Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord (Jeremiah 17.7) (Epiphany 6C)

 “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord” (Jeremiah 17.7)

(Epiphany 6 Year C, 2025, Rev. John Gishler)

 

We had a baptism at St. Luke’s last week where we asked, “Do you Put Your Whole Trust in His Grace and Love?” The Jeremiah Reading mirrors Jesus’ teaching known as the Beatitudes. They are a basic guide or way of testing our faith or love of Jesus and hope of eternal spiritual life.

 

1.    Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Matthew adds the words “in spirit” which helps us understand that Jesus is talking about the humility of the heart not materialism:

Baptism of Water and the Holy Spirit (Baptism of Jesus Readings)

 “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit (John 3.5) by Rev. John Gishler, 2025

 

In the Gospel Reading Luke 3.16 John the Baptist tells the crowd I baptize you with water but the one who is to come, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Water symbolizes the washing away or dying emotionally to the past, self-centred and sin-controlled life. Holy Spirit baptism is like an invisible holy fire that cleanses us, energizes us and gives us the gifts we need for our baptismal ministry. Holy Spirit baptism has been lost in many intellectualized and liberalized churches. I was baptized as an infant and confirmed without any serious teaching or experiences of Holy Spirit. The loss of the fire of Holy Spirit baptism has disempowered many Christians and made the Church irrelevant to secular culture.

 

1. Examination Questions for Infant Baptism

The Baptism of Jesus -A New Covenant

The Bible is the story of God reaching out to man to establish a covenant relationship. A covenant relationship was an ancient relationship between a king or ruler, and his subjects. The  ruler would provide protection and land. The man would obey the ruler, serve in his army and pay taxes. We need to understand the history and importance of these covenants: 

1.     Adam and Eve would obey God and not eat from the one tree and live forever in paradise with God

How Do You Prepare to Meet Jesus? (Advent 2c)

 Advent is a time of watching and preparing. Jesus is a real historical person. Luke connects Him to the time of the reigning Roman and Hebrew rulers. At the time people would prepare for the arrival of a king by fixing the roads to make a good impression. But how do you prepare to meet Jesus – either when you die or in the End Times! In the Readings:

·      John the Baptist called people to repent their sins and be restored to a right relationship with God.

·      Micah warned the ancient prophets and rulers God would not listen to them and hid His face because of their evil deeds.

·      Paul praises the Philippians for their right-relationship of love of God and neighbour.

 

1.   We prepare spiritually through self-examination and repentance

Baptisms of Repentance & Holy Spirit Fire Give Us Hope (Baptism of Jesus)

 John the Baptist teaches us how to become serious Christians with joy and hope. Hope frees people from fear of sin-guilt and death and enables us to love God, ourselves and others. The first step is the baptism of repentance which prepares us for the second Baptism of the Holy Spirit Fire. As the Holy Spirit comes into us and exposes our hidden sins, we experience the baptism of the holy fire of God’s love. The file of God’s love burns up our sins and brings us into an eternal spiritual life of joy in His Kingdom.

1. The First Baptism is Repentance

Children of God Are Victors Not Victims (Proper c-12)

  Like Elijah, many people in our feel discouraged, depressed and like victims under attack. They have an identity problem. The Good news of today’s Readings is that we are adopted children of God by faith. We are protected and have put on the authority of Jesus Christ to do God’s work in the world.

 

1.    Many People Like Elijah Have an Identity Crisis

Elijah believed he was a victim - the lie that all the prophets in Israel were being killed. He ran away. But you can’t run away from God. God is not angry. Like a loving father God gently asks him what he is doing. God corrects him and gives him a powerful, nation changing mission. God is still with him and has preserved a remnant of 7,000 faithful believers in Israel.

“Will you persevere in resisting evil…? (Proper 33B)

This is the fifth question we were asked in our baptism. We are asked if “whenever you fall into sin” - not if we fall into sin; we will “repent and return to the Lord”. The Readings include the example of Hannah persevering in resisting the insults of her rival; Paul calling us to persevere in our faith in Jesus and Jesus warning to watch out for false messiahs coming in the End Time. Welcome to life in the End Time. We are at the end of the churches year. Next Sunday we celebrate the Reign of Christ, the last Sunday in year B before we begin year C.

1. Have any false messiahs appeared?

Why Do We Have To Have Faith and Repent? (Lent 1)

Jesus calls on us to have faith and repent. He explains that the Kingdom of God is near. The Kingdom is here in the form of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit is seen descending from Heaven to land on the earthly Jesus at His Baptism, so we all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at our Baptism. God through the Holy Spirit, wants to guide our lives and be in a relationship of holy love. Since the Holy Spirit cannot bear to be around the un-holy, we must repent and seek forgiveness to be in a relationship of holy love with the divine.

1. The challenge of a holy love relationship

God had a challenge when He created us. Love is a choice. In order for us to be able to chose to love God, God had to give us free will and the possibility of not choosing to love Him. The point is that God loves us so much, and wants a holy love relationship with each of us so much that He decided to take a huge risk.

Jesus Will Baptize You With the Holy Spirit (Epiphany 2)

John the Baptist had an Epiphany moment. He saw something very important about his Cousin Jesus. This revelation was perhaps even more important than Jesus being the Messiah, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. John saw that repentance, water baptism and the taking away of personal sin was not the end but the means to an even greater end. Jesus sacrificial death created a new way for everyone to enter God's spiritual kingdom through belief in Jesus and baptism in the Holy Spirit.

1. Water baptism prepares us for Holy Spirit Baptism

Our Father in Heaven (Father's Day / Proper 12)

The Prayer Jesus taught gives us the essentials of Christian Faith. It begins with the incredibly profound and comforting words that God is our father. I remember bursting into tears the first time I sang the song “I have a father”. “Father” is the first Theological definition of God in the Trinity. Father reminds us that God is ultimately our creator through His creation, including our human mothers and fathers. Fathers create, sustain and protect us as children of God. The Readings for today remind us that:

• God is our father,
• Relationship with God depends on our loyalty and
• Believers have a life of love, joy and peace - and authority in the metaphysical dimension.

1. Isaiah reminds us that rebellion has its consequences

Jesus is the Lord of a New Covenant (Palm Sunday)

The readings are preparing us for the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Experience. The Readings remind us that Jesus had great courage in facing opposition, modelled humility and obedience and made a New Covenant of forgiveness with believers. This New Covenant includes the Ten Commandments but adds the possibility of forgiveness through repentance and faith in the shed blood of Jesus. The Readings help us understand that Jesus is more than a teacher of goodness. Jesus is the Lord of a New Covenant relationship with God. As we prepare ourselves for the Easter experience it is a good time to examine our lives for evidence of humility and obedience to our half of this New Covenant – which is our Baptismal Covenant.

1. Have you “set your face like flint”?

“You Are Witnesses Of These Things” (Luke 24.48) (Easter 3)

The Disciples are witnesses to an extra ordinary event. They physically touch the Risen Jesus and see Him eat food. They are witnesses to the “resurrection of the body” - as we say in the Apostles Creed. You do not choose to be a witness. You are a witness because you were there and saw or experienced something. Witnesses have a moral responsibility to witness - to share the truth in a world confused by lies. Witnesses who report accurately what they have seen or experienced are essential to law and order and the survival of civil society

1. You are my witnesses of these things (Luke 24.48)

In these Readings all Christians are called to be witnesses. This is what we all promise to do in our Baptism and Confirmation. It is not the job of the clergy.

God’s Love Frees Us From the Spiritual Prison of Our Desires (Lent 4 Readings)

Lent is a time of self-examination and spiritual cleansing as we prepare for the great celebration of Easter. Self-examination is not designed to make us feel guilty or bad. Self-examination is meant to free us from feelings of guilt and shame that prevent us from living a life of joy. The Good News is that “…God so loved the world that he gave His only son so that all that believed in Him might have eternal life.” It is hard for us to grasp how great the love of God is. It includes all people of all races and religions. It is like a father who loves his children enough to do whatever it takes to rescue his children from their mistakes and restore them to a right relationship.

·         The Readings teach us how this works – how God has provided a way through Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins and restore us to right relationship.
·         Sin – any rebellion against God’s law of love is very serious and can lead to the death of our personal spirit and soul
·         God is holy and pure and nothing unholy can survive in His presence
·         Spiritual dimension specific & legalistic – sin must be paid for by death
·         Good news is God allows Jesus to pay the price for our specific sins

1. The Hebrew People wanted more than manna

Repentance Is the Doorway To Heaven (Lent 1 Readings)

The Gospel message (Mark 1.9-15) is that the Kingdom of Heaven is not a remote, faraway place, but a place that is near. In Jesus the Heavenly Kingdom has historically broken into our physical world. These divine interventions go back to Creation. In the Noah story God seems almost sorry for the mass destruction of life in the great Flood. God seems to be searching for a better way to bring humanity back into a relationship of love. In Jesus we see that this has happened. In the new Covenant of Jesus God has created a way - the way of repentance in Faith, to bring people back into a relationship of forgiveness and love.

1. The Good News is that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ

Lent is a time of deep personal self-examination and repentance as we prepare to celebrate the Good News of Jesus Resurrection at Easter. Many people have confused ideas about what this Good News is:

Baptism, Experience and Faith

Several people have asked me if I noticed the dramatic difference between my January (Anglican ) Sower article on the “Battle Belongs to the Lord” Conference at St. Peter’s, Okatokes; and the opposite facing article “Understanding Aspects of Christian Faith” (which questioned both sin and spiritual evil). I did, and believe this has given us an opportunity to reflect on how differences in our teaching and experiences of God can lead to very different interpretations of our Baptismal Faith. This points to a need to listen to those who have different experiences of spiritual life - as opposed to dismissing them as misguided. Allan Miller has done us a great service by raising basic questions about the Nature of God,  sin and evil and the meaning of Baptism which are on the minds of many modern people. It is not just theological ignorance, but differences in our personal experience of the spiritual dimension that affect our interpretation of Faith and understanding of Baptism.

1. The Nature of God