Topic: Faith

Here’s the great preoccupation of Americans: We do everything in our lives to avoid mortality. Are we not all going to die, however? We can’t avoid mortality, but we can enjoy eternal life in the presence of God, like the Samaritan and like Ruth, if we simply put our trust in Jesus Christ to save us.

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, we lose one of the final links in the chain of history which binds us to the storied history and tradition, and indeed the greatness of Western Civilization, blessed by God and founded on Judeo-Christian principles, to which we owe nearly every comfort and luxury which we enjoy today. Listen as the Rector reflects on the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

Counterintuitive as it may sound, it is precisely the call to sacrifice which we must embrace and offer to the world today if we wish to see the church grow. People of my generation and younger especially have caught on to the façade of contemporary worship, for it is so clearly divorced from the reality of life, which is hard! Life is hardly ever holding hands and singing kumbaya, it is a daily struggle against sin, and pain, and grief, and shame. Christ delivers us from all those things, but only if we join Him in the fight.

Our faith MUST be lived out in action, brothers and sisters! That doesn’t mean our problems go away, but when our hearts cry out, “how long,” we can drown out all those negative thoughts and voices that accuse us with the joyful song of the whole company of heaven. And we can run to the Sacraments and satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst at the feast we share with all the saints who are cheering us on.

Anyone can believe IN God, certainly a god of our own creation – we really enjoy doing that. What we fail at is BELIEVING God, that is, putting our faith in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, and not trusting our own works. When we trust in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. Listen as the Rector discusses God’s covenant with Abraham, and how God’s faithfulness requires that we not only believe in Him, but believe and trust Him fully.

As with the Israelites, the place where we once worshipped no longer exists. The way forward is only through the wilderness, through the desert. And God will make a highway and a river to lead us, but it is our responsibility to follow him and not go astray. Thus, it is not about your way or my way, but about God’s way. May Holy Communion Anglican Church in 2022 and beyond be faithful to follow God’s way, wherever it may lead.

Beloved, we have been living in a spiritual drought in America for a long time. We need to seek out the right type of water to nourish us in times of drought, but as Jeremiah tells us, the heart is deceitful and desperately sick. Only God searches the heart and tests the mind, and only by trusting in him will our souls be refreshed.

Saint Paul reminds us, “Faith, hope, and charity abide, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Corinthians 13:13). What do each of these three words mean, and why is charity (love) the greatest? Listen as the Rector answers these questions and explains why “charity” is a much deeper translation of this passage.

What is “the wisdom from above”? If there is anything lacking in the world today, it is Godly wisdom and openness to reason. The Rev. Galloway urges Christians to cultivate wisdom by clinging to the only things which will endure: Faith, Hope, and Love. Our neighbors are sick because they have no Hope. And because they have no Hope, they have no Faith. And without Faith, Love cannot abide, and other ideologies rush in to fill the vacuum. May Christians today boldly stand upon the wisdom from above!