Tag: community

Saying Grace

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Sermon for Sunday, February 8, 2026 || Epiphany 5A || Matthew 5:13-20

The last several sermons I’ve preached have dealt either directly or indirectly with the current issues affecting our country. I’ve talked about following Christ through truth-telling, community-building, and justice-seeking as we join others in standing against state-sponsored violence and fearmongering. While these issues are still present in the forefront of our minds, I’m not going to talk about them directly today. Rather, I’m going to talk about something foundational to our lives of faith that supports our daily following of Jesus as we work for truth, community, and justice.

Today we’re going to talk about something very simple: saying grace at dinner. This topic has been on my mind recently for three reasons. First, I’ve been aware of how much reacting we are all doing right now. We’re all playing defense against a swift-moving offense of violent action and rhetoric. Recentering ourselves through a simple practice like saying grace can help us find our footing. Second, saying grace is one of the ways to be salt and light in this world. It is a visible, though not ostentatious, participation in the presence of God. And third, last Monday my daughter literally asked me to talk about saying grace at meals, and she agreed it would be a good sermon topic.

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Seven Ways

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Sermon for Sunday, January 25, 2026 || Epiphany 3A || 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

There is so much going on in our world today, from armed conflicts stoked by authoritarian overreach to civil wars in overlooked parts of the globe to the rising stakes of climate catastrophe. As a country, we must band together against state-sanctioned violence, hatred, xenophobia, and the scapegoating of vulnerable groups. Closer to home, our neighbors need stable, affordable housing options, food security, and better health outcomes supported by reasonable healthcare insurance. All of these crucial issues are swirling around us as we come to worship God here at St. Mark’s this morning. And while I am not going to address these issues directly in this sermon, everything we do here helps us respond to the needs of the world, as we partner with God in God’s mission. Because today is the day of our annual meeting, you can think of this sermon as a “State of the Church” address. And what better way to talk about the state of the church than to talk about how we are engaged in God’s mission of healing and reconciliation.

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Doing What is Right

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Sermon for Sunday, November 16, 2025 || Proper 28C || 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” So says Paul at the end of his second letter to the church of the Thessalonians. Other translations say: “don’t get discouraged in doing what is right”; “never tire of doing what is good”; and the venerable words of the King James, “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.” All of these translations have two things in common. First, the idea of weariness. Second, the need to persevere in doing what is right. In these days of continuing political upheaval, fracturing of society, and disregard for the most vulnerable among us, along with violence, war, disease, oppression, and so many other things that break the heart of God, Paul’s words hit differently. Our weariness is bone deep, spirit deep. And yet our need to do right remains as potent as ever.

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Learning Humility

Published on by Adam Thomas2 Comments
Sermon for Sunday, October 26, 2025 || Proper 25C || Luke 18:9-14

Our last couple of sermons have been about big topics, about how the life of faith compels us to confront injustice, violence, and falsehood. Today, I’m going to change gears and tell you a personal story. The story is about me embracing humility – not as a matter of course, but as a last resort. I’m sharing this story today for three reasons. First, the end of the Gospel reading about exalting and humbling one’s self got me thinking about true humility. Second, today is the two-year anniversary of the climactic moment of the story, so it seems like a good day to share it. And third, talking about mental health openly is the way to destigmatize it, especially for people like me, who think we can just muscle our way through mental health issues.

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The Fabric of Faith

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Sermon for Sunday, October 5, 2025 || Proper 22C || 2 Timothy 1:1-14

This sermon is about community, about resisting the pull of isolation, especially in an age when we are all too often isolated from one another due to many and varied forces. The community we share in the church, when practiced at its beloved best, is the weave of the fabric of faith, into which God stitches our individual threads. Today I’d like to celebrate this weaving of beloved community and talk about how such weaving can, with God’s help, heal the world.

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New Book: “How to End Christian Nationalism”

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Recently, I was given the opportunity to be part of the team of folks helping to launch Amanda Tyler’s book How to End Christian Nationalism. After pre-ordering the book, the launch team sent me an uncorrected proof PDF of the text to read ahead of the book’s launch. I finished it just in time to get this reflection out ahead of the official release date, tomorrow, October 22nd. I was so glad to read this book, written by the lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism, because of Amanda Tyler’s long personal history with the issue, as well as her connections with so many others who she interviewed for the book.

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Introducing Trail Blaze Fiction

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Hello Friends!

I’m dropping in live during my sabbatical to tell you all about a new project I am working on. My last sabbatical I launched the Podcast for Nerdy Christians. This sabbatical, I am starting a Substack newsletter called Trail Blaze Fiction, a new experiment in participatory storytelling.

Each week beginning Friday, July 5, 2024, I will post a chapter of a brand new fantasy story. At the end of the post, readers will vote in a poll about where the story will go in the next chapter.

If that piques your interest, please join me over on Substack! (If not, no hard feelings. WheretheWind.com isn’t going anywhere.)

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The Stories We Tell

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Sermon for Sunday, April 14, 2024 || Easter 3B || Acts 3:12-19; Luke 24:36b-48

As I prepare to head off on sabbatical tomorrow, I’d like to use our sermon time today to talk about what I’m going to be doing and why. Ever since joining with a group of other local clergy two years ago to learn about faith-based community organizing, I have grown increasingly fascinated with storytelling. This may sound strange because I’ve been writing novels for a dozen years. But for some reason I’ve never linked being a writer with being a storyteller. I think this is because writing novels is a solitary experience, while storytelling happens in community. Faith-based community organizing coalesces around the stories people tell about themselves and their communities, their struggles and successes, their hopes and dreams and nightmares. These stories become the building blocks for specific justice-oriented actions that seek to improve the lives of everyone in the community.

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We Will Serve the Lord

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Sermon for Sunday, November 12, 2023 || Proper 27A || Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

I began my very first paid job when I was fifteen. I worked at the independent bookstore, which my mother managed. I served the customers by offering recommendations, ringing up their orders, and gift-wrapping their purchase. I loved that job. My second job was waiting tables at the Logan’s Roadhouse, which is one of those steak restaurants where customers are encouraged to throw their peanut husks on the floor. I served the guests by taking their orders, refilling drinks, and sweeping up those countless peanut shells. I did not love that job. I worked at Olive Garden as a busser, as a camp counselor, and as an assistant at my seminary’s teaching library. Then I got ordained and started serving as a priest. Serving in the church is the only, what I would call, “adult” job I’ve ever had.

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Called to Freedom

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Sermon for Sunday, June 26, 2022 || Proper 8C || Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Back in college, I had a habit of writing verses of scripture in silver Sharpie on my guitar case. Every time a verse really grabbed me and burrowed itself into my heart, the verse wound up on the case until there were fourteen in all. The one at the very top of the case is from today’s lesson from Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become servants to one another.”

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