Homilies | Confident.Faith

Readings Acts 17:16–31 Psalm 66:8–20 1 Peter 3:13–22 John 14:15–21 Homily Transcript There is only one extant example of a theatre trilogy from the Ancient Greeks: the Oresteia of Aeschylus. Now, the plays of Aeschylus are certainly a worth topic (although, tragically, only seven of his nearly one hundred plays survived into the modern era), but it is a topic for another time. Here, I wish to pull...

Readings Revelation 7:2–17 Psalm 149 1 John 3:1–3 Matthew 5:1–12 Homily Transcript We do not commonly use seals these days (at least outside the legal profession and certain hobbies, and, even then, they are still rare), and so it is worth mentioning what a seal actually is . The word used here in the Greek is σφραγις — a combination of sounds that is not particularly pleasing to the English ear,...

Numbers 6:22–27 Psalm 8 Galatians 3:23–29 Luke 2:21 We will ignore the Gospel today — the Gospel reading anyway, and, even then, only until the end of this homily. Instead, let us, somewhat appropriately, begin with the first reading: For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, / and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, / and her salvation as a bu...

Amos 5:18–24 Psalm 70 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 Matthew 25:1–13 I assure you, the balance of the homily will be in English, but: Mit ihrem heil’gen Wetterschlage, Mit Unerbittlichkeit vollbringt Die Noth an Einem großen Tage, Was kaum Jahrhunderten gelingt; Und wenn in ihren Ungewittern Selbst ein Elysium vergeht, Und Welten ihrem Donner zittern — Was groß und göttlich ist, besteht. — If you will pe...

Revelation 14:6–7 Psalm 46 Romans 3:19–28 John 8:31–36 Matthew 11:12–19 The Jews were incensed: ‘We have never been enslaved.’ How could this Man tell them that He could set them free if they were not slaves? Surely some heard His words as holding the promise of deliverance from Rome — surely a sentiment with which we can nearly commiserate on Reformation Day. Others seemed to call to...

Amos 5:6–7, 10–15 Psalm 90:12–17 Hebrews 3:12–19 Mark 10:17–22 Perhaps I am not prudent. On who is prudent shows a great deal of care and thought for the future. As our Old Testament reading states: Those who are prudent will often hold their tongues in an evil age — the implication that speaking the truth may be futile or even harmful (most likely to the speaker). And we are to walk as the wise,...

Genesis 2:18–25 Psalm 128 Hebrews 2:1–18 Mark 10:2–16 Adam walked with God in the Garden., and yet God says that it is not good for man to be alone. We tend to pass over this section of Scripture too quickly. Man, in Paradise, walks with God, and yet God states unequivocally that Creation is incomplete because man has no helper fit for him. God makes woman specifically for man — more, all other cr...

Numbers 11:4–6, 10–16, & 24–29 Psalm 104:27–35 James 5:1–20 Mark 9:38–50 Wealth is a blessing, but it is also a test. Will you be faithful with what God has given you? Or will the corrosion — the idleness — of your wealth testify against you at the Judgement? Do you trust in your wealth or do you trust in God? To trust in your wealth is to set it up in your heart as idol — as your god. For tha...

Isaiah 50:4–10 Psalm 116:1–9 James 3:1–12 Mark 9:14–29 You may be operating under the belief that our reading from James does not apply to you. ‘I am not a teacher.’ you may say — ‘at least not a teacher in the Church’ you may think. And that may be true, in a strictly limited sense, but the proper understanding of Scriptural warnings and duties is seldom the strictly limit...

Isaiah 35:4–7a Psalm 146 James 2:1–10, 14–18 Mark 7:24–37 For God shows no προσωποληψία — a word that appears only four times in Scripture: in the verse in Romans just quoted, in our reading from James, in Ephesians 6:9, and in Colossians 3:25. A curious word in Greek — if we take the ‘literal’ meaning, then it would be something like ‘face taking’, which sounds quite odd u...

Isaiah 64:1–9 Psalm 80:1–7 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 Mark 11:1–10 Mark 13:24–37 It is always darkest before the dawn, and things in our society certainly seem quite dark right now. We live in an apostate nation in an apostate time, and matters are certainly not — presently — trending upward. We undoubtedly commiserate with the psalmist in today’s reading: »O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry...

Isaiah 42:14–21 Psalm 142 Ephesians 5:8–14 John 9:1–41 We are all born deaf and blind. Hearing, we do not hear; and seeing, we do not see. We know God’s Law, for it is written on our hearts — our consciences accuse us when we stray. We are all without excuse. We have become futile in our thinking, for we sin in thought; we have become futile in our speaking, for we sin in word; and we have become...

Exodus 17:1–7 Psalm 95:1–9 Romans 5:1–8 John 4:5–30, 39–42 Why do we test God? Has not our Father told us that He watches over and cares for us? And yet we doubt. At Meribah, the Jews grumbled against Moses because they did not trust God. In the words of Moses: “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” Why do we test the Lord? We test the Lord because we do not truly trust Him. We wo...

Genesis 12:1–9 Psalm 121 Romans 4:1–8,13–17 John 3:1–17 Abram was called forth from Ur of the Chaldeans; he was called to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house; he was called to sojourn in a land he would never own, except for a small plot of land with a cave — a cave in which he would bury his wife, and in which his children would later bury him. And what did he find in this land...

Genesis 3:1–21 Psalm 32:1–7 Romans 5:12–19 Matthew 4:1–11 Why do we baptize infants? We could say that it is the historical practice of the Church, that only a tiny — if vocal — minority oppose infant Baptism, and that Scripture commands it — ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ — and commends it — &#821...

Exodus 24:8–18 Psalm 2:6–12 2 Peter 1:16–21 Matthew 17:1–9 Joel 2:12–19 Psalm 51:1–19 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10 Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21 Yesterday, with ashes imposed upon your foreheads, many of you were forced to confront your fallen, sinful state and the mortality that flows from the same: ‘For thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.’ Death is the end of all flesh, the end of the w...

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 Psalm 119:1–8 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 Matthew 5:21–37 The great ‘promise’ of the Law is ‘if…, then…’. “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, / who walk in the Law of the Lord!” “Blessed are those” who are “blameless”, “who keep His testimonies”, “who seek Him with their whole heart”, “who … do no wrong”, and who “walk in His ways”. But what are His testimonies? The Jews conten...

Isaiah 58:3–9a Psalm 112:1–9 1 Corinthians 2:1–16 Matthew 5:13–20 Some contend that it is possible to be ‘good without God’. We may find this appealing. Surely if we loose the bonds of oppression, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked — if we fill full the mouth of famine and bid the sickness cease — then God will notice our goodness and be...