All Souls Parish Sermons

The Rev. Phil Brochard The sermon reflects on Paul’s short letter to Philemon, written from prison about Onesimus, a slave who had become dear to him. Paul appeals to Philemon not through command but “on the basis of love,” asking him to see Onesimus as a brother rather than property. The preacher emphasizes how Paul redefines family in Christ, creating bonds that transcend blood ties and social h...

The Rev. Phil Brochard The sermon reflects on Jesus’s teaching about humility and hospitality at the banquet table. Using both a local community dinner and modern debates on immigration as illustrations, it critiques zero-sum thinking and exclusionary attitudes. The preacher emphasizes that seats at God’s table are given by invitation, not entitlement, and urges the congregation to notice who is m...

the Rev. Emily Boring The sermon reflects on Jesus healing a woman bent for eighteen years, an act of liberation chosen for the Sabbath to reveal God’s unconditional freedom. The synagogue leader’s objection highlights the depth of Sabbath’s role in Jewish identity, but also the danger of letting rules or ego restrict God’s presence. We, too, often bind ourselves with conditions on when and how Go...

the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers A Wednesday Eucharist at All Souls centers on shared reflection and the commemoration of saints, drawing strength from the church’s “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews—figures like Abraham and Rahab whose faith shows both triumph and suffering. All Souls ritualizes this memory at All Saints/All Souls and the Easter Vigil by naming the dead and processing with candles. In...

the Rev. Michael Lemaire The sermon explores Jesus’s warning about treasure and heart, noting that human desires often fail to satisfy or are overshadowed by fear of loss. Drawing on Luke’s gospel, the preacher shows how possessions promise false security, especially in the face of death. Jesus’s call to give them up is not punishment but preparation for life’s end, freeing us to live grounded in...

the Rev. Rachel Dykzeul Mother Rachel explores Jesus’s parable of the rich fool, challenging the belief that life is defined by wealth. She asks how we measure “enough” and what we orient our lives around, critiquing capitalism’s drive for endless accumulation. Emphasizing that divine abundance is meant to be shared, she calls for compassionate self-reflection and urges us to use our resources to...

the Rev. Emily Boring The sermon humorously critiques transactional views of religion by reflecting on a postcard naming the church a “top-rated customer satisfaction” site. It uses this to explore deeper meanings of prayer, particularly the Lord’s Prayer. Rather than a vending machine model of request and response, prayer is portrayed as grounded in need, vulnerability, and relationship with God....

the Rev. Phil Brochard This sermon challenges misreadings of the Mary and Martha story, rejecting the idea that contemplation and action are opposed or that one must be an archetype. It focuses instead on how Martha’s distraction—rooted in anxiety—distorts her hospitality, while Mary models the spiritual discipline of presence and unmixed attention. The preacher connects this to contemporary socie...

the Rev. Rachel Dykzeul The sermon revisits the parable of the Good Samaritan, emphasizing its radical message in historical context: Jesus uses a despised outsider—the Samaritan—as the model of neighborly love. By helping a wounded man, the Samaritan upends religious and cultural norms. The preacher connects this message to modern examples of division—Palestinians and Israelis, immigrants and cit...

the Rev. Phil Brochard This sermon tells the story of a parishioner who, inspired by a conference on immigration, joined a 1,300-mile pilgrimage to ICE detention centers. She and other pilgrims traveled vulnerably, relying on church communities for food and shelter, embodying Jesus’ call to be sent without protection. The sermon links this vulnerability to Jesus' own journey to Jerusalem and shows...

The Rev. Rachel Dykzeul This sermon celebrates Pride and God's inclusive love, emphasizing how transformative relationships—like mentorship and discipleship—can change our lives. Drawing on personal experience and scripture, it illustrates how spiritual transformation often happens gently over time through meaningful community. The call is to consciously respond to the Spirit’s invitation to be tr...

The Rev. Dr. Paula Nesbitt The sermon reflects on evangelism through personal stories, highlighting its value when rooted in compassion and dignity. While acknowledging harmful uses of evangelism, the speaker reclaims it as a spiritual practice grounded in listening, healing, and inclusive love. From handing out pamphlets in Honolulu to standing against hate with rainbow banners, the message urges...

The Rev. Michael Lemaire Rather than explain the Trinity, the sermon invites us to live it. Using the Christian liturgical calendar as a spiritual map, the preacher explores how the death-and-resurrection pattern—the Paschal Mystery—shapes our lives. Personal suffering mirrors Good Friday, and unexpected renewal echoes Easter. The Ascension calls us to let go; Pentecost empowers us to move forward...

The Rev. Phil Brochard The sermon reflects on spiritual experience, psychedelics, and discernment. Inspired by a study where clergy took psilocybin and had mystical encounters, it compares these to the Pentecost event and modern healing stories like Marsha Linehan's. It urges openness to divine encounter, with true spiritual experiences recognized by the healing, connection, and transformation the...

The Rev. Emily Boring The sermon reflects on Jesus's prayer in John 17, emphasizing that divine unity and love are gifts to be received, not achieved. Using a personal story about learning to stop striving in prayer, the preacher draws parallels to how Jesus desires his followers to dwell in divine love. Unity flows not from doctrine or effort, but from the experience of agape love, which transfor...

The Rev. Joseph Delgado The sermon reflects on legacy through the speaker’s experience as a healthcare chaplain and a moving personal story about caring for their dying mother. Her parting blessing—full of love and responsibility—became a legacy of service that still shapes their family. This personal legacy mirrors Jesus’s farewell discourse in John, where he promises peace and the guidance of th...

The Rev. Phil Brochard The sermon tells the story of Kelsey Buyers, whose encounter with literature and longing for spiritual connection led her back to church and eventually to baptism. Her story mirrors the Acts narrative of Peter's vision and the inclusion of Gentiles, showing how the Holy Spirit often disrupts established boundaries. The preacher urges openness to God's new work and warns agai...

The Rev. Harlowe Zefting The sermon weaves together Mother’s Day, Good Shepherd Sunday, and three lectionary texts to explore belonging and community boundaries. It highlights Tabitha’s central role in Acts, the inclusive vision in Revelation, and the tension of exclusion in John’s gospel. The preacher reflects on historical Christian othering, especially of Jews, and instead urges that community...

The Rev. Emily Boring The preacher recalls a formative summer spent aboard a marine research vessel, where awe at the vastness and mystery of the ocean inspired a peaceful acceptance of their own smallness and mortality. This experience parallels the final scene in John’s gospel, where the resurrected Jesus meets the disciples by the sea, helps them catch a miraculous number of fish, and shows tha...

The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers The sermon draws on the image of a lagoon and ocean from a vacation in the Cook Islands to illustrate the contrast between safety and the unknown. It recounts the disciples’ fear after Jesus’s death, their transformation through the risen Christ’s appearance, and their eventual bold witness in Acts. These events parallel the journey of faith: from shelter to courage, from...

The Rev. Phil Brochard

The Rev. Emily Boring

The Rev. Dr. Mark Richardson

Emily Hansen Curran

The Rev. Emily Boring Palm Sunday is a story of contrast: Jesus enters Jerusalem in humility while worldly power enters in might. The Rev. Emily ties this contrast to modern protests and personal grief, reminding us that love often leads us through pain, not around it. God doesn’t shield us from suffering but journeys with us in it.