Father Mark Meyer retired from Christ Episcopal Church in Canon City, Colorado, on January 25, 2026. In this video, some of the many people who know and love him shared their stories.

Shining Through Us All

Matthew 5:14-16

Father Mark reflects with deep gratitude on his 28 years of ministry at Christ Church, recognizing how profoundly the community has shaped his spiritual growth. He names his journey toward greater maturity, humility, compassion, and openness, crediting the people of the parish—past and present—as his teachers. Through shared prayer, study, dialogue, correction, and love, the congregation has embodied its motto of “going deeper,” helping him learn, sometimes through mistakes, the grace of falling upward.

Drawing on the readings from Micah, Colossians, and the Gospel of Matthew, Father Mark emphasizes that Christian virtues—justice, kindness, humility, compassion, patience, love, peace, and gracious speech—are simple to name but difficult to live. These qualities are not achieved by effort alone but by allowing the peace of Christ and the word of Christ to dwell within us. Gratitude, he teaches, is a powerful spiritual practice that disarms the ego and opens us to divine grace, enabling true transformation and humility.

Finally, Father Mark affirms the community’s calling to be “the light of the world,” embodying Christ’s love amid division, cruelty, and darkness. Though he is departing physically, he assures the congregation that there is no distance in the heart of God, and that shared love for the Gospel, justice, and community continues to bind them together. With poetry and prayer, he expresses profound thanksgiving, entrusting their shared life to God’s grace and celebrating the enduring light of Christ shining through them all.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God-Shaped Hole

John 1:29-42

John the Baptist points his disciples to Jesus as the Lamb of God, and they respond by leaving everything to follow him. When Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?” the sermon frames this as a profound spiritual question. The disciples were not seeking worldly rewards like power or comfort, but something deeper—what could satisfy the longing of their souls and draw them into the kingdom of heaven.

Drawing on St. Augustine’s insight that our hearts are restless until they rest in God, the sermon reflects on the “God-shaped hole” within every human soul. When we lose touch with our true home in God, we try to fill that emptiness with substitutes—possessions, entertainment, ideology, or status—but none of these can satisfy. Only the one true God, as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, can meet the deepest yearnings of the human heart.

The sermon contrasts the God revealed by Jesus—self-giving love, forgiveness, and mercy—with distorted images of God shaped by worldly values like power and violence. What we seek, the preacher argues, shapes who we become and even how we imagine God. Through honest, prayerful self-examination, we come to know our deepest desires, to know God more truly, and to live as bearers of Christ’s light in a troubled world that longs, often unknowingly, for that light.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Named by God

Matthew 3:13-17

Father Mark reflects on Jesus’ baptism, where Jesus is publicly named by God as “my beloved Son,” and connects this moment to a personal story from seminary, when he was mistakenly accused of owing money on a Sears credit card. Though innocent, he was treated as a liar and criminal, an experience that deeply unsettled him and revealed how painful it is to have a false identity imposed on you. That moment raises a central question of the sermon: Who gets to name us, and define who we truly are?

In Jesus’ baptism, the voice from heaven is not only for the crowd but for Jesus himself, affirming his deepest identity as God’s beloved. Father Mark explains that this identity is not unique to Jesus alone; Christians share in it through baptism. Jesus’ mission, awakened at the Jordan, is to awaken all people to their true identity as beloved children of God. Yet we often live from false identities—our jobs, politics, nationality, religion, race, or social status—which shape how we see ourselves and, in turn, how we treat others.

When we fail to see ourselves as God’s beloved, we project harmful identities onto others, judging and demeaning them rather than recognizing them as fellow children of God. Father Mark reminds us that through Christ’s incarnation and baptism, we are drawn into the life and love of the Trinity itself. Our only lasting, true self is our “child of God self.” In a world quick to label and divide, we are called to trust God alone to name us, hearing the same words spoken to Jesus spoken over us: “You are my child, my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

What We Truly Worship

Matthew 2:1-12

Father Mark reflects on the Gospel of the Magi to proclaim that Christ’s birth is truly good news of great joy for all people—across politics, nations, cultures, religions, and identities. The wise men, likely Zoroastrian priests from Persia, encounter God not through Scripture or angels but through creation itself, reminding us that God continually reveals God’s self through the natural world. Their journey shows that outsiders and foreigners often perceive divine truth more clearly than those who assume religious or political privilege.

In contrast, King Herod and the religious leaders respond not with joy but with fear and hostility. The birth of Jesus exposes a clash between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world—between self-giving love and power rooted in control, violence, and fear. The Magi offer not only gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but their very selves, kneeling in devotion before the Christ child, while worldly rulers conspire to destroy him.

Father Mark draws contemporary lessons from this contrast: we are called to listen to foreigners, people of other faiths, and scientists, recognizing the gifts they bring. He challenges listeners to examine what they truly worship—whether God or lesser loyalties such as power, ideology, or security. Like the Magi, we are invited to offer our whole selves to Christ, placing God first so that all other loves may find their proper place.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Christ’s Light is Stronger

John 1:1–18

The sermon begins by naming the weariness many people feel toward the constant stream of bad news in the world—violence, division, cruelty, and despair. Drawing on the Prologue of John’s Gospel, Father Mark contrasts this with the Christmas proclamation that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. While darkness is real—within individuals, societies, and the world—Christmas insists that darkness does not have the final word.

At the heart of the good news is how God looks at humanity. Unlike news outlets searching for scandal or failure, God looks at us with love. God does not come in Christ to condemn but to save, to share fully in human life, to endure suffering and sin, and still to love, forgive, and restore. Even amid war, hatred, and human brokenness, God’s response is not rejection but deeper love, revealed in the Word made flesh.

Finally, the sermon turns from receiving good news to making good news. Like the shepherds and the wise ones who saw light in the darkness, and like Desmond Tutu who lit candles of hope in a wounded world, Christians are called to bring light themselves. As the new year approaches, the congregation is invited to find tangible ways to see others with God’s eyes and to act boldly in love, trusting that Christ’s light is stronger than any darkness.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A Word Beyond Ourselves

Luke 2:1–20

Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth like a wide-angle lens that slowly zooms in. It begins with the vast power of the Roman Empire and Emperor Augustus—who claimed divine status—and then narrows steadily to a vulnerable young couple, a long journey, and a newborn laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. This movement from global power to intimate poverty reveals how God chooses to enter the world not through dominance, but through humility and closeness to human need.

Luke also contrasts two visions of power and divinity. Augustus represents control, taxation, and superiority over others, while Jesus—the true Son of God—enters fully into human flesh, born homeless and announced first to shepherds, people considered dishonorable and insignificant. The angel’s proclamation makes clear that this birth is “good news of great joy for all people,” especially those on the margins, those overlooked, suffering, or forgotten.

Finally, the sermon widens the lens again to include all humanity. “To you is born” means this child is born not only to Mary and Joseph, but to the shepherds, to strangers from afar, and to us. On this holy night, the barrier between heaven and earth feels thin, and we dare to believe that love itself has entered the world. Christmas proclaims a word beyond ourselves: God is with us, for all, and leaves no one behind.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Do Not Be Afraid

Matthew 1:18-25

The sermon begins by noting that the familiar Advent and Christmas stories can lose their shock value, causing us to miss their radical message. Matthew’s account of Mary’s pregnancy is presented as a scandal—socially, religiously, and legally. What appears to be disgrace and sin is revealed as the work of the Holy Spirit. From the very beginning, Jesus’ life disrupts accepted norms, showing that God’s action often looks scandalous on the surface while being deeply holy at its core.

Joseph is portrayed as a righteous man committed to the law, yet also compassionate. Faced with Mary’s pregnancy, the law requires divorce and public shame, but Joseph chooses a quiet, merciful response. Before he can act, God speaks to him directly through a dream, instructing him to take Mary as his wife—an act that contradicts the written law. This moment establishes a central tension of the Gospel: law versus love, tradition versus lived experience of God. Joseph’s obedience reflects the creative, difficult work of letting love interpret the law.

The sermon concludes by drawing a direct connection between Joseph’s struggle and our own. Like Joseph, we often cling to law, tradition, and social respectability, even when they conflict with compassion. Jesus, Emmanuel—God with us—reveals that forgiveness and salvation flow from God’s presence, not rigid legalism. Joseph’s “awakening” becomes a model for discipleship: discerning God’s voice amid fear and social pressure, and courageously participating in God’s redemptive work. The angel’s message to Joseph becomes God’s message to us all: Do not be afraid to be drawn into God’s healing and saving work in the world.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Path to Our True Selves

Matthew 3:1-12

Father Mark reflects on why crowds flocked to hear John the Baptist’s call to repent, despite the discomfort and challenge of his message. He explains that the word repent has been distorted over centuries into a threat, but John’s original call—metanoia—is an invitation to deep transformation: to change how we think, act, and perceive so we can enter more fully into God’s reign. Repentance is not rearranging the furniture of our lives, but a radical reorientation toward God.

He emphasizes that humans have an “infinite capacity for self-deception,” a reality noted not only by Scripture but by psychologists and business leaders. Our inner blindness—the “logs in our eyes”—distort how we see ourselves, the world, and others. Repentance requires unflinching honesty, a virtue that made John’s preaching so compelling. In a world filled with misinformation, spin, and self-justifying narratives, we hunger for what is true, real, and genuine.

Father Mark concludes that repentance is the path to our true selves—the selves God created us to be. It demands that we confront our distortions and ask God to help us see with the mind of Christ. This is our Advent longing: to live more authentically, rooted in God’s compassion and truth. Though the process can feel like fire and axe, it leads to freedom, transformation, and the light of Christ shining in and through us.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Strength in Surrender

Luke 23:33-43

Father Mark begins by reflecting on Christ the King Sunday, a day when the Church proclaims Jesus as King—yet the Gospel reading presents Jesus not enthroned in glory, but crucified in weakness. While earthly kings rule through domination and triumph, Jesus reveals a radically different kingship. On the cross, mocked and powerless by worldly standards, He embodies forgiveness and self-emptying love, praying even for His executioners. This contrast exposes the emptiness of triumphalism—the human tendency to claim superiority—and invites us to reconsider what divine kingship truly looks like.

The one person who recognizes Jesus as King is not a disciple or religious leader but a condemned criminal crucified beside Him. Hearing Jesus’ prayer for His enemies, the criminal perceives a strength unlike Caesar’s—a strength rooted not in control but in mercy. He dares to hope for forgiveness and asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus’ response—“Today you will be with me in paradise”—reveals that God’s kingdom is not a distant nation-state but an ever-present reality entered through receptivity, surrender, and trust. Paradise begins the moment a human heart opens to divine mercy.

Father Mark emphasizes that Christ’s kingdom operates according to values opposite the kingdoms of this world. Earthly rulers assert power; Christ rules through vulnerability, compassion, forgiveness, and servanthood. To pray “Thy kingdom come” is to surrender our egos and enter this alternative kingdom. Christians, he insists, should avoid merging God and country or seeking salvation in any earthly power. Instead, we are called to manifest Christ’s kingdom here and now—through love, humility, and mercy—allowing Christ the King to reign not by force, but through our transformed lives.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.