All Saints' Episcopal Church

Senior youth delivered sermons at the 11:15 service on April 26.

Senior youth delivered sermons during the 11:15 service on April 26.

The Rev'd Noelle York-Simmons: "Fear is a natural, human response to the unknown. Fear is okay. It is okay to hesitate and to think, to regroup, to pause. There is, my friends, a place for fear in the kingdom of God. But it is not okay to stay there..."

The Rev'd Geoffrey Hoare: "We must beware of huddling behind closed doors for fear of what is coming and what will be asked of us, even recognizing that some measure of fear is proper in the face of the generosity of God and what it can mean for our lives as individuals in a community of faith."

We know for sure what the women do not yet know: that the Lord is risen and that it is indeed good. The world is changed. God is alive. We will never be the same.

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Perhaps that is why it is so painful to revisit this story. Because we know what we did to God in the world two thousand years ago and we know we continue the same crimes against our God today. Perhaps, we know that when we do try to reflect God's love in the world, we will endure pain we do not wish to face. We know what happens when we stand up to the powers and principalities, so we keep quiet....

Our Messiah, our God, demands nothing less than everything, 100 percent, complete devotion. Our Messiah does not ride in on a donkey, humble and holy, and ask for occasional fidelity. Our Messiah does not hang on a cross to his death to engender sporadic respect. Our Messiah, the Son of God asks that we leave behind our selves, our selfishness and egotism and reorient our lives toward God. Complet...

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I'm looking at the banality of sin at the beginning of this story that will end in a bloody death, and I am seeing myself. I am seeing you. And I am inviting you to join me in repentance, the turning of our lives back toward all that is good and true and lovely and hopeful, as a response to the gospel, recognizing our dependence on our victim for grace.

How can we sustain this life of service? How can we get past our own baggage, our own difficulties and continue a life of love through serving others? Perhaps this is why Jesus wanted us to celebrate the Eucharist.

Our guest preacher for the Holy Week Preaching Series is The Rev'd Dr. David Bartlett. Dr. Bartlett is a professor of New Testament at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He came to Columbia from Yale Divinity School, where he was dean of academic affairs and Lantz Professor of Preaching and Communication. He is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, USA. His latest book, "What's Good Ab...

Our guest preacher for the Holy Week Preaching Series is The Rev'd Dr. David Bartlett. Dr. Bartlett is a professor of New Testament at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He came to Columbia from Yale Divinity School, where he was dean of academic affairs and Lantz Professor of Preaching and Communication. He is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, USA. His latest book, "What's Good Ab...

Our guest preacher for the Holy Week Preaching Series is The Rev'd Dr. David Bartlett. Dr. Bartlett is a professor of New Testament at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He came to Columbia from Yale Divinity School, where he was dean of academic affairs and Lantz Professor of Preaching and Communication. He is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, USA. His latest book, "What's Good Ab...

Our guest preacher for the Holy Week Preaching Series is The Rev'd Dr. David Bartlett. Dr. Bartlett is a professor of New Testament at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He came to Columbia from Yale Divinity School, where he was dean of academic affairs and Lantz Professor of Preaching and Communication. He is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, USA. His latest book, "What's Good Ab...

We can continue reshape our lives and participate in the Body of Christ, bringing forth that love, that glory into the world. We can continue to bring real glory, lasting glory into the world. The hour is upon us. Soon, Jesus will be raised on the cross. We will demand it and then our hearts will break. But, will be changed into a moment of glory that demands our response. The fruit of that moment...

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We could easily read the story in light of what is happening in the world today and we would be wrong. The story of Jesus cleansing the Temple does have something for us in a time of uncertainty, but we have to set aside for now all those feelings that lead to violent and (we assume) righteous rage, revenge, blaming and bluster. We also have to set aside the reality of the despair that also rides...

We can hear what Peter could not hear, we hold fast to the words Jesus spoke to Peter and those around Him, "and after three days [the Son of man will] rise again."

Christian tradition has long recognized that desires are shaped and often perverted as a communal matter. The good news is that as surely as our desires are formed communally, so our tastes can change and our confronting destructive desires is a communal matter of sorts as well. This communal shaping of tastes does not let us off the hook for our individual sins. It rather means that we do not nee...

Our opportunity this Lent is, in the midst of a world that would like us to believe we are cheap, replaceable and used up, we must learn to believe that we are worthy, good and holy. Our opportunity this Lent is to reject a world that would prefer us to say yes to that which is expensive, temporary and scarce, instead saying YES to the free, eternal and abundant love of God.

We have been beaten up plenty of late. Ash Wednesday and Lent is not here to pile on more bad news. It is the beginning of a season of opportunity. It is an opportunity to begin new habits, new spiritual disciplines that can draw us closer to God.