All Souls Parish Sermons episodes:

• August 24, 2026Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

  the Rev. Emily Boring

  Jesus’s question, “Who do you say that I am?”, is not a question Christians

  answer once and for all. We inherit understandings of Jesus from scripture,

  tradition, theology, worship, and culture, just as the disciples

  interpreted Jesus through their own religious history and political

  circumstances. But Jesus asks us to bring those inherited understandings

  into conversation with what we ourselves have experienced.

  The preacher illustrates this through worship at the U.S.–Mexico border,

  where Christians on opposite sides of the wall pray, sing, exchange the

  peace, and celebrate Eucharist together. There, the wall—an instrument of

  separation—becomes like both cross and altar, making tangible the claim

  that Christ’s love overcomes division.

  Theology is therefore a lifelong conversation between inherited faith and

  lived experience. Our answers will always be partial, just as Peter could

  correctly identify Jesus as Messiah while still misunderstanding what that

  meant. Christian faith is less about possessing a perfect answer than

  continually allowing Jesus’s question to challenge and transform us: Who do

  you say that I am, and how will your answer shape your life?

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• August 16, 2026Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

  the Rev. Michael Lemaire

  Rather than defending Jesus’ harsh treatment of the Canaanite woman, the

  sermon asks whether the encounter actually changed Jesus. The woman crosses

  cultural, religious, and gender boundaries to seek healing for her

  daughter. Jesus initially rejects her, describing his mission as limited to

  Israel and comparing outsiders to dogs who should not receive the

  children’s food.

  But the woman brilliantly turns Jesus’ image around: even dogs receive

  crumbs from the master's table. Her persistence and love expose the

  abundance of the grace Jesus carries and challenge the limits he has placed

  around his mission. Jesus listens, changes his response, and heals her

  daughter.

  The sermon suggests that this may reveal something profound about divine

  love: genuine love means being open enough to be moved and changed by

  others. Perhaps encounters like this helped Jesus understand that his

  mission extended beyond Israel to all people. Even more provocatively, this

  mother’s willingness to risk humiliation and rejection for someone she

  loved may have offered Jesus an example of the self-giving love he would

  ultimately embody on the cross.

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• August 10, 2026Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

  the Rev. Phil Brochard

  Following the execution of John the Baptizer, Jesus seeks solitude to

  grieve and pray while his disciples cross the Sea of Galilee. During the

  night, they become trapped in a storm. In the exhausting “fourth watch,”

  Jesus comes toward them across the water and says, “Take heart. I am. Do

  not be afraid.” The sermon emphasizes that “I am” echoes the biblical

  language of God’s divine presence.

  Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus but becomes frightened by the

  storm and begins to sink. When he cries, “Lord, save me,” Jesus immediately

  reaches for him. The preacher hears Jesus’ question—“You of little faith,

  why did you doubt?”—not as condemnation but compassion: I am here, and I

  will hold on to you.

  Faith, the sermon argues, is not intellectual certainty, optimism, or a

  guarantee that life will be easy. Faith is trust—where we place our hearts.

  Sometimes we choose to step into storms; sometimes storms find us. Faith

  does not promise that we will never be frightened or overwhelmed. It

  promises that we will not be abandoned.

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• August 02, 2026Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

  the Rev. Phil Brochard

  The sermon presents Matthew 14 as the story of two contrasting feasts.

  Herod's banquet ends with the execution of John the Baptist, revealing a

  kingdom built on fear, political power, and violence. Jesus, grieving

  John's death and perhaps fearing for his own life, withdraws briefly before

  responding to the crowds with compassion instead of despair.

  When the hungry multitude gathers, the disciples assume people must depend

  on ordinary political and economic systems for food. The preacher contrasts

  this with Roman coins proclaiming the emperor as the source of sustenance.

  Jesus instead blesses, breaks, and shares five loaves and two fish until

  everyone is fed with abundance. The feeding miracle proclaims that God's

  kingdom—not earthly rulers—is the true source of life.

  The sermon concludes by connecting this story to the Eucharist. Christians

  gather each week around Christ's table because it reminds them where true

  nourishment is found and, ultimately, which feast they belong to.

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• July 26, 2026Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

  the Rev. Phil Brochard

  The sermon explores why Jesus taught in parables, arguing that their

  purpose was not to obscure truth but to awaken people whose hearts had

  become accustomed to injustice and complacency. Rather than offering simple

  moral lessons, Jesus used surprising, subversive stories that slowly

  transformed how people perceived God's "empire of the heavens."

  Through the parables of the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure,

  and the pearl of great price, the preacher shows that God's kingdom grows

  quietly, unexpectedly, and often disruptively. It invades ordinary life,

  transforms people from within, and calls them to joyful surrender rather

  than comfortable religion. The kingdom cannot be controlled or neatly

  organized—it is already near, waiting to be perceived by hearts willing to

  see.

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• July 13, 2026Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

  The Rev. Dr. Paula Nesbitt

  Using the surprising story of flowers blooming a year after they were

  planted, the sermon explores Jesus' Parable of the Sower and the mystery of

  spiritual growth. Good soil consists of truth, hope, meaningful

  relationships, and openness to God's work, but growth often happens slowly

  and unexpectedly.

  Drawing on experiences at the Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast, the

  preacher describes how delegates from across the world chose unity over

  division despite deep disagreements about gender, sexuality, and church

  governance. Rather than allowing political conflict to break apart the

  Anglican family, they committed themselves to mutual respect, continued

  dialogue, and remaining together.

  The sermon concludes that the Church's calling is not to seek perfect

  conditions but to cultivate patient, loving relationships where faith can

  grow. Even rocky, thorn-filled soil should never be abandoned because God's

  grace often produces unexpected fruit where least expected.

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• July 05, 2026Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

  The Rev. Phil Brochard

  The sermon explores Jesus' invitation, "Come to me, all you who are weary,"

  by placing it in the context of John the Baptizer's question from prison:

  "Are you the one who is to come?" John's uncertainty reflects the

  surprising nature of Jesus' ministry, which transforms the world not

  through political power or revolution, but through countless acts of mercy,

  healing, and compassion.

  Using the image of the yoke, the preacher explains how Jesus transforms a

  symbol of oppression into one of liberation. Rather than blind obedience,

  the yoke represents deep listening—to God and to one another. Celebrating

  the wedding of Lani and Tyree, the sermon presents marriage as a joyful

  example of this liberating yoke: a covenant in which two people freely bind

  themselves together so they can bear life's burdens together. Ultimately,

  Jesus' yoke is one of gentleness, humility, mercy, and shared love that

  sets people free by teaching them to carry one another's burdens.

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• June 28, 2026Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

  The Rev. Emily Boring

  This sermon reflects on Jesus' teaching that discipleship requires not only

  serving others but also accepting our own vulnerability and dependence.

  Drawing on Matthew's Gospel, the preacher explains that Jesus intentionally

  sent his disciples out with no provisions so they would have to depend on

  the hospitality of strangers. This dependence is not incidental but

  essential to following Christ. Human beings are created for

  interdependence, continually giving and receiving throughout life.

  Welcoming others—and allowing ourselves to be welcomed—is itself God's

  reward, forming relationships that reflect the love and generosity at the

  heart of the Gospel.

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• June 21, 2026Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

  The Rev. Phil Brochard

  Using stories of political disagreements with his father and his mother's

  earlier conflicts with her own father, the preacher reflects on how family

  tensions often arise when visions of justice challenge accepted social

  norms. He connects these experiences to a Juneteenth sermon about living

  between the "almost" of promised freedom and the "not yet" of fully

  realized justice.

  Turning to Jesus' difficult teaching about family division, the preacher

  argues that Christ is not promoting conflict for its own sake. Rather,

  Jesus recognizes that faithful discipleship often creates tension when

  people challenge systems, narratives, and comforts that sustain injustice.

  The Gospel's call to justice inevitably creates friction between the world

  as it is and the world as God intends it to be.

  The sermon concludes that freedom and justice require confronting the gap

  between promise and reality. The question is not whether conflict will

  arise, but whether those conflicts will produce light, growth, and

  transformation rather than merely generating heat and division.

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• June 20, 2026Juneteenth Feast Day Celebration

  The Rev. Erika Jackson

  Using the framework of living between "almost and not yet," this Juneteenth

  sermon explores the gap between freedom promised and freedom realized.

  Juneteenth itself exists because enslaved people in Texas remained in

  bondage more than two years after emancipation had been declared, revealing

  that legal freedom and lived freedom are not always the same.

  The preacher connects this reality to Scripture. The Israelites waited for

  liberation after God promised deliverance. Paul envisioned a community

  without hierarchy in Christ. Jesus proclaimed freedom for the oppressed

  while ministering in a world still marked by injustice. In every case,

  God's people lived between promise and fulfillment.

  The sermon challenges Christians to recognize who still lives in that gap

  today and to resist the temptation to settle for "almost." True Christian

  hope does not deny unfinished work; it trusts that Christ remains present

  within it. Until freedom is experienced by all, the work of liberation

  continues.

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