Tag: feature

Unfinished Country, Unfinished Faith

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment
Sermon for July 5, 2026 || Proper 9A || Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. I spent a long time this week deciding whether or not I should frame my sermon around this auspicious day or ignore it, considering that our faith as followers of Jesus reaches far beyond the borders of a single country. The more I pondered, the more convicted I became that I should talk about the 250th anniversary of the United States of America in order to draw some parallels between our country and our faith. Both our country and our faith derive from high ideals. Both our country and our faith have been elevated by visionaries. Both have been sullied by villains. And today, on the first day of Year 251, both remain unfinished. That’s what we’re going to talk about for the next ten minutes: the unfinished nature of our country and our faith.

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Charisma

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Sermon for Sunday, June 28, 2026 || Proper 8A || Romans 12:12-23

Today we’re going to talk about spiritual gifts. I know we read the difficult story of the Binding of Isaac this morning, but I preached on it the last time it came up in the rotation, so I can point you to that sermon if you’d like. We’re going to talk about spiritual gifts this morning for two reasons. First, in today’s second lesson, St. Paul talks about God’s “free gift of eternal life.” Second, I’ve been preaching a lot recently about walking in this fractured and fractious world, trying to hold on to hope, grow in grace, do justice, and live in the liberating light of God’s love. The practice of discerning, cultivating, and sharing our spiritual gifts guides us in this walk with Jesus Christ. And so today, I’d like to talk about giftedness.

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The God Who Sees (updated)

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Sunday, June 21, 2026 || Proper 7A || Genesis 21:8-21

Today, I’d like to talk about Hagar. Specifically, I’d like to talk about Hagar’s vision and how God grants us the same capacity for faithful seeing that Hagar has. First, though, you might be wondering who Hagar is. Hagar is an Egyptian servant (or slave) in the household of Abraham and Sarah. When God promises Abraham (then called Abram) that God will give him countless descendants, the old couple don’t know what to do. They’ve never had children of their own, and now they’re way too old. Taking God’s promise into her own hands, Sarah (then called Sarai) offers her servant Hagar to Abraham, saying, “It may be that I shall obtain children by her.” (If this sounds eerily like The Handmaid’s Tale, it is.)

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