Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, often called Laetare Sunday, from the Latin word for “Rejoice,” which comes from today’s traditional Introit, which consists of texts we read as our Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah 66 and from the Psalm we recited today, number 122: Rejoice ye with Jerusalem: and be ye glad for…
Text: Luke 11:14-28 , Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25; Ephesians 5: 1-14 As most of you know, several of us from All Saints and our sister parishes Three Streams and Covenant Anglican Churches began this year’s Lent on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, following the footsteps of our Lord. This was not my first time to Israel;…
Guest Homily by John Mack, our Seminarian
Texts: Matthew 20:1-16, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Today is Septuagesima Sunday, the beginning of the traditional “pre-Lent” season. If your background is in the Anglican/Episcopal or Roman Catholic circles whose liturgies came after Vatican II, you may be scratching your head at these “gesima” Sundays. After all, folks are pretty familiar with the penitential season of…
Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Candlemas. Yes, we have three names for today’s feast, each of which emphasizes a different aspect of our celebration, all based in some way on our…
Text: John 2:1-9 Six years ago this month, Heather and I were married at Christ Our King Anglican Church in New Braunfels. It was my last service as one of the assisting priests at CoK, as I would begin my new role as the then-assistant Rector here at All Saints as soon as we returned…
Text: Mark 1:1-11 When I was in the discernment process for ordination during my postulancy and during my Master’s Studies at Wayland Baptist, we were often asked to describe our understanding of our call to ministry. That is, what was it that we felt the Lord had called us to as ordained ministers. Early on…
Texts: Matthew 2:19-23, Isaiah 61:1-3 For the last time this season, I’ll be greeting you with “Merry Christmas!” Today is indeed the 12th day of Christmas, the rarely-observed 2nd Sunday After Christmas. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany, which we’ll be celebrating during its Octave next Sunday. If you joined us last weekend for…
Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7, Hebrews 1:1-9, John 1:1-14 Father Marcus is fond of reminding me of a friendly debate he and I once had over whether Christmas or Easter deserves primacy in our liturgical celebrations. In fact, you may recall if you were here at the early service on Sunday or listened to our podcast in…