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Atlantis ‹the domain of the Stingray›
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
‹Groucho Marx›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
30Nov
2016
Wed
23:33
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Wednesday of Ad Te Levavi

Romans 13:8-14

Wednesday of Ad Te Levavi 2016 Wordle
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Love is the fulfillment of the law,” the Apostle wrote.

Now, as you initially hear that, your mind should bring you to the idea that part of keeping the law is the love of your neighbor. You’re not wrong. The last seven commandments all tell you how to love your neighbor as yourself.

  • You are to honor your father and mother, and that means to respect and obey those who God has placed in authority over you.
  • You are not to murder, and that means not only that you shouldn’t take the life of your neighbor, nor strike him in any way, not even call him names, but also to be of service to him and help him to protect himself.
  • You are not to commit sexual immorality, and that means to remain chaste and pure, having sexual relations only with your husband or wife.
  • You are not to steal, and that means, much like murdering, not only are you not to take what is not yours, but you are to be of service to your neighbor in keeping his possessions and income.
  • You are not to make false claims about your neighbor, and that means that you shouldn’t like about your neighbor, but also to speak well of him and defend his reputation.
  • You are not to covet anything which, in any way, belongs to your neighbor, and that means, like stealing, that you shouldn’t desire what does not belong to you, but also that you should urge those things, such as a spouse or animals, to stay with the one to whom they belong.

In doing all of these things, you have not only shown love for your neighbor, but you have actually loved your neighbor. And in loving your neighbor, you have fulfilled the law.

23Nov
2016
Wed
17:45
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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+ Doris Bissitt + [a funeral sermon]

Revelation 7:9-12

+ Doris Bissitt + Wordle
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Dear saints of Christ Our Savior and guests, friends and family of Doris, Julie and Stanley...the beatific vision which the apostle St. John was privileged to see, the host arrayed in white, was of a time beyond time, the Church Triumphant in bright array, a multitude which no one could count at the Feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. It’s the life eternal to which all who in Christ aspire, and that to which our dearly departed Doris is but one step closer.

She now rests from all of her labors. She is now gone out from the great tribulation, this existence in the Vale of Tears in which you still live, battered about, as it were, by every care and concern, worry and anxiety that befalls man in his corrupt state. Chaos reigns here. Brother strives against brother, which you hear about from Cain and Abel, and see throughout history and into today. All manner of evil is spoken against you who are in Christ for the mere fact that you are in Christ.

13Nov
2016
Sun
15:56
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Seventh Sunday after Michaelmas

Matthew 25:31-46

Seventh Sunday after Michaelmas Year Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Every time this text comes up, you hear me tell you that in the part of the text that many focus on, Jesus differentiates how His messengers are received by believers compared to unbelievers. To the sheep, He says, “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” The sheep are confused, because they don’t know when they did this. To the goats, on the other hand, Jesus says, “I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.” The goats are also confused, because they didn’t see Jesus in order to do any of these things.

6Nov
2016
Sun
15:55
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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All Saints' Day [transferred]

Matthew 5:1-12

All Saints Day 2016 Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the year that King Uzziah of Judah died, St. Isaiah had a vision of the Most Holy Place in the courts of heaven. The Lord was sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. There were angels standing above the throne—six-winged seraphs—covering themselves with two pairs of wings out of respect and modesty, being in the presence of YHWH Sabaoth. They cried to each other antiphonally words from which the Sanctus is derived, and the place shook for the sound of their cries while the smoke of incense filled the temple.

St. Isaiah was privileged to get a glimpse of heavenly worship. You can say with confidence that he didn’t see everything that happened in the Most Holy Place, and what he revealed might only be but a portion of what he was given to see. The sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of everything going on must have been more than he could understand; I would wager even the taste of things happening was palpable and more wonderful than anything he had ever experienced below. Once the wonder of the scene catches up to him, though, he realizes who he is and where he is.

“Woe is me,” he exclaims, “for I am undone!” Who is he? He is a man of unclean lips living in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And let’s make things perfectly clear here. It wasn’t just his lips and his people lips that were unclean. From head to toe, inside and out, St. Isaiah was impure, as were the people among whom he lived. Where is he? He is in the presence of the King, YHWH Sabaoth, and more than that, his unclean eyes have seen Him. (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5)