a poor wayfaring stranger
We See Through A Mirror Darkly
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Nonconforming, Ever Transforming – The First Sunday after Epiphany
As with gladness men of old did the guiding star behold; as with joy they hailed its light, leading onward, beaming bright; so, most gracious God, may we evermore be led to Thee. The First Sunday after the Epiphany comes in powerfully. St. Paul’s epistle grabs us by the collar and makes frank that which…
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Joy & Wonders – The Feasts of Circumcision & Epiphany
Joy to the world! the Lord is come: Let earth receive her King; Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room And heav’n and nature sing, And heav’n and nature sing, And heav’n, and heaven and nature sing. This is the season of Joy. The season continues in such a manner that it embarrasses both the world…
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Angels from the Realms of Glory – The Sunday after Christmas Day
Merry Christmas! Yes, you heard me correctly: Merry Christmas! Christmastide has just begun, and the Christmas feast continues through Epiphany. The world does not understand salutations of “Merry Christmas” after December 25—much less keeping up the decorations—as the nations have fallen back into the dark bleakness of midwinter. Meanwhile, the Church rejoices, for Christ is…
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What Child Is This? – Christmas Day
Christ is born! Behold the Almighty Lord God in such a tender and fragile package. He is presented to us as a gift who is in need of one of His image-bearers to swaddle, feed, and tend to His every need. Peer over the manger and glimpse God enfleshed opening His eyes upon the world…
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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – The Fourth Sunday in Advent
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. “Emmanuel…Wisdom” The dark days are over. Despite…
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On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist Cries – Third Sunday in Advent
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lord is nigh; awake and hearken, for he brings glad tidings of the King of kings. Advent is a season of preparation. Oftentimes, we see it as a time of preparing the People of God for His return. However, we are called to always be…
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Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending – Second Sunday in Advent
Lo! he comes, with clouds descending, Once for our salvation slain; Thousand thousand saints attending Swell the triumph of his train: Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ, the Lord, returns to reign. “Mark my words,” is the theme of this Sunday’s collect. Yet do we truly mark our Lord’s words? Hearing the Second Coming, the Judgment, and…
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The Oxford Martyrs: A Call to Faithfulness
Four hundred sixty-nine years ago, Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were bound to a wooden pyre. Their bodies were restrained and immovable. The pyre was lit and the men burned up and burned away into martyrdom and into history with Bishop Latimer immortally encouraging his companion, “Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for…
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“In the Midst of Life,” A Reflection
A minister holds a strange position in society. He wears black from head to toe. He is neither blue-collar nor white-collar, but is vocationally connected to both and called to minister to both. In fact, his collar is black all the way to his neck, until a hint of white wraps around the neck to…
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A Parent’s Prayer
As I write, it is St. Augustine’s feast day. This saint perhaps has shaped Christian theology and orthodoxy more than any other since St. Paul. Yet many forget, omit, and outright never knew that yesterday was the feast day of his mother, Saint Monica. It’s poetic and appropriate that Augstine’s mother should precede him, for…