Anglican Ascetic

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly beseech Thy majesty: that, as Thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto Thee with pure and clean hearts; through the same Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord. Amen. Get full access to Anglican Ascetic Podcast at anglicanascetic.akensideinstitute.org/subscribe

As we are using the traditional Western lectionary for our worship on Sundays and Holy Days, we have come upon that portion of the liturgical year known as “Gestimatide.” The purpose is to both lift up the eyes of our soul to Easter in the distance, and prepare us for the Lent and the disciplines of reading Scripture, prayer, self-denial, and fasting. It is to move our liturgical contemplation and...

O God, Who, by the preaching of Thine apostle Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto Thee for the same by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Get full access to Anglican Ascetic Podcast at anglicanascet...

Brothers and sisters, today we hear of transformation. Saint John tells us of a miracle, indeed his first one. Our Lord Jesus Christ performed a miracle in which water is transformed into wine: delicious wine, not the stuff that gets you drunk and gives you a headache the next day (or worse), but what is immediately recognized as good wine. What our Lord Jesus Christ did, He did at Cana in Galilee...

O God, Who didst bestow upon Thy blessed Apostle Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and didst appoint unto him the high priesthood for binding and loosing: vouchsafe, that by the help of his intercession we may be delivered from the bonds of our iniquities; Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Get full access to Anglican As...

In our readings today from Proverbs 1, the 84th Psalm, and Romans 12, we have such golden wisdom. What we hear is for us, in the words of Proverbs, graceful garland for our head and pendants for our neck. These are such as ornament a Bride, and we are a Bride; for the Church is the Bride of Christ and Christ is our Bridegroom. By our Baptism we are married to Christ. Indeed being a Christian is as...

To celebrate at the beginning of the Epiphany season the Baptism of Jesus is an ancient liturgical custom. It is among the most ancient liturgical feasts of the Church, predating any liturgical celebration of Christ’s Nativity—meaning, it is older than the Church’s celebration of Christmas. And the Church’s liturgical art in icons of Christ’s baptism dates as far back as the early 200s. What all t...

Today I am interviewing Nathaniel Marshall. Nathaniel recently gave a lecture called “On the Vocation of Lay Reader” for the conference “Called & Consecrated” in Fresno, California. We talk about the the Lay Reader in the Church, and then meanders into other topics. Nathaniel and I have known each other for about ten years. Thus while I expected our conversation to be lively, I personally found th...

We hear today the Gospel from the holy Evangelist Saint Matthew, which reminds us of Our Lord’s return from Egypt to Nazareth. Because of this, it seems fitting to reflect today on a great Saint who is one of the main characters in the events of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s nativity, including what we just heard, yet who seems nearly forgotten amid the unspeakable glory of the Eternal Word of the God t...

It is the fourth day of Christmas, and there are eight days to go until the Christmas season starts to blend into the season of Epiphany. And I will tell you that to the best of my memory, while I grew up knowing the carol, The Twelve Day of Christmas, probably through watching television as a kid, Christmas in my childhood and young adulthood, even well after college and getting married, Christma...

I want us to reflect upon the words of the blessed evangelist John concerning the eternity of the Word, that is, concerning the eternity of Christ’s divinity, in which He remained, and remains, always equal to the Father. As a privilege, I think, of John’s singular focus on Christ, John grasped the hidden mysteries of Christ’s divinity at a more profound level and, thanks be to God, he was able to...

My dear brothers and sisters, Christ is born; let us give glory. Christ is from the heavens, let us go to meet Him. Christ is on the earth, let us be lifted up. Sing to the Lord, the whole earth. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, for the heavenly One is now earthly. Christ is in the flesh, exult my dear brothers and sisters with trembling and with joy. Exult with trembling, becaus...

Jesus Christ is always the Coming One. As He said in S. Matthew’s Gospel: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” He is always the Coming One because through the Holy Spirit He fills all things, is all in all. Christ is present everywhere and in all places, and has been sin...

We hear John the Baptist telling his disciples to go and ask Jesus if He is the One. It is important to know that this is not John showing a lack of faith in who Jesus is, but quite the opposite. Remember he has known Jesus for 30 or more years by this point. They grew up together; John knew Mary and Joseph. John is trying to spur his disciples to see in Christ what he already knows of Christ: tha...

In the audio, both lessons are read, and are followed by a homily by yours truly. A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke 21.25 Jesus said unto his disciples: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the p...

I concluded my preaching for the First Sunday of Advent with these words: “The knowledge that Christ is always the coming one is why Christianity is at its heart a holy mystery, shrouded at every turn and in all things by mystery. The holy apostles, whose names are inscribed on the walls of the foundation of heaven, preached Christ the Coming One so that all who hear it with faith may be caught up...

In the audio, both lessons are read, and are followed by a homily by yours truly. A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Mark 1.1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight—.”...

The First Sunday of Advent among other things reminds us that we at St Paul’s follow the traditional one-year lectionary for the Scripture readings for Sundays and Holy Days throughout the year. This we are doing with the permission and encouragement of Bishop Justin Holcomb, which is required. We are one of three parishes in our diocese doing this three-year experiment. While we are relatively un...

In the audio, both lessons are read, and are followed by a homily by yours truly. A Lesson from the Gospel according to 2 Chronicles 6.13 Solomon knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who...

Our Feast of Dedication which we celebrate today we are celebrating because it was 103 years ago—that is, on the 19th of November, 1922—that this church was consecrated as a true and canonical local church by Bishop Cameron Mann, Bishop of the then-diocese of South Florida, which included geographically the land of New Smyrna Beach and the surrounding communities. We have the original document of...

In the audio, both lessons are read, and are followed by a homily by yours truly. A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke 11.1 Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily b...

My friends in Christ, I ended my sermon last Sunday with these words: “Stewardship demands a life of holiness, and this holiness comes from completely giving oneself to Christ, and completely accepting Him as our Saviour. Stewardship grows by our strong faith that wears the Gospel of Christ as our armor, as our clothing that wards off the Devil, and stewardship grows as through our faith in Christ...

As we continue our Stewardship season, I want to reiterate what I said last Sunday: what better way to reflect on Stewardship than to look to the Saints. After all, the Saints are our models of how to be Christian, and certainly they are models of how we give our time, talent, and treasure to God for His glory and the up-building of the Church of Jesus Christ. Why do we remember the Saints, why do...

As we kick off our Stewardship season, what better way to do so that to celebrate the Saints. The Saints are our models of how to be Christian, and certainly they are so in terms of how we give our time, talent, and treasure to God for His glory and the up-building of the Church of Jesus Christ. The word “saint” in English simply means “holy” and originally the word for Saint was in Greek holy: ag...

In the audio, both lessons are read, and are followed by a homily by yours truly. A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke 5:17 As Jesus was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, an...