Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
Feast of Mary Magdalene, July 22. She came to the tomb in the dark, wept, asked where the body had been taken. Then Jesus spoke one word: Mary. The risen Lord’s first word on Easter morning was a proper name. She recognized him. And she said: "I have seen the Lord".
July 22: Mary Magdalene. The risen Lord’s first word to any person on Easter morning is a name. He says ‘Mary.’ She recognizes him by her name in his mouth. The first Easter proclamation follows: I have seen the Lord. Four words spoken first by a woman who had been healed and refused to leave.
Proper 11. The wheat and the tares. Let both grow until the harvest. The patience God requires is not indifference to evil; it is the refusal to execute a judgment that belongs to the Son of Man alone. Creation groans. The righteous wait. The harvest is certain.
Isaiah 55:11: "My word shall not return to me empty." Matthew 13 shows most seed producing nothing. But the word accomplishes God’s purpose even when it does not visibly bear fruit in every hearer. In the good soil, it exceeds every expectation.
Matthew 11:29: take my yoke upon you. The yoke is not effortless but good, kind, well-fitting, shaped for the one who wears it. The burden of Christ is light not because following costs nothing but because he carries it alongside us.
July 4. The BCP appoints Matthew 5:43–48 as the Gospel: love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, be perfect as your Father is perfect. The Church reads the hardest text in the Sermon on the Mount on Independence Day. The collect asks we exercise our liberties in righteousness and peace.