Sermons

Sermon on April 19, 2026“Jesus the Stranger”By: The Very Rev. Pamela DolanGospel: Luke 24: 13-35 I was listening to a science podcast recently and was intrigued to hear that “research shows” that people enjoy small talk a lot more than they think they will. I know it’s dangerous to start off any assertion with “research shows,” but I decided not to go down a rabbit hole trying to find that research and examine its methodology and results. Instead, I found myself thinking about how much our society seems to go out of its way to make it possible to almost…

Sermon on April 12, 2026“Doubting Thomases”By: The Rev. Ernie Lewis Today we find ourselves in a locked room where some of Jesus’s closest followers are huddled together as they try, in the midst of their grief and fear, to make some kind of sense of his death and the rumors of his resurrection as reported by some of the women in their group who were closest to him. (Even in those long-ago times dead people didn’t routinely come back to life!) Yet, right in the middle of their discussions and to their utter astonishment, Jesus himself appears! They’re all present…

Sermon on April 4, 2026“Practicing Resurrection with Easter Courage”By: The Ven. Margaret GraydenGospel: Matthew 28: 1-10 Some of the most amazing, awesome things start in darkness. Like new life. New life takes root in the darkness of the earth, in the darkness of space, in the darkness of the womb, and in the darkness of the tomb. We don’t see its beginnings or the long slow process of growth until new life suddenly bursts forth into the light. The Resurrection is like that. There are no eyewitness accounts of the moment when God raised Jesus from the dead. We are…

Sermon on March 15, 2026“Remember”By: The Rev. Debbie Hawkins The language of the New Testament and particularly of the gospel of John at times feels like a physical assault and leave us wondering why we are here. We heard some of that in the story Margaret proclaimed to us today. The exact reasons the writer had for using ‘the Jews’ or ‘the Judeans’ as the name of those who worked against Jesus are complicated and not completely understood. It is confusing. It is as obvious to us as it would have been to the earliest congregations that Jesus and his…

Sermon on March 8, 2026“Is God Among Us or Not?”By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan “Is the Lord among us or not?” If you believe the testimony of the Psalm, the Israelites were punished for asking that question. Maybe. But I’d like to think that, when keeping the whole narrative arc of Scripture in mind, the God we meet in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, is not a god who punishes us for asking questions. Moses questioned God many times. Abraham asked questions and even bargained with God. Sarah laughed at God’s messengers. We don’t think of…

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…