SSJE Sermons

“So, what do we make of these two apparently different stories about the call of Andrew: the earlier one that took place not far from Jerusalem, where John was baptizing, and then the later one in Galilee?  What I think it tells us is that the call of Andrew came in stages. It took time. And this certainly fits my own experience of coming to faith.” Br. Geoffrey Tristram finds in the record of Andrew's calling a lesson for our own ongoing journey in the faith.

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“Outside the walls of this monastery chapel, a new season began just after Halloween, called “Holiday Shopping Season,” along with the Amazon promise that you can have it all now… at least by tomorrow. The season of Advent interposes quite an opposite theme. Anticipating Christmas is not about immediacy. Rather, it is about watching, and waiting, and preparing to celebrate Christ’s infant birth at Bethlehem, and to prepare for Christ’s promise that he will come again in real time.” On the first day of Advent, the season of preparation, Br. Curtis Almquist shares inspiration for how we might experience and share Christ's light – even in the darkness.

“Today’s feast is not a promotion of some kind of imperial portrait of King Jesus, although there are lots of pictures of Jesus crowned, seated on a throne, holding orb and sceptre, wearing imperial robes. Nor is today an attempt to advocate for some kind of divine right of kings (or presidents!) ruling from Pennsylvania Avenue or Buckingham Palace. Rather, today’s feast is an antidote to all of the images, real and fanciful, we associate with the word king. It is an antidote to King Anyone because the world has in fact never seen, except once, the kind of king we mean, when we speak of Christ the King.” Br. James Koester debunks the myths, legends, and fairytales, inviting us to see the true meaning of "Christ the King" (and we have to stand on our heads to see it!).

“God comes to us where we are. God’s call meets us in the concrete realities of life. Not where we think we should be; but where we actually are. And if we hold our vocational aspirations lightly, I believe that, like Blessed Elizabeth of Hungary, our treasure too will be where our heart is.”

Br. Sean Glenn examines the surprising tension that can arise between our imagined vocation and the actual shape that it takes in the concrete realities of life.

“Death cannot kill the love which binds us together with our departed loved ones in a bond and a communion which transcends time and space. For it is ultimately the unbreakable bond of love which lifts us above both time and space, and into the very life of God.” On All Souls Day, Br. Geoffrey Tristram celebrates the communion that links us with those we love, even after death.

“For the Christian, the resurrection of Jesus challenges the notion that death is the ultimate disaster, for in Jesus, life is changed, not ended, and death becomes not the end, but a door, not a wall, but a gate, not the end, but a new beginning.” On All Souls Day, Br. James Koester celebrates the audacious, bold truth that Christians claim even in the face of death's reality: that the dead are raised to life.

“What makes for a powerful encounter with God? Power filled life-altering encounters with God.  Do you long to experience that kind of power? I’ll confess, I find myself mixed with awe and wonder, as well as doubt and a fear of disappointment.  And I wonder what this does when and if I approach God in prayer.” Br. Todd Blackham looks to the examples of Job and Bartimaeus for a lesson in that posture of hopeful persistence with which we are to seek out encounters with the living God.

“Inspired by Saint James' holiness of life, his wise leadership of the Church, and the courage with which he faced a martyr’s death, we reflect today on our own role as witnesses of the Gospel of Christ in our own age, and pray that we may be found as faithful as he was.” Br. David Vryhof celebrates the witness of Saint James of Jerusalem on his feast day.

“God’s kingdom reorders relationships and creates one community where all belong. Where does “the sword of Jesus’ good news” pierce you today?” Br. Luke Ditewig urges us to listen as Jesus speaks, inviting radical change.