Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for the Feast of All Saints, Episcopal BCP Lectionary 11/1/2020 Sirach 44:1-10, 13-14 Psalm 149 Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17 Matthew 5:1-12 “Who are these people, robed in white, dazzling as though stars, radiant before the throne of God?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And they cried aloud, day and night (because it was all they could do, all they wanted to do, all that joy would possibly allow them to do): “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom And thanksgiving and honor And power and might Be to our God forever and forever more! Amen!” “Salvation resides with OUR God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! Hallelujah!” Who are these people? Saints?…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Year A – 10/18/20 Grandparents are an amazing, unequaled gift of God’s divine presence to, in, and of the world. They really are. I had the great good fortune to know, have relationship with, and be deeply impacted by the two best grandmothers that I believe God ever produced. I like to say that if there’s something you like about me, you can probably trace it back to one of them. If there’s something you don’t like about me, you can probably trace it back to one of them. For the purposes of today’s message, I’m going to focus on one Johny Frank Thomas. Now, you might think that was a man, but that in fact was my father’s mother (named after her two grandfathers). I haven’t spent much time sermonizing about Johny Frank in my short time as priest, because, as…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 10/4/20 Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Psalm 19 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46 Breathe… Breathe…in Breathe…out Breathe… Breath. It is the universal symbol of presence. Neither you, nor I can be present, without breath. If we are present, breath is ever present. We can only go, maybe seconds, without, breath. In our finiteness, it is, in fact, the alpha, and the omega, the beginning, and the end. Light and dark, day and night, good and evil, right and wrong, up and down, everything that we consider, it seems, is rooted in breath. Even God. Even as we consider God, God, Godself seems rooted in-spiration. Inspiration! Then God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” God’s presence in breath begins the holy covenant of…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 9/27/20 Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” – Philippians 2:1-2, NRSV Joy seems such an elusive thing these days, a commodity in short supply. It’s a subject that is in the forefront of my conscious mind, and weighs heavily on my heart, each and every morning, as I go to God in my personal, most private prayer time. I pray, this fervent prayer, each and every morning, before my feet ever touch the floor, “God, please let me feel your joyful presence within me today, so that I may be your joyful presence in…

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 9/20/20 Exodus 16:2-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 “…do not be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, hold fast to those things that shall endure…” Episcopalians have the most elegant, eloquent way of stating the seriousness of the situation. For this collect must surely have been written about our very condition today, tossed in this chaotic morass we call the year 2020. Do not be anxious about earthly things. Do not be anxious about earthly things?!? Almost 7 million of our fellow Americans are infected and 200,000 dead from an earthly thing called COVID-19. At the very height of the economic collapse from this earthly thing called COVID-19, 20.5 million folks are forced out of the work force, some out of homes,…