Ted Schroeder writes, "Much of what passes for religion in our world has to do with obligation, guilt and rules. Sometimes people take offices in the church because they feel obligated. Sometimes people try to please God by "doing their duty." "Martin Luther struggled with the idea of religious obligation.
It's a miracle. Death isn't death and emptiness anymore. Death is now life. I will never be the same again, and the world…the world will never again be the same.
Sermon John 1:1-18 When God's Heart Breaks Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Christopher L. Miller In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth through His Word. When he had created the heavens and the earth and all [...]
Here we have a groom and a bride, each with deep experience of adult life. Each has experienced various deaths along the way. Each has found in the other something of the promise of Easter. Each is eager to live a new and different life, a resurrection life.
Ted Schroeder writes, "Much of what passes for religion in our world has to do with obligation, guilt and rules. Sometimes people take offices in the church because they feel obligated. Sometimes people try to please God by "doing their duty." "Martin Luther struggled with the idea of religious obligation.
The newly baptized is marked with the sign of the Cross, addressed by name, and told, "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever." This anointing recalls how kings were made in the Old Testament, only now this happens to all God's people.
The Gospels give John the Baptist a lot of ink. Christian tradition pays John the Baptist a lot of attention as well. We must conclude that the Baptist was quite important to the Christian story. But you can't tell it by what is said about John, or even by what he says about himself.
Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on his disciples, and tells them to forgive sins with his authority. This action is a second creation, an early Pentecost, a commissioning for ministry. Their business is to be forgiveness. The prototype for their work is to be the forgiveness he has given them.
Do you like to work crossword puzzles? If so, here's an easy one: What's a six-letter word beginning with the letter, T, whose clue is, "doubter?" Piece of cake, huh? It's Thomas, of course, the "Doubting Thomas" of the New Testament.
Faith isn’t knowing for sure that something will happen – Faith is really just the opposite! Faith is Not Knowing that something will happen – It’s not being sure at all - but going ahead and taking that step anyway.