A Prayer from John Wesley

O merciful Father,

Do not consider what we have done against you;

 But what our blessed Savior has done for us.

Do not consider what we have made of ourselves,

But what He is making of us for You, our God.

Amen.

Sermons

 Boasting in Our Weakness (2 Cor. 11)

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

His Grace Is Sufficient (2 Cor. 12)

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Poem: Springtime in Eastern Maine

I don't have a new section of The Evangeliad prepared to post this week, so instead I'm sharing extracts from an old poem, lightly edited and updated (in its original form, it was a poem desperately in need of a good editor, and while still on the long end, I think this version improves it somewhat). 

Springtime in Eastern Maine

Think not on what you’d have the weather be;

        Rejoice in what it is.

But we have skies of unrelenting gray, you say!

Yet are they not blankets of life-giving dew

        O’erwrapping our rocky hideaway?—

Skies for which many a land

        Would trade their cloudless azure domes,

        Which lift the spirit for a day,

        Then render desolate what they have charmed.

But the rain is cold, you say, and miserable!

And yet cold gray rain is better matched

        With sipping tea, and playing piano,

        And writing poetry from inchoate thoughts

        Than any other weather I know.

Our spring may not be sublime, it’s true.

It’s rather more like prayer than paradise:

        Inviting us to step out and breathe deep,

        To wait in grateful patience

        Through short, infrequent glimpses

        Of the blessings yet to come;

To build up perseverant virtue

        In the crucible of time;

Learning to walk in step with what is now

        And leaning hopeward

        Toward what is yet to come.

The secret of spring is in walking slow,

        In letting our world

        Simply be herself,

        And to learn her wiser ways.

We cannot forget to speak our thanks

        To this slow and rugged corner of the earth,

And to love her for what she is

        And for what she was made to be,

Rather than asking her to be less

        Than the glory Providence grants her.

So bring on the mud and rain and gray-cast skies,

And teach me the grace,

        As Maine knows it,

        Of waking up slowly

        And breathing deep

        Before paradise returns.

Photo of the Week

 

Linger, O blessed Redeemer,

Abide here evermore;

And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,

And rest on the blissful shore.

- adapted from a hymn by Mary Ann Baker

Quote of the Week

"The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer."

- F. B. Meyer

A Week's Vacation - No New Blog Posts

Here in Maine, we have a week's break from schoolwork, so I'm sharing a few vacation days with my family. New blog posts will resume on Monday, April 22.

Sermons

 Don't Be Led Astray (2 Cor. 11:1-15)

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Jesus Challenges Our Expectations (Luke 5:27-39)

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

The Evangeliad (29:12-13)

(Click here for an introduction and previous installments of the Evangeliad)

Section 29:12-13 (corresponding to Luke 16:14-15)

But the Pharisees listening scoffed at him,

With money the treasure they put their hope in;

And Jesus, he warned them, "God knows your hearts,

Yes, He knows what all of your idols are.

You try to justify yourselves before men,

Acting righteous, but with great greed within--

Do you not know that our God despises

All the riches the worldly one prizes?"

Photo of the Week

O thou from whom all goodness flows,

I lift my soul to thee;

In all my sorrows, conflicts, woes,

Good Lord, remember me.

- from a hymn by Thomas Haweis

Quote of the Week

“The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.”

- Seneca, 1st-century Roman Stoic philosopher

A Trinitarian Doxology

Praise to you,

O God the Father,

for you created all things

by your power and wisdom,

and so loved the world

that you gave your Son

to be our Savior.

Praise to you,

O God the Son,

for you were made fully human,

like us in every respect

except without sin,

and you were delivered up for our trespasses

and raised again for our justification.

Praise to you,

O God the Holy Spirit,

for you guide us into all truth,

and pour God’s love into our hearts.

All praise and glory to you, O God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

- from the Parish Prayers collection, edited by Frank Colquhon

Sermons

 

Palm Sunday:

Why Did Jesus Have to Die, Part 3

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Easter Sunday:

Why Do You Look for the Living among the Dead?

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

The Evangeliad (29:7-11)

(Click here for an introduction and previous installments of the Evangeliad)

Section 29:7-11 (corresponding to Matt. 19:28-30, Mark 10:29-31, Luke 18:29-30)

And Jesus responded, "Truly I tell you,

At the end of the age, when all is made new,

And the Son of Man reigns in glorious light,

And reigning, judges the nations aright--

You twelve will also sit on twelve thrones,

Yes, judge all the tribes from thrones of your own--

For anybody who has left aught for me

Will gain back a hundredfold eternally--

A hundred more families, houses, and fields,

If any, to follow me, you've had to yield.

In your hands unending life will be cast;

The last will be first, and the first will be last."

Photo of the Week

Together, Lord, we come to Thee,

To learn the path of charity.

Lord, make us pure; enrich our life

With heavenly love for evermore;

Give us Thy strength to face the strife,

And serve Thee better than before.

- adapted from a hymn by Edwin Gilbert

Quote of the Week

"A writer who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is ‘merely relative,’ is asking you not to believe him. So don’t.”

- Roger Scruton