Tag: hope
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“Christ is Risen”
Two chants from Orthodox Easter liturgy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. Thy resurrection, O Christ our Savior The angels in heaven sing Enable us on earth to glorify thee in purity of heart about the image (first posted April 11, 2018)
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Ash Wednesday
I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by meditating on God’s word … (Book of Common Worship, 250) This year, Sacred Space is offering an online Lenten retreat “Hope and the Nearness of God.” Passing […]
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There a Great Miracle Occurred
Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev. 1 Maccabees 4:59 Last night was the first night of […]
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Modern Day Prophecy
Pew Research Center has published their detailed report Beyond Red and Blue: The Political Typology. The way I read it, it’s discouraging. It’s not obvious to me that the people this survey is about – us, that is – have the tools we need and the skills we need to do the things we would […]
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Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
Say among the nations, “YHWH is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. YHWH will judge the peoples with equity.”Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of […]
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Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
On this mountain YHWH Sabaoth will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he […]
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All The Things
One thing that does not happen “at church” is grading. [This is one of the good things about church.] Grading happens, in my experience, not at church. Although technically, insofar as “the church is the people,” and people [some of us, anyway] periodically do this thing we call “grading,” then grading also happens “at church.” […]
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Seventh Sunday of Easter
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10
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Promise
The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this: though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever, but you, YHWH, are on high forever. Psalm 92:6-8
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Second Sunday After Epiphany
Today was one of those days when a lot of ideas come together. And probably suggest some things I need to do about them … First, we ended up going overtime in the not-that-early class, because of talking about the timeline of ancient Israelite history and its relationship to 1 Kings and the likely time […]
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Third Sunday in Advent
We learned that the wife of one of our dear classmates passed away early this morning. It shades everything. Here, now, in the middle of this hectic season of relentless merriment, we are thinking of our friend and of loss and of grief … We often say, I often say, that “we don’t just have […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – 1 Peter 1 13-25
We are studying 1 Peter 1:13-25 for Sunday, November 17. [Here are my notes on this text.] Here are some questions we might want to reflect on, or discuss in class: We think this letter was addressed to Christians who were experiencing some kind of social costs because of their faith and hope in Jesus […]
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Study Notes – 1 Peter 1 13-25
We are studying 1 Peter 1:13-25 for Sunday, November 17. [Some questions on the text are here.] Here are my notes on this text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: 1 Peter is one of the “general epistles” (along with James, 2 Peter, 1-2-3 John, and Jude). These are letters written by church leaders addressed, not to specific […]
Matters of Interpretation 