Sermons

The Proper Preface is just a brief moment in the Liturgy—it’s truly the beginning of something larger and often goes unnoticed. Take time to reflect on its meaning today and throughout this Lent. Remember, Jesus understands what it’s like, and he calls us to take up our cross and follow him.

God loves dust! The particles of stars — the tiny fragments of creation borne aloft on the wind of heaven. God has always loved the dust, from the moment God brought the dust into existence.

"The knowledge of God is a mountain, steep indeed, and difficult to climb" (Gregory of Nyssa). As we grow in our faith, there are moments when it feels as if we have been climbing for years. Sometimes we find ourselves on the wrong path and must turn around. And then there are moments when we reach the top of a beautiful vista. And then we discover that the journey continues, calling us ever forward.

Here is the wonderfully good news for today, Christ reminds us again and again that the distance between this world and the kingdom of God is a lot shorter than we think. God has transformed the most ordinary and basic of lives into salt and light. So, be salty! Be light! Not as a goal to achieve, but as a life to live because that is what you already are.

First, we don’t receive grace upon grace because we live lives worthy of the gospel. We receive grace upon grace because we are beloved by God. It might be easier to try to fulfill the conditions to receive a blessing than to simply accept one. We feel the need to be worthy. Second, God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. Our mission is to remember that we are all beloved and to live as though it is true.

This is who we are: People of faith on whom light has shone coming together to bring food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing for the naked, healthcare for the sick, visits to the imprisoned, and welcome to the refugee. This is our witness. This is our Epiphany, a time to recognize Christ present, born into the world, affirming our humanity, and seeking and sowing grace. May we be Epiphany light.

In today’s gospel story, we glimpse the first two disciples and the beginning of their journey with Jesus. These disciples responded to the invitation to “come and see” and chose to follow Jesus with their questions, doubts, hopes, and fears, bringing their full selves and lives into this commitment. Throughout their journey with Christ and each other, they grew, lived, and served. Through them, God’s work was accomplished, and the good news of God’s love was shared. This wor

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and, by association, the feast of all our baptisms. We celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry just as we celebrate baptism as the beginning of our ministry. May we dream of a church that is serious about God’s love.

The challenge for us is to find ways to celebrate the presence of God in the ordinary moments of everyday life—through the smile of a friend, the sharing of a meal, or the beauty of good music. Here’s a challenge: Keep the crèche up, or at least a part of it—perhaps a shepherd—to remind us throughout the year of God’s breaking into the ordinary and our invitation to live a radical gospel.

God's answers are here, in the words you already know how to speak. They have come, but they have come softly like small mercies. We might overlook as we search the skies for the grander miracles we desire. So, wait, anticipate, seek, look, and find. The answers are there for our finding. Are we willing to accept them? Will dare the joy of living them? 

Peace, when sought for its own sake, is elusive; but, when we seek to be peacemakers for others, it comes back a hundredfold. “It is in giving that we receive.” The best way to discover peace for ourselves is to seek to create peace in our family and in our workplace, and among the poor, struggling, and oppressed. John the Baptist challenges us to prepare for the arrival of Christ by bearing fruit worthy of repentance, and so we end where we began. What are we will to do for

The world was created beautifully, with a divine vision set before us, but along the way, we have broken some things. It matters, though, that what has been broken can be made whole! There is hope and a promise. In the midst of the stormy voyage, with bristling winds and frothy seas, we can set our eyes on a godly vision, where the sword shall not be lifted and war learned no more. It matters that we can catch sight of the shore and walk in the light of the Lord.

Part of the work of All Saints’ Day is to name the reality of death. Uniquely, we celebrate those who have gone before us. We name death as the ultimate hegemony – each one of us will one day die. We mourn it. We try to cheat it. We may fear it. We envision it as a beast rising up out of the sea. The larger truth, however, is that in Christ Jesus, the firstborn of the dead, death has been overcome. The saints — the holy ones — sit as inheritors of God’s kingdom, with death no