often, we use the Law, those biblical principles of what things are right and wrong, to attempt to justify ourselves. Such is the case of the student of the Mosaic Law that we read about in Luke 10:23-37. Then having incorrectly justified ourselves, we become angry with those who disagree with us or thwart our purposes. Yet St. Paul makes the case in Galatians 3, that our relationship with God, established first in the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis, is entirely on the basis of God’s promise. Our obedience is built upon God’s gift, not upon our keeping of the Law. We do not justify ourselves. God, in Christ Jesus,…