Sermons from St. John the Divine

Jesus’ weeping at Lazarus’s tomb proves God to be not remote and unmoved, but the one who is hurt by our hurts and scarred by our wounds, and who grieves at our anguish. Jesus went to a certain death to diffuse death, and to save Lazarus — and us — from a permanent grave.

The New Testament isn’t about how Jesus died so that we can get into heaven, but that God is in the process of creating the new heavens and the new earth in the here and now. Jesus was always wooing people into the tapestry of the kingdom of God. Our good works, as insignificant as they may seem, will also be used by God in this tapestry of the new creation when people are born again. Through the...

Jesus meets us where we are and respects our humanity, but doesn’t leave us there. He showed the woman her deep thirst and used her daily mundane routine to reveal that thirst. What are your thirsts? How does Jesus quench your deepest thirsts through his Spirit? How can you use your own thirst to relate to your neighbors and friends and invite them to drink from Jesus’ well of living water?

The story of the Woman at the Well reminds us that while we cannot change our past, we do not need to be enslaved to our past. Jesus offers cleansing water to wash our sins and mistakes and failings and hurts, so they no longer govern us and our destiny. 

To the person who thinks they are the captain of their own soul and own will, Jesus’ declaration that you must be born again is a devastating blow. How much control did you have over your first birth? None. How much control do you have over a second birth? “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who i...

The assurance you have in Jesus Christ as your savior is the most important thing about you.   

Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, and yet he completely resists. Matthew 4:1-11 shows how his time in the wilderness points to how we are invited into the grace and forgiveness of God's mercy. 

Satan tempts Jesus to take a shortcut and bypass his humanity. Jesus refuses and gives us the grace we need to resist temptation.

What would it look like if the presence of God were so manifest here that all of us and more and more people were drawn to this place: "What is going on there? Let’s go and see." What would it look like if more and more people in the City of Houston started saying of us streaming out of here on Sundays, "They are making a big difference in our city. What is it about them?"

Love is the greatest spiritual gift for every believer. The greatest impact you will ever have is the love that others feel from you. Love is the greatest of spiritual gifts — the one gift that requires you to focus on others rather than yourself. It’s the only force that can turn an enemy into a friend. Love is truly measured when we give it without receiving it. When you love someone who is diff...

The gospel is not found in an iron will to be a better person. It is found in a broken will that surrenders to the best person, Jesus, our Savior in whom the law – God’s desire for our life – is perfectly manifest.

Jesus calls us to a complete and full life and gives us the grace we need to live into this calling.

This is the way Jesus describes His followers in our Gospel Reading for this Sunday. In those words, Jesus is declaring what already is; and it means believers in Him are to become and manifest what they already are. This is both the good news and the challenge: to believe and become what we already are.

Jesus gives the kingdom of heaven to the poor in Spirit. Jesus transforms the useless into the useful. Jesus makes us salt and light to fire up his love in the world. Thirsty wicks are saturated with the oil of gladness. Useless salt is made to ignite again. This is all God’s work. That is why when we shine, God is glorified and not us.

To recognize one’s beggarly spiritual condition is not to denigrate oneself. It is to turn to God, to come to the place where we confess: “God, if there is any hope, it is up to you. I cannot do it, try as I might on my own.” And this is where Jesus finds us – where the Kingdom touches down in our midst, in our lives, in our hearts.

We sometimes read the Gospels through the lens of a classic underdog story where the protagonist (Jesus, or the disciple) rises from a lowly position to become the hero. However, in the Beatitudes we see that Jesus meets us precisely where we are lowly.

Jesus calls us to follow him boldly and to go out into our world proclaiming in word and deed the good news.

Jesus does not call the prepared but the willing to follow and imitate him in teaching, preaching, and healing. 

A lot of us don’t share the good news about Jesus with others because we think it must be compelling, polished, and well-received. We think we need to have our act together, be free of doubt, know all the theological implications of our faith. But the simple truth is, it is not about you. God is the one who is drawing people to Jesus. Just like John the Baptist and Andrew pointed those they knew t...

Following Jesus means attending to these two questions: what do we truly want? And, where is Jesus found?

Because of Jesus, those extraordinary words of God spoken over him are spoken over you, and over me, every day, all the time: “You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. You are mine. You are special to me. I love you. And I want to bless you. Let me show you how much. I am coming on in the waters of life with you.”

At the baptism of Jesus, God the Father calls from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God loves his Son before Jesus does anything. God is grace, and our relationship with him begins with his love, approval, and affection. If you are in Christ, then you too are beloved. The Father is pleased with you. You too are his child.

God gives us his name and invited us to call out to him.

Christmas is a time for us to reconnect with the light that is within us. We turn back to the light, over and over again. In the New Year we need to be renewed if we are to shine this enduring light into the darkness of our world.