In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit             I know what you’re thinking. “Boy, I wish so-and-so was here. S/he really needs to hear this parable. Pastor’s sermon will really get ’em thinking about why they don’t come to church.” Thing about it is that Jesus […]

“Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Or, as some manuscripts of this verse put it, “Blessed is everyone who will eat the best in the kingdom of God.” Whether this verse should read “eat bread” or “eat the best” makes no difference in what we believe. In the Divine liturgy, we eat the Bread of Life and we have the best at God’s table. For here, in this banquet of salvation, Christ Himself is the Cook, the Waiter, the Host, and even the Main Entree. And those who eat His feast of salvation shall neither hunger nor thirst, for Christ shall be their all-in-all.

Luke 14:15-24 – The Parable of the Great Supper Immanuel, Alexandria   My beloved brothers and sisters, last Sunday we heard about a Rich Man who hosted great banquets every day, gorging himself and drinking with his friends—but the beggar Lazarus was left to starve in plain view of the Rich Man’s table. That parable […]

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit “Supper’s ready!” You can almost hear the pitter-patter of feet running to the table. Everyone wants to get to the table first in order to get the best piece of chicken or the largest helping of green beans. Heads […]

[God] declares in simple, humble, short but very earnest words: “They shall not taste of my supper.” As though he would say: Very well, my supper, too, is something, and what does it profit if it be better than their oxen, lands, homes and wives, when they now despise it, and regard their lands, oxen […]