December 7, 2025
During Advent we get back to the basics of our Christian faith. One of the basic principles that we reflect on today is that God comes to bring peace. Maybe we are not able to experience the fullness of peace around us, at least not until the second coming of Jesus at the end of time, but we can already find a way to experience peace in our hearts. How can we do that? Through the gift of repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. To repent is to restructure my life around the vision of God and the message of Jesus Christ. To repent is to confess my sins to the Lord and receive the gift of forgiveness. To repent is to be assured of the gift of salvation. To repent, is to experience peace.
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November 30, 2025
There are many things that we don’t know about the purposes of God. Jesus does not reveal everything about the future to us. Why not? Why can’t we know when the end will come? There must be a reason for the limited knowledge about the future, so it is best not to worry about trying to guess what has not been revealed. It is better to focus on what we do know, what Jesus did reveal about the future. In the Gospel for today we are reminded of what Jesus did say: He will come, we will encounter Him, and the future as planned by God will be full of peace and love. It is best to allow the vision of the future as revealed by Jesus to shape our present. How do we do that? By living with a constant anticipation of the future filled with hope, excitement about what God has done and is doing, and will do. In faith we can live already now with the joy of what God will do, even if we don’t know all the details.
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November 23, 2025
In this final sermon as your priest-in-charge, I express my deep gratitude for my time at St. Barnabas and for the wonderful retirement celebration shared with this community. On this Christ the King Sunday, we explore how Jesus redefines kingship not through earthly power, but through the cross and His boundless mercy for the vulnerable. Just as Jesus promised paradise to the criminal beside Him, we are reminded that God’s kingdom is available to us today, offering redemption and connection to all.
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November 16, 2025
Today’s gospel offers a vital word of warning, opportunity, and promise from Jesus, spoken from an apocalyptic perspective to unveil the true nature of our hearts and souls. Loss and change, like my own impending departure from St. Barnabas, inevitably face us and reveal what is true about ourselves. Rather than seeking outside protection or being led astray, Jesus calls us to put our trust in God’s providential hand, enduring trials to gain our souls.
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