After administering the rite of Baptism to dozens of baptism candidates, Bishop Paul preached the third installment in the sermon series, Jesus’ Bride—the call of the church to holiness. We, the people of God, are to be holy like him, for the sake of and for the salvation of an unholy world. But we must remember that this is only possible through the Lord’s work of washing us and causing us to walk in his ways. Weekly we remember our baptism and the Holy Spirit’s enabling grace at the font—intentionally found at the church’s entrance—and realize we are that holy Church he sends into the world.
After administering the rite of Baptism to dozens of baptism candidates, Bishop Paul preached the third installment in the sermon series, Jesus’ Bride—the call of the church to holiness. We, the people of God, are to be holy like him, for the sake of and for the salvation of an unholy world. But we must remember that this is only possible through the Lord’s work of washing us and causing us to walk in his ways. Weekly we remember our baptism and the Holy Spirit’s enabling grace at the font—intentionally found at the church’s entrance—and realize we are that holy Church he sends into the world.
In the first installment of a five-part series on 1 Samuel, Bishop Paul describes Hannah—the mother of Samuel—as an exemplar of prayerful endurance. Hannah experienced being barren and beaten down, both in her personal life and in society during this dark period in Israel’s history. In her distress, she wept bitterly and prayed a prayer. It wasn’t polished or sanitized; it was raw, honest, powerful. In the midst of the darkness we face, we must learn to pray with endurance as she did. Next week continues the series.
