St. John's Sermon Podcast

Story Sermon for Proper 20 C 09/23/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:13:00 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. A story sermon.

Sermon for Proper 18 C 09/09/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:12:03 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Christ's freedom is not freedom "from" something, but freedom "for" something.

Sermon for Proper 17 C 09/02/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:09:47 -0500

By The Rev. Rose Bogal-Allbritten.

Sermon for Proper 16 C 08/26/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:08:37 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. We are always to be interruptible for the sake of mercy.

Sermon for Proper 15 C 08/19/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:07:09 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Isaiah's Parable of the Vinyard and ecology.

Sermon for Proper 14 C 08/12/07

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:05:13 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. JK Rowling and the "Baptized Imagination."

Sermon for Proper 13 C 8/5/07

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:33:49 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. We can become fascinated with our own abundance and forget the source.

Sermon for Proper 12 C 07/29/07

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:29:00 -0500

By The Rev. Rose Bogal-Allbrtten. The story of Hosea and Gomer is an example of God's never-ending love for us.

Sermon for Proper 11 C 07/22/07

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:26:22 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Hosea and the Gospel reading tell us that both action and contemplation are part of a Christian life.ß

Sermon for Proper 10 C 07/15/07

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:26:55 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Jesus calls us to look over the walls that divide us into the eyes of those we would judge.

Sermon for Proper 8 C 07/01/07

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:26:51 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Do we keep both hands on the plow, or are we being distracted?

Sermon for Proper 7 C 06/24/07

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:24:22 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. As modern people, we hear the story of the demoniac differently, but it still points to the same issue. To quell the voices that seek to possess us, we must work to remember whose we are.

Sermon for Proper 6 C 6/17/07

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:00:18 -0500

By The Rev. Rose Bogal-Allbritten, Deacon. This is father's day, but from the readings, you might think it's "Wicked Woman Sunday." The women in the Hebrew Scripture and Gospel readings show a contrast in repentance.

Sermon for Proper 5 C 6/10/07

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:00:18 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. - Despite the size and wonder of the universe, God values each one of us beyond price. Jesus will always turn aside to show us compassion.

Sermon for Trinity Sunday C 6/03/07

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:58:41 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. The Doctrine of the Trinity as articulated in the Creed is not about splitting theological hairs - it raises more questions than it answers. It is praise - a celebration of both what we know and the profound mystery of our God.

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday C 5/27/07

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:56:31 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Pentecost continues today through the actions of St. John's.

Sermon for Easter VII C 5/20/07

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:55:02 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. A sermon delivered at the annual parish picnic at Kenlake Resort Park. A building is not a church - WE are the church.

Sermon for Easter VI C 5/13/07

Tue, 15 May 2007 14:21:26 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. "Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration." - Frank Herbert

Sermon for Easter V C 5/6/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 11:10:17 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. It's not all about us. God loves the entire creation and it all participates in God's praise. Creation can be wronged, and such action is sinful. We are to take part in the redemption of creation as stewards.

Sermon for Easter IV C 4/29/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 11:10:17 -0500

By The Rev. Rose Bogal-Allbritten. Tabitha (Dorkus) was apparently a very important woman. She and Peter bear witness to the conviction and compassion of the church formed by the Resurrection of Jesus.

Sermon for Easter III C 04/22/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:59:17 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. We are people of the Resurrection, but it's hard to live into that with the VA Tech shooting this week. Our hope is the long hope. Resurrection is the future - the Eucharist is a foretaste, way-bread for the journey.

Sermon for Easter Day 4/8/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:57:33 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. What an incredible story! And that's the problem, isn't it? But story is important, sometimes more important that factual truth. It adds meaning to our lives. Unfortunately, we find people from both the religious and scientific extremes yearning for certitude and losing the power of the story.

Homily for the Easter Vigil 4/07/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:36:51 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. THIS is the night when Jesus rose victorious from the grave. Not 2000 years ago, but tonight!

Sermon for Good Friday 4/06/07

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:11:24 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Chist" misses the point of Good Friday. It's not about how much Jesus suffered, but about who he is. The story ends in hope.

Sermon for Lent 4 C 03/25/07

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:29:13 -0500

By The Rev. David Simmons. Judas has a point - why should the woman lavish Jesus with costly perfume instead of selling it to benefit the poor? A sermon preached after returning from doing Katrina relief at Camp Coast Care in Mississippi.

Sermon for Lent 3 C 03/11/07

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:44:21 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons. Not all misfortune comes from sin, but all sin, that is everything that separates us from God, leads to misfortune for us or for others. Sin is discordant to God, but God offers us a way to get back "In tune" with God and ourselves.

Sermon for Lent 2 C 02/25/07

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:44:21 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons. As we examine the state of our souls in Lent, we need to spend some time looking at the prejudices that hold us back from living into the Gospel. The progress and regress of women in Christian culture is an example of what has gone wrong and right in our attempt to live into Paul's admonition that "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:28

Sermon for Lent I C 02/25/07

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:41:31 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons. Lent is a time of active remembrance, when we remember that we are human and that God is God. This frees us from our own need to act as God.

Sermon for Ash Wednesday 02/21/07

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:18:56 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons. Sin is not about guilt, it is a "Natural State of Humanity" as defined by the doctrine of Original Sin. Therefore, we are not to wallow in our sins, but to adopt practices to reconcile us to God.

Sermon for Epiphany 6 C - 2/11/07

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:18:56 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons. Jesus' preference for the poor is scandalous, but it's what we find in the Gospel today.

Sermon for Epiphany 5 C - 2/4/07

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:18:56 -0600

By The Rev. Rose Bogal-Allbritten. The saints of God are quite ordinary people made great by their response to God and to their fellow human beings.

Sermon for Epiphany 4 C - 1/28/07

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:39:03 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons - If you do not have love, you are a "Noisy Gong" or a "Clanging Cymbal." The "Christian Complex" often leads followers of Jesus to try to turn the message of Jesus into a "we're in, you're out" proposition, but that is not a true use of the Gospel.

A Cathedral of Compassion - Sermon for Epiphany III C 1/21/07

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:39:03 -0600

By The Rev. David Simmons - The National Cathedral is a symbol of the past affluence of the Episcopal Church. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last Sunday sermon from its pulpit may have changed the church in a mystical way. We are now building a new cathedral, a "Cathedral of Compassion" in the Millenium Development Goals.