The Bishop’s Blog

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Advent 2: In Great Humility
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"We are not good at humility, but God is. In the incarnation, in the cross, in every way that he comes to us, he comes in humility... We remember in Advent the humility of God, the smallness of God. Even though he is glorious and huge, he makes himself small. And that is one of the great graces of his life, death, and resurrection. As we consider his humility, let us also ask for the grace for that humility to be formed in us." 

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Advent 1: Give Us Grace
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"As we take off that which is not of God, there is an invitation to the second act, the grace to put on the things of God, to put on the helmet of salvation, to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Those things go together—to cast off one is to put on another. If we drive out a demon and don't fill the gap with something else, seven more demons worse than the first come flooding in." 

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Thanksgiving Message from the Bishop
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"At the heart of Thanksgiving is ultimately redirecting our attention from that which is not, to the abundance of that which is. And particularly as Christians, that abundance flows to us today and always in the person and the life of Jesus." 

Happy (American) Thanksgiving, friends! Bishop Alex's Thanksgiving message counsels us on what to do when we struggle to be thankful and fixes our eyes on the eternal promise of God.

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What Happens at the End?
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"As we reflect on history and on the world today, we recognize that there are things that remain amiss, that are not set right. Historically, whenever there is war, then peace, there is war again. Nothing is ever perfect. Nothing is ever entirely resolved. But the gospel says this: that Jesus shall come again in glory and he shall judge... And his kingdom, the kingdom he establishes, will have no end. The great gospel of the end is that what is wrong will be made right, and will be made right eternally.

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What You Missed at Our 158th Convention
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"Convention reminded me in this beautiful way of what Jesus said, 'They will know you are my disciples if you love one another.' It was a glorious thing, evident in the gathering itself, in the worship that was part of that gathering, and in the interaction between the people at Convention—it was a real reminder to me of the grace of the Lord. The evidence of the grace of the Lord was in our midst. It was an incredibly encouraging day for me and for many other people." 

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We are not alone
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"We are surrounded by witnesses. We are upheld and reminded of the goodness of God by these great witnesses of the faith throughout the centuries. The feast day of All Saints matters because the church is established by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It matters because it is an incredible reminder that we are not alone. We are surrounded by the church throughout the world and throughout time. And it reminds us that people have walked this path before us, whose example we can follow." 

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Rejoice in the Lord Always
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"It is absolutely true that our circumstances are not always things that would fill us with joy. Sometimes days are hard, weeks are hard. Sometimes years and months are hard. But the Lord never changes. We are always in the love and the grace of the Lord. We have been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus. We are at home with the Father because of the work of Jesus. That never changes—our circumstances might, but we still have a place to come home to." 

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Forgiveness and Reconciliation
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"Hardness of heart keeps us from the reality of the gospel—not only in our relationship with God, but ultimately in our relationship with others. It is so important for us to remember that Jesus came that we might be reconciled. Reconciled to God and indeed reconciled to one another." 

This week's message from Bishop Alex reminds us of the importance of forgiveness to our relationships with God and one another.

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Responding to Violence and Chaos
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"One of the central messages of the book of Revelation—spoken to a people who were struggling with persecution, war, famine, and pestilence—is that there are interludes throughout where we see the worship of the saints and the angels in heaven. There is a consistent picture that in spite of all the chaos that the world seems to be devolving into, we see the worship of God in heaven. There is a sense in which it is a reminder to us that God remains on his throne and sovereign—that God will gather all things up unto himself.

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Invitation to Convention
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"When we are together, we see something larger—we see the reality of God in our midst. It is fundamentally an encouraging experience to be together. The church will eternally, always be together in glory with the Lord."