The palm tree and palm leaves appear again and again throughout the Bible as symbols of integrity, honor, righteousness, holiness, godly authority, and royal glory. The palm was used in the carved decorations of the temple, usually associated with the Cherubim, but also with the regal lion and the flower in full bloom. In addition though, throughout the entire ancient…
When Dr. Grant suggested that we use Psalm 22 as the text for our Wednesday night Lententide devotions, I immediately thought we should sing through this messianic psalm during the Sundays of Lent as well. The only problem was that the version that we know best, Greg Wilbur’s fantastic All Earth To Him (Psalm 22) is taken only from the…
The simple text, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy,” each repeated three times, has been used in the worship of the Christian church since at least the 2nd century A.D. Loosely based on the prayer of the tax collector in Luke 18, it was so widely known that in the middle ages, when most of the liturgy…
He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food. This line from the hymn Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, which is heard almost exclusively during the Advent season, points us towards the events described in this morning’s sermon text in Mark: the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Words and images of eating and drinking abound…
In the sermon text this morning from Mark 14, we are presented with two contrasting pictures: the devotion of the woman with the alabaster flask, willing to pour out the costly oil as a gift to Jesus, and the treachery of Judas, going out of his way to betray his Lord for money. This contrast between “the way of life…
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, a traditional time of prayer, fasting, and repentance observed by Christians since the days of the early church. Several elements of the service have been adjusted to fit the penitential character of this season. We will begin each Sunday by singing What Wondrous Love Is This (meditating on the sacrifice of Christ…
The passage Pastor Grant is preaching on this week is one of the most well-known apocalyptic scenes of the Bible: the “Olivet Discourse,” found not only in Mark 13, but in parallel passages in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Given all the terrifying imagery of war, famine, earthquakes, “the abomination of desolation,” and “tribulation as has not been from the…
Here at the end of Mark 12, we find Jesus proclaiming the greatest commandments—to love God, and to love our neighbors. The centrality of love to the Christian life, and the tremendous difficulty this poses, forms the focus of today’s service. When we sing hymns such as Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, O Worship The King, and My God,…
We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. —2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Unlike the Pharisees, who added many layers of oral tradition to the law, the Sadducees…
In Mark 12, Jesus confronts the religious leaders of Israel as they seek to trap Him again with their questions. Jesus seizes the opportunity to instruct them by means of a parable about wicked tenants. This parable points to the character of God the Father as He sends His beloved son. It confirms that Jesus will be rejected as the…