Sermons

The Rev. Dr. Pamela DolanDo Not Lose Heart: A Sermon for June 9, 2024Episcopal Church of St. MartinMark 3:20-35 My graduation from Harvard Divinity School at the tender age of 26 was one of the happiest days of my life. I was surrounded by family and friends, the weather was gorgeous, and I had accomplished one of my first big academic goals. Don’t get me wrong; my time at HDS was not perfect. I struggled mightily with vocational issues and I often felt misunderstood by other students, who could be antagonistic to those of us who professed our faith openly….

The Rev. Dr. Pamela DolanThe Power of Listening: A Sermon for June 2, 2024The Episcopal Church of St. MartinText: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Eli, the aging priest in today’s Old Testament story, has been a faithful servant of God for many, many years, without much to show for it. His sons have followed in his footsteps and are serving as priests, but they are wicked men who abuse their power and exploit innocent worshipers. Eli has tried to correct his sons, to persuade them to repent and return to the Lord, but they are utterly without remorse. I wonder what Eli…

Rev. Pamela DolanTrinity Sunday Sermon“Three Things”May 26, 2024 We Christians sure have a thing for the number three, don’t we? There are three years in the lectionary cycle, three synoptic Gospels, and three days between the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Episcopalians, in particular, are famous for invoking the three-legged stool as a way of explaining how we understand authority. We are not part of what some call a sola scriptura tradition, which is to say that we do not depend only on the Bible for our decision making, nor do we read it in a vacuum. We look at…

Rev. Pamela DolanPentecost Sermon“Gifts of the Spirit”May 19, 2024 “Madainn mhath, a chairdean!” Or, to say that again in plain old American English, “Good morning, friends!” That is now the second time this morning that you’ve heard me at least try to say a few words in Scottish Gaelic, a language that I have been studying on Duolingo for about a year now and with which I am making very little headway. I can name a few farm animals–I especially like “tunnag,” which means duck and, of course, “gobhar,” which means goat–and I can order a whiskey, but I’m not…

Rev. Pamela DolanRogation Sermon“Bless the Things”May 5, 2024 Have you ever wondered why the Church blesses things? Not just people, but food and boats and houses and backpacks—all kinds of things. In today’s collect we are reminded that God has prepared “such good things as surpass our understanding” and we pray for the ability to love God “in all things and above all things.” As a bit of an aside, I must admit it makes me ridiculously happy that even our eloquent, beautifully written Prayer Book repeatedly uses the word “things” in this prayer. It’s one of those words that…

Anthony Amato“Abiding in Christ”April 28, 2024 Good morning! When our rector, Rev. Pamela, asked me to give today’s sermon, I admit to having felt some anxiety, maybe even some fear. I’m the type of person, after all, who gets nervous coming up here just to give the announcements. I’ve only recently become comfortable speaking in front of crowds after 5 years of public school teaching, and I’ve never officially preached in my life. In situations like this, I remind myself that even Moses had a fear of public speaking: “My Lord I have never been eloquent,” he says, “I am…

Here you can find all the sermons and recordings from Holy Week 2024. Good Friday, March 29, 2024“Reflections on Good Friday,” by the Ven. Margaret Grayden, text Easter Vigil, March 30, 2024“And then what?” by the Rev. Pamela Dolan, text Easter Morning“Amateur,” by the Rev. Pamela Dolan, text

The Rev. Pamela Dolan“Love Life or Lose it”March 17, 2024Text: John 12:20-33 The Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan Sermon for Sunday, March 17, 2024 Text: John 12:20-33 “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). This is a startling idea if we take it seriously. It might make us think about some admirable heroes of the faith, saints and martyrs, who manage to live very simply and devotes themselves entirely to God—a monk in the Egyptian desert, perhaps, or Mother Teresa, or someone like…

The Rev. Pamela Dolan“Believe: Reconsidering John 3:16”March 10, 2024 It’s a bumper sticker. It’s a sign held aloft in a sports stadium. It’s a soundbite. It’s John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” This single passage has also, unfortunately, been used as a weapon to hurt and demean people who don’t follow a very specific way of being Christian. It’s that history of abuse, more than the words of the verse itself, that so often make this a…

The Ven. Margaret Grayden “Remember Your Baptism” February 11, 2024 “Remember your baptism!”  I’m so conditioned now that whenever I hear that phrase, I’m tempted to duck on the theory that someone—here’s looking at you, Ernie—someone with a sprig of rosemary is about to fling holy water in my direction.  In all seriousness, I appreciate those periodic reminders that come with asperging, or the ritual of asperges—the technical term for sprinkling a congregation with holy water.  It is important to remember, or if we can’t remember our actual baptism because we were baptized as infants or very young children, to…

The Rev. Pamela Dolan Would you change?: A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday February 11, 2024 Almost 20 years ago, the great singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman released a song called “Change,” that begins with the lyrics: If you knew that you would die todayIf you saw the face of God and loveWould you change? Would you change? This feels like such a perfect question to ask after hearing today’s Gospel. What would it be like to be in the position that Peter and James and John are in and actually see Jesus in all his divine radiance—to see the face of God…