Sermons From St. John the Divine St. John the Divine Episcopal Church - Houston, TX

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.

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.

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.

When God brings salvation he creates a new people, a new family. Jesus continues this pattern of salvation by creating a family, not of biology or ideology but of his grace and healing.

Are Christians kooky to think God speaks to us? How do we cultivate a life where the word of the Lord is not rare but real, where God’s voice may be mysterious and unpredictable, but also revealing and loving?

Christ is Lord of the Sabbath who gives us rest by sharing his life with us, making us one with himself. As Christ’s Body, we are made into a people called to witness to that life we've been given, not in the form of a “welcome sign,” but in the very form of our shared life as St. John the Divine.