
Ancient Anglican
A Modern Perspective on Early Christian Thought.
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A Sermon on The Revelation to St. John (Rev. 21:1-6)
And at the end, the spiritual forces of evil, the wickedness that rules this world, are defeated. John’s vision is of Christ’s victory . . . John now has the vision we read about today in Chapter 21.
Reviving Old Scratch – Scooby-Dooification
Modernity is like an episode of Scooby-Doo. We begin with a supernatural evil. However, Suspicious doubt leads to investigation and reason. This reveals that the evil is not supernatural but simply a person doing bad things. Disenchantment sets in.
Reviving Old Scratch – Still Prowling the World
We must recognize the spiritual force antagonistic to the Kingdom of God is real and active in the world, and must be fought and resisted. This resistance is known as “spiritual warfare.”
The Gospel of Luke – Acts 1:1-11 – The Ascension
Two angels appear and tell the disciples to quit staring into the sky. Their message is that the disciples are to quit looking for Jesus in the heavens and get to work preparing to be his witnesses in the world.
A Sermon on Being a Community of Love and Apocalyptic Orientation (John 20:19-31)
John describes for us what the earliest church looked like. It was a church characterized by two things – love for one another and an apocalyptic orientation.
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 24 – The Resurrection
At the tomb, the angel does not simply instruct teh women to tell others, but instructs the women as to the meaning of the Resurrection.
Good Friday Reflection
On the Cross, Jesus takes upon himself, each of our specific sins and transgressions. He cleanses them in his blood. He buries them in the tomb. He takes them away so that they are no more. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World.
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 22:39-23:56 – The Crucifixion
“The Wise Thief didst Thou make worthy of Paradise, in a single moment, O Lord. By the wood of thy Cross, illumine me as well, and save me.”
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 22:39-71 – The Passion
In Luke’s story of Jesus’s pretrial detention, we see Jesus as the Lamb of God who has taken upon himself the sins of the world – our weakness of Peter, our violent depravity of the soldiers, and our perversion of justice of the Council.
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 22:1-38 – The Last Supper
In this last teaching, he does not give his disciples a list of theological principles to memorize, but he gives them an action to follow and a meal to share. Following after the teaching on the Apocalypse, the Last Supper is the dawn of the New Age.
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 21 – The Little Apocalypse
The heart of the Little Apocalypse speaks to our interior preparation, regardless of the turmoil we see surrounding us in the world and despite even the threats of violence and persecution and natural disaster.
The Gospel of Luke – Luke 20 – Questions in the Temple
There are four questions and one parable that give us a preview of the remainder of the Gospel and of Jesus’s Death, Resurrection, and Exaltation.