This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "saints"
St. Nicholas of Myra
St. Nicholas of Myra died December 6, 345 (or 352). He attended the Council of Nicaea, where he reportedly struck the arch-heretic Arius because he defamed our Lord. He was immediately banished from the Council and defrocked, but after other bishops all shared a common dream of the Blessed Virgin Mary imploring mercy on him, they re-instated him. He was well known for his generosity and his love of children and the poor, though he always gave anonymously, sometimes throwing gifts in through windows in the night.This site has some more details of his life and some of the miracles attributed to him. The icon above is from St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai (13th Century). … Read entire article »
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Worship From That Side
There is certainly a different perspective I have worshiping God while sitting in the chancel than I do while sitting in a pew. It was demonstrated to me a few weeks ago on vacation. The service rushed past. We used Divine Service I so I didn’t need to look at the book much. Instead, I sang those words and looked at my daughters standing next to me, helping them, encouraging them, cajoling them into participating. We sang the hymns, and one was entirely unfamiliar. Hard to sing, hard to pay attention to the words. It was slow and felt like this would be going on for some time. The sermon was hard to listen to. Between listening on a clinical level, evaluating his delivery and so forth, and the distractions around … Read entire article »
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Evangelism When the Church Grew the Most
St. John Chrysostom preached in Antioch and Constantinople at the end of the 4th Century, when Churches were crowded, yet many hadn’t been baptized and there were large numbers of pagans. In this time that marked the greatest growth of Christianity, here is how St. John preached evangelism: Let us show forth then a new kind of life. Let us make earth, heaven; let us hereby show the Greeks, of how great blessings they are deprived. For when they behold in us good conversation, they will look upon the very face of the kingdom of Heaven. Yea, when they see us gentle, pure from wrath, from evil desire, from envy, from covetousness, rightly fulfilling all our other duties, they will say, “If the Christians are become angels here, what will … Read entire article »
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…or Football players…
“You are a hopeless lot. You know the names of all the charioteers but not even the names ofthe evangelists.” — St John Chrysostom (HT In Communion) … Read entire article »
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Reading the Psalms
The suffering of the Prophet David is, according to the account we have given of the title, a type of the Passion of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. This is why his prayer also corresponds in sense with the prayer of Him Who being the Word was made flesh: in such wise that He Who suffered all things after the manner of man, in everything He said, spoke after the manner of man; and He who bore the infirmities and took on Him the sins of men approached God in prayer with the humility proper to men. This interpretation, even though we be unwilling and slow to receive it, is required by the meaning and force of the words, so that there can be no doubt that everything … Read entire article »
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Benefits Against Our Will
Wherefore both against our will [God] befriends us often, and without our knowledge oftener than not. St. John Chrysostom gives and example then, of St. Paul praying that the “thorn” be removed from his side, and God responding, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” God was “benefit[ing] him against his will, and without his knowing it,” writes St. John. So we are to give thanks in every circumstances, and give glory to God for all things. Let us then also, the more we advance in virtue, so much the more make ourselves contrite; for indeed this, more than anything else is virtue. Because, as the sharper our sight is, the more thoroughly do we learn how distant we are from the sky; so … Read entire article »
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Giving Alms to a Murderer
A friend of mine gave breakfast to a mass-murderer. Those are his words. My friend was the Samaritan, but this one he helped was not the beaten and broken one, but the thief who was about to do his evil business. He was near a church (not mine), getting into his car when a clean-cut Indian walked up to him, early 50s maybe, wearing a button down shirt and clean trousers. “I love Jesus!” he called out. My friend said, “Me too…but I don’t work here.” “I was hoping for a cup of coffee,” the man said. My friend took the bait. “Do you want coffee or breakfast or money?” “Well, I was hoping for some breakfast, really.” So my friend invited him into his car and drove across town … Read entire article »
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St. Mary the Mother of God
The Lutheran Service Book calls today “St. Mary, the Mother of our Lord,” but that, frankly, is slightly nestorianizing. She is the rightly called the Mother of God, not somehow the mother of the eternal Trinity, God forbid, but she is the mother of the Incarnate Logos, carrying the Son of God within her womb, which, we all know, makes her a Mother. It is on this day that she fell asleep, and tradition has it, was laid to rest in Ephesus. Her tomb is there to this day. The Roman Catholic Church says she then was assumed bodily into heaven, which is an old tradition. The Eastern Orthodox Churches remain agnostic on this, calling today the Dormition (falling asleep) of the Theotokos (Mother of God). In the interest of honoring the … Read entire article »
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Christianity is Not a Ponzi Scheme
Nor minsters making ministers; missionaries making missionaries; evangelists making evangelists. Nor is it mobilizing or sending. Christianity is not about signing up, sending out, and making more. It’s about receiving the Kingdom of God. We don’t “make Christians” to go out and “make other Christians.” We baptize sinners and make them disciples, that they may take up their crosses and be raised with Christ our Lord. What about Matthew 28:19-20? What about 1 Peter 3:15? I don’t feel like debating the exegesis of these passages. Let us grant 1 Peter 3. Even if we should grant Matt. 28, one questions remains: what about the rest of Scripture? Let us give up and Evangelical reading of all Scripture which sees these two passages as the hermenuetical lens through which everything else is understood. … Read entire article »
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Sanctification Bandwagon
Bloggers all over have been noting and discussing the lack of sanctification in Lutheran (LCMS) preaching over the last decade or two. Rev. McCain has posted on this recently. I recommend his posts…but can’t find them on his site right now. Why, though? Why are sermons preaching sanctification missing? Even more, why are there so many of us living unsanctified lives, by all appearances? Two reasons:1. Lutherans struggle with antinomianism. Debate all you want, but it’s true. Of course we reject it officially. It’s unchristian. But in our practice we struggle against it. Luther’s oft-quoted, yet spurious “Sin boldly” doesn’t help. And now for the unorthodox reason: 2. We have no saints. Yes, I know the line about all of us who are baptizing being at once sinner and saint. I know … Read entire article »
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