Looking at a fascination story from Acts 8, today’s sermon focuses on a man named Simon who thought he could purchase the power of God from the apostles. Often people approach acquiring spiritual power in the exact same way – entering into a transaction with God in order to get what they want. Father John explores our need for spiritual power, and how we receive it as a gift of grace from God – in our final sermon installation on the Holy Spirit. The first minute of this recording is lower in volume than the rest due to Father John using […]

How does the Holy Spirit help us grow spiritually? In today’s sermon, Father John explores what sociologists of religion have described as the three stages of spiritual development in humanity: 1. Religion as a means of getting what I want, 2. Religion as rule-keeping, and 3. Religion as transformational relationship with God. Continuing our study of the Holy Spirit, we look at Jesus’ intention for his followers as they strive to be good people, full of the marks of God’s presence and power in their life. Listen and be encouraged!

We continue our sermon series exploring the identity and role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Considering Jesus’ statement that, “When the Spirit comes, it will guide you into all truth,” (John 16) this sermon identifies four ways that we can experience the leadership of God in our lives. The question is not, “Is God speaking?” … the question is, “Are we listening?”

In today’s sermon, Father John examines the notion of the “comfort of the Holy Spirit” found both in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. How does God comfort us and give us a peace that guards us when life gets difficult? We explore ways that prepare us for such times, in becoming more aware of God’s presence around us and in regularly finding time to become more sensitive and familiar with God in our lives. Listen and be encouraged!

Today, as we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, Father John examines the theological roots of understanding the Holy Spirit found in the Hebrew Bible. Two threshold questions are asked at the outset of this sermon: Who is the Holy Spirit? and How do we receive the Holy Spirit? By exploring the meaning of the words kodesh (holy) and ruah (spirit), we can gain insight into how God’s presence and power in the world have been experienced by our ancestors in the faith – and how we can experience God today.

How do we approach passages in Scripture that offend our sensibility and values as 21st Century Christians? Are we required to adopt the worldview and lifestyles of first century Christians, as reflected in the pages of our New Testament? In this sermon, Father John explores one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament, found in the book of I Peter. Here the author advises slaves to remain obedient to their masters, and wives to “submit” to their husbands. Rather than approaching the Bible as a text that traps us in archaic perspectives, or imprisons us as a book […]

We continue our exploration of I Peter during the season of Easter by examining the author’s admonition to these early Christians to love their fellow church members. Father John notes in this sermon that one of the ways that they are instructed to love each other is by the way they talk to and about each other. Our words have great power, and will, in the end, leave a far greater legacy than almost anything else in our lives.

Continuing our exploration of I Peter during the Easter Season, today’s sermon looks at how the early Christians viewed themselves – as a special people, living in a special time, with a special message. The author of I Peter refers to his readers as “aliens and exiles” – strangers on the face of this earth. How do we feel about our identity today as followers of Jesus in our time? Are we a special people, living in a special time, with a special message? Listen and be encouraged to act NOW as the Spirit leads us to bring the presence of […]

The book of I Peter explores how some of the earliest followers of Jesus were learning to live in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. During Easter season, Father John will explore this book in detail – starting with today’s sermon on the difference that an experience of and belief in the resurrection can make in the life of a follower of Jesus. What will heaven be like? This sermon imagines some options for that reality, and the hope it can create in our lives as we anticipate what is to come.

Two ordinary disciples of Jesus had only heard the news about the empty tomb – what they needed was an encounter with the Risen Christ. Luke’s Gospel relates the story of how these two disciples walked all afternoon with Jesus without realizing who he was – until they were at table with him and he broke bread with them. Father John explores the meaning of this story for us today – how is it that we encounter Christ in our lives day by day? Often, it occurs in the midst of the “wilderness” places in our lives rather than where […]