Behold, I bring you good news of great joy. –Luke 2.10 To know and be known is the lot of man called by God –Hippolytus Beloved brothers and sisters of the Upper Midwest Diocese: Happy Advent and—almost—Merry Christmas! As I write you my first Christmas Letter as your bishop, my heart is full of joy! How much Jesus has done in our midst in this last year–a new diocese, a consecration service of remarkable beauty and power, and several new churches planted in this the earliest phase of our much desired Revival......

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Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Advent is marked by contrast......

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Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. In general, prophets were not popular people. When they visited, the message they brought was a corrective one. Amos, sent from Judah into Israel, was sent to shock the Israelites out of their......

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Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. I find this collect to be one of the most memorable of the year. It’s that archaic beginning… “stir up your power, O Lord.” It reminds me of caldrons of thick stew being slowly heated–at the moment......

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Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. As we peer forward to the birth of Christ, this mansion we prepare within us stands in stark contrast to the humble stable cave in which Christ entered the world as a human being. Yet I think if most of us were honest, we’d have to......

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I got to the church early for Ash Wednesday service. I like in Luke’s sermon, just pulled over and  stopped. I had to listen to what God had to tell me. This is what came out. I lay there weeping, seeing all the signs of things to come, every man, mother and child marked with the dark stain of night across their forehead. I knelt there in my place and stayed the whole while, not to be a martyr to my own sins, but a signpost for others to follow. I know that soon the Day of......

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