Sermons from Saint John’s

Saint John’s Episcopal Church
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Sunday sermons from St. John’s Episcopal Church, a growing, vibrant, inclusive community in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

  1. 3D AGO

    The Least Remarkable Disciple

    Last Sunday after church, Nancy and I met with four of the kids for a class about communion. One of them is preparing for her first communion a little later this spring, one of them maybe next year; two of them were older, and joined us to lend their wisdom and eat snacks. But we were all there to talk about what exactly it is we do on Sunday mornings, and why. I showed them how we set the table at the altar. They fought over who got to break the (unconsecrated) priest’s host, like I do. And they asked me a few tricky questions about this beautiful and strange communion ritual of ours. Why is the bread so thin and flat and bland? Why do we say such a long grace before this very small sacramental meal? How can it be the case that Jesus is really and truly present in wafers and in wine in thousands of places all around the world at the same time? Is it something to do with quantum mechanics?

    11 min

  2. APR 12

    A Doubter’s Faith

    Now, poor Thomas got stuck with the label of “Doubting Thomas” for the rest of time. But that’s not entirely fair. When Thomas gets arrives with his bags full of Pringles, all he asks is to see what the other disciples have already seen. They hear the good news of the Resurrection from Mary Magdalene, and that same day they see Jesus and it confirms what they’ve been told. Thomas hears the good news from them, and he has to wait a week, but then he too sees Jesus and it confirms what he’s been told. And okay, maybe Thomas really does doubt what he’s told more than the other disciples. He’s the only one who explicitly says he won’t believe the good news of the Resurrection unless he sees the proof himself. But it’s also true that he’s the only disciple who really sees what the Resurrection means.

    8 min

  3. APR 5

    Jesus-Filled Easter Eggs

    The story of Easter morning is the story of an empty tomb. After Jesus’ death on Friday afternoon, the two Marys, his most faithful disciples, don’t have time to prepare Jesus’ body for burial before the Sabbath begins. They wait anxiously throughout the day of Sabbath rest, mourning the loss of their friend. After the Sabbath is over, it’s too dark to see inside the tomb, and so they spend the night in restless sleep, and then they head out as early as they can. And just as the day begins to dawn, Mary and Mary arrive at the tomb. But when they get there, they don’t find what they expect.

    8 min

  4. APR 3

    The Crucifixion (Good Friday)

    Whether we’re leading processions through our churches, or hanging jewelry around our necks, coming up with a symbol to put on signs and flags or offering a blessing, we Christians don’t tend to choose the empty tomb or the washing of feet, Lazarus raised from the dead or the Sermon on the Mount. No; we choose the Cross, because the story of the Crucifixion is so central to us that it has become the symbol of our entire faith. That can make it hard for us to remember that at the time, the Crucifixion wasn’t “The Crucifixion” at all.

    11 min

  5. MAR 29

    Downward Mobility (Palm Sunday)

    In a Lenten devotional published this year, Brother Luke of the Society of St. John the Evangelist reflects on one of the verses in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) He notes the humility and meekness of Jesus in the stories we hear this week: “Jesus showed love and leadership by riding a donkey, not a stallion,” he notes, “and by washing feet” on Maundy Thursday. And then he connects this to a wider point: “Gentle and strong patience,” Brother Luke writes, “does not mean giving in or giving up. The meek are not weak.” And then he uses a phrase I’d never associated with Jesus before. The meek, he writes, “use power, surprisingly for good, often choosing restraint and downward mobility.” It’s the perfect phrase for today. After all, what is the story of Palm Sunday but a story of “downward mobility?”

    10 min

  6. MAR 22

    Jesus Began to Weep

    I have to admit that I find some parts of this story unsatisfying. Jesus speaks to the disciples in a confusing and misleading way, telling them at first that “this illness does not lead to death,” (John 11:4) only to act like they’re slow on the uptake moments later when he tells them metaphorically that Lazarus is “sleeping,” and then “plainly,” that  “Lazarus is dead.” (11:11, 14) Jesus waits two days before setting out for Bethany, (11:6) delaying while Lazarus suffers, putting Mary and Martha through grief and pain—seemingly so that he can prove a point to the disciples about his own power. “I was glad that I was not there,” Jesus says, “so that you may believe.” (11:15) He was glad that he was not there?

    12 min

  7. MAR 15

    One Thing I Know

    Imagine what a different story this would be if the people in it simply saw what was happening in front of them, and responded. The disciples would ask what Jesus was going to do for the man, rather than ask for a judgment on what the man or his parents must have done. The neighbors would celebrate with him, rather than denying who he was. The Pharisees might wonder what it meant for a man to be healed on the Sabbath, rather than knowing that it meant that the healer was a sinner. They might even listen to what the man had to say, rather than dismissing his experience out of hand.

    12 min

  8. MAR 8

    I Know What You Did

    “After an accident on a winding road,” the synopsis for a 1997 film begins, “four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim’s body into the sea. But exactly one year later, a mysterious fisherman begins stalking the friends.” This horror film was called I Know What You Did Last Summer, and it was such a success that the studio produced a sequel the next year, entitled (almost inevitably) I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, in which (spoiler alert) “the murderous fisherman with a hook stalks the two surviving teens.” A few years later, in 2006, trying to squeeze the last dollar from the brand, the studio released a third film, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, to critical dismay.

    11 min
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About

Sunday sermons from St. John’s Episcopal Church, a growing, vibrant, inclusive community in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Information

  • Creator
    Saint John’s Episcopal Church
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 St. John's Episcopal Church
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    Sermons from Saint John’s