Sermons from St. John’s Episcopal Church

Acts 4:32-37; Matthew 6:19-21, 24-33. One week before Celebration Sunday, Fr. Houk distills what the Bible says about giving and address the practical realities of stewardship.

Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 5:1-12. The Eucharist is “a thin place” where we find ourselves in the God zone, joining angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Jesus’s beatitudes are likewise an invitation to live where heaven and earth come together.

Matthew 22:15-22 . The Pharisees and Herodians combine in a common dislike for Jesus who threatens them both, and his Kingdom that is an alternative society to their realms of power.

Matthew 22:1-14  The parable of the wedding feast is about grace and judgment. The good and the bad are invited. The one thing you can’t be is indifferent.

Matthew 21:23-32 Our Christian forbears, wise fathers and mothers of the Church, saw the Exodus as a pattern of the spiritual life. At some point, we all wind up in the wilderness, but God uses everything for our good.

Matthew 20:1-16 Most people believe in a transactional God. But God is not transactional. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, he is not even fair. He is generous.

Matthew 18:15-20 The are church hoppers and church shoppers, but the church's purpose is not about providing religious goods and services. Jesus teaches that the church is the place where people are called to grow up in love.

From the propers this week, Father Harris confronts our Lord's hard saying: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross." To be a Christian is no mere churchgoing or ascent to myth; it is the highest vocation in creation, to welcome the world as it unfolds and give thanks in every circumstance, knowing that all things are redeemed even while they still hurt. Like the bush that blazed yet was not consumed, we are called to risk our whole selves in self-sacrificial love, trusting that those who lose their life for his sake will find it.

From the propers this week, Father Harris explores the social nature of our faith and the true source of spiritual defilement: our hearts. Ultimately it is our interior condition that generates the actions that either build up or divide our common life. The fear-driven, externally-ordered, rules-based purity of the Pharisees is undone by the persistent and faithful Canaanite woman: a holy heart is tested and revealed through trial, grace, and patience. Ultimately, we are called away from judging outward appearances to attend to the interior state of our souls.

From the propers this week, Father Oliver Butler reflects on how unexpected moments of joy and grace break through life's storms, challenging our tendency to stay safe in our comfort zones. From hearing "Merry Christmas" in a hospital elevator in the summer time to a memory of jumping into rain puddles with his daughter, Father Butler reminds us that joyful risk-taking is the pattern of the Gospel story of Peter walking on water. Rather than viewing Peter's eventual sinking as a personal failure of faith or a moralistic warning, the miracle lies in Peter's initial willingness to step out of the boat into the chaos. Jesus's presence and salvation are not dependent on our flawless performance, but on His relentless willingness to reach out and rescue us when we falter.