Sermons from St. John the Divine

Jesus embraces a little boy to demonstrate that his love is given to those who embody the very opposite of striving after acceptance, status, or success. That ought to sound like awfully good news to those of us who strive a lot.

In Mark 8, Jesus is addressing the crowd, the religious leaders and his disciples, all of whom were asking "who is he and why does he do these things?" Jesus wants to say that the signs are clear if only they had the eyes to see and minds to understand. Those who devote to following Jesus, see and understand his mission in the world.

The Body of Christ is essential for revealing Christ to the world. When the Church is divided and imitates the world, Christ becomes invisible. Others are amazed by seeing Christ in His people, so let us be united in embrace of the Love that embraces us and show Jesus to the world.

How do we understand how Jesus talks with the Syrophoenocian woman? Jesus shows that his ministry includes Gentiles in this enacted parable.

It would be so much easier if the Gospel worked like the rest of our lives where hard work, keeping the rules, and striving for success won the day. But it doesn’t work like that.

God seeks those who worship from the heart. God is spirit, and Jesus teaches us to worship in spirit and in truth. For genuine worship is that which comes from deep in one’s heart. It is a worship motivated by love: love of God and love of fellow humans.

God has always wanted to be in relationship with us and has always offered forgiveness. Jesus’ gift of his body and blood are sure signs of God's forgiveness. So, taste and eat and be forgiven.

Jesus is the Bread of Life who alone satisfies all our hungers.

Satan wins when we despise one another. He wins when we no longer see the image of God in others. He wins when we hide ourselves from God because of our sins.

Jesus invites us to recognize Him as the true source of sustenance, the only one who can genuinely satisfy our deepest longings. We will discuss what it means to hunger for Christ and how embracing Him as the Bread of Life can transform our lives, filling us with enduring peace, joy, and purpose. Join us as we seek to understand and embrace the profound truth that in Jesus, our souls find their tr...

Both our Old Testament and Gospel readings this week deal with themes of satisfaction and abundance. Reflecting on the story of David and Bathsheba and the feeding of the 5,000, God calls us to challenge the scarcity mindset prevalent in our culture today and explore how true fulfillment and satisfaction comes from our faith and relationship with God.

Jesus pours out his compassion on his people, pushing us to grow in him, and caring our physical and spiritual health. Whether we be as devout and knowledgeable of him as his apostles or as lost as those sheep without a shepherd, the love that Jesus shows for his people is without bounds. All we have to do is say yes and come into the embrace of his open arms.

God dwells among us: in the Ark, in the Temple, in Jesus, in the Spirit. He does not stand far-off but has drawn close, close enough to touch.

Today’s readings give us two stories of dancing: one party ends with John’s disciples laying his body in a tomb, and the other with all of Israel under King David joyfully returning home. But, in the end, they are both stories that point to how all of our lives and deaths are caught up in the life and death –– and life, again! –– of Jesus Christ.

In the tragic tale of the beheading of John the Baptist, is it possible to find a glimmer of hope? What can we glean about the Kingdom of Heaven in the relationship between John the Baptist and Herod? 

The Church is a community of people entirely dependent on the grace and love of Jesus Christ, as shown by the Gospel story of Jesus being rejected in his hometown of Nazareth and the disciples being sent out with nothing but faith and the support of others. Our participation in the Eucharist and our journeys of discernment are deeply rooted in this reliance on Christ and our mutual love and suppor...

As a Light for the City, we ask God to create here a missional ecosystem, a catalyzing Kingdom movement, that each of us would more and more embrace all the opportunities our Lord gives us to bless those he places before us in all spheres of life.

Just as Jesus has touched down in the world in his body as an offering for you and for me, so he empowers us to be his physical presence to a world desperately in need of healing, peace, and salvation.

The context for the growth of our faith is when we are at the end of our rope.

Fierce winds of fear and anxiety threaten to swamp our lives. Storms of cultural clashes sometimes steal our peace and make it difficult to stay in the boat of faith with our fellow Jesus followers. How can we find the deep peace of Jesus during these turbulent times?

When the inevitable storms of life begin to disrupt and upheave your life you need to remember that Christ is in the boat with you, being tossed and turned, and he is the one who can calm the vicious battering that you’re experiencing.

Jesus' parable of the growing of the seed tells us about how we should live into the kingdom of God. That the mysterious growth of the seed only happens by the grace of God in his perfect timing and that with patience and trust, the same will happen to us.

Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of God through the parables of a wheat field and a mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is growing today, and Jesus brings us into this new creation.

Despite inevitable failures and disappointments, Christian congregations are to be new families whose head is Jesus. In family with him, members see in each other not only a fellow sinner, but also one for whom Christ died. Within the family of the church, we always see each other in baptismal garments.