Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
We continue in Jesus' Bread of Life Discourse this week. What is Jesus wanting us to understand about his teaching? What does he call for us to do? Do I come to Him of my own accord? Father Jeremiah walks us through this part of St. John's Gospel and helps us to understand what Jesus is teaching us.
Image: By Nheyob [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
In our first in a series of sermons from John 6, Jesus confronts the people with their desire to only receive blessings from him, but not the deeper significance of his sign of multiplying bread. What are to make of this passage? Are we doing the same thing in our lives? Do we only want to receive, but not lift our eyes to the deeper reason for the gift we have been given? Listen now to find out more!
How is it that Jesus walks on the water? What is the meaning of this act that we are so used to reading about? What does it have to do with the Old Testament? Listen to find out the answers to these questions with Father Jeremiah.
Image: Peter Walking on Water Icon, photo taken by Ted. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frted/10545665155
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Jesus feeding the five thousand and their families is more than just taking care of hunger pains. Jesus is more than a spiritual vending machine, much, much more! In Father Jeremiah's sermon, he considers the depths to which Jesus fulfills our true needs.
Image: Feeding of the 5,000 found in the Walters Manuacript W.536, fol 107r; found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/medmss/7167262403
It's easy to put ourselves in the middle of the biblical story. Too often we think of the actions of the main character as being what we are supposed to do. The truth is though that we aren't the main characters. Really we are the side characters and that changes everything.
Image: Calling of the Disciples, Domenico Ghirlandaio [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghirlandaio,_Domenico_-_Calling_of_the_Apostles_-_1481.jpg
What happens when we presume to know all about Jesus? What happens when we put Jesus in a box? Nothing good! Father Jeremiah considers what the people of Nazareth were doing when Jesus went to his hometown and rejected him. What does this mean for us now?
Image: Calling of the Disciples, Domenico Ghirlandaio [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghirlandaio,_Domenico_-_Calling_of_the_Apostles_-_1481.jpg
Image: Christ Raising Jairus's Daughter, by William Blake, The William Blake Archive [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Raising_Jairus%27s_Daughter,_object_1_(Butlin_417).jpg
Jesus calming the storm and healing a man with a legion of demons. What do these two stories tell us about the ministry of Jesus? How is St. Mark showing us Jesus' overcoming chaos itself through these miracles? Listen to find out.
Image: A mediæval illustration of Jesus healing the Gerasene. Public domain.
How does the Kingdom grow? What causes it to grow? How are we part of that growth? These are the questions that spring out of the parables told by Jesus in Mark 4.26-34. Listen to find out more about how these parables raise and answer these questions and what it has to do with you in your own life.
Image: From the book, With the Children on Sundays, through eye-gate, and ear-gate into the city of child-soul, by Sylvanus Stall. No known copyrights.
What do Adam and Eve's sin, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and family have to do with each other? In this sermon, Father Jeremiah brings these biblical concepts together and helps us to understand how Jesus' work brings about a new family and the plundering of Satan's house.
Image: By Shakko [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons
How do you respond to the beauty of grace? Do you find it wonderful or uncomfortable? Our sermon this week looks at how wonderful Jesus' grace toward us is and what it means for us.
Image: A an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England (The Kevin Victor Freestone Bequest). By Phillip Medhurst [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Philip De Vere. https://www.flickr.com/groups/the_phillip_medhurst_collection_of_bible_prints
We worship a God who is different from all other gods. Our God is a trinity of persons who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This God has redeemed us from our sins and only a God who is a Trinity can do this. Only a God who is a Trinity can can change our hearts so that we can worship Him.
Image: By AnonMoos [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
On Pentecost nearly two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church. Who is this person that the Father and Son have given to the church? Why does he do what he does and what is it that he has come to do? Listen now to find out more about all of this from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Heilige Dreifaltigkeit by Andrej Rublev [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Does it really matter that Jesus ascended into heaven bodily? What kind of impact does that have upon my own faith? Does it make a difference to my daily life and the life of the Church? Far from being unimportant, Jesus' ascension of utmost necessity for our redemption and salvation. Hear what Father Jeremiah has to say about this extraordinary event in both Jesus' life and the life of the Church.
Image: The Ascension, by Benjamin West, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ascension)_by_Benjamin_West,_PRA.jpg
What is love? Is it merely an emotion that we experience or is it something more? St. John says that God is love and that love is not us loving God but something greater than that. What is that? Listen to find out more from Father Jeremiah.
Image: By Nheyob [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons. Found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_Our_Lady_of_the_Miraculous_Medal_(Columbus,_Ohio)_-_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_statue_statue.jpg
We encounter Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John in the midst of Easter. What will the Spirit do for the disciples and for us? How can we live the life that will receive the Spirit? How does our having the Spirit relate to Christ dwelling in us? Listen to find out more!
Image: The Last Supper, Simon Ushakov, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simon_ushakov_last_supper_1685.jpg
There have been many wicked shepherds that have led God's people astray. Yet, so often God's people have embraced them more quickly than God himself. What are we to make of this? What does God do in response to the wicked shepherds and his people's need? Listen to find out more.
Image: By Anonymous (http://polymer.bu.edu/~jdm/good_shepherd.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_shepherd_icon.jpg)
The resurrection changes everything! In texts from Micah, Luke, and First John, we see the wide ranging effects of Jesus' resurrection on us and all the world. What are these effects? How do they come to us? How do we receive the benefits of Jesus' resurrection? Listen to find out more.
By Lucas Cranach der Ältere (1472–1553) - Herzogliches Museum Gotha, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58440155
Why does Thomas cast doubt on the resurrection of Jesus? Is he any different from the other disciples? Is he any different than us? Thomas' doubt wasn't surprising to Jesus as he gives grace to Thomas. Find out more about this amazing passage today with Father Jeremiah.
Image: By Toros Roslin (Romkla Gospels) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_by_roslin.jpg)
Jesus resurrection is the greatest act of God in history. The women, in Mark's Gospel, visited Jesus' tomb but did not find him there, only a young man. What do we make of this? What does it mean? What does it reveal about God our Father in heaven? Listen now to find out more from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Der Auferstandene, by Lucas Cranach. Public domain in the United States.
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10:30 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
