Aaron Simms

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” These words from the Gospel reading today (Luke 2:22-40) are also found in our liturgy …

The Bible begins in Genesis by recording: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.  And God saw …

Tomorrow is Christmas morning when we, and Christians throughout the world, celebrate the coming of God’s Son in the flesh.  It is the fulfillment of a promise which began in Genesis 3:15.  After Adam and Eve rebelled against Him, God promised the “seed of the woman” who would defeat sin, death, and the devil. This promise was reconfirmed to Abraham …

WWJTBD?  What would John the Baptist Do?  If you read the post last Sunday and remember that question, you’ll recall that “what John the Baptist would do,” would be to point people to Jesus.  We saw that last week in the Gospel text and we see it this week as well in John 1:6-8, 19-28. John came to prepare the …

I like to make – and more importantly, eat – potato pancakes.  I make them with a combination of baking potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, and sweet Vidalia onions.  It takes a lot of time to prepare, though. First, I peel the potatoes, then grate them and squeeze the excess juice out of the gratings and discard the juice, since it …

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  Advent is traditionally a season of repentance.  We usually think of Advent as leading up to Christmas and Christ’s birth.  And that’s one aspect of Advent.  That was the first Advent when Christ was born of the virgin Mary and God became flesh. But, then after his death and resurrection, Christ ascended into …