Rev Chris Roth

  John 18:1-19:42 The Gospel according to John begins by revisiting Genesis. [1]    “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” … "He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him”  (Jn 1:1-5,10-11). Today we see what it means that the Word, who was both with God and was God, is not accepted by those who were made by him. Our reading today begins in a garden. And like the garden of Genesis, this too becomes a garden of betrayal. The incarnate Word, through whom “all things came into being” is in a garden. Th...

Luke 19:28-40;  Isaiah 50:4-9; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 23:1-49 This is our last week dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins, which are the major diseases of the soul. It can be uncomfortable to see these;  sins in ourselves, but a diagnosis is actually ‘good news’. When we have a diagnosis, then we can start to treat the problem. Today we are looking at anger, sometimes it is called wrath. … Some in the Early Church describe an internal ‘incensive energy’ within us as a driving force that arises naturally in us. [1] They saw this energy as needing to be purified through prayer and wisdom, and then it can be used to resist temptation, and to fight against evil thoughts. But this energy is really only to be directed at our own sin and evil, but not against other human beings. For them, this energy can turn into anger, and for them it is almost always bad. We will naturally feel anger when something doesn’t go our way. If something or someone we value is disres...

2 Sam 11:1-27; Psalm 51; 1 Cor 6:12-20; Matt 5:27-30 We are continuing our series on the Seven Deadly Sins. This week, the deadly sin we are looking at is lust. This is another desire that many in our society want to amplify and capitalize on. Sexual imagery is blatant in TV shows, movies, music, magazines, and in advertising. It is used to grab hold of our attention, and it has been very normalized. We are immersed in an overly-sexualized culture that is often using sexual imagery to manipulate us into buying things and watching their content. The effect of this is that we can be left with these images floating in our minds, and with an exaggerated sense of the importance of sex. We can be left thinking that our happiness depends on being sexually attractive as well as sexually active. Thinking about the way our society treats sex, C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity asks us to imagine a culture where people gather around a covered dish. The cover is slowly lifted while peopl...

  Deut 8:1-10; Psalm 34; Phil 3:17-21; Lk 16:19-31 We are continuing with our series on the Seven Deadly Sins, which are the major diseases of the soul. This week we are looking at the sin of Gluttony. Gluttony is a disordered craving or excessive attachment to food. This might mean overeating, which might be what we normally think of when we think of gluttony. But, it can also mean being very picky and particular about its quality, and how it is prepared- having it spiced just right, prepared just right, or at just the right temperature. Gluttony can also be expressed in the seeming inability to wait until mealtimes to eat- sort of an uncontrolled snacking. Gluttony can also be connected to alcohol or drug abuse- which has to do with an obsession with the pleasures we gain from what we consume. … Gluttony can include spending an excessive amount of money on food. An excessive amount of time spent thinking about, preparing, and consuming food. … Gluttony is an obsession, of some k...

  Prov 6:6-19; Psalm 90; Eph 5:15-20; Lk 13:6-9 We are continuing our examination of the Seven Deadly Sins which are the major diseases of the soul. This week we are looking at the sin of sloth. Sometimes it is called acedia. We usually think of sloth as laziness, but that is only partially true. Sloth gets in the way of your goal as a human being- which is to love and serve God. Our calling includes a ‘general calling’ (that is common to all of us), but we also have a ‘specific calling’ (which is unique to us as individuals). The general calling that All Christians share includes things like worshiping God, studying Scripture to learn the ways of Jesus, praying, showing gratitude for our life, loving others, living honestly, working to create a just society, and so on. You might think of these as our Baptism vows. Our general calling is the way of life for all Christians. To neglect this call on our life is sloth. As well as the general calling that we...

  1 Kings 3:16-28; Psalm 49; Galatians 5:16-26; Luke 12:13-34 Today we are continuing our series on the Seven Deadly Sins- the seven major diseases of the soul and the virtues that cure them. Today we are dealing with two of the Seven Sins- Envy and Greed. These two can seem somewhat related, and they are sometimes confused, so it might be helpful if we define them alongside each other. Envy is the pain or sadness we feel when someone possesses some object, quality, or status that we don’t possess. It is the sorrow we feel at someone else’s good fortune. Related to this, we will also feel a kind of pleasure when we see something bad happen to the person we envy. … Envy doesn’t necessarily want the thing, they just don’t want the other person to have it. It is inherently comparative and comes with a sense of rivalry. It brings feelings of resentment, bitterness, and hostility towards the person who is the object of envy. Envy is different than admiration. I can admire a saint a...

  See the section is starting around 2hrs and 37 minutes  Fr. Stephen:  As I say that, there are a certain number of the  more -instructed who probably blanched, because they heard shades or  the  shade of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel when I said that. There's a ghost that haunts a lot of people. The reason I said "in a sense" is that when  we  say that, we don't mean what Hegel meant when he said similar things. So Hegel— When Hegel talks about "spirit," Hegel is actually very clear: he  means  the Holy Spirit. Hegel was a Lutheran, and if you don't understand that Hegel is a Lutheran— self-described. He always insisted he was an orthodox Lutheran. And if you don't understand that he's a Lutheran, you won't understand Hegel correctly, because he's  really  Lutheran. But he means the Holy Spirit. But  Hegel worked in the opposite direction. Hegel understood history as having a through-line, and Hegel is vastly influential...