SSJE Sermons

“Just as we are called to celebrate God’s work of creation, and the work of salvation accomplished in and through Christ, we are called to celebrate the slow and often undramatic work by which God is restoring all things.” Br. Keith Nelson invites us to follow, in our own moment and our way, the brave and inspired example of Marian Rebecca Hughes – the first person to take up the vocation of vowed religious life in the Church of England since the dissolution of the monasteries at the Reformation – by restoring the best of the past to meet the needs of the present moment.

“Like Bernard, Jesus is also calling us to bear witness to the healing power of Christ. We must resolve to cast fear aside and follow him towards connection and relationship, towards the abundance that God wants for us, which is an abundance that transcends the life of the physical and finite, and become one with Him whose bounds know no end.” Br. Jim Woodrum celebrates the witness of Bernard Mizeki.

Proverbs 8: 14, 22 – 31Psalm 8Romans 5: 1 – 5John 16: 12 – 15  One of the great lines from Father Benson, which is among my favourites, is something he said about the Holy Trinity. Writing to Father Rivington in 1875, he says:  I quite feel that the practical neglect of the doctrine of…

“Pentecost is important, not because of what it did once, for a group of people long ago, in a land far way, but what it means for us, here, today. We are not here as antiquarians, to freeze frame the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but to discover how those gifts are continuing to be manifested in us today.” Preaching at the Order of the Holy Cross on the Feast of Pentecost, Br. James Koester celebrates how monastic communities – like all communities and practices of faith – are not vestiges of the past, but living revelations of God, who is ever present and ever new.

“When you are facing life’s trials, when life seems to be an uphill battle, when you fear being overwhelmed by fear or worry or grief, recall this image of Paul and Silas, beaten and bloodied, locked in chains, singing and praising God! This joy can be yours as well. This freedom belongs to you as a child of God. Nothing can destroy it or take it away from you.” Br. David Vryhof looks to Saint Paul for an example of the life-changing freedom that comes with knowing, loving, and following Christ.

“I understand that “direct flights” in the spiritual life are available only to angels. I do not understand the Ascension, anymore than I can levitate – or fly. But I love the Ascension because I love the Ascended Christ and I sense now more than ever what his Ascension means for us here below.” Br. Keith Nelson reflects on his own transformed understanding of the Ascension, and its invitation to all of us to be Christ's body in this in-between moment.

“Thanksgiving orders our hearts and minds rightly. We learn to thank God not because God needs our thanks, but because by thanking God we learn to use God’s gifts rightly and justly.” Br. Sean Glenn invites us each to be true to our vocation as givers of thanks.

“It’s only when we close our eyes, letting ourselves rest in stillness, that we cultivate a sense attuned to Christ’s Light. It’s like listening to the silence of our hearts, where we may begin to sense something very subtle, a light of incredible beauty and goodness, not light versus darkness, but Christ’s Light, embracing dark and light alike.” Br. Nicholas Bartoli invites us to dance in and with the Light of God.

“Following Jesus opens us to receive his Peace in the midst of our flaws, not in spite of them. We hold the treasure of Christ’s Peace in clay jars, as grateful sinners.” Br. Keith Nelson shares the peace of Jesus, the defining gift of Jesus's now-and-future reign.

“When Jesus says ‘now’, what he means is that ‘now’ is the time for glory, in one great, sweeping, timeless, cosmic moment, as Cross, Tomb, Resurrection, Ascension and the Coming of the Spirit pour out upon, and from Christ, making all things new, as heaven and earth are remade, and the new Jerusalem appears, coming down out of heaven, into our very midst.” Br. James Koester wonders how differently we might live if we were conscious that the glory of God not merely shines upon us, but psalters from within us.