The Preaching Moment

Summary Grace Community Missioner Ed Carrette reflects on Matthew 10 and the powerful simplicity of discipleship, centered on Jesus' words: "Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." Ed reminds us that following Jesus doesn't always demand heroic sacrifice — it is often...

Summary Mother Nan Doerr draws on the reluctant prophets of Scripture — particularly Jeremiah — and the sending of the disciples in Matthew to remind us that God never promises an easy road, only a faithful companion for the journey. Even in the midst of trials, heartache, and honest complaint, the message that rings clearest is one of hope and presence: God is with us. Like Jeremiah's fire s...

Summary Community Missioner Ed Carrette challenges the common notion that blessing equals good fortune or material comfort, offering instead a richer, gospel-rooted understanding: blessing is God's faithful presence with us, in both the good times and the hard ones. Drawing on Genesis, Matthew, and the lived experience of Grace's ministries, Ed invites the congregation to see God showing...

Summary Mother Nan Doerr reflects on three condensed stories from Matthew's Gospel, exploring how Jesus reaches out to sinners, the sick, and the outcast with mercy and compassion. Through the calling of Matthew, the healing of Jairus' daughter, and the woman suffering from bleeding, she reminds us that Jesus came to restore the lost and the forgotten. In return, we are called to share t...

Summary On Trinity Sunday, Mother Suzanne leads her congregation through an exploration of one of the Christian faith's most central and mysterious doctrines — the Trinity. Drawing on images like St. Patrick's shamrock and the concept of the "divine dance," she unpacks the three-in-one nature of God as not merely a theological abstraction, but an intimate, living reality that s...

Summary On the Day of Pentecost, Mother Suzanne invites her congregation to celebrate the birthday of the church — the moment when the Holy Spirit transformed a small, frightened group of 120 disciples into a fearless, Spirit-filled body of thousands. Just as the disciples were empowered to go into the world as the hands and feet of Jesus, so too are believers today called to inhale God's bre...

Summary In this Mother's Day sermon, Grace Community Missioner Ed Carrette draws on the image of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to remind us that the spiritual life cannot be rushed. Drawing from Jesus' promise, "I will not leave you orphaned," Ed calls us to slow down, pay attention, and discover that God has been walking beside us all along. The goal, he reminds us, is not...

Summary Mother Nan Doerr draws on the letters of Peter and the Gospel of John to remind believers that even when rejected by the world, they are chosen and precious in God's sight. Just as the early followers of the Way were cast out of synagogues yet continued to spread the Gospel, so too are we called to become living stones in God's spiritual house. To know God, we need only look to J...

Summary Mother Suzanne draws on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd to remind her congregation that Christ came not to offer a half-hearted, mediocre existence, but a life that is overflowing and abundant. Through the moving story of Roxanne, a single mother in recovery, she illustrates how the economy of God works through small, intentional acts of love — a snack, a Dr. Pepper, and a cooking...

Summary In this Easter season sermon, Mother Suzanne walks us through the road to Emmaus, reminding us that the risen Christ shows up quietly and humbly in the small, ordinary moments of our lives — often without us even realizing it. Just as the disciples only recognized Jesus when he broke bread in his own unmistakable way, we too are invited to open our eyes and hearts to his presence in the ev...

Summary The Rev. Canon Perry Mullins explores how fear of disappointment often keeps us from hoping, using the story of Thomas and the disciples after Christ's resurrection to show that Jesus enters our locked rooms of fear and grief. Christ's wounds on his resurrected body serve as Marks of hope, proving that while we experience suffering, hope in the resurrection will ultimately not di...

Summary Mother Suzanne celebrates Easter by highlighting Mary Magdalene as the first apostle who stayed at the empty tomb when others fled, recognizing Jesus when he called her by name. She connects Mary's faithful witness to three baptisms happening that morning - Mykala, Jacob, and baby Zachary - emphasizing that Jesus has also called each of them by name to be his beloved children. On this...

Summary On the third Sunday in Lent, IONA Postulant Ginger Wolfe explores the striking contrast between Nicodemus in John 3 and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, highlighting how Jesus was tough with the educated, respected Nicodemus but gentle and patient with the marginalized, unnamed woman. While Nicodemus left confused despite his knowledge, the Samaritan woman experienced a profound...

Summary On the fourth Sunday in Lent, Grace Community Missioner Ed Carrette explores the theme of spiritual awakening through Biblical stories of people "seeing the light," from the blind man healed by Jesus to Paul's conversion experience. Using Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" as a metaphor, Carrette emphasizes that God's grace and love come first—bef...

Summary In this Second Sunday of Lent sermon, Bishop Andy Doyle challenges the congregation to embrace the discomfort of true discipleship, using Nicodemus's nighttime visit to Jesus as an example of cautious faith. He emphasizes that following Jesus means allowing Him to disrupt our comfortable lives, politics, and relationships, calling us to see others through God's eyes of love and c...

Summary Mother Suzanne explores how Jesus deliberately entered the Judean wilderness for 40 days of testing, following in the footsteps of Moses and Israel's 40-year journey. She encourages the congregation to embrace their own wilderness experiences this Lent, recognizing that God calls us into difficult places not to abandon us, but to transform us and speak to us in the solitude where His...

Summary Mother Suzanne explains that Lent is not about punishment or self-denial for its own sake, but rather a season of preparation that helps us move closer to God by removing the distractions and masks that prevent us from seeing clearly. Through the three pillars of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—we can experience spiritual clarity and authenticity by stepping away from our cluttered pa...

Summary Mother Suzanne explores the Transfiguration as a pivotal moment where Jesus, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, is transformed on a mountain before his disciples Peter, James, and John. She emphasizes that rather than trying to decode this mysterious encounter, we should enter into it, understanding that the Bible is less a book of certainties than a book of life-changing encounters with God...

Summary On Scout Sunday, Mother Suzanne uses the beloved children's song "This Little Light of Mine" to illustrate Jesus's teaching about being salt and light from the Sermon on the Mount. She emphasizes that God works through simple, ordinary acts of service, praising the scout troop at Grace Episcopal Church for their faithful work tending the playground, collecting food for...

Summary Grace's Community Missioner, Ed Carrette, preaches on the Presentation of Jesus, emphasizing that God is the "God of time" who continues to enter human history unexpectedly, just as Simeon and Anna encountered the divine in the Temple. He challenges the congregation to recognize God's sudden appearances in their midst, pointing to their church's remarkable growth i...

Summary Mother Suzanne reflects on Matthew 4 and how Jesus called ordinary fishermen to follow Him immediately, leaving everything behind to become "fishers of people." She emphasizes that God calls everyone—not just those in ordained ministry—to do extraordinary things through ordinary relationships and daily work, encouraging listeners to pay attention to how God might be calling them...

Summary In this Epiphany sermon based on John 1:29-42, Suzanne explores how John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." She shares a personal story about encountering pain at her son's basketball game and finding God's presence through a dancing butterfly, illustrating how God often reveals himself in small, overlooked moments rat...

Summary Mother Suzanne reflects on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, which commemorates Jesus' baptism and our own initiation into Christ's body through water and the Holy Spirit. On this significant day Marking her seventh anniversary as a priest, she celebrates how Grace Church has transformed from a small forgotten church into a vibrant community that embraces those who have been...

Summary Mrs. Ginger Wolfe celebrates the incarnation, emphasizing how God chose to take on flesh and enter our dark world to show us how much He values creation and wants to be part of it. Through Jesus becoming flesh, we receive not just divine standards but divine mercy and freedom from sin, allowing us to live as children of God with hope, purpose, and the ability to be lights in the darkness....

Summary Mother Suzanne reflects on the Feast of Epiphany and the journey of the Magi, who were outsiders and stargazers who followed a star to worship the newborn King of the Jews. She draws parallels between the Magi's pilgrimage and our own spiritual journeys, encouraging us to follow Christ's light into unknown places courageously. The sermon emphasizes that darkness can never overcom...