Topic: Hope

If we are not willing to love when it is difficult, or inconvenient, or when it requires us to show charity to those we do not particularly like (perhaps even to love our enemies!) then we have not love at all, and our relationships will suffer as a result. The evidence is of course abundant in the breakdown of marriage and the family, but the same is true of our relationship with God – we face similar temptations to reduce it down to a feeling or a transaction.

Our hope – this sure and steadfast anchor – is also a guard against the cynicism and nihilism which now grips our political and cultural landscape. Confidence in the Resurrection cannot be separated from confidence in the Last Judgement, which Jesus teaches in the parable of the weeds.

We may not be able to see all which God is doing to redeem our present difficulties, but we can see His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, standing before us, ready to sustain us, and asking, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” May we respond like the man born blind, saying, “Lord, I believe.”

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.

The Nativity of our Lord marks the beautiful mystery of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. This Christmas Eve, the Rev. Mark Galloway invites us to wonder and worship at the miracle of Christ’s blessed birth – God dwelling among us.

The season of Advent prepares us for the Second Coming of Christ. It is a season of anticipation, and of expectant waiting. Yet our waiting in life is not a mere waiting to die. All of us are tempted to live out our days as if we were waiting to die, but our time on earth is much more than that. For Christians, we are not waiting, worrying until the clock runs out, but instead preparing for the dawn of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

If we spend even a little time reading the Bible, we will encounter ominous passages about the end times. Yet God does not call us to hide in a bunker for the rest of our lives! Instead, God through the Holy Scriptures calls us to have confidence in the last days, for our faith in Christ is the only thing of ours that will hold firm against an uncertain future. Join the Rector as he discusses our confidence in the last days.

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!