Book: Isaiah

The LORD says through the prophet Isaiah, “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert… for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:19, 21). We all have wilderness experiences in our lives, but God will never leave us or forsake us, and it is the mark of the Christian to praise God even when everything life appears to be going wrong.

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.

Christian marriage, for all its human imperfections, is the greatest representation of God’s love and joy for His people, lived out through Christ and His Church, and celebrated both temporally and eternally in the Holy Eucharist.

What is the significance of Jesus’ Baptism? The Rev. Galloway answers this question in light of Luke’s words: “for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). The Baptism of Jesus had tremendous importance for his earthly ministry, and it modeled our own call to righteousness that begins in Holy Baptism.

The journey of the Magi following this Star represents the highest calling to which we can devote our lives: a lifetime of being led to Christ, by Christ. In other words, we look to Christ to light our path and direct our steps to Him. It is one thing to see this Star, but we are only wise when we embark on the journey of our lives using it as our guide.

The Christian celebration of Christmas extends well beyond the limits of its cultural and commercial celebration. As the world is quick to abandon the celebration of Christmas, the holidays become absent of joy – because they are starving for truth. They are held by a pagan law, spiritually starving. At Christmas, in Christ’s Incarnation, we boldly proclaim the miracle that sets us free from the law of sin and fills us with eternal joy, because joy doesn’t come from a holiday, but from Christ himself.

God’s eternal Word, the Logos, Jesus Christ, who existed in the Godhead from eternity past, who participated in the creation of the world, who is the ground and pinnacle of all truth, humbled himself and took on a body like ours, flesh and bones and all, and so manifested His glory to us on the stage of human history. And in that enormous moment, in that greatest paradox of all time, God’s infinite glory and perfect Truth met our dirty, humble, and broken existence. In that moment, God was fulfilling His promise to provide us a Savior to help us bridge the chasm between the profane and the divine.

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.

We spend all our life building our own towers of Babel – monuments to sin and pride. Both collectively and individually, we put ourselves in the place of God. We build them brick by brick, over the course of decades, and we become blind to the fact that our building of the towers is not only sinful, but irrational. And therefore, we can’t expect the world to improve – to take down the collective tower of Babel – unless we are willing to take down our own towers, brick by brick. Listen as the Rev. Galloway explains the importance of confronting our sins.