Although not commanded Biblically, the tradition of the imposition of ashes does go back centuries. The early church father Terullian in the third century AD said confession of sin should be accompanied by lying in sackcloth and ashes (On Repentance, ch 9). His examples from...
Imagine Peter, James, and John as they descended Mount Tabor, with Jesus, after witnessing the Transfiguration. Their heads must have been reeling. And they couldn’t tell anyone! You know they must have huddled up privately to relive those moments, trying to understand what they had...
Where do you stand? No, don’t look down, that’s not what I meant. Where do you stand, in your faith, among other men and women? Where do you stand, in your faith, before God? In our epistle for today Paul, writing to the church at Corinth,...
“Who is Jesus of Nazareth?” and “What does his identity mean to you?” These questions are the main focus of our Gospel Reading for today. To fully understand who Jesus is we must go back about 4000 years. Moses and the Israelites had just left Egypt...
Have you thought about today? Today is the only day of its kind. When today has ticked by one moment at a time there won’t be another day exactly like it. Today’s Scripture lessons point out that obvious truth, from Old Testament to Epistle to...
That Paul was in Corinth for 18 months in 50-52AD is historical fact. Read Acts 18:1-22 – Paul was sure busy, and under threat, and tried before Gallio (but acquitted), and preached the Word of God, Christ Jesus and Him crucified all the while. Later, from...
This weekend we recognize and celebrate the baptism of Jesus. This event we share with Him, unlike other aspects of His life and ours. We are not sinless; He was, though tempted in just the ways we are. We cannot do miracles like He did;...
Shame on me, Lord but – I tend to think of “inheritance” as being, well, money… Am I the only one? In the opening slide today note the little boy is being read to from a book, a Golden Book, remember those? It was mine....
The gospel for this day is from Luke, in the 12th chapter. Jesus has just reminded us that worrying cannot add a single hour to our lives. Boy, that’s easy for Him to say! What about all the stuff we worry about, who’s going to...
Christmas is the day in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christmas is also steeped in traditions. We sing those traditional songs such as “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, “Away in a Manger”, “What Child Is This”, and of course “Silent Night, Holy Night”. ...