Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
What does resurrection have to do with marriage? In today’s Gospel from St. Luke, Jesus answers the quandary of the Sadducees. What else might be different if marriage isn’t part of the resurrection? Listen now to find out more.
Image: Resurrection of the Flesh, Luca Signorelli. Public Domain. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Signorelli_Resurrection.jpg
When Jesus came to Jericho, no one would have expected him to stay with the man Zacchaeus. And yet Jesus does. Why? Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus changes him completely. What does this mean for us today?
Image: A an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England. Photo taken by: Philip De Vere (Phillip Medhurst [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)])
As we wrestle with God telling Jeremiah that he will not listen to his people in Jeremiah 14, we hear the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. What is the relationship between these two accounts in the Bible? How does repentance relate to both? Where do we fall when it comes to the Pharisee and the tax collector? Here’s a hint: If you’re proud that you are a tax collector, you’re really a Pharisee.
image: Pharisee and the Tax Collector, posted by WELS MLP, (Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49102781@N03/4500062279/in/photostream/
On the night before Jacob was to meet with Esau, a stranger started a wrestling match with him. In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable about a persistent widow. What do these two stories have to do with one another? What do we learn about prayer from these things? How does God change everything about us as we pray? Father Jeremiah works through this and helps us to see how prayer is meant to dislocate us and renew our faith in Jesus.
Image: Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860 by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld [Public domain]. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_036.png
“When you have done all that you were commanded, say ‘We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty,’” says Jesus to his Apostles. What does this mean for them, those who would carry the Gospel to the known world and what does that mean for us today. Listen as Father Jeremiah explores the need for grace as we do all that Jesus calls us to in the kingdom work he gives to us.
Image: Der Landmann, by Eugène Burnand [Public Domain]. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eugene_Burnand_-_Der_Landmann.jpg
After telling the parable of the Shrewd Steward, Jesus then tells a story about a rich man and Lazarus. With this story Jesus brings together the ideas of stewardship in regard to both relationships and possessions. We soon discover that stewardship, discipleship, and vocation are really interlocked into one another and expressions of one another in various ways.
Image: Meister des Codex Aureus Epternacensis [Public domain] Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meister_des_Codex_Aureus_Epternacensis_001.jpg
Jesus tells his disciples a parable about a crooked and unjust steward and the master in the story commends him for being shrewd. What does this mean exactly? What underlies the shrewd act on the part of the steward? How does this all relate to Jesus? These questions are considered as Father Jeremiah takes us through this parable and reveals to us the True Steward that we need.
Image by: Phillip Medhurst [FAL], An etching by Jan Luyken illustrating Luke 16:1-9 in the Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teachings_of_Jesus_31_of_40._parable_of_the_unjust_steward._Jan_Luyken_etching._Bowyer_Bible.gif
Father Jeremiah looks at Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin and connects them to the other readings of Scripture for today found in Exodus 32.1, 7-14 and 1 Timothy 1.12-17. All of these passages deal with Jesus’ pursuit of his people despite their desire to get lost in the wilderness of sin. He continually goes after us and brings us back to himself.
image: From Stories of Old or Bible Narratives… by Hadley, Caroline. [from old catalog] [No restrictions]. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stories_of_old_or_Bible_narratives_(1863)_(14579310939).jpg
Discipleship is all over the Bible. Too often though we think of it as gaining more and more knowledge without considering other changes that should happen in our lives and our very being because of the discipleship. Father Jeremiah considers this and the order that discipleship takes in the changes that it makes.
Image: Photo by MarcFrasere1958 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] Found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Luke%27s_-_The_Bombed_Out_Church_-_Liverpool.JPG
Jesus speaks a parable about people vying for places of honor instead of considering others of higher standing than themselves. The source of this behavior is pride and the answer to it is humility. How does one, though, accomplish, humility? Can it be done in your own strength or must Another accomplish it for you that you might live in humbleness?
Image: Image from page 506 of A Dictionary of the Bible…(1887) No known copyright restrictions.
Jesus says, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate,’ in the Gospel passage. What are we to make of this command to us today? It is a reminder that we must continually come back to confession and repentance through which we can thrive in the Kingdom and be a part of banquet to come. Here more about this from Father Jeremiah in today’s sermon.
Image: The Narrow Path, by rabiem22. Used under license CC BY 2.0. No changes made. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rabiem/8047897266/in/photostream/
Father Jeremiah walks us through Jesus’ words, “Fear not, little flock…” How can we begin to be free from anxiety and fear when there are so many cares in this world? Listen now to find out more!
Image Various birds in the air and on the ground with a large bird of prey in the centre. Engraving by H. Le Roy. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BYFound at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/se64jf77. License:
How do our material possessions and the many other goods that we have contribute to distraction and diversion from the importance of the Gospel and Jesus himself? In this sermon, Father Jeremiah considers these things through the Parable of the Rich Fool found in Luke 12.13-21.
Image: Photo taken by Joseph Harrison of The Young Apprentice by Amedeo Modigliani. Location: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/art-classic-artwork-modigliani-1531881/
When you think of prayer, where are your thoughts drawn? Are they drawn to how you should pray? Do you think about the way in which you pray? Or do you consider the character of the one to whom you pray? Father Jeremiah reminds of the importance of basing our prayers not on how we pray, but on the one we pray to. Remembering the kind of God we pray to undergirds our prayers continually.
Photo: Grace, by Eric Enstrom [Public domain], taken in 1918. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eric_Enstrom_-_Grace_-_bw.jpg
Father Jeremiah completes his series on the vocational life with this teaching on Mary and Martha. What is the one thing necessary that Mary had found and that Martha needed? How do work and rest come together in vocation? How do we both rest and toil at the same time? Listen to Father Jeremiah’s conclusion now.
Image: A an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England, photo taken by Phillip Medhurst [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Luyken%27s_Jesus_15._Martha_and_Mary._Phillip_Medhurst_Collection.jpg
The story of the Good Samaritan is an iconic story. You can find references to it in nearly every facet of our culture. However, what was so revolutionary about Jesus’ words that made this such a message that would go beyond time itself? It is because of the impossibility of the task that Jesus sets forth to his questioner. It is an impossibility that continues to exist for us today. What can we do with this impossible task in our daily vocations?
Image: The Good Samaritan, Rembrandt [CC0]. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Good_Samaritan_MET_DP814420.jpg
Father Jeremiah continues to lead us through his series on the vocational life. In this third sermon, he shows us how we are empowered to serve by the Holy Spirit in all of our vocations because Jesus has called to be in those vocations.
Image: Image from page 72 of "The works of John M. Synge .." (1912), posted by Internet Archive Book Images, no known copyright restrictions. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14595127770/in/photostream/
When we think of vocation, we often don’t think about the cost of living in these varied relationships. However, Jesus reminds us that to follow him comes with a cost and brings transformation to all of our relationships and work.
Image: by Henri Cassiers [Public domain]. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rodenbach_%E2%80%93_La_Vocation,_1895_Illustr._p_087.png
When we are called to take up our crosses daily, Christ is calling us to a cross shaped life, one that is focused on the cross upon every one of our vocations. All of our vocations, that is our relationships and the work we do in those, are all under the cross and given grace by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. We are called into the Vocational life through our cross-bearing.
Image: Christ Carrying the Cross, Albrecht Dürer, 1509 [Public domain]. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Christ_Carrying_the_Cross_(NGA_1943.3.3653).jpg
It is Trinity Sunday and Father Jeremiah leads us through a teaching on the Trinity and the work of God as three persons. He uses the Apostles’ Creed as our guide and opens our eyes to the amazing work of overflowing love that comes from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Image: The Holy Trinity by Miguel Cabrera, in the Tucson Museum of Art. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Holy_Trinity_by_Miguel_Cabrera.jpg
[Public domain]
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10:30 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
