Author: Adam Thomas

Tiny Jesus Figurines

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Sermon for Sunday, November 8, 2026 || Proper 27A || Matthew 25:1-13

This sermon is about keeping watch for the presence of Christ in our lives, especially in the midst of debilitating exhaustion. And I got a great reminder of this last Sunday morning when I went into my office after services. From your pew, you probably can’t see this tiny Jesus figurine I’m holding. Well, a crafty parishioner had hidden about twenty of these all around my office. The kids and I brought some of them home, and ever since, members of my family have been finding tiny Jesuses all over the house: atop the milk in the fridge, on the piano’s keys, on the framed school pictures, in my shoe.

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The Springs of the Water of Life

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Sunday, November 1, 2026 || All Saints A || Revelation 7:9-17

God has blessed us, on this Feast of All Saints, to have the opportunity to share in the sacrament of Baptism today. A sacrament is a window into the deeper reality of God that undergirds all of Creation. The sacrament of Baptism helps us see this deeper reality by proclaiming the belovedness of every child of God and charging the people of the Church to nurture this beloved identity. Baptism also helps us see God’s desire to bring all of Creation back into right relationship by offering forgiveness for every way we might distort our relationships. Finally, Baptism is a ritual cleansing with water, a literal bath that invigorates us to serve God in this world: loving our neighbors as ourselves, working for justice and peace, and safeguarding creation for future generations. Since Baptism involves water, I thought we’d spend our sermon time talking about water this morning – water, this necessity for life that makes up the majority of our bodies, that we pour into our waterbottles every day, that we bathe in, swim in, splash in, and gaze upon as it stretches to the distant horizon.

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The Tinker and the Prince (updated)

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Sermon for Sunday, October 25, 2026 || Proper 25A || Matthew 22:34-46

I preached a slightly longer version of this sermon in 2020, but I was in my seventh month of looking into a camera at the time. I have yearned to share this fairy tale with you face to face, and today’s the day.

Long ago in a faraway land, the wise old king lay dying. So the king called his sister, who was even wiser than he, and said to her, “Take my crown and remove the three jewels that adorn it. When my son fills those three settings with ornaments of his own, you shall crown him king.”

“But that’s not fair,” the young prince said, and he stomped his foot in protest. “I am king the moment after you draw your final breath.”

“Not so,” his father said. “I fear I have indulged your selfishness too long, my son. You would turn the whole world upside down just to believe yourself right side up. Therefore, I decree that your aunt will be regent until you present her with three tokens showing you have learned what it means to love with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

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The Haiti Partnership

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Sermon for Sunday, October 18, 2026 || Proper 24A || 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Today is the feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist, writer of the third account of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Luke’s Gospel focuses on Jesus’ mission of preaching good news to those in poverty, challenging oppressive systems, de-centering imperial power, and bringing together a disparate group of followers to form a beloved community. Taken together, these mission priorities continue to guide us today as we join God in God’s mission of healing and reconciliation in this broken world.

One of the primary ways we respond to God’s mission here at St. Mark’s is our long-term partnership with St. Luc School in Mercery, Haiti. Since tomorrow is the feast of St. Luke and since many of our newer members don’t have much exposure to this mission partnership, I’d like to take the sermon time this morning to highlight this important aspect of our mission: the Haiti Partnership’s history, its justice imperative, and our ongoing commitment to our friends and mission partners at St. Luc School.

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The Subject of Worship

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Sermon for Sunday, October 11, 2026 || Proper 23A || Exodus 32:1-14

Today’s sermon is a nuts and bolts sermon, one of those occasional times where I dip into Christianity 101 so that both recent and long-time followers of Jesus can find themselves on the same page. Today we’re going to talk about worship: what worship is not, what worship is, who we worship, and why we worship.

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Seeds of Life and Hope

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Sermon for Sunday, October 4, 2026 || Proper 22A || A Reading of “Seeds of life and hope”
from Ladder to the Light by Bp. Steven Charleston

Today we conclude our Season of Creation with a final sermon in our series about humanity’s relationship to the natural world. We began this series a month ago with the reminder that humanity is one with nature, part of nature, not over it or against it. We then asked nature for forgiveness for human exploitation and chose repentance, the changing of our hearts and minds as we interact with the more-than-human world. Then in the last two weeks, we practiced awe, awareness, and gratitude in our interactions with God’s Creation. In all these reflections, we have been guided by Pope Leo, Bishop Steven Charleston, Wendell Berry, and Meister Eckhart. 

We return to Bishop Charleston today, who shares with us a message of hope in the midst of the “gathering darkness” of this “windswept moment in history.” He says, “We are not afraid because we have seeds of life and hope in our pockets. Our task is to cast them as far and wide as we can. The breath of the Spirit will do the rest.” With this hope in our hearts, let’s conclude this series of sermons by pondering the nature of seeds and by locating our trust in the breath of the Spirit.

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Mystics in Our Own Backyards

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Sermon for Sunday, September 27, 2026 || Proper 21A || A Reading attributed to Meister Eckhart

Today is the fourth of five Sundays in our Season of Creation. So far, we have remembered that humans are part of nature, we have asked the Earth for forgiveness for human exploitation, and we have embraced the spiritual practice of awe. Today, we are going to deepen that practice with an exercise in awareness and gratitude. And we’ll begin with a foundational principle of our faith: because God created all things, all things are sacred. Every element of Creation bears the potential for sacramental encounter with God through the holy offering of our awareness. That’s why we call it “paying” attention. We put in the currency of our attention and receive a hundredfold the blessings of God. These blessings then spur our gratitude, which triggers a desire for greater awareness, which delves a deeper well of gratitude. Through God’s grace, this virtuous cycle turns us into mystics in our own backyards.

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Stand in Awe

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Sermon for Sunday, September 20, 2026 || Proper 20A || Exodus 16:2-15 || Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace

Today is the third of five Sundays in our Season of Creation. Two weeks ago we listened to Pope Francis reminding us that humanity and nature are not two separate things. Last week, we recognized humanity’s tiny cameo in Planet Earth’s 4.5 billion year existence, we asked Earth for forgiveness for human domination, and we began the action of our repentance. This week, famed activist, poet, and farmer Wendell Berry guides us with his down-to-earth wisdom, as we embrace the spiritual practice of awe.

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Life is Still Growing

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Sermon for Sunday, September 13, 2026 || Proper 19A || Matthew 18:21-35; Steven Charleston, excerpt from “Nothing is Lost” from Ladder to the Light

Last Sunday we began our Season of Creation with a reminder from Pope Francis that we are not apart from or above nature. We are nature. The natural world is neither simply the scenery for our lives, nor an object for us carelessly to use and discard. The natural world is a subject unto itself, a subject filled with other subjects, each a piece of the creativity of God. Today, we’re going to zoom way out so we can see humanity’s place in Creation, and then we will ask forgiveness for choosing domination over stewardship.

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A Season of Creation

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Sermon for Sunday, September 6, 2026 || Proper 18A || Matthew 18:15-20; Pope Francis, Laudato Si’

You might have noticed that our second reading today came from a non-biblical source. This is a highly uncommon practice in the Episcopal Church, so uncommon in fact that the bishop had to approve it. For today and for the next four Sundays, we will hear readings from sources other than the Bible as we celebrate a Season of Creation. This special season is a fairly new invention in the life of the Church. The season sets off a series of Sundays in September and early October with the specific intention of praising God’s presence in Creation and recommitting ourselves to the preservation and renewal of the natural world. It makes sense that this special season takes place during the long months of so-called “ordinary time,” which is another name for the thirty-ish Sundays between Pentecost and Advent. The days of harvest are upon us. The liturgical color of the time after Pentecost is green. Godly Play calls this time the “green and growing” Sundays. So, each Sunday from now until October 4th, we will share special readings, prayers, and songs in order to grow our awareness of, appreciation for, and commitment to God’s movement in Creation.

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