A house divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus makes this observation in light of charges that he is possessed. He is possessed, not by a demon, but by the Holy Spirit. Through baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and are joined to Christ and adopted into the household of God. Those with whom we sing […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Second Sunday after Pentecost / Senior Sunday
We give thanks that God has created the Sabbath for humanity that we might always know God’s sacred time and eternity. Today we especially give thanks for St. Mark’s graduating high school seniors and the treasure of Jesus they carry in clay jars. Like them, each of us carry the treasure of Jesus in our […]
View the Sermon (PDF)The Holy Trinity
The Bible witnesses to the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one in substance, three in personhood. This is the name in which we are baptized, as the triune God dwells in us, adopting us as beloved children. The triune God is eternal yet never static, always creating a new thing in us and […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Day of Pentecost / Confirmation Sunday
On Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As the first Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, we too are filled with the Spirit of truth. The Spirit helps us in our weakness, helping us to pray and act as we ought in […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Seventh Sunday of Easter
The gospel for Easter’s seventh Sunday is always taken from the long prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John’s gospel on the night before his death, and always includes Jesus’ desire that his followers will be one as he and the Father are one. This oneness is not mere doctrinal agreement or institutional unity, […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Sixth Sunday of Easter
In today’s gospel, Jesus calls his followers “friends.” Friendship captures the love, joy, and mutuality of our lives with Christ and one another. Jesus laid down his life for his friends, and appointed them to go and bear the fruit of his love for others. As friends of Christ, we share his love and friendship […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Fifth Sunday of Easter
1 John teaches that God is love and we love because God first loved us. Abiding in love, God abides in us. In today’s gospel Jesus calls himself the true vine and those who abide in him bear much fruit. He is the vine and we are the branches reaching out to bear the fruit […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Fourth Sunday of Easter
In today’s gospel Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” Jesus leads us to still waters and washes us in baptism. He leads us through life’s darkest valleys, prepares a table for us, and feeds us with his body and blood. Jesus lays down his life for the sheep, and he lives raised, gathering all […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Third Sunday of Easter
The gospel for the third Sunday of Easter is always one in which the risen Christ shares food with the disciples, meals that are the Easter template for the meal Christ sets before us in the Eucharist. In today’s gospel, Jesus opens the minds of his followers that they might become his witnesses to all […]
View the Sermon (PDF)Second Sunday of Easter
The Easter season is a week of weeks, seven Sundays when we encounter the mystery of Christ’s presence as told in the gospels. Today we gather around the disciples on the first Easter, as Jesus breathes the Spirit on them and upon us. As with Thomas we also ask for the light of faith to […]
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