As a congregation we have been discussing this for some time, and we have been using it in worship in our evensong service. The intent all along has been to incorporate a congregational confession of faith into our weekly service of worship. This morning we begin with the Apostles’ Creed. This creed is ancient and …
Courtships Are Interesting
Because of how God made the world, with the marriage of His Son to the Church central to the story He was going to tell, and His determination to picture this in every human marriage, the fact is settled that courtships are therefore interesting. But we are sometimes too interested, or, in another way of …
Near the Back
We are creatures and so we are necessarily affected by our surroundings. But we are responsible creatures, and this means that if our surroundings are distracting us from our duties, then we must fight those surroundings and overcome them. This room where we are meeting is not conducive to worship in various respects, but one …
The Mere Fact of Worship
The efficacy of worship goes far beyond the intentions of the worshippers. It is fitting and proper that all worshippers of the triune God fix this in their minds. We are worshipping God in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are doing so in faith, and are offering up a right worship of …
Be Careful
One time there was a man who did not like the legalistic and fussy way many Christians approached their lives. They always had scruples about everything. There was always a problem with something. And although he had a point, I am afraid he over-reacted, and he began to do things just to get a reaction …
Sola Fide
We know that we are saved by grace, through faith, so that no one can boast. We know also that we are saved by faith alone, sola fide. But we must take care. What kind of faith can be trusted to go out alone? Whenever we make theological distinctions, we have to be careful not …
We Think We Know What We Have Often Heard
We think we know what we have often heard. We tend to think we have progressed past what has frequently been said within our hearing. And yet, this is how the cancer of self-deception works. James tells us that those who hear without doing are self-deceived. And the more they hear, the more they think …
Common Era, Humbug!
N.B. This is an old exhortation. It is not really Advent yet. Nor is it 2002. But I stand by everything else. This is the second Sunday of the Advent season. As Christians, we seek to live our lives before God moment by moment and day by day. Unfortunately, we tend to taper off after …
What Pagans Always Do
Christians have been living in exile for far too many years. This exile is the exile of an arbitrary dualism, one that separates our private faith and the public faith. This is the heresy of modernity, and the political expression of that heresy is the ideal of liberal democracy. According to this heresy, what you …
Deep Comfort
When we gather together like this, under such circumstances, it is easy to fall into one of two errors, both of them serious sins. The first is the sin of complacency. We have heard about grace so much, and paid so little attention to what was actually being said about it, that we take the …