Sermons

Sermon on February 18, 2026“Ashes and Dust”By: The Ven. Margaret GraydenReadings: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 I’ve always found more than a little irony in the Ash Wednesday service.  We’ve just heard Jesus warn us against wearing signs of piety on our foreheads like the hypocrites.  Yet later in this service, we will have an opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes in the form of a cross on our foreheads.  Wait, what?  A large, dark, smudged cross seems like an obvious sign of piety, doesn’t it? Some of us debate each year what to do about the ashes on our foreheads…

Sermon on February 15, 2026“The Mountaintop”By: The Rev. Ernie LewisReadings: Exodus 24:12-182 Peter 1:16-21Matthew 17:1-9 This is the last Sunday after the Epiphany. The baby in the manger has become a grown man. He’s gotten quite a reputation as a teacher and a miracle worker. He’s gathered a small group of close followers who travel the countryside with him. Some of his followers even dare to suspect he might be the Messiah, the One promised so long ago to the Jewish people. His name is Jesus and he has a growing following, as well as a particular ability to send…

Sermon on February 8, 2026“Salt of the Earth”By: Kimo KimokeoReadings: Matthew 5:13-20 Our gospel reading for this Sunday has us continuing in Matthew 5 with Jesus still speaking to the large crowd on the mountain side—a crowd made up of His Disciples, others who are curious, folks who may be just seekers checking this Jesus who has been preaching and healing people of all kinds of ailments in Galilee and an area made up of ten cities called the Decopolis, as well as Jerusalem, Judea and scripture says beyond the Jordan.  Though there were different reasons for those in the…

Sermon on February 1, 2026“Good News”By: The Very Rev. Pamela DolanReadings: Matthew 5:1-12 “Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, people possessed by demons or having epilepsy or afflicted with paralysis, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” Matthew 4:23-25 These lines come just before today’s passage…

Sermon on January 18, 2026“Signs and Manifestations”By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan The Gospel readings during the Sundays after Epiphany are all variations on a theme. Regardless of what lectionary year we’re in, the readings serve the same purpose, which is to help us figure out who Jesus is and what his ministry means for us today. As such, the readings always touch on baptism, on light, on journeys, and on signs from God. The famous Epiphany hymn we sang just a few minutes ago, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise,” repeatedly focuses our attention on stories that show “God in…

Sermon on January 11, 2026“Baptism of Jesus: Balancing Humility and Righteousness”By: The Ven. Magraret Grayden One of the better-known sayings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”[1]  I believe that is true.  I also believe there are times when the arc of the moral universe takes a sharp U-turn away from justice.  This past week seems like one of those times.  If you are feeling off-kilter, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of crises near and far, you are not alone.  But here’s the thing to remember—God…

Sermon on January 4, 2026“Getting Directions“By: The Rev. Deboarah Hawkins2 Jeremiah 31:7-14, Psalm 84, Ephesians 1:1-6,15-19a, Matthew 2:1-12; 15B A life of faith, walking “the pilgrims’ way” as the psalmist puts it, is a life dedicated to walking ever more deeply into the mystery of the Divine. Figuring out the direction to walk isn’t always easy or obvious. We are given glimpses of where and how we are to go but there is often a lot of confusion and uncertainty. One thing that is certain, when we think we have everything all figured out and know what we are doing,…

Sermon on December 24, 2025“Christmas Eve“By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan The first time my picture was ever in the paper, I was four years old. The paper was the Vacaville Reporter, and the picture was of me in a bathing suit, sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor of the public library, utterly engrossed in a book. It was the middle of summer, and we’d probably just come from the pool, or maybe I’d been running through sprinklers to cool off. But at some point, I’m sure, I’d begged my mom to take me to the library so I could…

Sermon on December 14, 2025“Mary, Mother of Joy“By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan If, like me, you are a woman who grew up Catholic, you might have a complicated relationship with Mary. You know Mary: the only person besides Jesus to have been born without the “stain of original sin,” the only woman to have both given birth and be praised for her lifelong virginity, and, last but not least, one of the only humans who was assumed into heaven without suffering physical death. Mary, who is both the Queen of Heaven and who is held up as a model…

Sermon on November 30, 2025“Changed for Good“By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan Collect of the Day: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your 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 living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now…

Sermon on November 16, 2025“Life Doesn’t Rhyme“By: The Rev. Mike Kinman Hear the Gospel according to Rainer Maria Rilke God speaks to each of us as she makes us,then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your recall,go to the limits of your longing.Embody me. Flare up like flameand make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.Just keep going.No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me. Nearby is the country they call life.You will know it by its seriousness. Give…