First things first, this morning: a person cannot earn salvation. Salvation is given for free, in Christ, and received by faith. This is what we call grace. And it is grace alone that saves. First things first. This can be a startling claim. An example, in another register. The parking garage across from our building […]
Sermon Topic: Christian Life
Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ
Today is a celebration about promises and the greatest promise of Jesus Christ – the promise of eternal life – beginning in the here and now but perfected after death. The great Archbishop Michael Ramsey used to teach that death was not an end but a new beginning and that the soul journeyed to God […]
I Had Thought the World Was Ending
I have recently finished reading a book about a woman who trains a hawk for falconry as a means of coping with her grief over her father’s death. Near the end of the book she recounts waking from what she thought was an apocalyptic dream that included a poltergeist shaking her bed, only to realize […]
Vines and Brambles
In my last home we had a garden – it had very rich Devonshire soil and, one day, my wife bought me a grape vine. I decided to put it next to the house and dug up some of the paving slabs that had been there at least 100 years in order to plant it. […]
Confounding Vice by Cultivating Virtue
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. [Romans 13:12] Our Director of Music, John Scott, and our assisting priest, Joel Daniels and your Curate, Michael Spurlock all profess to be Christians and they all […]
Finally Glad
Ash Wednesday seems so long ago, although it was really just a bit over six weeks. At the beginning of Lent people take up “Lenten disciplines,” which come in various forms but traditionally are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In his sermon that day, our rector professed his affection for his disciplines. He also used an […]
Little Lady
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. I have known Susan since 2005, the year Victor accepted my call for him to come be our Theologian-in-residence. At the time he and I talked considerably about what a move from a small college town to New York […]
Two Stories for Advent 2010
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We are enjoying the Nine Lessons and Carols, but it is not merely the Sunday before Christmas. It is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the time of preparation, not only for the celebration of Christmas, but for the […]
In the World, but Not of It
“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (AV) The Letter of Paul to the Romans is unique amongst his writings in that it is sent to a Church which he himself […]
Losing the World, Gaining Christ
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. Saint Paul’s Letter to the Church at Philippi was written while he was in prison and in danger of death. Since Paul was […]
