Sermons at St. Dunstan's

📖 Scripture: Matthew 11:25–30 What does Jesus mean when He says, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light"? Christ calls His followers to take up their cross, yet He also promises true rest. These are not competing ideas—they reveal the heart of Christian discipleship. As we walk with Jesus, the burdens of sin, fear, pride, and self-reliance are gradually lifted, and we become more fully the peop...

📖 Scripture: Matthew 10:16-33 Jesus never promised His followers safety. He promised His presence. Drawing from Matthew 10:16–33, Pastor John Howell explores Jesus' startling words: "I am sending you out as sheep among wolves." Throughout Scripture, God's faithful servants speak the truth, endure opposition, and trust the goodness of God in the midst of suffering. Rather than responding to fear w...

📖 Scripture: Exodus 9:1–8, Matthew 9:35–10:15 God has always called His people for a purpose. In this sermon, Fr. Luis traces the connection between God's call to Israel at Mount Sinai and Jesus sending out His disciples in Matthew's Gospel. The same God who called Israel to be His treasured possession continues to call and send His people today. As followers of Christ, we are invited into God's...

📖 Scripture: Hosea 5:15–6:6; Matthew 9:9–13 What does God truly desire from His people? Fr. Michael explores Jesus' words in Matthew 9:13: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." Drawing from Hosea 6:6, he unpacks the rich biblical meaning of hesed—God's steadfast goodness, kindness, and mercy—and challenges us to consider whether we truly know God or simply know things about Him. As Christians ente...

What is Ordinary Time, and why does the Church spend so much of the year there? On Trinity Sunday, Fr. Michael Strachan explores the meaning of Ordinary Time within the Christian calendar. Far from being a spiritual "off-season," Ordinary Time is where Christians live out the reality of Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Following the great celebrations of Ad...

📖 Scripture: Acts 2:1–11, 1 Corinthians 12:4–13 What if Pentecost is not an appendix to Easter, but the climax of the story of salvation? Preaching on Pentecost Sunday, Fr. Michael Strachan reflects on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and why the Church is, and always will be, Pentecostal. From Eden to the tabernacle, temple, incarnation, and finally the Church, Scripture tells the sto...

Bishop Morales reflects on what it means for the Church to remain rooted in Christ, shaped by His mission, and formed by compassion. Through baptisms, confirmations, and first communions, Bishop Morales points to the ordinary yet holy means through which God continues His work in the world: water, bread, wine, oil, Scripture, and the life of the Church together. As Christ ascends to the Father, th...

Fr. Michael explores the story of redemption through the women and mothers woven throughout Scripture—from Eve and Hannah to Pharaoh’s daughter and the Virgin Mary. Motherhood is presented not as sentimentality or cultural ideal, but as a vocation marked by courage, sacrifice, protection, adoption, grief, and life in the face of death. Through these stories, we are reminded that God continually br...

📖 Scripture: 1 Peter 2:1–10 What is the Church—not in theory, but as God actually defines it? Drawing from 1 Peter 2, Fr. Michael explores the Church as a people united to Jesus Christ—living stones being built into a spiritual house, a royal priesthood called to stand at the intersection of heaven and earth. The Church is not defined by its visible imperfections, but by what God says is true: a...

📖 Scripture: John 10:1–10 Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice.” In Follow the Shepherd, Fr. Harry Mathis reflects on John 10:1–10 and what it means to recognize the voice of Christ, trust His leading, and enter into the abundant life He offers as the Good Shepherd and the Door. In a world full of competing voices, Fr. Mathis reminds us that true peace, protection, and life are found in following...

📖 Scripture: Luke 24:13–35 Jesus is not merely known through information, but through communion. Drawing from the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, Fr. Michael explores how Scripture points beyond itself to the person of Jesus Christ—and how He is ultimately made known to His people in the breaking of the bread. While the Word of God forms and teaches us, it is at the table that we are invited not only...

📖 Scripture: Acts 2:14a, 22–32; 1 Peter 1:3–9; John 20:19–31 Doubt is not absent from the resurrection accounts—it is woven throughout them. Fr. Michael Strachan reflects on the surprising presence of doubt among Jesus’ first disciples, showing that even those who saw the risen Christ struggled to believe. In a world where every failed messianic movement ended in collapse, the early Church procla...

📖 Scripture: John 20:1–18 Christ is risen—Cristo ha resucitado. In this bilingual Easter sermon, Fr. Michael Strachan is joined by Fr. Luis Diaz, who translates as the proclamation of the resurrection is shared in both English and Spanish. Together, they reflect on John 20 and the moment Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Christ in the garden. The resurrection of Jesus is not simply a return to...

📖 Scripture: John 20:1–18 On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene stands in the darkness of the garden, searching for Jesus—and hears her name. Drawing from John 20, Fr. Michael reflects on the resurrection not simply as a return to life, but as the beginning of a new creation. In the garden, the risen Christ appears as the true Gardener—the second Adam—restoring what was lost and calling his people in...

The Easter Vigil begins in darkness. From the new fire to the long story of Scripture, the Church waits—remembering creation, exile, rescue, and promise—until at last we arrive at the empty tomb. Fr. Michael reflects on the resurrection as the turning point of all history. In the light of the empty tomb, everything changes. What appeared broken on Good Friday—justice, beauty, truth, love—is not ab...

“There is a great silence on earth today.” On Holy Saturday, the Church keeps watch in stillness as Christ lies in the tomb. Yet beneath that silence, something profound is taking place. This ancient homily from the early Church proclaims the mystery of the Lord’s descent to the dead. Christ enters into the darkness—not as a captive, but as a conqueror—seeking out Adam and Eve and raising all who...

📖 Scripture: John 18:1–40; John 19:1–37 On Good Friday, we stand at the foot of the Cross and witness the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. In John’s account of the Passion, the crucifixion reveals both the depth of human brokenness and the mystery of God’s redeeming love. What appears to be defeat is, in truth, the place where all the longings of the human heart—justice, love, meaning, and re...

📖 Scripture: Exodus 12:1–14; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; John 13:1–15 On the night he was betrayed, Jesus loved his own to the end. Fr. Michael draws together Exodus 12, 1 Corinthians 11, and John 13 to reveal the unity of the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, and the Cross. What begins at the table is not separate from what unfolds on Good Friday—it is one continuous act of self-giving love. As Jesus was...

📖 Scripture: Matthew 21:1–11 As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the whole city is stirred and asks a single question: “Who is this?” Palm Sunday opens Holy Week with both celebration and tension. The crowd welcomes a king, but not the one they expected. Instead of power and conquest, Jesus comes in humility, riding on a donkey, revealing a kingdom unlike any other. That question—Who is this?—doesn’t fade...

📖 Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1–14, Psalm 130, John 11:1–44 What does it mean to be set free? In John 11, Jesus stands before the tomb of Lazarus and speaks life into death. But the miracle doesn’t end with resurrection—He turns to those standing nearby and commands them: “Unbind him, and let him go.” This moment reveals not only Christ’s authority over death, but His desire to free us from everything...

📖 Scripture: John 9:1–13, 28–41 In John 9, a man born blind receives sight from Jesus — yet the deeper miracle is not physical vision, but spiritual sight. While the man gradually comes to recognize who Jesus truly is, the religious authorities grow increasingly certain of their own understanding and increasingly blind to what God is doing before them. Their certainty closes them off from the ver...

📖 Scripture: John 4:5-42 What is the Bible really about? Many people assume Scripture is primarily a guide for how we go to heaven when we die. But the story of the Bible tells something far bigger. From Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures reveal God’s desire to dwell with His people and fill the world with His glory. Beginning in Eden, continuing through the tabernacle and temple, fulfilled in...

📖 Scripture: Joel 2:1–2, 12–17; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:10; Matthew 6:1–6 Ash Wednesday confronts us with a tension: Jesus tells us to “wash your face,” yet we mark our foreheads with ashes. Are we contradicting Him — or entering more deeply into what He commands? Preaching from Joel’s call to “rend your hearts and not your garments,” David’s cry in Psalm 51, Paul’s appeal to be reconciled...