Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

  WED EP Reflection 121620 (Mark 1: 1-8) “Make Straight In The Desert A Highway For Our God” The Gospel of Mark takes us back to the prophecy of Isaiah for a special reason. The prophet Isaiah is called the most evangelical of all prophets because he announces the Good News of Salvation, namely in Isaiah 40:3, “ A Voice cried out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ” Hebrew translation can be complex but this one is really clear. It tells us about the voice of him who cries in the wilderness. Mark tells us that this person is John the Baptist, who appeared in the wilderness proclaiming the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This might appear to be a bold claim but it is not far-fetched. Isaiah’s description truly fit John the Baptist. The message, the imagery and significance of John the Baptist in the wilderness are profound. “Make a highway for our God in the desert.” This sounds labor intensive...

  THU Evening Prayer Reflection 121020 (Is. 7: 1-9; 2 Thess. 1: 1-12) A friend of mine recently sent me an article written by C. S Lewis that talked about the era of living in the age of the Atomic Bomb 72 years ago. The commentator was obviously taken by the resemblance of that era in which the article was written and our own era of the global pandemic of COVID-19. It was as if it would be totally fine to replace the word Atomic Bomb with COVID-19 pandemic in the original article. He was lamenting of how very alarmed and terrified we can be with the rising number of victims or people we know that have or are still struggling with the disease. He was blunt about it when he chastises us not to feed our fears with the hype of what is already an awful situation and he urged us to not be paralyzed by fear. Our world has seen similar or worse pandemics before. I did not sense that he was fatalistic, well may be a little… We need to rally with one another, to pray for each other and...

  THU Evening Prayer Reflection 120320 (1Thess. 3:1-13) There are times “ When we could bear it no longer! ” This is a phrase Paul used to describe the reasons they were remaining in Athens. Presumably, they faced enormous difficulties that restricted their movements. Evidently the Jews were jealous of Paul’s success having had many converts, so they kicked him out of the city and Paul fled many miles south to stay in Athens. In Paul’s heart, he was deeply concerned about the safety and the faith of believers back there. He wanted to encourage them in their faith in the face of a fierce persecution that suddenly separated them. He invites them to a place of healing. Usually when we are in the middle of suffering, or when we could no longer bear it, we tend to think that God is not paying attention to us. We think God doesn’t care. Paul was so worried that believers were thinking that way because he was forcefully taken from them. Paul was thinking they were discouraged so he...