Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
In Exodus 17, the people grumble and contend with Moses and God over being in a place where there was no water. In John 4, Jesus speaks with a woman at a well. What can these two stories tell us about ourselves and our needs and desires? Listen now to hear about the grumbling people and the living water that we all need.
Image: by Jacopo Tintoretto / Public domain. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1563_Tintoretto_Moses_Striking_the_Rock_anagoria.JPG
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. What must have been going through his mind when he saw him and heard. It all connects to Genesis 12 and Romans 4. Promise, faith, sacraments all swirl together to reveal God’s kindness and steadfast love, in short, his grace to sinners like us so that we might know him.
Image: Christ talking with Nicodemus at night, by Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn. Public Domain. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crijn_Hendricksz.jpeg
As Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted, he was going out to do what Adam had failed at doing. Jesus was going out to resist temptation on behalf of his people, so that all who are united to him, might become resisters of temptation as well. Paul explains this in Romans 5, that Jesus has become the second and greater Adam by his act of obedience. Father Jeremiah tells us more in this week’s sermon.
Image: Temptation of Christ by Vasily Surikov, 1872. Public Domain. Location: https://www.wikiart.org/en/vasily-surikov/temptation-of-christ-1872
Father Jeremiah expounds on the Collect for Ash Wednesday as a way for us to not lose focus on Jesus and what he has done for us during Lent. This prayer draws our eyes to our continual need to be sorrowful for our sins and to pray for a heart that is truly sorrowful from God for only God can give us that kind of heart through Jesus.
In Jesus’ transfiguration we are given a glimpse of the salvation that he is bringing to us through his death and resurrection. Because of this glimpse our eyes are to be drawn to Jesus only, to look upon he who has been pierced for us and to find the whole of our salvation through him. Listen now to hear more from Father Jeremiah
Image: Photo by Lawrence OP, Transfiguration of the Lord, Mosaic by Marko Rupnik SJ in the relic chapel of the National Shrine of Pope St John Paul II, Washington DC. Used under license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. No changes made.
In our Gospel today, Jesus goes about teaching, proclaiming, and healing. He does this as he looks upon the crowds with deep compassion. How does this come down to us today? What does Jesus’ response teach us about our own condition? What does Jesus’ actions toward our condition mean for us in response?
Image: Jesus preaching before a crowd, woodcut. Part of the Wellcome Collection. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_preaching_before_a_crowd._Woodcut._Wellcome_V0034716.jpg and https://wellcomecollection.org/works/svbe5hgz?wellcomeImagesUrl=/indexplus/image/V0034716.html License: CC BY 4.0, No changes made.
Jesus speaks of us as being salt and light and then of his coming to fulfill the Law. How does his fulfilling the Law bring about our being salt and light? Listen now to find out from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Ywain and his lion fighting a dragon, an illumination from the 14th-century Italian copy. [Public Domain] Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ywain_and_his_lion_fighting_a_dragon.jpg
Jesus being presented in the Temple may seem like a random even from his life, yet it contains a great amount of redemptive significance. It pushes us to realize how seriously the writers of the New Testament took Jesus’ full humanity and how it was necessary that he be incarnate. It is a reminder that everything that he did was for us and our salvation.
Image: Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Stefan Lochner, 1447 (Public Domain). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stefan_Lochner_-_Presentation_of_Christ_in_the_Temple_-_WGA13347.jpg
As Jesus enters into his Galillean ministry, he preaches about repentance in light of the coming of the Kingdom of God. What does this mean, especially when coupled with Amos 3.1-11? We see that God enters into conflict with his people in order to bring about their redemption. Find out more from Father Jeremiah in this sermon.
Image: Christ Preaching in the Temple, Russia (MSTERA). Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icon_of_Jesus_among_the_Doctors_(Mstera,_c._1800).jpg
When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he called him the Lamb of God. What did he mean by this statement? Why did it draw his disciples from himself and to Jesus? How can this strange statement affect us today? Listen now to hear what Father Jeremiah teaches us from this passage.
Image: Behold the Lamb of God, by Lawrence OP (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). No changes made. Statue of John the Baptist pointing to the Lamb of God is located in Fribourg. Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/12028234743
When Jesus was baptized, he transformed what baptism was about. His baptism was unexpected for John the Baptist, but to do what was necessary and needful, he baptized Jesus and saw the transformation of baptism into something new and even more glorious. This is what we participated in when we were baptized and what we participate in when we remember that baptism.
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay
The birth of Christ meant that God had entered into his own creation and made his dwelling amongst man in a man. Psalm 84 begins with the words, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD God of Hosts.” These words take on a new and deeper meaning in light of the incarnation and connects us also to the coming of the Magi at Epiphany. Listen now to hear Father Jeremiah expand upon this beautiful truth.
Image: From The 'De Grey' Hours, depicting the adoration of the Magi. Author of the book is unknown. [CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication] Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Grey_Hours_f.71.r_Adoration_of_the_Magi.png
Father Jeremiah’s friend, Thomas Haviland-Pabst, preached on this first Sunday after Christmas. He considers the incarnation and birth of Jesus from John 1 and Galatians 3. The incarnation results in beautiful things for us! We are able to be adopted as children and can receive the Holy Spirit within.
Jesus Christ is born! The Son of God has come in the flesh! And thus, the whole world is blessed by this coming of God in human flesh that all creation might be redeemed through his work on its behalf.
Image: Nativity Icon in Panagia Evraidos Church (Public Domain). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nativity_Icon_Panagia_Evraidos_Church_19_Century.jpg
Psalm 24 is most likely a reflection of the Ark of the Covenant being brought into Jerusalem after David had conquered the city. Yet, it also becomes something more in light of Jesus’ coming into this world and his return at the end. What do we hear in this psalm that can lead us into opening wide the gates when Jesus returns?
Image: Entry of David into Jerusalem, by Frans Francken the Younger. (Public Domain) Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Entry_into_Jerusalem.jpg
In the Psalm, the psalmist is praising Yahweh and recognizing his works of healing for the people. These healings were a part of Jesus’ own ministry here on earth, linking his Messiahship not to just being sent by Yahweh, but to being Yahweh himself in the flesh. This psalm tells us about Yahweh and thus tells us about Jesus and the praise and joy that he can illicit from us when we see him as king.
Image: Christ Preaching (The Hundred Guilder Print) by Rembrandt (Public Domain {{PD-US}}). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RembrandtHeal.jpg
Psalm 72 was a psalm written for Solomon’s inauguration and reign. It is a prayer for the blessing of his reign, but through his failures, it becomes a prophecy of the greater Son of David who would come to rule over all of creation. We see once again, how the psalms have layers that point forward to Jesus Christ in his coming to redeem his people. Listen now to Father Jeremiah explain these connections and apply it to us today.
Image: Christus Pantocrator, from Cathedral of Cefalù, c. 1130. Photographed by Andreas Wahra. Used under GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2 and CC BY-SA 3.0
The Psalms have been known as a prayer book for thousands of years. They were part of the regular Jewish prayer life. These were prayers that Jesus himself prayed and yet, the psalms are about Jesus. All that the psalms are seeking God for, Jesus fulfills. This psalm specifically prays for the peace of Jerusalem and as we think about Jesus praying this very prayer, we know that he was going to become that peace that Jerusalem truly needs.
Image: TU REX GLORIAE CHRISTE, William Earley, photographed by Andreas F. Borchert (CC BY-SA 4.0). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toomyvara_St._Joseph%27s_Church_Window_Tu_Rex_Gloriae_Christe_by_William_Earley_1933_2010_09_08.jpg
Jesus’ return in glory means more than just resurrection for his people. Because he was raised from the dead into new life, not only will believers be resurrected into new life, but the entire universe will be purged of all the stain of sin. Listen now to find out about this wonderful news from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Icon of Second Coming, Anonymous, Greece [Public domain] Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icon_second_coming.jpg
What is the end of the world all about in Luke 21? We have many assumptions about his passage, but the reality is that it is simply what it is: a prophecy about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and what will happen to the disciples before that. How does this affect us today? Is there something we can learn about what Jesus promises the disciples? Can we depend upon Jesus in the same way as they did during their time of testing? Listen now to find out more from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Douce Apocalypse - Bodleian Ms180, Anonymous (Public Domain). Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douce_Apocalypse_-_Bodleian_Ms180_-_p.039_Christ_proclaimed_by_the_elders.jpg
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10:30 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
