Pastor Sullivan's Blog

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The world is finished with its Christmas celebration by now and has moved onto its celebration of the new calendar year. But for the Church today is the sixth day of Christmas and the Sunday after Christmas. The appointed gospel lesson jumps ahead forty days after Jesus’ birth to Mary’s purification in the temple at Jerusalem. The text picks up in the middle of things. “ And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. ” The words at which they marveled were the words of the aged priest Simeon, who had taken the child in his elderly arms and spoken the words which we now sing every Sunday in the Nunc Dimittis after receiving the Lord’s Supper where we see the salvation of the Lord prepared for all people.   In the Lord’s Supper we, like Simeon, receive Christ physically, but under bread and wine, and our sins are once again forgiven. After saying that the Lord can now let him d...

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In today’s gospel lesson Christ promises His apostles hardship and persecution. He says, “ The will put you out of the synagogues. ” Jesus tells them that the Jews will excommunicate them. This was already happening during the ministry of Jesus. After Jesus heals a man born blind, the Pharisees question the blind man’s parents to make sure he had really been blind from birth. They confessed that this man was in fact their son and that he had been born blind, but they stopped short of confessing that it was Jesus who had healed their son. John writes that “ his parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue ” (John 9:22). That the Jews would expel the apostles from their churches would be difficult to swallow. They had all been brought up in the synagogue. But their testimony of J...

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Christ had been awake all the night before His crucifixion. His sufferings began in the garden with the anguish that came with drinking the cup of God’s wrath against sin. After His arrest He was taken to Annas, then to Caiapha. In the early hours of the morning He was sent to Pilate, who, after interrogation, sent Him to Herod. There Herod’s soldiers mistreated Him before sending Him back to Pilate for His final sentencing. He has been beaten and flogged. Then He is expected to carry His own cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull. It must have been massive if He was to then be nailed to it. As He carries the hulking instrument of His own death the soldiers escorting Him to Golgotha realize He is exhausted. “ Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. ” Here is a man, pulled out from the crow...

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Jesus tells His twelve disciples privately, “ Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again. ” Jesus is blunt about it but He has always been quite to the point about His purpose. Why does He tell the disciples this one more time as He makes His final approach to Jerusalem? To fortify their faith so that in the coming days they may not fall away when they witness the scandal of the cross. He wants to teach them first that it is His will that He enter into these sufferings. The events of Passion Week are not haphazard or coincidence. Jesus is not the unwitting pawn of sinful men with unjust desires. Jesus is not purely passive as evil men work out their evil schemes. Th...

Order of Holy Communion  - Pg. 15 Hymn # 204 Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain Hymn # 523 Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me Hymn # 201 Jesus Lives! The Victory’s Won Introit   MAKE A || joyful shout to God, all the | earth! | - *             Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise | glo- | ri- | ous. (Psalm 66:1–2) || Say to God, “How awesome are Your | works! | - *             Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit them- | selves | to | You. || Come and see the works of | God; | - *             He is awesome in His doing toward the | sons | of | men. || Oh, bless our God, you | peo- | ples! *             And make the voice of His praise | to | be | heard, || Who keeps our soul among the | liv- | ing, *             And does not al...