Father Timothy Davies (retired)
May 28 (John 14:15-31) – Whitsunday – Pentecost
- Theme: Who is the Holy Ghost? He is, of course, God, but he is also a person with the mind and will of God. His temple on this Earth is within each and every believer. To those who are open to the leading of the Holy Ghost, he will prompt to live and take action in such a way to honor and glorify God. Ask yourself, why do you believe? If you are committed to Christ, do you open yourself to the leading of the Spirit? Will you submit, and place the will and purpose of God before your own?
May 21 (Acts 1:1-11) – Sixth Sunday after Easter – Ascension
- Theme: The Ascension is the last of the four greatest events in history: the incarnation, the passion and death of Christ, the resurrection and the ascension. The ascension is the completion of the resurrection. Without the ascension, Christ would have been a resurrected person, but he would not have been our mediator and advocate sitting at the right hand of the Father. As the First Fruits he enables us to also enter heaven, where he has prepared a place for us, and will receive us when we also ascend into heaven.
May 14 (John 16:23-33) – Fifth Sunday after Easter
- Theme: In John 16:23-33 our Lord completes his “farewell” address (Chapters 14-16) to his disciples. In these closing verses, he makes clear that he is the Son of God, and is returning to the Father, but the disciples should not despair because the Father loves them, and they can be at peace knowing that Christ has overcome the world and they can now speak with (pray to) the Father who is near.
April 30 (John 16:16-24) – Third Sunday after Easter
- Theme: In the Gospel of John verse 16:16 Christ tells the disciples, “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.” What is the “little while” of which Christ refers? Christ does not provide an explicit duration in either case, and it may not be what you think. So, let us consider that time when “…your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22)
April 23 – Second Sunday after Easter
- Theme: Christ is the Good Shepherd. David, the king of Israel, revealed the nature of the Good Shepherd in the beloved 23rd Psalm.
April 16 – First Sunday after Easter
- Theme: The Sunday after Easter is commonly referred to as “Low Sunday” because attendance is usually low after Shrovetide, Lenten Season, and our Lord’s Resurrection. However, the gospel reading for this Sunday is anything but low-key (John 20: 19-23). In just five verses John shares our Lord’s commission to his disciples (yes, that includes you), his breathing on them the Holy Spirit, and his often misinterpreted direction from verse 20:23, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Join us tomorrow, April 16, to find out what this all means.
Lent:
Our Lenten Season consists of six Sundays after Ash Wednesday. This is a period where we look closely at our own character defects and make a concerted effort to live our lives more closely to the way our Lord has asked us to live them. It is also a time for us to think and feel more acutely the price our Savior paid for our Salvation so that we may spend eternity with Him.
The thematic structure for the Lenten Season will continue on from Shrovetide, and we will be looking on God’s characteristics as He chooses to disclose them to us through Holy Scripture and our sinful faults as we choose to acknowledge them to ourselves and to Him.
April 9 – Resurrection Sunday
- Theme: We have arrived at Resurrection Sunday!!! We will be using the gospel according to Mark 16:1-8 and the gospel according to Matthew 28:1-7 to celebrate His glorious Resurrection.
April 2 – Sixth (Palm) Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Mathew 27:1-54 to explore the meaning of verses 50-53, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
March 26 – Fifth (Passion) Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Luke 23:44-45 to explore the meaning of the darkness at noon on Good Friday.
March 19 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-15; Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:10-17). We will explore Jesus’ compassion for a group wanting to make him a worldly king and how he serves both their physical and spiritual hunger. Jesus helps us to see that as Philip was tested so does he test us as well. We will need to decide if we are self-centered or God-centered.
March 12 – Third Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Jesus’ casting out a demon and being accused of doing so using Satan’s power (Matthew 12:25-30, 43-45; Mark 3:22-27; Luke 11:14-28). We will explore Jesus’ meaning in the Spiritual warfare that is presently going on. Jesus shows us there are but two choices: to be with Him or to be with Satan. There is no fence to straddle.
March 5 – Second Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Jesus’ healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30) to explore how Jesus signals the opening of his ministry and the kingdom to the Gentiles. Jesus shows us how true faith can be found in those whom we least expect to possess such faith. He also gives us a look at unchristian behavior coming from “devout” believers.
Feb 26 – First Sunday in Lent
- Theme: we will use Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13) to explore how Jesus shares his own temptation and testing with the Tempter with us so that we know we are not alone when we are being tempted and tested in our own lives.
Shrovetide:
Shrovetide consists of the three Sundays prior to Ash Wednesday and is a period used to ready ourselves for the season of Lent. The thematic structure for the Shrovetide and Lenten Season will be on God’s characteristics as He chooses to disclose them to us through Holy Scripture and our sinful faults as we choose to acknowledge them to ourselves and to Him.
Feb 19 – Shrovetide Quinquagesima Sunday
- Theme: we will use Jesus’ meeting with the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, (Matthew 20:29-33; Mark 10:46-52; and Luke 18:35-43) to explore how we need to come to Jesus with urgency, sincerity, and faith and how Jesus will receive us into his presence and give us a new “vision” as well..
Feb 12 – Shrovetide Sexagesima Sunday
- Theme: we will use the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:2-20; and Luke 8:4-15) to explore God’s benevolence in providing us the gift of the Gospel seed and our responsibility to prepare our hearts to receive it. We will see how hardness of heart, misplaced priorities, and lack of effort prohibit God’s seed from taking root and growing within us.
Feb 5 – Shrovetide Septuagesima Sunday
- Theme: we will use the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) to explore God’s grace, mercy, and compassion and our own selfish behavior.
Epiphanytide:
Jan 29 – Fourth Sunday in Epiphany
Jan 22 – Third Sunday in Epiphany
Jan 15 – Second Sunday in Epiphany
Jan 8 – Sunday commemorating Epiphany