Text: St. Matthew 20:1-16 It is common in churches to use a prayer during the offering which includes the words, “All things come from thee, and of thine own we have given thee.” We Christians readily recognise that everything in this world, everything we own, everything everybody else owns, the whole universe, ultimately belongs to God. If we have it in our hands for our use, it is because of His providence. He is the Creator. Everything comes from Him. And when He made man, he made him to have dominion over his creation – this small part of this creation, the earth. In this way, we reflect God’s image of sovereignty. God rules over all, he delegates the rule, the dominion, the management of this earth to us, as his representative. To the end that we may exercise this dominon, in his name, he has also granted us to mirror his ownership of the world. He who owns everything has delegated ownership – trusteeship might be a better word – of those things in this world he has plac...

We in the EMC face the Lord at the table, not the people. I really think this is more theologically proper than the '60's ideal of everyone facing each other around the table. Here are some links on the issue I picked up at Stand Firm: People, Look East , by Tobias Haller, BSG RC: Bishop of Tulsa Abandons “Mass Facing the People” Anyone have any more articles on the subject they would like to recommend via comments?

Thanks, Matt. http://www.sphericalimages.com/stpauls/virtual_tour.htm

I'm still reading this thing, and want to understand it thoroughly. I have read enough, at this point, to note that they disdain biblical exegesis of implied meaning as "weak" and therefore insufficient to counter their arguments for women's ordination. At one point, they quote the esteemed Jefferson Davis on slavery as a way of arguing their point. It is evident that their thinking is clouded. First of all, it is the Reformed position that Biblical truth is equally authoritative be it expressly stated or derived by "good and necessary consequence."* Now, the reformers knew the laws of Logic; they were classically educated. They knew that there was such a thing as a bad use of Logic. They believed that if something in Scripture could be proven by " good and necessary consequence", not just any consequence, then it was to be held. In this, they follow the example of the Lord Jesus Himself in Matthew 22 when he confronted the Saducees for not kno...

Ten years ago, AMG Publishers, here in Chattanooga, compiled three books by Bishop H. C. G. Moule into one, and titled it Thoughts for Sundays . Each of the three books contains a short devotional meditation for every Sunday of the year. The first two, originally entitled Thoughts for the Sundays of the Year and From Sunday to Sunday follow the calendar year. The meditations, in a general way, follow the seasons of the Christian calendar. The third book, which was entitled The Sacred Seasons , follows the Christian calendar. I've spent some time comparing the passages Moule uses for this third book and it is plain that he is following the Prayer Book. I suspect he was using these chapters for sermon material that year. He either uses the propers for Holy Communion (usually on high feast days) or the propers for Matins and Evensong. There are a few places where he seems to deviate, particularly during the Trinity Season. If one wanted to do it for the discipline, one could use...

I just listened to Doug Wilson's Blenheim Lectures in the UK and thought them very thought provoking. Do give them a listen. You can download them here .