This is Trinity Sunday, the beginning of the backstretch of the church year. From Advent through Pentecost, we commemorate the life of Christ our Lord, marking His arrival in our midst, His life, His death and resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and His outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His people. Our observance of these …
The Center of the World
This is the day of Pentecost, in the year of our Lord 2007. We rejoice in this day, and we mark it, and we call upon our God to continue the work in His Church which He so wonderfully began in the second chapter of Acts. Over the course of time, the word Pentecost has …
Pentecost and American Empire
INTRODUCTION: The giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is thought by many Christians to be the birthday of the Church. But because the Church existed throughout the Old Testament, perhaps it would be better to think of it as the Church’s wedding day, or better yet, as the day of her betrothal. Her wedding …
Easter 2007
This is April 8, Resurrection Sunday, 2007, anno Domini, year of our Lord. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it! When a man comes back from the dead, everything in all history must eventually center on that man. When a man is executed by the most …
Holy Friday 2007
In the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus, we see that God the Father in His infinite wisdom determined to have the eternal Logos take on human flesh. In this, the universal Word became a particular Word, without ceasing to be the everlasting and infinite expression of the Father’s wisdom. This, of course, was all done …
Two Coal Fires/Easter 2007
Introduction: The presence of the Lord Jesus, alive just as He promised He would be, transforms everything. We can see this very clearly in the fall and restoration of the apostle Peter after the resurrection. The Text: “And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: …
Palm Sunday 2007
Introduction: This is a message about three crowds. In the grip of individualism, we have too often neglected to heed what the Bible teaches about group behavior, and the results of this neglect are often tragic. The Text: “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the …
Christmas Eve Homily 2006
In the name of the Father, who sent His Son to occupy the womb of a virgin, rejoice. In the name of the Son who gladly went, sing and be glad. And in the name of the Spirit, who enabled that virgin to miraculously conceive, bow down and worship. May the Father, Son, and Holy …
What the Angels Said
Introduction: Grace is one of the most difficult things in the world for sinners to grasp. And as soon as we gather that it is difficult, we turn the “grasping of it” into a contest and a work, with the right answer earning the “best in show” award. But of course, grace means that some …
Born to Die
Introduction: As we continue meditating on the meaning of Advent, we are not really resisting attempts to make Christmas meaningless as we are fighting with alternative meanings. There is no such thing (in the last analysis) as a vacuum holiday, a celebration without a point. Attempts to neutralize Christmas are simply an intermediate step—and the …