St. Paul's Church - Willington, CT

This week we looked at the final words in 1st John. We considered... are we supposed to have assurance of eternal life? How do we understand prayer? What are we supposed to do when we see a brother or sister sin? What is the "sin that leads to death"? And why does John finish with a warning against idols?

Every week we confess through the Apostle's Creed "Christ will come again to judge the living in the dead." In this week's passage, John offers help to those of us who may have anxiety about that day.

1 John tells us two essentials we need in order to be the kind of church Christ came to build: orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

This week in 1st John: what love is (and isn't).

John said earlier in the letter that "if we say we are with sin, the truth is not in us." But in our passage this week, he says "whoever is born of God does not sin." We considered: how do we reconcile these statements?

We continued our study in 1st John with reflection on two commands: (1) Do not love the world or anything in the world, and (2) See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. We considered how these commands are sometimes misunderstood, and how to take them to heart.

This week, in 1st John: what really demonstrates that we know God? And what is the "old new command"?

This morning we started a new sermon series on the epistle of 1st John. We considered the significance of John's summary of the message revealed through "the Word of Life": that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

How the story of Joseph warns us about envy, teaches about God's providence, and prefigures Jesus.

This week we considered what we can learn from another story of dysfunctional brothers.

This week we considered what the story of Cain and Abel reveals about humanity, and how the Gospel addresses it.

This morning we considered the significance of the fact that women were the first witnesses to resurrection.

The Pharisees tried to put Jesus in an impossible situation: they brought him a woman caught in adultery, a crime for which the Mosaic Law prescribed a death sentence. We considered what we can learn from Jesus's brilliant response.

On two occasions, Jesus defended women who anointed him with oil. We considered the significance of his defenses against the objectors.

Today we considered what we can learn from three stories about Jesus and his mother.

This morning we considered what we can learn from the time Jesus healed a Canaanite woman's child. On first reading, Jesus comes across as reluctant and even rude - but what is really going on?

Today we considered the significance of Jesus's longest dialogue in the Bible: a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well.

This Sunday we started a new series on Jesus's interactions with women in the Gospels. We began with the story of Jesus's visit to the home of Martha and Mary. Jesus said that Mary had done the "one thing needed" and that it should not "be taken from her." We considered the counter-cultural significance of Jesus' words.

On how the Gospel message reveals God to be both "just and justifier."

He is risen! This Easter we considered what the resurrection reveals about the renewal God is bringing to Creation.

This week we reflected on the significance of the night of Jesus's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Why did Jesus flip the tables in the temple? We considered the meaning and significance of Jesus's protest at the Temple.