Gospel Preaching – Bible Teaching – Tucson, AZ
From God keeping her steadfast in the Faith, she has received the heavenly prize. On January 20, 2024, God released Marillyn from her confirmation vows. That is because in Christ, God has fulfilled His Promise to her.
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This time of year can serve to prepare us to receive and participate in the appointed fasts of Lent. Those will be our abstaining from singing Gloria Hymns and Alleluia verses. In addition, this preparatory little season can give you time to consider what type of Lenten fasting you may privately want to choose to practice. Such personal fasting, you are not to do in order to earn favor with God. Rather you may fast in order to discipline yourself as you are reminded of the price He paid to cover over your sins. …For more, click on the title above.
As congregations like this hold onto the helpful traditions and treasures of the Church, most of you understand that today should be a “white day.” The sights, sounds, and practices, the many good traditions of the ancient Church universal are still used today. That is to help the hearers of the Word better receive God’s biblically revealed gifts. Rightly received, continually taught, and used, they can serve to help keep us focused upon the clear Word and scriptural witness about the work of the Christ. Therefore, the white of Feast Days such as this Transfiguration Day is used to remind all who behold it that this day is all about Jesus. So, why is the Chancel and why are God’s servants before it today, vested in red?…For more, click on the title above.
Our sermon for this funeral service is offered to God in thanksgiving for the Faith that God gave and sustained in Kenneth Brian Bowman. The following words have flowed forth from the inspired readings for this day. Ken’s beloved Rosann chose them for you to hear from them today. I invite you to hear again the Word of the Lord that declares the good confession of the Faith:
The beautiful struggle I have struggled, the race I have completed, the Faith I have kept….For more, click on the title above.
Today, there are so many things to consider as we dive into the readings for during this time of proclamation and exhortation. That is particularly true as we consider our Church community, as well as the neighborhoods about us. As news reports may have informed you, there continues to be lot of evil occurring even in the world that is directly around us.
Further, in this congregation, our sinful natures, inherited by all humans through Adam, have given us plenty of reasons for weeping. That remains true, even as our new natures in Christ continue to give us a multitude of reasons for rejoicing. After all, God has called us to gather as One Body, under One Head. When one of us weeps, as one, we are called to weep with them. As one among us rejoices, we are called to rejoice with them….For more, click on the title above.
This year, God has again called us before this Altar Table to hear of the Epiphany Season’s glorious and beautiful revelations of Christ. To that end, the calendar has given us opportunity to move from one traditional Epiphany reading, that of the visit of the Magi, to another of the traditional readings for that High Feast. It is almost as if there was a cinematic “fade-to-black” after last night’s service so that this day’s readings could move our thoughts from King Jesus’ appearance to the nations to that which He came to do for people from all nations. …For more, click on the title above.
This evening, the Word has again called us to continue watching in the faith for Christ’s glorious return. It has reminded us that no created entity has power to separate us, the faithful from the unconditional, sacrificial, enduring love of God. That He continues to pour out upon us in Christ Jesus.
This end-of-year service certainly reminds us of those realities. It comes each year to proclaim the Word that God continues to give to us to keep us in the Faith. It emphasizes that our confession remains that which was confessed by the Apostle Paul long ago in his letter to the Church at Rome.
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Joseph and Mary are following the ritual law of purification for the mother. According to the Law of Moses, every first-born child had to be presented to the Lord, and a sacrifice made so that the mother could be declared clean by the priest.
Before this ritual could take place, a man, presumably unknown to either of them, approaches and takes the child in his arms, blesses God, and begins to speak. All of this had taken place prior to our pericope for today where the first words we read are,
“And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.”
Which brings us to our first question of the day: “What was said that made Jesus’ parents marvel?” …For more, click on the title above
Ah—Christmas Eve. The church is appropriately decorated. The candles are lit. The lights on the tree sparkle. It’s a brilliance, a special brilliance, because this is a night that is waited for, a night prepared for, a night longed for.
It is a celebration of an event more than 2,000 years old—one that has not been forgotten—nor will it ever be.
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Rejoice! That is, “feel great joy, be glad, take delight! “ Those are what that word means in English today. You might think: “Why should I rejoice, Pastor?”
After all, our world continues suffering on account of increasing chaos that is wrought among humans because of Adam’s Fall long ago. What reason do you have to rejoice when a lot of bad news—in personal lives, in families, in our communities, in this State, nation, and world—appears to inundate our lives? Why should you, dear Christian, feel great joy in this fallen world?…for more, click on the title above.
