Tag Archives: faith

Trust God one day at a time (Exodus 16-19)

Posted on 12 March 2024 by Fr. Brench

When we pray “give us this day our daily bread”, what the grammar really means in that phrase is “our bread for tomorrow”, that is, Jesus taught us to pray in trust that God would look after us in the … Continue reading →

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Feeding

Posted on 10 March 2024 by Fr. Brench

a homily for Grace Anglican Church upon the 4th Sunday in Lent, 2024, by the Rev. Matthew Brench Introduction As the Biblical narrations and teachings regarding sorrow and affliction are never without elements of hope and joy, so too in … Continue reading →

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You Have Only to be Silent (Exodus 14)

Posted on 7 March 2024 by Fr. Brench

After the institution of the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea is the second major piece of the Exodus story, and we read it today in Exodus chapter 14. On the whole, this is a very straight-forward narrative text … Continue reading →

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So Many Plagues (Exodus 9-11)

Posted on 4 March 2024 by Fr. Brench

First of all, I apologize for missing a couple days last week. In the interest of completionism, I’ll be covering last week’s chapters along with today’s. Fortunately they all stand together as part of a larger continuous narrative, so this … Continue reading →

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The Fickle Heart of Pharaoh (Exodus 8)

Posted on 29 February 2024 by Fr. Brench

In chapter 8 of the Book of Exodus we get three plague stories in a row! This could feel like a slow point in the story, knowing that there are ten plagues to get through and in general the same … Continue reading →

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Foundations of Trust (Exodus 6)

Posted on 27 February 2024 by Fr. Brench

In yesterday’s chapter, the Pharaoh of Egypt was (in a way) tested by Moses and Aaron: would he permit the people of Israel to have a week off work to go worship the Lord? The answer was a resounding “no” … Continue reading →

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Moses was really afraid (Exodus 4)

Posted on 24 February 2024 by Fr. Brench

For those following the Daily Office Lectionary, today (24th of February) is St. Matthias Day, which interrupts the regular readings through Exodus in favor a special lesson for this commemorative holy day. But for the purposes of this devotional walk-through … Continue reading →

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The Life of Moses in Three Sketches (Exodus 2)

Posted on 22 February 2024 by Fr. Brench

As with Jesus, we know little about Moses’ early life before his ministry began. We have one infancy narrative, one story of Moses as a young adult, and the story of how he met his wife. This strikes me as … Continue reading →

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Do we really need to know all this stuff?

Posted on 21 August 2023 by Fr. Brench

An issue that I ran into quite often in certain circles of Christian fellowship several years ago was the importance of theology “why do you [Anglicans, etc.] have such complicated teachings? Isn’t the Gospel simple enough for a child to … Continue reading →

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Did Jesus die in vain?

Posted on 8 April 2023 by Fr. Brench

As a sort of Epilogue to the series through Ecclesiastes, here is my short sermon for Holy Saturday. The two texts used, in parallel, are Job 14:1-14 and 1 Peter 4:1-8.

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