Speaker: The Rev. Nathan Stomberg

Every sinful instinct we have tells us we can do it all on our own. We are beholden to our pride. We are so held captive by our pride, that we have a whole month to celebrate it! The bread of man is this: you can define who you are; you can define your identity; you can do whatever you want and expect the world to affirm you; you can define your own meaning of life; you get to define your meaning of love, your meaning of truth, your meaning of justice. All the answers, and ultimately your salvation, are found deep inside yourself. The Holy Eucharist is a repudiation of all of this, everything our culture stands for.

To paraphrase the late Dr. RC Sproul, we do not truly know who we are until we know who God truly is. Sproul’s greatest theological work as a minister of the Universal Church came in his clear explanation of the holiness of God, summarizing the fundamental difference between God and man with these words: “God is holy, and I am not.” We do not know ourselves because we do not know who God truly is. And if we do not know who God is, then how can we properly worship Him? Listen as the Rector examines our response to the God who is holy, holy, holy.

When we live like the rest of the world around us, it is because our idea of ministry is too small, our heaven is too small, and our Christ is too small. Indeed, without the Ascension there is no reason to rejoice at all. But thanks be to God, that is not the case. Let us go forth with great joy, just as the disciples did, for our savior Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven, and he will return in the same way as he departed.

We who enjoy the luxuries of 21st century America are the unmatched champions of vain things! Our lives are so dedicated to vain things, trivial things, pointless things, that we go out of our way to celebrate vanity itself! The Gospel calls us away from vain things just as it did the pagans at Lystra. But are we willing to turn away from vain things?

What does it mean to be Pro-Life? The answer, for Christians especially, goes much deeper than one might think. Listen as the Rev. Stomberg discusses what it means to be Pro-Life, and how the battle against abortion in America got to be where it is today.

Our lives are littered with difficulties and differences which seem irreconcilable. The will of the nations are brought to naught, and so the nations go to war. Our own plans for life and ministry are thwarted, and we go to war with ourselves to find the answers. Looking to the Apostles Peter and Paul, let us remember that God’s plan for our lives is dramatically different from what we want in our sin – and that is a good thing.

Who is Jesus? The answer to this question is central to our Christian faith. Listen as the Rector discusses how we understand Jesus’ identity, as laid out by the early Church Fathers at the Council of Chalcedon.

Our innermost desire is to be fully known and yet fully loved, and that can only be satisfied by the eternal love of God. No one can know you more fully, and love you more perfectly, than God can. You are not a creature of your own self-definition; rather, you are a being made in the perfect image of God, and therefore deserving of dignity from conception to final breath. Watch as the Rector celebrates the glory of Christ’s Resurrection.

Paul explains to the Philippians how Christ is the ultimate example of counting others as more significant than yourself. Christ’s entire life, in fact, was singularly oriented toward His willing humiliation and death on the Cross, a perfect sacrifice for our sins, to the Glory of God the Father. Jesus, of all people to ever live, had every excuse and every means to exalt himself and save his life, and yet He laid His life down without grumbling or complaining. Let us examine ourselves, therefore, against Christ’s perfect standard of humility.