If you’ve made some resolutions for 2024, consider this: Like other exercises of raw willpower, most New Year’s resolutions fail miserably. According to research, only 8% of Americans who make resolutions stick with them. In fact, the research also reveals that 77% of people maintain their resolution for the first week, but only 19% for…

The Advent season highlights some staggering, life-giving truths about infant Jesus. Scriptures call baby Jesus Immanuel (God with us) and the Savior. Christmas itself is all about God becoming human—the incarnation. This central doctrine of our faith makes two amazing claims: Jesus is truly God, and Jesus is fully human. These two truths are essential…

I have had the joy over the past few months of teaching through the four Comfortable Words, found in our Book of Common Prayer and designed to be delivered by the priest after the confession of sin. We conclude the series with this post, but before we do, let’s take time for a quick review….

This month, we continue in our study of the Comfortable Words, a key part of our Anglican liturgy, by examining the one that comes third according to the order in which Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer placed them in the Book of Common Prayer. As we have said, he placed them in a specific order…

We are continuing our study of the Comfortable Words, a vital part of our Anglican liturgy. These are four scripture passages arranged in a specific order and meant to be read by the priest after the confession of sin. Last month, we studied the first Comfortable Word: “Come to me, all who labor and are…

For the next few months, we are going to examine a key portion of our Anglican liturgy: the Comfortable Words. These are four scripture passages arranged in a specific order and meant to be read by the priest right after the confession of sin. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, who compiled the Book of Common…

“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer Almost 90 years ago during the struggles that led to World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was actively sharing his thoughts on living as a Christian. He wrote the book Gemeinsames Leben (“Life Together”) during that…

Prayer is an opportunity to commune with God and lay burdens at his feet, and a recent event at Orlando’s Cathedral Church of St. Luke represented this process in a tangible, emotional way. On May 19, the Rev. Canon Patricia Orlando hosted and Dr. Christin Ditchfield Lazo facilitated a guided prayer walk through a labyrinth…

All Saints, Winter Park, was the setting for the 2023 Mockingbird Orlando Conference, The Urgency of Grace, held Jan. 20 and 21. “One hundred seventy-five Christians, young and old, male and female, attended,” said Mockingbird founder and conference speaker David Zahl. “I was very pleased that the demographics were split 50/50.” “The primary goal of…

Theological. Practical. Pastoral. Anglican. These four words capture the heart of the Cranmer Lecture series, co-sponsored by the Diocese of Central Florida, with funding via a grant received from Lilly Endowment Inc., and Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando, Oviedo. Named after Thomas Cranmer, first archbishop of Canterbury and compiler of the Book of Common Prayer, the…