Short Homilies – On Hope

30 07 2010

Once in the Garden of Eden, at the beginning of our sorrows, the pre-incarnate Christ walked within the Garden looking for Man and Woman. He knew what had occurred. He knew His creation had rebelled. He knew the pain and suffering that was to come.

We can almost hear the pain as we read the most overlooked, but painful words within the entire Bible, “And the LORD God said unto them, ‘Where are you?’” God knew where they were, He knew where they were hiding; His question was a rhetorical one. Man answered and admitted to his rebellion and Woman confessed what she had done. The march toward Calvary had begun.

In a small insignificant town in the Roman province of Judea, the Christ child was born. God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, Son of God who was present at creation and the Fall, had come to fix what was broken.

We cannot begin to fathom what the world looked like through the eyes of Christ. For Him to walk in human flesh amongst His creation, to see the effects of sin on His world, what did the incarnate God feel? “Where are you” He must have uttered to creation as He walked to the various towns of Judea.

God asked Man and Woman where they were, but He did not wait on them to come find Him. He instead went into the world to find them – for this is the reason all of creation occurred, the reason He allowed sin, so that He might demonstrate His love for us in this; while we rebelled against Him, He died for us.

God incarnate, who cursed Man for his rebellion, who sought after Man in the Garden, hung upon a cross. The crafty serpent of old thought he had defeated God, but Christ arose, solidifying His solution. The serpent had bruised His heal, but He had crushed the head of the serpent. Read the rest of this entry »


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Short Homilies – On the Cross

29 07 2010

There is one who can bring hope. There is only one hope in this world and that hope is found in the incarnate Jesus Christ, the love of God demonstrated, that God would come down in human flesh – the Father would offer up the Son – as a sacrifice. Christ died as a ransom for us, to ransom us from the deathly grip of the Devil. Christ was a substitute, to make up for the sins we have committed against the Father and for which we deserve death. Upon the cross, we find hope.

What is this hope? This hope is that our trespasses might be forgiven. That we can stand before a just and holy God and have Him embrace us rather than condemn us. Our hope is that one day the weary may collapse into the arms of Christ, as He says, “Worry not my child, you are home now.” This hope is that one day loved ones will never have to say goodbye, children will never go hungry, innocence shall cover us all, and the evils that break this world shall once and for all be smitten by a just and holy God. Upon the cross, we find hope.

Our hope is not limited to the eternal. We hope that God will bring about His kingdom to this earth. We hope that He will give us the strength to help those who suffer through this existence. We hope that He will display His glory in all that we see. We hope in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. Upon the cross, we find hope.

We look upon the cross and see the Trinity apart – Jesus Christ, Son of God, forsaken by the Father on our accord. For all eternity, these three have had a loving fellowship: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet the prophet Isaiah tells us that God loves us so much that it pleased Him to crush Christ for our iniquities. Is God sadistic? Or does He love us so much that He knew in Christ’s suffering and death that we could be reconciled to God, and in this He took pleasure? Upon the cross, we find hope.

This is hope; that God sacrificed His Son Jesus Christ – a willing sacrifice who was not offered against His will or the will of His Father, but instead as a part of God’s will – as a ransom and substitution for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God. Upon the cross, we find hope.

There is hope for the hopeless. There is rest for the weary. Upon the cross, the sex slave finds a Lover who refuses to use her, but instead dies for Her to show her that she is truly loved. Upon the cross, the wife finds a man who would never lay a hand upon her, but instead would offer up His life so that she might be reconciled to God and know that she will – one day – escape her plight. Upon the cross, we see the death of death, God triumphing over that old enemy so that the widows and widowers will one day be reunited with their loves. Upon the cross, we see God’s hatred for sin and His resolve to destroy it. Upon the cross, we find our salvation from this broken world. Upon the cross, we find the Mender of this broken world. Upon the cross, we find hope.


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Short Homilies – On Sin

28 07 2010

Do you not take seriously the sin you commit against a holy and righteous God, O Man? Why do you celebrate your sin as though it were something good? Why do you act as though you should be proud in your rebellion? What pride is found in rebellion when it goes against all that is good? Or do you deny that God is good? You twist and warp his holy standard to suit your own pleasures. “This is not really a sin” you say to yourself. “Surely God wouldn’t think this is a sin!” You then twist the Scriptures like an uneducated fool so that you might live as you desire.

O foolish Man! Do you not see that you are repeating the mistakes of your father Adam? He saw the fruit, the object of his desire, as a way to be like God. He knew that if he were like God he could be independent of God and so he ate of the fruit. Why do you condemn him, but eat of the fruit daily? Do you not see that sin is rebellion against God? The root of sin is the desire for autonomy. You justify your sins so that you can be independent of God.

But do not be so foolish O Man. God is not moved and he has no equal! You think you can declare something is not a sin or an offense to God? You think you can tell God that he is wrong in declaring your personal taste a sin? Move the stars and then you might have something to say. Bring matter into existence by your very word and you might be able to approach God. Be holy in all things and you might be able to converse with the Almighty on what is good.

Do you not realize that he is all that is good, that goodness exudes from him? To question what is good is to question God.  Are you so bold as to question God’s knowledge of himself? Are you so bold as to question the all-knowing and all-good God on if he knows what is best for us?

You continue in your sin because you are blinded by your pleasure. You desire to be the best amongst men for your own vainglory. What does it benefit you? What do you gain? Do you not realize that you will die in a short while? You are nothing in the comparison of time. You toil for your own wants and desires and in so doing establish a legacy of vapor. You would do well to spray a mist into the air and declare, “This is my legacy!” For that is all you are in broad span of time, a vapor that is lost in a few seconds.

But you pursue these temporary pleasures because you live for seconds. The wise man lives for God and realizes that God is in eternity, thus the temporal pleasures of the flesh mean nothing to the wise man. But you are a fool who cannot see past tomorrow. Do you not realize that your life shall be demanded of you at some point? What will you have to show for it?

Rather than living for yourself, live for God. We are temporal and therefore all that we do will not matter after we are gone, but if we live for God then we will be immortal. Let your actions be founded in him in all that you do. It is through his eternality that we find our own eternality.

Turn from your sin and cease your rebellion against God. It is a battle that you will not win. Instead, submit to him through your free will before it is too late. Submit to him and follow him in his ways, for they are holy and good. Know that he will bring us no harm, but will only bring us good. Seek not after yourself, but instead after your Creator, for this is your only hope.

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This was a scheduled post. I am currently out of town and subsequently have turned comments off since I cannot moderate or interact with commenters. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post, please feel free to contact me.


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Short Homilies – An Introduction

25 07 2010

These are short “sermons” that are written as a prose. They are meant to cause someone to think and to seek God in all things. They are not deep on technical language (as some of my other posts are), but instead are meant to challenge the whole of a person. The intellect, emotions, the heart, and everything about you should be challenged, uplifted, and convicted when reading these.

I do not write these as someone who sees himself as an expert or above such things. I write these to myself and to others who share in my nature (other humans). Many of these homilies stem from my own internal dialogue with myself, especially the ones concerning sin. Do not think that I express any of this in a haughty manner, but rather I express these as humbly as I can.

For all the mentioning of our sin I also attempt to explain our future glory in Christ and the hope that we have now. We must never forget that while we are fallen we are also forgiven and therefore redeemed. In being redeemed we are to seek God in all that we do so that we might become like him.

Some of these are new and some are reposts of things I have posted before, but they fit with what I’m doing here.

Please enjoy these as I have enjoyed writing them.

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This was a scheduled post. I am currently out of town and subsequently have turned comments off since I cannot moderate or interact with commenters. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post, please feel free to contact me.


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Reflections on the Trinity – On the Incarnation

24 07 2010

You counted it nothing to abandon your place in Heaven, O Word, to take on our flesh, on our behalf, to rescue us from ourselves. How could we ever dream of such a God who would love us enough to die for us? But you did more; you lived as us so as to redeem us.

In the beginning you created us and we rebelled against you. As you walked in the garden shortly after our rebellion you asked where we were, but you knew. Nothing is hidden from you Lord. You knew what had occurred and what we had done, but in your question you shamed us. You made us contemplate on the sickness that we had just done.

You were not without love or compassion. Rather than eradicating us, you lovingly fashioned animal skins to cover our nudity. My Lord, you did this as a foreshadow of your own death on our behalf! Just as Adam and Eve had become ashamed of their nudity in the Garden and needed to be covered, so too did we become ashamed of our nudity before your Law. But just as you did with Adam and Eve, rather than letting us lay there in despair, you fashioned yourself as a skin to cover our iniquity so that we might not be ashamed. How can my sinful mind ever hope to understand your love, O Lord?

You came into the world as we do, only without human father. It was the blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, who you chose as the worthy vessel to carry you. We ask that you send your Spirit to us to aid us in following her example, for at hearing that she was to be blessed with you in her womb she humbly and joyfully submitted. May we too react in the same way when invited to hold you within ourselves! It is in Mary that we find the eternal mystery of how the infinite was contained to her womb, but this foreshadowed the mystery of how your would Spirit would be contained within us. Read the rest of this entry »


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Reflections on the Trinity – The Spirit

23 07 2010

Who am I to be so bold as to declare to you who you are? I offer this prayer up humbly to you my Lord, knowing that you are the Alpha and Omega. You are beyond me. It is in your mystery that I find clarity. It is in your hidden nature that I find you. I take sweet rest in your grace. I am weary O Spirit, but my rest is in you.

Eternally proceeding from the Father, but uncreated, you comfort us my God. You proceed as the heat proceeds from the sun, though distinct you are unified to the Father, though uncreated you find your existence in him. Such a mystery I shall never comprehend or understand, but in my finite nature I worship you.

Never let me blaspheme you, O Spirit. Should I ever blaspheme you, may you make my thoughts and actions cease! May you restrict me like an unruly child. Should I ignore your discipline, which is your love, then may you cast me into oblivion. May I never experience your presence or find comfort in you should I rebel against you!

But in all, please show patience with me Lord. I am a sinner, lowly in heart and low in mind. I need you to guide my path and to give me the strength to follow your path. It is through you, O Spirit, that I am defied, not in my identity and being, but in all other things I become like you. What a humbling thought that you would step down from heaven to dwell with me so that I might become like you. I do not deserve this for I have soiled your name. I have cursed you in word and deed. I have been your enemy. Yet you live within me and guide me to what you desire; your love I shall never comprehend.

You are the gift given by the Word to us mere mortals. You are the strength behind the martyrs. You are the power that raised Christ from the dead. You are the one that resides within those who follow and proclaim Jesus as the Christ. It is only through you that we know anything. But you are not a force, an inanimate object that permeates all of creation. You are a person unified with the Father and Son in identity and being, a living person who thinks and feels and I worship you.

How amazing it is that I could not worship were it not for you. It is only through you that I can worship you. I am so finite and so sinful that I am not even capable of uttering your name in a worthy fashion without your power. But you do not withhold this joy from me. You do not abandon me to live a life absent of worshiping you, which is Hell. Instead, you indwell me and open my mind. You enlighten me in every aspect of my being to prepare me to worship you and to wholly worship you. Such a beautiful mystery.

Christ called you the Comforter, the one who would walk with us and dwell within us in our darkest moments. What glory there is in such a thought! To know that there is no pain too great that you cannot overcome it, for what is our temporary pain in comparison to the infinite God of the universe? There is no sadness that can quench the joy you instill in us. There is no harm that can capture the soul that belongs to you.

You have been breathed into man twice, at our creation and at our re-creation. When created you are the one who crafted us into the image of God. When we are redeemed by the Word you are the one who is breathed into us again to craft us into the image of Christ, to make us holy, to make us more than we ought to be.

O Spirit, I pray that you sustain me tonight and for all the days of my life and once you have called for my mortal life to end that you will embrace my soul and bring me to your bosom. I pray that you will welcome me as a faithful servant and not a rebellious child. Continue to live within my life so that I may disappear and you may appear. Have mercy upon me O Spirit, a sinner.

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This was a scheduled post. I am currently out of town and subsequently have turned comments off since I cannot moderate or interact with commenters. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post, please feel free to contact me.


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Reflections on the Trinity – On the Word

22 07 2010

O blessed Word of God, how we worship you! It is through you that all things were created. It is through you that we have existence. The begotten of the Father, but uncreated and timeless, you share all things with the Father except in this; you were begotten of the Father, not in the way we humans are begotten, but in a mystery that we mere humans will never know.

I reflect upon your good deeds and your revelation to us. Certainly God must have a Word, but not one that dissipates as soon as spoken as our words do. Rather, you are a person who shares in the divine essence of God.

How wonderful you are for the love you have shown to humanity. It was you who walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve, sharing with them the Divine wisdom that was meant for us humans. It was you who discovered humanity’s rebellion in the Garden and cursed us. But in the curse you showed such restraint! You showed such love! For you did not destroy us, but rather allowed us to continue.

It was you who guided Abraham’s path and it was you who met with Moses. You guided your people, the Hebrews, from Egypt into the land you had prepared for them. These have been your interactions with men, always guiding us along the path of righteousness.

You stood with the three in the furnace and you closed the mouths of the lions who desired to consume Daniel. You walked with Israel and guided her paths, but she turned from you as all humanity turned from you. But you did not despair. Instead of destroying us, O precious Word, you came down and lived amongst us!

Such blasphemy to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks! That you, the begotten Word, would come down and live amongst us is unfathomable to all. But you took on our nature. My struggles are now your struggles.

When I sin, you are the one who forgives. When I am burdened, you are the one who guides me along the path to relief. You go between us and the Father on our behalf, issuing your forgiveness to us.

To whom can the burdened and tired take refuge? It is in you alone my Lord. It is in you that the weary may lay their heads and rest. It is in you that the traveler may find his home. It is in you that we learn that the mountains that impede our paths belong to you! There is no trial we can face, no persecution too great, that we cannot find hope in you O Lord! Read the rest of this entry »


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Reflections on the Trinity – On the Father

21 07 2010

Oh most blessed and holy Father, what ever can I say about you? To what can I compare you? What words can I say that will offer up an explanation as to who you are? Nothing in all of existence may be compared to you and no words come close to describing who you are.

The unbegotten and uncreated Father, holy beyond all comprehension. For no words can come close to describing you Father. Our words are mere analogies to your splendor and greatness. To say you are holy does not close to expressing your majesty.

The holy Father, forgiver of sins and origin of all things. For it is by your Word that we all came into existence. You spoke into the void and created us, not out of need or desire, but out of love and glory. You have safeguarded your creation and protected us.

It is by your will that you sent your only begotten Son to die on our behalf, to die for the creation that rebelled against you. Out of love you watched as your Son was tortured on our behalf. But you did not let your Son die in vain on the cross, but instead sent your Spirit to raise him from the dead and sit him at your right hand.

It is this same Spirit you sent to those who believe in you. God indwelling in man. Father I confess that were it not for the sacrifice of your Son and the indwelling of your Spirit I would not know you, for I am a lowly creation who has made myself lower by partaking in rebellion against you. Have mercy upon me Father! Read the rest of this entry »


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Reflections on the Trinity – On God

20 07 2010

On God

What among your creation is like you, O God? What in your creation can be compared to you? Shall we point to the tallest peaks in order to match your majesty? Yet your majesty towers over them. Shall we look to the furthest galaxies and the vast expanse of space to find something as big as you? Yet you contain it all within your hands.

All is contingent upon you, O God. A dove does not fly, a drop of rain does not fall, a wave does not churn, an atom does not move without your constant reflection upon their being. Were you to ever turn our gaze from your creation it would disappear. Nothing in your creation can ever compare to you for you are infinitely above it.

I confess that you are not weak. Your piercing gaze tames the untamable lion. When the storm rages and the seas refuse to cease and yield their might to no one, they are calmed by your whisper. What man can bring down the planets or the various galaxies? What man can ever hope to travel light years, to traverse billions of miles within a human lifetime, to visit these distance lands? And yet with your mere word they came into existence. You are above your creation and control your creation.

You are not limited to any space. We do not need to climb a mountain to find you or travel to a distant land to seek your wisdom. You are eternally present in all your creation, though your creation remains distinct from you and is not in you. For as the Psalmist says, if I should make my bed in the deepest valley, you shall be there. I cannot escape the presence of my God for my God is beyond all of creation. Read the rest of this entry »


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Reflections on the Trinity – Introduction

19 07 2010

The following posts concerning my “reflections on the Trinity” is actually one giant prayer that I wrote out. I do not go into philosophical detail on much of what I say for two reasons; (1) that goes against the style of writing and (2) who does that in a prayer?

These are written in a more “artistic” manner, but I did not intend this to be the way. I am simply writing in a way that I find respectful to God, but also conveys my feelings. It is my hope that the reader will gain from these prayers as much as I have.

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This was a scheduled post. I am currently out of town and subsequently have turned comments off since I cannot moderate or interact with commenters. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post, please feel free to contact me.


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