St. John the Divine Anglican Church

31 And his mother and his brethren[a] came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brethren[b] are outside, asking for you.” 33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brethren?” 34 And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brethren! 35 Whoever does the

“Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” from the Revelation to St. John the Divine. You may recognize those words. You hear them every Sunday. In fact, we sing them every Sunday, or at least a variation of it. We sometimes use the Latin word, “Sanctus” to describe that phrase. It is inserted in our service during the Eucharistic prayer, where

If Christianity was a religion simply made up by superstitious, manipulative and conniving men, you would think the Apostles would be heroic men who were smart and strong and convincing in their testimony. Instead, the Gospels tell of ordinary men who are quite fallible, and often very weak. Take the Apostle St. Peter, or as I like to call him, Rocky. Rocky was a mess! Remember the time when the

This past Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. It is a Principal Feast in our calendar, which means it ranks right up there with Easter and Christmas Day. In fact there are seven Principal Feasts listed in our calendar. Can you name them? The first is Easter day, then on the 40th day of Easter is the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, always on

Last Sunday, we heard from the Gospel of St. John, chapter 14, when Jesus said to his disciples, Jesus said to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth,” In another translation of the Bible, the word Advocate is used. The Greek word

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14) St. John had a true gift for words. Last Sunday, I talked about the way Jesus used the Name of God to establish his credibility. Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, one who will lay down his life for the sheep. That is the ultimate act of love. Today we heard

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11-16 In the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus makes several statements about himself to try to inform and reinforce his message to those willing to hear. To begin, it’s best to see why these statements had such an impact on his hearers. In the 3rd chapter of The Exodus, Moses was keeping the

“The Blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:1-2:2 Last Sunday we talked about Thomas, or Doubting Thomas, as he is known. It’s a label he has had ever since that day, and will never shake. Today we heard about another visit by the risen Lord to the disciples. Jesus stood among them and startled them again. He said, “Peace be with you,” or more

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John 20:19-31 Poor Thomas. Thomas has been saddled with the name “Doubting Thomas” for a very long time. No one refers to Peter as “Sinking Peter,” because when he got out of the boat to go to Jesus, he looked down, and started to sink because he got scared.

Matthew 28:1-10 “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said.” I love the Easter Vigil service of the church. There is no other service quite like it. The lessons we heard at the beginning give us a glimpse at the history of salvation. The lighting of the new fire for the Paschal Candle