Preaching among the Palms

Fr. Grady discusses the temptation of Christ and how when the devil is confounded angels attend Jesus in the wilderness. This is still true for us today when by the power of the Word of God evil is routed help from heaven arrives. It was also powerfully true for Absalom Jones, abolitionist and the first African American to be ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1802.

Canon Lester presents us with four questions and one answer: Each is to do with stewardship, because today we bless the pledges collected by the parish for the upcoming year. Our giving is meant to be a response to God's gifts to us. The Bible teaches that everything is God's in the first place, and we give to him what is already his own. We give out of gratitude, not guilt or duty.

The celebrated Beatitudes of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew proclaim radical truths about who is "blessed." But what does it mean to be blessed? Hebrew, Greek, and Latin all use two different words that we translate as "blessed." Fr. Jeff accounts for which of these meanings is at the heart of Jesus's famous teaching.

Fr. Jeff revisits Matthew's use of prophecy to explain how prophecy works in his Gospel generally. Tracing out the historic background to the reading from Isaiah helps us understand better how Matthew regards the unique mission of Jesus Christ and the dawning of new light upon all those who sit in darkness, both in Matthew's time and ours.

Fr. Grady considers the first encounter between Jesus and his first disciples in the Gospel of John. The eagerness of St. Andrew to share the good news of the manifestation of the Messiah is the model for our own stewardship: Disciples of Jesus give up everything that they have to bless other peoples' lives, and that is what we are called to do today—to come and see what God can do with what we have.

The Prologue to the Gospel of St. John is profound and mysterious, but it has a pastoral message that we need to hear at Christmas. Fr. Jeff grapples with some translation issues and explains how the light of Christ shines today, not just at the Incarnation, and he shows why the Incarnation is especially important to Anglo-Catholic piety.

Fr. Grady explains the promise and proclamation of the advent season. The prophets have pointed the way toward Christ, and today's reading from Isaiah sets the stage for his virgin birth.

John the Baptist is a major figure in the Advent season, but we don't think about his unique role in history often enough. Fr. Jeff encourages us to emulate his example of pointing the way to Jesus.

John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance and promised that Christ would baptize believers with the Holy Spirit. What is this baptism and how is it possible today? Canon Lester ministers the Word this Sunday.

Fr. Grady breaks down the kingship of Christ, showing how in him the promises of God proclaimed through the prophets come to fulfillment. The kingship of Christ is most clearly seen on the cross, where Jesus once again refuses the temptation of any shortcut to glory but makes it possible for us to freely choose salvation in him.

After a long journey Jesus arrives at the temple in Jerusalem. He praises the generosity of the widow who gives two copper coins to the treasury and foretells the destruction of the temple. Fr. Jeff applies the lessons of this passage from Luke's Gospel to the church today.

The scribes have been questioning Jesus, and now the Sadducees take a turn. Quoting from Moses, they maintain that there is no resurrection of the dead. Jesus puts forward his own unique interpretation of Moses and offers an enigmatic teaching on the resurrection. Fr. Jeff tries to explain how the sons of the resurrection cannot die, do not marry, and are equal to the angels.