A Famine Not of Bread

"Bethlehem" by Vasily Polenov Click here to listen to this sermon. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,     who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me     One who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old,     from ancient days. Therefore He shall give them up until the time     when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers shall return     to the people of Israel. And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord,     in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they shall dwell secure, for now He shall be great     to the ends of the earth. And He shall be their peace. (Micah 5:2-5a). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “A special memory from a pilgrimage to Palestine by one of the great American preachers of the nineteenth century...

"St. John the Baptist in Prison Sends His Disciples to Question Jesus" by Ermenegildo Lodi Click here to listen to this sermon. “And John, calling two of His disciples to Him, sent them to the Lord, saying, ‘Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” (Luke 7:18-19). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Elizabeth, Gabriel, John, Mary, Zechariah—these are the usual names we hear each Advent. Their inclusion in the story by name makes our understanding of the Incarnation inseparable from their particular parts in the story.” [i] But there are others in Scripture who, even though they had a significant role to play in relation to Jesus, remain unnamed. I am thinking, for example, of the shepherds keeping watch by night, the thieves crucified with Jesus on Golgotha, and the owners of the colt Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The biblical authors did not feel compelled to tell us their names, but this does not diminish the signi...

"John the Baptist Preaching" by Paolo Veronese Click here to hear this sermon. And [John] went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God’” (Luke 3:3-7). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” It is the last line in a string of Isaiah’s greatest hits in our reading from Luke 3. “After drawing from Isaiah 40, 57, 49, 42, and 45, Luke concludes by recalling a promise of God from Isaiah 52.” [i] “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” The day will come when, as St. Paul wr...

"Jeremiah Preaching to His Followers" by Gustave Dore Click here to listen to this sermon. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’” (Jeremiah 33:14-16). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Recent data collected from Barna’s pastor poll indicate that U.S. pastors are currently in crisis and at risk for burnout. Notably, in 2021 alone, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pastors who are thinking about quitting the ministry entirely. [i] Thirty-eight percent indicate they have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year. Eve...

"The Gathering of Manna" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Thanksgiving is a time for reflection and remembrance. A time for reflecting upon the bounteous blessings God has so freely bestowed upon us out of His lavish love...