” Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.’” Mark 9:23-24 Faith is an important part of the Christian life, the doorway as it were by which we enter …
We have noted before that the opposite of faith is not disbelief, it is fear. Faith makes us certain, it gives us confident direction in our choices, and it defines our destination and the path that leads to it. Fear introduces questioning, second guessing, worry about what might be. It leaves us wondering and wandering, …
The Christmas story is simply the best story ever told and this for many reasons. First, it was written when the fullness of time had finally come round, and all the very best stories of humankind that had been told and retold throughout the ages found their fulfillment in it. Then too, it was told …
The book of Ecclesiastes gives us a clue for understanding the Church’s liturgical year, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.[i]” This verse reminds us that God created order and seasons with limits at the very heart of His creation, and that each of these seasons or times …
Sometimes I hear God speak in parables to me, not in words but in the things that surround me. Recently I had one of those moments as I was mowing my lawn. You see, I have one of those “typical” Vermont lawns that are a mix of four varieties of actual grass (none of which …
Have you ever read your children a fairy tale and come to the final words, “And they lived happily ever after”, and paused to consider the implications of such a bold statement? Too often we are consumed with the everyday concerns of life that we fail to see that it is a whole story that …
“…if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain…” I Corinthians 15:14 Webster’s dictionary defines vain as “having no real value, marked by futility or ineffectualness, foolish.” That which is vain has an appearance that would make it desirable to our eyes, but it has no substance or worth …
“…For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God…” Ephesians 6:12-13 I think that one of the greatest failures of true religion is the …
True religion is a funny sort of thing in this world of ours. It starts as a genuine ache deep down inside the soul, a gnawing sort of restlessness that doesn’t give a person a moment’s rest. Some might say that it’s the sense of primeval guilt of sin that haunts a soul at these …
