1 As he went out of the temple one of his disciples said to him, "Teacher! Look! All these marvelous stones and wonderful buildings!" 2 And Jesus, answering, said to them, "Do you see these magnificent buildings? There shall not be left one stone standing on top another, that shall not be thrown down." Mark 13:1-2 The notion that the Lord is speaking about the Jerusalem t...

Christ Lutheran ChurchRev. Dean KavourasNovember 9, 2021 A Retake On Mark Chapter Thirteen It has been long assumed that the predictions the Lord makes in Mark 13 concern the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and telescope out to the end of the world. This has been assumed for so long and by so many that it is now "settled science" as President Obama once said about ...

A Tribute and Memorial ToThe Victims And RespondersOf September 11, 2001 Rev. Dean Kavouras, ChaplainCleveland Emergency Services (1995 to present)Federal Bureau of Investigation (1997 to 2014) September 11, 2021Soldiers and Sailors MonumentCleveland, Ohio Thank you for the invitation to address you in this Memorial and Tribute for the victims and responders of the even...

Christ Lutheran ChurchAugust 1, 2021Pentecost 10 (Series B)by: Rev. Dean Kavouras Exodus 16:2-15 As regards Sunday's Old Testament lesson I see a number of Christological references. Prophecies, or types, as it were, of the Lord's death and resurrection, and of Eucharist as well. In v. 4 the source of the Bread is heaven, not earth. This is unlike any earthly food. v. ...

About 300 years ago "Biblical Criticism" came into its own. What began perhaps innocently enough: an attempt to understand the contemporary environment of the Bible using history, archaeology, language etc, quickly went far afield. Before long everything about Scripture, its authenticity, inspiration, reliability, authors and events, for example, the six day creation, a...

Acts 10:41 " ... not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead." (ESV) This verse is a clear illustration of how to hear Scripture the way it wants to be heard: Christologically, liturgically, sacramentally, incarnationally. All of those. It is doubtful that 1 out of 100 Evangelicals or ...

If you would compliment the incomparable C.S. Lewis he would tell you that he owes all his skill to poet George McDonald. Having read just a few of his poems I must confess that man is a genius. By genius, in this case, I mean a man who can convey a large and extensive message in less than 200 words. See what I mean with the poem: BABY WHERE did you come from, baby dear ?...

For some time now I have posited that as Liturgy is Scripture, Scripture is also Liturgy. Here is a primer on my thesis. The longer I think on these things, however, the more clear they become.Contrary to the entire historical critical enterprise and "The Jesus Seminar," the 4 gospels are not literary productions to be analyzed, criticized or voted upon. But they are, rat...

Part of the reason for the gross liturgical confusion that reigns in western Christianity is that we don't know the proper designation for the thing in which the church catholic engages every Lord's (Christ's) Day. The Greek Church gets it right so let's start there. Among them the Sunday morning event is called: The Divine And Holy Liturgy. When you drive by their church...

Many throughout church history, early fathers as well as the latest critical scholars, have assumed that either the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) must perfectly agree with one another, or the church cannot claim that they are divinely inspired and true. This has worried Christians for so long that Tatian, a 2nd century apologist, created his Diatessaron. It was...