Pastor Sullivan's Blog

Order of Service - Pg. 15 Hymn # 298 "Baptized into Thy Name Most Holy" Hymn #342 "Chief of Sinners Though I Be" Hymn #34 "My Soul, Now Bless Thy Maker" Readings 1 Samuel 2:1-10 Ephesians 4:1-6 St. Luke 14:1-11 Collect for Trinity XVII Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy faithful people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Sermon on the Holy Gospel 1)          Jesus never misses an opportunity to teach. In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus, invited to the home of a Pharisee to dine on the Sabbath, preempts the usual Pharisaic ‘gotcha’ question. St. Luke writes that they watched him closely. Knowing this, He beats them to the punch by pointing out the elephant in the room. That elephant happens to be a man with dropsy. The Pharisees...

Order of Service - Pg. 15 Hymn #522 "When in the Hour of Utmost Need" Hymn #365 "Jesus I Will Never Leave" Hymn #196 "I Am Content! My Jesus Liveth Still" Readings Deuteronomy 32:39-40 Ephesians 3:13-21 St. Luke 17:11-17 Collect for Trinity XVI Lord, we pray Thee that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us and make us continually given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Sermon on the Old Testament Lesson   1)          No one wants a God who will wound them. Nor do people want a God who sets out to kill them. But that is exactly how the Lord Himself describes His work in today’s Old Testament lesson. I kill and I make alive; He says. I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from my hand. Human nature wants a God who is only comforting in times of distress, not a God who allows times ...

Order of Service - Pg. 15 Hymn #518 "If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee" Hymn #521 "What God Ordains Is Always Good" Hymn #446 "Rise, My Sou, to Watch and Pray" Readings Deuteronomy 6:4-7 Galatians 5:25-6:10 St. Matthew 6:24-34 Collect for Trinity XV O Lord, we beseech Thee, let They continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy succor, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Sermon on the Holy Gospel 1)          Jesus says that no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Who are the two masters Jesus has in mind? You cannot serve God and mammon.   But surely there are no mammon worshipers in this holy house. No one has a shrine set up ...