Tag: feature

On His Way to Me

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Sermon for Sunday, April 19, 2026 || Easter 3A || Luke 24:13-35

The world is a heavy place right now. I know I have felt way more stress than normal weighing me down recently. When I feel like this, I recognize my need to pray more, to connect more closely to God, to be an active participant in my relationship with the One who is nearer to me than I am to myself. Throughout my adult life, whenever I have felt this need, I have reached for my guitar. Before the pandemic, I had not written a new song in several years. But during those first months of lockdown, I wrote six new songs. Writing those songs was the only way I could find to realign myself with God in the midst of such a strange and scary time.

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Ten Things I Have Learned About Death and Grief

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Sermon for Sunday, April 12, 2026 || Easter 2A || John 20:19-31

As I read today’s Gospel reading for the umpteenth time in my life, something new struck me. Ten of the disciples are together, locked in the house for fear of the authorities. They are together in their grief and confusion over the fact that Jesus’ mission ended with such violence and immediacy a few days before. What are they going to do now? How could it all have gone so wrong? The ten of them sit together, I imagine, staying silent for long periods of time interrupted by little bursts of conversation: trying to make sense, trying to comfort.

Then there’s Thomas. He’s the only one not with the others. He’s off somewhere by himself. I imagine Thomas walking the streets of Jerusalem, alone with his thoughts and his tears. He was the one ready to die with Jesus when they went to see Lazarus and his sisters. And then he ran off like everyone else. Unlike the others, Thomas is alone in his grief and confusion. Maybe also the jagged knife feeling of betrayal. He knows he cannot face the others right now. He needs to be alone.

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Joy is Not Made to be a Crumb

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Sermon for Sunday, April 5, 2026 || Easter Day A || Matthew 28:1-10

Dear friends, welcome to St. Mark’s on this special feast of the Resurrection that we call Easter Sunday. Every Sunday is technically a feast of the Resurrection, but this one is extra special because it comes on the heels of our week of walking with Jesus during the difficult days of his Passion: his arrest, trial, condemnation, walk to the cross, crucifixion, and death. And now, three days later, we celebrate his rising in the power of the promise that nothing, not even death, can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This fundamental truth of Creation is worth celebrating every single day, this truth that nothing can separate us from God’s love. We sing “Alleluia” today for the living and for the dead and for generations yet to come, all of whom God loves in the eternal NOW of God’s presence. We praise God today – for that is what “Alleluia” means – because God is faithful and fulfills the promise to be with us always.

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Virtues

Published on by Adam Thomas2 Comments
Sermon for Friday, April 3, 2026 || Good Friday || Isaiah 52:13–53:12; John 18:1–19:42

This year I decided to preach this short homily before the reading of the Passion Gospel because I would like to offer you something to reflect on while you listen. I invite you to listen for the virtues that Jesus displays during this heartwrenching story, and I invite you to reflect on what virtues you live by without which you would not be able to recognize yourself. Don’t worry if you didn’t take that in just then; I’ll repeat the invitation at the end.

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