The Bishop’s Blog

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Lenten Series: Marking the Scriptures
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"To 'mark' the Scriptures is to pay careful attention to them... There's a sense that we respond to what we read and hear in the Scriptures. It's helpful to understand that we are not just reading these for interesting ideas or interesting thoughts. It's about helping us to learn how to change or alter our lives." 

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Lenten Series: Reading the Scriptures
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"There is indeed an expectation and exhortation to us to read the Scriptures, not because it's an obligation or duty, but because it is the best way that we have of understanding and knowing the word, the mind, and the person of God." 

In this third message of his 2024 Lenten series on the Scriptures, Bishop Alex continues to delve into why and how we read the Scriptures. Catch up on the entire series here.

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Lenten Series: Hearing the Scriptures
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"One of the most important things at the time of the Reformation was the reading of the Scriptures in the church—that people could hear them on a Sunday.

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Lenten Series: The Power of the Scriptures
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"I want to invite us all this Lent to embrace afresh the great discipline and joy—ultimately—of being acquainted with the truth of God that is revealed to us in the Scriptures." During Lent, Bishop Alex is unpacking what it means to "hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures." 

In this introduction to the series, the Bishop recalls an instance in his ministry where a single Bible verse changed the course of someone's life.

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Invitation to Ash Wednesday
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"That's why Lent begins with that particular sign, a sign of our mortality. To remind ourselves, 'I am not going to live forever, and given that, is there something I need to do?' That's the great invitation of Lent—to self-examination and repentance." 

In this week's message, Bishop Alex points out the grace of the Lenten season—that it is an annual opportunity to reflect on our regrets and to reorient our lives—and invites us all to commemorate the start of Lent by joining an Ash Wednesday worship service on February 14. 

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Celebrating the Unremarkable
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"The great, vast wash of Christians throughout the ages are not remarkable, and yet are those who wear the crown of glory in heaven. I want to encourage all of us as we live out our mundane and unremarkable Christian lives to remember that the work of pastoring, ministry, service or discipling, while it may be remarked by no one, is remarked by the Lord. And it is that thing that ultimately builds the life of the Church." 

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The Church as the Original Redemption Center
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"When I first moved to the United States about 20 years ago, I was driving down the road one day and saw this place with a big sign that said 'Redemption Center,' a place that you took your bottles or cans to be redeemed. I laughed out loud because I thought, 'Isn't the Church the Redemption Center?'" 

What characteristics do we share with discarded bottles? Find out in Bishop Alex's message, where he explains the meaning and hope within our "redemption" in Jesus.

 

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Hope Beyond New Year's Resolutions
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"At the heart of New Year's resolutions is a hope in our own resolve or our own capacity to make this better. And indeed, there are things we need to do to make efforts toward that. But in the end the Christian church has always understood that without God, without his action in our life, without the intervention of a holy God in our lives and in our world, we'll ultimately always fall flat." 

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Merry Christmas from Bishop Alex
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"Very often, we have a sense of God being very far away... not paying attention, perhaps, to our worries or cares or concerns. And this is truly the message that John speaks to us about Jesus in his first chapter: that the One, the Word who was with God in the beginning, who was God, has made his dwelling among us. This is the great joy that we recognize every Christmas." 

Bishop Alex invites us into his home during his annual staff Christmas party to encourage us with the hope of Christmas—that the living God came to us in Christ Jesus.

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Advent 3: In His Great Humility
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"Things are amiss, but when Jesus comes again in glory, all things become right, all things are set right in him. That's one of the great hopes of Advent—he is indeed the hope of the nations. He is the hope for peace. He is the hope for reconciliation. He is everything." 

In this third installment of our series on the Collect for Advent, Bishop Alex explores the contrast between Jesus coming "in great humility" and his coming again "in his glorious majesty."