Everyday Monks

Happy New Year!

Epiphany isn’t an afterthought—it’s the unveiling of the King. In this episode, the Monks walk through the Feast of the Epiphany in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer: the force of the Collect, Isaiah’s “Arise, shine,” and Matthew’s Gospel where nations begin to kneel. We unpack the Magi’s gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh) as more than ancient tokens—they’re a pattern for Christian worship and mission today: crown Him as King, offer Him prayer, carry His cross. Along the way, we talk about Epiphanytide as a lived season: how the star teaches discernment, how the liturgy forms courage, and why this feast moves us from altar to city with joy.

In this conversation:

* The Epiphany Collect (1928 BCP): why its theology still steadies modern disciples

* Isaiah 60 & Matthew 2: light for the nations, hope for ordinary Mondays

* The Magi’s gifts as a rule of life: allegiance, adoration, self-offering

* Practicing Epiphanytide at home and parish: prayers, blessings, and small, bright habits

If Christmas proclaims God with us, Epiphany proclaims God for the world—and sends us. Follow the Light.

Subscribe and share with a friend who loves the 1928 BCP—or needs a hopeful start to Epiphanytide.

NEW EPISODE — Everyday Monks (1928 BCP): The Nativity of Our Lord 🎙️

Everybody knows Christmas.But do we really know what the Church is proclaiming when she dares to say: God has taken our nature upon Him?

In this episode, we open the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for Christmas Day and follow the Church’s breathtaking logic:

✨ The manger and the throne belong together✨ The Child is not “becoming” God — He is God✨ The Light that made the worlds enters our darkness✨ And if the Word truly became flesh… then nothing about our lives can remain unchanged

Along the way, we tackle the “Facebook theology” objections about December 25th, trace the deep biblical roots of the feast, and linger over the high Christology of Hebrews 1 and John 1—where Christmas is revealed not as sentiment, but as the manifestation of God.

And yes… there’s also a little cigar-and-pipe banter, because it wouldn’t be Everyday Monks without it.

Listen now, and let the Church catechize you with the glory of Christmas:“In the beginning was the Word…” MERRY CHRISTMAS!

#EverydayMonks #1928BCP #ChristmasDay #NativityOfOurLord #Anglican #ReformedEpiscopal #HighChristology #John1 #Hebrews1 #Christmastide

If you’ve wrestled with questions, Thomas is your patron. Christ meets him with scars and peace—and He meets us the same way.

Saint Thomas the Apostle.The Collect.

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who, for the greater* confirmation of the faith, didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son's resurrection; Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore, Amen.

The Epistle. Hebrews x. 35, and part of Chap. xi.

CAST not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The Gospel. St. John xx. 24.

THOMAS, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nai1s, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, be cause thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

During this Fall Women’s Bible Study, we are looking for Jesus and his Mothers from Eve to Mary. This series will proclaim the good news of Jesus from the Scriptures, praise women in the gate (then and now), and prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

This study is intended for all women, regardless of age or stage, whether seekers or believers. Come join us on this pilgrimage as we revisit our mothers, relive their stories, and rejoice in the faith of Jesus Christ. Everyday Monks is the parish Podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.

During this Fall Women’s Bible Study, we are looking for Jesus and his Mothers from Eve to Mary. This series will proclaim the good news of Jesus from the Scriptures, praise women in the gate (then and now), and prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

This study is intended for all women, regardless of age or stage, whether seekers or believers. Come join us on this pilgrimage as we revisit our mothers, relive their stories, and rejoice in the faith of Jesus Christ. Everyday Monks is the parish Podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.

During this Fall Women’s Bible Study, we are looking for Jesus and his Mothers from Eve to Mary. This series will proclaim the good news of Jesus from the Scriptures, praise women in the gate (then and now), and prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

This study is intended for all women, regardless of age or stage, whether seekers or believers. Come join us on this pilgrimage as we revisit our mothers, relive their stories, and rejoice in the faith of Jesus Christ. Everyday Monks is the parish Podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.

The first called. The one who obeyed without delay.The apostle who brought others to Christ — beginning with his own brother.

This week on Everyday Monks, we begin again with the Church year and step into Advent through the witness of St. Andrew.Around the table, we talk:

🕯 Why Andrew is first in the calendar🕯 His immediate response to Christ — no hesitation, no delay🕯 Faith as obedience — not just belief, but following🕯 “Beautiful feet” and the call to bear the Gospel🕯 How Advent wakes us from spiritual slumber and stirs holy longing

If Advent is the doorway, Andrew is the first one through it.Come listen, reflect, and begin the year as he did — by hearing Christ’s voice, and following.

The Propers for the 1st Sunday in Advent

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy 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 quick and [the]* dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, with the other Collects in Advent, until* Christmas-day.

The Epistle. Rom. xiii. 8.

OWE no man any thing, but to love one an other: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The Gospel. St. Matt. xxi. 1.

WHEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And. a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem. all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

🎙️ Everyday Monks — “Gratitude, Providence, and the God Who Gives the Increase”

In this Feast of Thanksgiving episode, the clergy of St. Benedict’s gather around the table—pipes lit, coffee steaming, laughter in the air—to talk about the kind of gratitude that goes far deeper than a holiday.

Canon Michael Vinson, Dcn. Timothy Wilson, Fr. Michael Templin, and Fr. Marq Toombs reflect on the goodness of God in the ordinary rhythms of life: food, fellowship, loss, memory, beauty, harvest, and hope. What emerges is a rich meditation on providence—the God who sees, sustains, provides, and surprises His people again and again.

In this warm and spirited conversation, the monks explore:

🍂 Thanksgiving as a Feast, Not a FeelingHow the Prayer Book captures gratitude not as sentiment, but as worship—an offering of humility, confession, and joy.

🌾 “The God Who Gives the Increase”Stories of provision in lean times, unexpected blessings, answered prayers, and the quiet ways God tends His children.

📖 Scripture’s Call to RememberWhy Thanksgiving is woven through Israel’s story—and why forgetting God is always the first step toward fear.

🕯 The Eucharistic VisionHow the Church teaches us to see all of life—land, labor, bread, wine, family, community—as God’s gifts, returned to Him in praise.

👥 Ordinary Life, Extraordinary GraceLaughter about pipe tobacco, gratitude for parish friendships, and reflections on the people God uses to shape, steady, and feed His flock.

Whether you come with gratitude overflowing or a heart that’s limping to the table this year, this conversation invites you into something bigger:a life of thanksgiving rooted in the God who never ceases to be good.

🎧 Listen now on Everyday Monks—the parish podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas.

During this Fall Women’s Bible Study, we are looking for Jesus and his Mothers from Eve to Mary. This series will proclaim the good news of Jesus from the Scriptures, praise women in the gate (then and now), and prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

This study is intended for all women, regardless of age or stage, whether seekers or believers. Come join us on this pilgrimage as we revisit our mothers, relive their stories, and rejoice in the faith of Jesus Christ. Everyday Monks is the parish Podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.

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During this Fall Women’s Bible Study, we are looking for Jesus and his Mothers from Eve to Mary. This series will proclaim the good news of Jesus from the Scriptures, praise women in the gate (then and now), and prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

This study is intended for all women, regardless of age or stage, whether seekers or believers. Come join us on this pilgrimage as we revisit our mothers, relive their stories, and rejoice in the faith of Jesus Christ. Everyday Monks is the parish Podcast of St. Benedict’s Anglican Church in Rockwall, Texas: Belong - Believe - Become.