Vigil 2023 photo of Pastors and Acolytes

 

 

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Sermon and video for 19th Sunday after Pentecost

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Video of service at St. Luke, Rensselaer 2024 Pentecost 19 Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29             James 5:1-20                   Mark 9:38-50 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. In the course of our three-year lectionary, the book of Numbers is only used three times. Numbers 6 and 21 are the other two readings. So, I offer a quick overview of the book of Numbers because even in our devotional readings, I suspect we may not draw deeply from this particular book.  The book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Old Testament and is a part of the Old Testament we call the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible. They are written by the prophet and law-giver Moses. The book of Numbers records the travels of Israel from Mount Si...
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Pentecost 3 - Deception

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Click here to view the service at St. Luke, Rensselaer Wikimedia Commons - Lucas Cranach - Adam and Eve Paradise 2024 Pentecost 3  Genesis 3:8-15         2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1       Mark 3:20-35  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O  Lord , my strength, and my redeemer. Deception is a regular part of our lives. We must be alert to the possibility that the person contacting us is a scammer. We must judiciously guard our myriad usernames and passwords so that we do not get hacked and someone steals our identity and money. We learn to read and listen to the news with a certain skepticism. We ask, what is the hidden agenda here? We learn to read the fine print and to question what is said as well as what is left unsaid.   The Bible attests that deception has been with us since the near beginning. In the lesson from Genesis, we see the after effect of deception. I w...
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Daily Doses! It only takes two minutes...

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  In my November 28 blog post I reviewed a helpful book by Professors Merkle and Plummer called Greek for Life: Strategies for learning, Retaining, and Reviving New Testament Greek .  Merkle and Plummer are also part of an online learning organization called Daily Dose. The Daily Dose refers to a two-minute video that explicates a Biblical text, one verse at a time.  There are three daily doses. They are free. They are worth your time to investigate. Even if you have no language background, this is worth your time, because in the parsing of the verses, one gains a deeper, richer understanding of God's Word.  I subscribe to the Daily Dose of Latin and the Daily Dose of Greek.  As the new calendar year begins and you contemplate what new things you want to focus on for spiritual and mental development, this is a worthy use of 2, 4, or 6 minutes a day. Should you want dive deeper, there is information about the myriad online choices that you have before you through...
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