St. Columba's Episcopal Church Sermons

Third Sunday after the Epiphany The Collect: Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Jonah 3:1-5, 10 1 The word of the Lord came...

Second Sunday after the Epiphany The Collect: Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and...

First Sunday after the Epiphany Occasion:  The Baptism of our Lord The Collect: Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one G...

First Sunday after Christmas The Collect: Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Isaiah 61:10-62:3 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my...

Christmas Eve Isaiah 9:2-7 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined. 9:3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 9:4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their...

Third Sunday of Advent The Collect: Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 The spirit of the Lord God is upon...

Second Sunday of Advent The Collect: Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Isaiah 40:1-11 1 Comfort...

First Sunday of Advent The Collect: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives...

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King Old Testament:  Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 11 For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.  1...

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and e...

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and re...

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Joshua 3:7-17 7 The Lord said to...

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen Old Testament:  Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  2...

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO SERMON HANDOUT Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost Old Testament:  Isaiah 45:1-7 1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed:  2 I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze an...

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Exodus 32:1-14 1   When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered a...

The Ordination of Rev. Jonas Ellison Is. 6:1-8  + Ps 139:1-18 + 1 Cor. 4:1-5 + Luke 24:13-35 On Saturday, October 14, 2023 St. Columba's Episcopal Church had the joy and privilege of hosting Bishop Claire Burkat of the ELCA in celebration of the ordination of Rev. Jonas Ellison to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. To the good people of Christ Lutheran, Aptos, CA, we are delighted to have shared...

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus C...

Creationtide V - Animals The Book of Job (39:1–18) "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer? Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch to give birth to their offspring and are delivered of their young? Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go forth and do not r...

Creationtide IV - Land First Reading: Genesis (3:14-19; 4:8-16) The L ORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike hi...

Creationtide III - Trees 1st Lesson:  A Reading from the Book of Genesis ( Gen. 2:4b-22) In the day that the L ORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no vegetation of the field had yet sprung up—for the L ORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water th...

Creationtide II - Rivers 1st Lesson: A Reading from the Book of Genesis ( Genesis 8:20-22; 9:12 ) Then Noah built an altar to the L ORD and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the L ORD smelled the pleasing odor, the L ORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humans, for the inclination of the human hea...

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 1 Jacob settled i...

The Transfiguration of Our Lord The Collect: Rite II: O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever...

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and e...

Creationtide I - Mountains First Lesson: Joel 1: 8-10, 17-20 Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the L ORD . The priests mourn, the ministers of the L ORD . The fields are devastated, the ground mourns, for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails. The seed shrivels under the...