Tag: love

The Tinker and the Prince (updated)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
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.”

Continue reading “The Tinker and the Prince (updated)” →

The Haiti Partnership

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
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.

Continue reading “The Haiti Partnership” →

The Subject of Worship

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
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.

Continue reading “The Subject of Worship” →

Human Precepts and God’s Commands

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, August 16, 2026 || Proper 15A || Matthew 15:10-28

This is going to be something of a slippery sermon. It’s going to be slippery because I’m going to be skating a very fine line when I talk about the difference between human rules and God’s commandments. I’ll make sure to warn you when I get to the slippery part, but first let’s talk about why this is our sermon topic today.

Continue reading “Human Precepts and God’s Commands” →

How Old is God? (and other questions)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, June 7, 2026 || Proper 5A

Today is our Youth Sunday at St. Mark’s, and to celebrate we invited the Godly Play kids to ask me any questions they desired. We collected a list of twelve questions, ten of which are autobiographical in nature. We’ll run through those quickly. The last two are absolute theological doozies, so we’ll spend the bulk of this sermon tackling those two. Here we go with the first ten.

Continue reading “How Old is God? (and other questions)” →

Grace, Love, Sharing

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, May 31, 2026 || Trinity Sunday A || 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

At the end of his second letter to the church in Corinth, St. Paul writes these memorable words of blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” As we celebrate the Holy Trinity today, I’d like to focus on the three words that Paul associates with this fundamental truth of Creation: grace, love, and communion.

Continue reading “Grace, Love, Sharing” →

Keep My Commandments

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, May 10, 2026 || Easter 6A || John 14:15-21

Today we are going to have a nuts and bolts sermon. After several sermons in a row with lots of ancient Greek and complex theology, this morning we’re taking a step back and looking at one of the fundamentals of our faith. Over the next ten minutes, we’re going to explore what Jesus commands us to do.

Today’s Gospel reading follows on directly from last week’s. Jesus is sharing what Bible scholars call the “Farewell Discourse,” which is Jesus’ long talk with his disciples before heading out to the garden where he will be arrested. The Farewell Discourse spans about 20% of the Gospel According to John and includes many of Jesus’ most famous sayings. One of them is this: Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 

Continue reading “Keep My Commandments” →

Ten Things I Have Learned About Death and Grief

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment
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.

Continue reading “Ten Things I Have Learned About Death and Grief” →

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.

Continue reading “Virtues” →

The Light of the World

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment
Sermon for Sunday, March 15, 2026 || Lent 4A || John 9:1-41

This sermon is about perspective, about aligning our worldviews in order to see by Jesus, the Light of the World. But before we talk about that, we have to do something I really don’t like doing in sermons. We have to critique the translation of the Bible we use for Sunday readings. Here are the verses we are going to look at today from the beginning of our Gospel lesson:

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5)

Continue reading “The Light of the World” →