The Rev. Carr Holland considers Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and John 1:6-8,19-28: “It is so easy when you are sifting rubble or old bones to forget that sometimes there is a hope, a dream of good that’s waiting to be found there.”
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Sermons (Page 44)
The Rev. George Adamik reflects on Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8: “Advent is our life. It’s not just a season. It’s a call to us to remember that we’re a watchful people, ever vigilant.”
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista contemplates the beginning of Advent: “The early Christian community had a tradition of observing the Lord’s day on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, instead of the last day of the week, the Sabbath. They used to call this the eighth day. The cycle of 7 days of creation, broken as it is, redeemed as the inbreaking of a new day shines forth every time we gather together. The eighth day of creation, when things will be made new.”
The Rev. Carr Holland reflects on Matthew 25:31-46 and the Feast of Christ the King: “In every moment, when we connect responsively to another’s need, we not only are serving Christ but it is as if we’re becoming Christ. We represent him in the world… The flow of God’s care almost always passes through a human being.”
The Rev. George Adamik considers a few ways to “inwardly digest” the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30): “Do we take the gifts we’ve been given and bury, hide, or protect them, keeping them safe, or are we called to go beyond ourselves and make a difference?”
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista reflects on Matthew 25:1-13 as we approach the end of the liturgical year: “Every ending is a kind of new beginning, my friends. Every ending demands us to look deep within and find the light of Christ burning forth, even in the darkest night.”
The Rev. George Adamik discusses five major roles for the contemporary church based on Avery Dulles’s classic work.
The Rev. Tony Wike discusses Matthew 22:34-46 and the greatest commandment: “Loving our neighbor as ourselves is an attitude of caring for others genuinely, of taking the needs of others seriously and without judgment, beginning at home and extending to our neighbors near and far, friend and enemy, us and them.”
The Rev. George Adamik reflects on Matthew 22:15-22: “We read the scriptures as if we have no money, and we then use our money as if we’ve never heard the scriptures.”
The Basilica of the Annunciation is a church that is found in Nazareth near the site of the story we often tell around Advent, where the Angel Gabriel shows up and interrupts the young girl’s life. “Greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you.” The church itself is grander than many others, maybe not quite true to the Virgin’s humble origins. (Exodus 32:1-14, Matthew 22:1-14)