[display_podcast] Grace Alone… Romans 3.19-28 Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Four hundred ninety seven years ago, on All Hallows eve, October 31 1517, a young Augustinian Roman Catholic Priest and Theology professor nailed a list of 95 theses to the…
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The rallying cry of the Reformation could be defined as Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia and Sola Fide, Latin for Scripture alone, Grace alone and Faith alone. These could be described as the three legs of the Reformation stool. It is only because of Faith in Christ that we are saved….
http://stpetersarlington.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/T002_20140921.mp3 The last will be first and the first, last. Matthew 20:16
Soon there will be a chill in the air, a tell-tale sign that autumn is approaching. The days have already become shorter over the last few weeks. The corn is high, the beans are matured and soon the harvest will be upon us. Beyond these obvious signs of change,…
The story of Samson would not cut it as a children’s story these days, what with all the empowerment narratives we foist upon the young! These days every girl has to be a She-Ra action princess and every boy has to identify with some anthropomorphized truck or airplane or penguin. And for everybody in every story, if you just believe with all your heart, your mediocre world will suddenly get better.
Problem is, life isn’t like that! The Christian faith isn’t like that! And once upon a time a kid would learn this by reading a story. There was Old Yeller. But the dog dies in the end, so you can’t have that anymore. There was The Yearling. But the deer gets shot at the climax, and you can’t have that either. Why, even Disney’s famous Bambi embraced tragedy with more realism than the currently reigning ice princess!
Oh yes…there were gentler stories as well. But it’s good to read the hard stories in the days of one’s childhood, because life itself is hard. Faith is hard! For the young and the old, for the big and the little. And this is most certainly true, whether you believe it with all your heart or not!