This Sunday I didn’t preach as we had a guest preacher, Rev. John Borthwick. You will get his biography as I introduce him and I commend his sermon to you as an excellent meditation on Paul talking to the church in Corinth, 2 Corinthians 4:1-12. “We Don’t Get Discouraged” – Rev. John Borthwick, St. Mark’s…
The texts this week led me in a different direction than I think I have ever gone for this Liturgical week. The most “obvious” directions to go are usually following/obeying the Law (Psalm 1), how the apostles worked with the Holy Spirit to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:15-17, 21-26), eternal life (1 John 5:9-13), or…
Commands are funny things. We give them all the time, to electronic devices, pets, and our automobiles but we don’t like getting them very much. Commands have a heavy connotation of coercion. We are seldom commanded to do something we want to do anyway. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is filled with commands and…