[The Sermon below turned out to be unexpectedly 'interactive'. The congregation in Tallahassee was quite small, but included an eight year old who laughed audibly when I mentioned a sheepdog. He said, 'A sheep dog!' He and I then discussed the matter: he thought a 'sheep dog' was part dog and part sheep - an…
ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our…
The English word ‘Lent’ comes from the Germanic word for spring, Lenz in modern German. Lent is in the Western Church a season of 40 weekdays, plus six Sundays, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter. In the Romance languages, as in Latin, the name for this season is taken from the word for…
Palm Sunday. March 25, 2018. St. Francis’, Gainesville In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. I think almost any verse of the Passion according to St. Matthew can serve as an entrance into the whole story. With a little thought we find that almost every detail…
Not all human actions involve a moral element. If I turn over in my sleep or sneeze, the turn or the sneeze is the act of a human being (actus hominis), but it is not a humane or moral act (actus humanus). Moral acts are not simply acts performed by a human agent, but also…
Lent IV. Our Saviour, Florence, SC. March 11, 2018. Saint John vi, verse 4 - And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it on your own or if a preacher…
‘Conscience’ is a compound word composed of con-, meaning ‘with’, ‘together’, or ‘alongside’ and -science, meaning ‘knowledge’ or ‘knowing’. The New Testament Greek word translated as ‘conscience’ is a very similar compound: syneidēsis (συνείδησις ): the preposition syn- with a form of a verb meaning ‘know’ (a perfect form of ‘see’, eidō, cf. Latin video).…
The traditional calendar and lectionary in Lent and Eastertide frequently seems divisible into groupings of three. At the center of the 12 weeks in question are two sets of three days, one that ends Lent and one that begins Easter: Lent ends with the Sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday; Easter…
‘Usual’ and ‘normal’ do not mean the same thing when English is used carefully. ‘Usual’ tends to refer to use, to what is commonly done, and to what is often the case. The meaning of ‘normal’ in contrast refers to a norm, to what is done according to a rule or law or practice that…
The English word ‘virtue’ comes from the Latin word for ‘man’, vir. ‘By “virtus” the Romans meant any characteristic that is appropriate and becoming to a man (vir).’[i] Vir is ‘man’, not in the generic sense of a human being (that in Latin is homo), but man as male and as distinguished from woman. Given…
