St. John’s Park Slope Sermons from St. John’s Church in Brooklyn, NY

Listen to Rev. Ben’s sermon on Jesus’ parables about seeds (and the kingdom of God) wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s a teaser: “God’s kingdom is pure gift. he empowers us to sow seeds, but we can do nothing to manipulate or cajole its growth. What a relief!”

There’s a “Bennifer” in all of us: a yin and a yang. A J Lo who’d meditate and practice yoga every morning, and a Ben Affleck who’d prefer to sleep in and start the day by crushing a Marlboro Light. This is why we pray not just to “think the things that are right” but for the power to actually do them.

Jesus, the Lord of the sabbath, instituted the sabbath. And he says the sabbath is for us, not us for the sabbath…

The reason it’s so important that Jesus is one in being with the Father is that he’s more than just the best of us. His life and work not only show something but effect something…

Pentecost is the reversal of Babel. On this day, the 'dividing wall of hostility' was torn down, and the 'ministry of reconciliation' began…

In the Incarnation, the eternal divinity of God the Son is enfolded in our humanity;
in the Ascension, our humanity is enfolded in his divinity, so that Christ’s destiny is our destiny.