St. John's Episcopal Church Montclair

Dr. King explains that the Church is called to be a thermostat. Not to reflect the temperature of what’s happening in the world, but to change it, to make it more Christ-life. So when the world feels cold and distant, we’re called to turn up the heat and provide warmth. And when the world feels hot and fiery, we’re called to help cool it down. So whatever is happening in the world, the Church is c...

Epiphany | January 11, 2026

While the gospels of Matthew and Luke give us a sense of God coming to earth in human history, the gospel of John gives us a sense of God coming to earth in God’s history. Because the mysterious truth is that God didn’t wait until the incarnation to dwell with us

This year, I am fascinated by how big of a risk the magi took, leaving their country and defying the orders of a powerful earthly king all because they noticed something different in the night sky. God knew they would pay attention to that sky, so God spoke to them in a language God knew they’d understand. And it makes me wonder what God may be using to speak to us.

It must have taken great courage to accept and receive these imperfect gifts of love. To trust first time parents in a time of high maternal and infant mortality. To trust strangers in an unfamiliar place, in a land under occupation. Yet, God chose to risk it all and receive human love, as imperfect as it can be. God experienced human vulnerability and made it holy.

If I were to ask you, what is the greatest gift you’ve ever received, what would you say? Usually, when I ask a group of students this question I hear about the bike they got for Christmas, or a special doll that looks just like them, or the video game they’d had their eyes on for months. But one year, at vacation bible school, I asked a group of elementary school students “what is the greatest gi...

This genealogy is chock full of both scandal and righteousness. Just like us. This is the miracle of incarnation. That God chose to save the world through a family such as this is a reminder that God enters into our mess and stays with us. If God could work through them, there can be no doubt that God can and does work through us too.

I can’t help but wonder if John the Baptist had to put his dreams in a drawer for Jesus. In our gospel this morning we hear him ask “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Debie Thomas, theologian and essayist identifies John’s question beneath the question: “Lord, I’ve staked my entire life on you. Has it all been for nothing?”

John tells the people to metanoia, to repent, to turn around in preparation for God coming to earth. Have you ever noticed that there is a moment in the service when we turn around?

This Advent season, I can’t help but wonder if the invitation to stay awake and be ready is an invitation into mindfulness. John Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “paying attention on purpose.” So for our purposes, a mindful Advent would be one spent paying attention to spiritual things. And truth be told, it is a fabulous place to start. Evelyn Underhill, a British mystic from the early 20th cent...

Christ the King Sunday invites us to proclaim that God is still in control - even in exile, even on the cross, even in our messy and uncertain world. Thanks for Giving Sunday invites us to live out that proclamation by offering our wealth, wisdom, and works. Not out of fear or obligation, but from our confidence in God’s type of power. The type of power that transforms the world through the love o...

I think of my closed fists, holding onto what is mine, and letting it trickle out, bit by bit. I open up, let go, and find that my hands and my heart are open to receive more than I could ever give. I pray that I continue to grow in faith and stewardship with all of you. May our prayers as a faith community be unceasing, as we participate in God's unseen works. May they manifest, and may we welcom...

Unlike every elementary school teacher I ever had, I believe that there are some stupid questions. Okay…maybe the questions aren’t stupid, but I do believe there are questions that get us farther from the truth rather than closer to it, and this morning’s gospel gives us an example of one of them.

Jesus loved people up close, and the promises we make and renew at baptism call us to do the same. To pay attention to what is happening in the world - especially to the people who are the most vulnerable - and do something about it.

As Christians we still mourn. We long for those we love but see no longer. We feel their loss in deep and profound ways. Even Jesus, God incarnate, wept at the tomb of his friend. But as Christians we do not need to fear death. We can mourn with the hope that we will see one another again. We mourn with a peace that passes understanding, because we may not know exactly what heaven looks like, but...

God doesn’t call us to do the impossible, but God does call us to move the dial on what we perceive to be possible. This is a powerful theology of stewardship. In the church we talk about stewardship as our responsibility to carefully and responsibly manage the gifts God has given us. Stewardship is an expression of gratitude: giving thanks for the time, talent, and treasure God has gifted us by u...

This week I’ve been reflecting on how just a little bit of faith is a powerful thing. In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus talks about having faith the size of a mustard seed. And I found these mustard seeds in my cabinet. They are very small! But the mustard plant is what we call invasive, which just means that from one very small seed the mustard plant will grow, spread, and fill a whole ga...

Sermon by Jeffery Blanford, Youth Coordinator

This past week's rummage sale was both fundraiser and community outreach. Both a means for us to support our music ministry and a means to offer support to our neighbors by offering clothing and home goods at discounted prices. Had we only tried to get the highest price for each item we could, not only would we not have made as much, we would have failed in our mission to help our neighbors get ac...

Perhaps all it takes to shift from “Is there no balm in Gilead” to proclaiming that there is a balm is recognizing that we have a part to play in healing the world. That we have a part to play in bringing about peace. Not because God is absent and disinterested, but because God is alive and working in and through us.

Sometimes getting lost isn’t our fault. And sometimes - perhaps most of the time - we can’t get ourselves unlost. At least not alone. That’s where God steps in. We worship a God whose love is so all-encompassing that God goes looking for us, even if - perhaps especially when - we don’t move a muscle.

How many of you have started work or school in the last two weeks? What did you do to get ready for this new year? Probably a lot of planning and preparation. Do you think everything will go exactly as you planned this year?

Like Jeremiah, we know it doesn’t have to be this way. That we do not need to live in a nation where the news of a school or house of worship shooting is so commonplace that it disappears from front page news in two days, without any hint of actionable response. So this morning, let us lean into lament a bit. Because as the old adage goes, we can only heal what we allow ourselves to feel.

Healing is not just the absence of the “identified problem;” it is a restoration of those things we long for but have been lost, or were previously unattainable. Jesus doesn’t just cure, he heals.

Baptisms are a celebration, but the earliest baptismal liturgies looked and sounded very similar to a funeral service. That is because they represented death to the ways of the world and rebirth into a life guided by Christ. The words and symbols we use speak to this tenuous connection between life and death.