St. John the Divine Anglican Church

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” In this part of the world, we know about cattle. I read about the recent dedication of a monument to Capt. John T. Lytle, who is recognized as the first to drive a herd of 3500 Longhorn cattle from South Texas to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1874, blazing what is now known as the Great Western

He had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Laurie and I travel so much that our theme song is “On the Road Again,” by Willie Nelson. Every time we load up and head out of town, one of us starts singing it. The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus made me think of our theme song. It begins with the words, “That

This Sunday has a few names in our tradition. Our Sunday Lectionary calls it the Second Sunday of Easter. That’s because last Sunday was technically the First Sunday of Easter, or Eastertide, meaning the time or season of Easter. But that has been only since 1970. Before that it was called the First Sunday after Easter. Some people call this Low Sunday, because the attendance is typically lower than last

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! How wonderful it is to cry out Alleluia once again. Today, like that early morning that we heard about in the Gospel is the first day of the week. This is the day we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Every Sunday of the year is a celebration of his resurrection, but this one is our annual feast recalling that

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Tonight we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from death and grave to eternal life. But, for many people, Easter means so much more. As I was watching television earlier today, I saw an ad for a Golden Easter Bunny made of chocolate. The tag line was something about the Magic of Easter. It occurs to me that

Tonight we celebrate the events of the Last Supper in the upper room, where Christ gave his disciples instructions to be carried out in his name. The name Maundy came from the Latin word Maundatum, meaning commandment. The commandment we focus on today is the one Christ gave, “do this in remembrance of me.” St. Justin the Martyr, who was born in about 100 AD, was one of the first

Today is Palm Sunday, but you will notice in your bulletin it has two names. “The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday” This because there are two distinct parts to our celebration today. The first being a commemoration of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. We read from the Gospel according to St. Matthew about this event. “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” From St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is considered one of the greatest books in the Bible. Martin Luther described it as “the chief book in the New Testament and the purest gospel.” John Knox, a modern American professor, says that it is

The day’s theme comes from the entrance antiphon reflecting on Isaiah 66:10-11: “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.” That motherly theme reminds us that the New Jerusalem, the Church of

The Woman at the Well Water is something we take for granted here. We turn the little handle and the water flows. In many parts of the world, water is a precious resource that is not easy to come by. Water is life. When I was in Malawi, I saw women carrying buckets of water on their heads. Each day they walk to the local well, fill up their buckets,