For Christians, resurrection isn’t just a way of expressing a spiritual truth. We believe that something unique in human history happened when Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is a central tenet of the Christian faith. One of the earliest creeds (concise summaries of Christian beliefs), the Nicene Creed, declares the…

In the depths of despair, when darkness seems to envelop us and hope feels like a distant memory, God breaks through with promises of hope and comfort. In the book of Lamentations and the Gospel of John, with support from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we find passages that speak to the human experience…

On Feb. 8, 2024, Dr. Mike Allen, academic dean of Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando, Oviedo, welcomed those gathered to the third annual Cranmer Lecture, “Worship by Faith Alone,” presented by 2024 lecturer, the Rev. Dr. Zac Hicks. Click here to listen to Hicks’ lecture in its entirety, including a Q&A. With clarity, Allen summarized the…

If you’ve made some resolutions for 2024, consider this: Like other exercises of raw willpower, most New Year’s resolutions fail miserably. According to research, only 8% of Americans who make resolutions stick with them. In fact, the research also reveals that 77% of people maintain their resolution for the first week, but only 19% for…

The Advent season highlights some staggering, life-giving truths about infant Jesus. Scriptures call baby Jesus Immanuel (God with us) and the Savior. Christmas itself is all about God becoming human—the incarnation. This central doctrine of our faith makes two amazing claims: Jesus is truly God, and Jesus is fully human. These two truths are essential…

I have had the joy over the past few months of teaching through the four Comfortable Words, found in our Book of Common Prayer and designed to be delivered by the priest after the confession of sin. We conclude the series with this post, but before we do, let’s take time for a quick review….

This month, we continue in our study of the Comfortable Words, a key part of our Anglican liturgy, by examining the one that comes third according to the order in which Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer placed them in the Book of Common Prayer. As we have said, he placed them in a specific order…

We are continuing our study of the Comfortable Words, a vital part of our Anglican liturgy. These are four scripture passages arranged in a specific order and meant to be read by the priest after the confession of sin. Last month, we studied the first Comfortable Word: “Come to me, all who labor and are…

For the next few months, we are going to examine a key portion of our Anglican liturgy: the Comfortable Words. These are four scripture passages arranged in a specific order and meant to be read by the priest right after the confession of sin. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, who compiled the Book of Common…

“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer Almost 90 years ago during the struggles that led to World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was actively sharing his thoughts on living as a Christian. He wrote the book Gemeinsames Leben (“Life Together”) during that…