Glimpses of Grace

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin When Jesus reveals himself to Peter, James and John on the mountain top, their first impulse was to build something to temper their experience. But a bright cloud overshadowed and overwhelmed them. We're often left in the dark, searching for a light. And just like an Arkansas teenager hiding in the HVAC return, the only way to win is to weather the darkness long...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. In uncertain and pressurized times, Jesus’ words remind us that faith is not about spectacle, but about presence that quietly transforms from within. This sermon explores what it means to live as “salt” — preserving dignity, resisting fear, and embodying Christ’s healing love in the ordinary places of life. As we season the small corners we inhabit, we discover that...

Stuart Higginbotham, Brandon Nonnemaker and Meg McPeek talk creativity, new beginnings, playlists, simmer pots, candles, poems and dreams, magic and who is that outside the window? Oh, he's on the phone, it's fine. This bonus episode was recorded on Jan. 5, 2026 in Stuart's office. For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gracechurchgainesvi...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon reflects on John the Baptist’s witness at the Jordan as a moment of divine light emerging amid instability and change. Drawing on Scripture, art, and the embodied experience of life rooted in place, it explores how God’s presence appears not through force, but through gift, circulation, and belonging. In a world undergoing profound transition, the sermon...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin Against a backdrop of Roman imperial ambition, John the Baptist wrestled with the idea of baptizing Jesus; the one that he was preparing people to receive. While the emperor and dominant power structures sought to impose, grasp for power and self-glorify, Jesus asked John to let him share in our hopes, fears, sins and salvation of even the lowliest of us. When John t...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. Set against the fear and insecurity that marks Herod’s empire, this Epiphany sermon contrasts the grasping of control with the courage of wonder. Through the journey of the magi, it proclaims a God who enters vulnerability and draws forth not fear, but joy and abundance. At the beginning of a new year, it invites us to choose another path—one guided by attention, em...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin During the Christmas season we retell the birth story of Jesus. The account from the Gospel of John, though, reminds us of the universality of Christ's incarnation and points out that "he came into this world and they didn't recognize him." Will we recognize Him? For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ g...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin & Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! This special episode includes the sermons from both the 4 p.m. youth Christmas pageant and the 10 p.m. Chorale service which included a concert with Gate City Brass, the Grace Episcopal choir and Bill Hildebrandt as organist. These sermons ask us to explore the fundamental vulnerability of Christ’...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon reflects on Joseph as a quiet, working-class man whose life is disrupted by God, revealing how holiness often emerges when our plans fall apart. Framed by Matthew’s theme of Immanuel—God with us—it invites listeners to see divine presence not in spectacle, but in the ordinary, maybe inconvenient moments of life. The sermon gently calls us to discern wher...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin Advent calls us to prepare for the coming of Christ. But what are we really looking for in Christ's coming? What are our motivations, expectations and goals? What choices are we making to commit to our deepest goals? For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Matthew 11:2-11 Whe...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon explores Isaiah’s vision of new life emerging from what appears dead and broken, inviting us to notice God’s quiet work in barren places. Through images of stumps, green shoots, and children leading the way, it reframes repentance as awakening rather than shame. In this Advent reflection, hope is not loud or easy, but tender, persistent, and already grow...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin We traditionally think of Advent as the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas that prepares us for the birth of Christ, but that isn't the whole story. Advent is a nuanced and layered season of preparation and focused reflection that stretches includes images of apocalypse and nativity scenes. How do we prepare for the birth of Christ, the return of Christ on Earth, and th...

Rev. Dr. Betsy Powell This Feast of Christ the King sermon explores the paradox of Jesus’s kingship through the story of a unique copper crucifix that hung on a nursing home wall. The cross depicts both the dying Jesus and Christ the King side-by-side. What does true kingship look like with this humble servant is our king, and with paradise here, in his word and name? For episode transcripts and m...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin In this improvisational sermon, we explore the deep trust that is fostered as we move from orientation, to disorientation, to reorientation, recognizing the Spirit's presence in our lives. While existing ways of life change and break down, new expressions of life are always rising. The Spirit remains at work, and our eyes are opened to trust more fully. For episo...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin How do we follow Jesus’ example when our culture, laws and customs make that difficult? The Sadducees offer a legalistic point of view, with arguments about the law, but Jesus asks us to go deeper and look at God’s big picture. Recognizing that we all belong to God, and the implications of that, is messy, and it forces us to wrestle. Luke 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, tho...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. On All Saints’ Day, we are invited to see as God sees—to recognize the web of love that binds us to the saints, to one another, and to all creation. Remembering last week's creation-centered Eucharist at Linwood, this sermon explores how the communion of saints mirrors the living, interconnected world beneath our feet. To be a saint is to live as one who is seen...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin Greek cab driver Kostas helps put everything into perspective. Whether we're grasping for control and superiority, or opining how tragedy could befall us, we need to remember that we are not the center of the narrative, and that we've got to keep our soul balanced. For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gracechur...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon explores what it means to live a life of embodied faith. Jacob, Paul, and the widow reveal that faith is not an abstract belief but a lived, physical practice of showing up—again and again—even when it hurts. It invites the listener to see their own weary, wondrous body as sacred ground where God continues to dwell. For episode transcripts and more about...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin When we say that our lives are our practice, we affirm that each moment offers us an opportunity to practice gratitude. Rather than seeing our spiritual practice only as a way to fix a problem or achieve a desired result, we learn from Jesus how our entire lives can be transformed. In this way, we are truly made whole. For episode transcripts and more about Grace Epi...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. In a world that often feels chaotic and uncertain, Habakkuk, Jesus, and Paul teach us what it means to live faithfully. Drawing on the Hebrew concept of emunah, the Greek pistis, and Howard Thurman’s call "to center down,” this sermon explores how faith is steadiness in the midst of life’s storms. Through small acts of love and trust, even the tiniest seed of f...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin When Lazarus the Beggar and a rich man both die, the rich man remains stuck looking at the world through his old paradigm--one that placed Lazarus on the other side of the line regarding his worth as a human being. What does it look like to challenge the way we categorize ourselves and others? How can we truly heed the Gospel's call to transformation in a world t...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon invites us to see grief not as something to avoid but as a doorway into God’s own heartbreak for the world. Through Jeremiah’s lament, Jesus’ startling parable, and Paul’s call to expansive prayer, we are reminded that emptiness makes room for compassion, generosity, and solidarity. When our hearts are broken open, we discover not despair but the balm of...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin This sermon focuses on the Feast of the Holy Cross, Grace's feast day. The living symbol of the cross challenges us to reflect on the transforming action of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. In a time of such uncertainty, we long to find belonging, and the cross invites us to belong to the life of Jesus, who calls us to empty ourselves. For episode transc...

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed. D. This sermon invites us into the potter’s house, where God shapes us patiently and tenderly, every movement of the divine hand an act of love. From Jeremiah’s clay, to Jesus’ call to redefined family, to Paul’s appeal for Onesimus, it proclaims that we are bound not by blood, power, or status, but by the eternal love that weaves all creation together. We are called t...

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin Jesus carries the prophetic vision into his own life and ministry, and he challenges us to focus on the deep practice of faith--what the prayer for today calls "true religion." In anxious and uncertain days, Jesus reminds us to trust the Spirit's presence rather than asserting our own agendas and yielding to our impulse to grasp onto power. Such "t...