Month: September 2012
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On the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel and Every Day
Holy Archangel, Michael, be my companion this day, a guardian and protector along the way. Defend me from the evil one. Stay with me in the day of battle. Pray for me, Michael, you who are well pleasing to God. Pray for me that I may know the mercy and salvation of Christ. Related Posts:… Read more
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Believing in the Giver of Life
For most of us, I suspect, there are moments when the existential questions of life can no longer be answered, ignored, or denied by focusing on our careers, jobs, marriages, families, acquisitions, or accomplishments. Who am I? What is my purpose? What have I really accomplished? How will I be remembered? Will I even be… Read more
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Urgent Need Makes A Real Meditation
“Habitual self-complacency is almost always a sign of spiritual stagnation. The complacent no longer feel in themselves any real indigence, an urgent need for God. Their meditations are comfortable, reassuring and inconclusive. Their mental prayer quickly degenerates into day-dreaming, distractions or plain undisguised sleep. For this reason trials and temptations can prove to be a… Read more
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Room Enough, A Place for Everyone
The collect and readings for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20B, may be found here. The following sermon is based on Mark 9:30-37. “They had argued with one another who was the greatest.” We shouldn’t be too surprised. We’ve probably been a part of such arguments. From sibling rivalry to be mom and dad’s… Read more
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The Scandal of Being Human
Every time we say the Nicene Creed we profess the world’s greatest scandal. God chose to become human. God chose to reveal himself through flesh and blood. God chose to enter this world in the usual way, to be born of a human mother the same as you and I were. God chose to live… Read more
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Five Things We Believe About God
“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” With just twenty-one words the Nicene Creed describes God. Twenty-one words? That’s it? Surely there is more that can be said about God. I suspect there is. Maybe, however, that’s not the question. Maybe the better question… Read more
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A Litany for the 11th Anniversary of 9/11
Originally posted on Interrupting the Silence: O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, Have mercy upon us.O God the Son, Redeemer of the world,Have mercy upon us.O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful,Have mercy upon us.O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God,Have mercy upon us. Hear our… Read more
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Openness Cures Deafness
The collect and readings for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18B, may be found here. The following sermon is based on the second part of the day’s gospel, Mark 7:31-37. “They brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment.” The gospel does not tell us much about this man. We don’t… Read more
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Communal Believing – The Nicene Creed, Part 3
Someone once asked an old hermit, “Is Jesus your personal Lord and Savior?” “No,” he said. “I prefer to share him with others.” There is wisdom in the hermit’s words. The Christian life is not about “me and my Jesus.” That’s too small, too easy, and too risky. It can quickly degenerate into “Sheilaism.” In… Read more
Interrupting the Silence 