St. John the Divine Anglican Church

Today we heard another parable about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was fond of using parables to communicate with his disciples. Some listened and understood what he was getting at, but most of his hearers must have thought he was a little kooky. This is one of those that made no sense to those with a mind for business. The land owner was hiring laborers all day long to work

These readings about forgiveness resonated with me today. So many stories I read have something to do with anger and the lack forgiveness. Why is it so hard to forgive? I understand that there are some resentments that have piled up over generations of people. People with power have abused the powerless. This is nothing new of course. Since Cain killed Abel there have been those who have killed others

We are living in a time of great conflict, which of course is no news to you, but it affects all of us. St. Paul wrote: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” I don’t know about you, but I hate conflict. I go out of my way to avoid it. I know that is not always a good thing. Sometimes you have to confront things

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.” If you will recall from last week, I talked about St. Peter, or Rocky, as my NT professor liked to call him. Some like to put him on a pedestal, but it is obvious from our studies of the Bible that St.

Matthew 16:13-20 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.  This verse describes two things. One is the giving of the nickname of Peter to Simon, and the description of the foundation of the Church. Now, you can call me biased if you like, because I’m an Anglican Catholic Priest, but this

“May God be merciful to us and bless us,” from Psalm 67 A common thread of the readings today is the mercy of God. The reading from the prophet Isaiah does not mention the word itself, but the message is that the LORD will be merciful to all who will join him and hold fast his covenant. All who keep sabbath (Saturday), and do not profane it, and hold fast

Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Have you ever taken a boat ride? I bet you have. I never have been a big fan of boats, but I know some people are. Some people like to ride in small boats, and some in boats the size of a small city. I have been aboard a few sail boats, and I suppose

My time at Camp Crucis recently reminded me of my days as a Boy Scout. My old friend, Fr. Moseley, or Father Salt as I like to call him, was a fellow Scout, and we went on many camp-outs together. We learned many things about camping. We learned to prepare our gear, shop for food, prepare meals, and best of all we learned how to put up tents and set

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26 ff Last week we began a discussion about life in the Spirit,

Romans 8 and the Holy Spirit For the last seven weeks we have heard snippets from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. This letter is the longest of all of the epistles of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul did not have much success in preaching to the Jews, his own people, and the leaders even plotted to have him killed. It was his declaration of his Roman citizenship that