Fr. Lonnie's Sunday sermon invites us to imagine what it means to be Church together when everyone lives from the conviction that "there is now no condemnation." Rather than motivating one another through fear or shame, the Church is called to be a community where people are free to confess honestly, forgive generously, and extend grace because they already know they are loved by God. As Fr. Lonnie concluded, even on our worst days, we remain "children of the light," because Christ—not our failures—is the truest thing about us.

Deacon Melanie preaches about the moments during our service where our confession is immediately soother by the Peace. Where we are asked to lay down our burdens and take up the life that Jesus holds for us.

In this week’s episode, we continue our summer sermon series, “Being Church Together,” with Fr. Lonnie Lacy reflecting on what baptism teaches us about the Christian life — and about what it means to truly belong to one another as the Church.

Drawing from Paul’s words in Romans 6, Fr. Lonnie reminds us that baptism is more than a symbol of being washed clean; it is a journey of dying and rising with Christ. Through baptism, we are invited into a lifelong process of transformation — letting go of the things that separate us from God and growing into the people God calls us to be.

Fr. Lonnie explores how conversion is not just a single moment or experience, but a lifetime of “repenting and returning” to God. The promise we make in the Baptismal Covenant is not a promise of perfection, but a promise that whenever we fall, we will turn back toward Christ.

Most importantly, Fr. Lonnie reminds us that this journey is not one we make alone. Baptism itself shows us that faith is meant to be lived in community — because we cannot baptize ourselves, and we cannot grow in faith by ourselves. The Church is the place where we learn patience, humility, mercy, and love through the grace-filled (and sometimes challenging!) relationships God gives us.

As we continue asking what it means to “Be Church together,” we are reminded that God is always at work among us — helping us die to what keeps us from love and raising us into new life, together, as members of Christ’s living body.

What does it mean to truly be the Church together?

In the second sermon of our summer series, Being Church Together, Fr. Lonnie reminded us that God’s grace always comes first. Before we have everything figured out, before we get it right, before we even know we need it — God is already reaching toward us with love.

And because we are people who have received that grace, we are called to share it with one another. Churches are made up of real people — people who sometimes misunderstand, disappoint, or hurt each other. But the work of being the Body of Christ is choosing patience, compassion, and grace even when it’s hard.

Being Church together doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means we stay at the table, make room for one another, and trust that God is still working in all of us.

This week, Fr. Lonnie launched St. John’s summer sermon series, Being Church Together, an exploration of Paul’s Letter to the Romans and its central question: How does God create a people—not just save individuals, but form a family, a body, a Church?

Deacon Melanie's Trinity Sunday sermon invited the congregation to embrace the mystery of the Triune God not as a doctrine to be mastered, but as an invitation into God's life of love, communion, and relationship—a life that calls us to honor the dignity of every person and to reflect God's reconciling love in the world.

In Fr. Lonnie Lacy's Day of Pentecost Sermon, we learn that the whole story of Pentecost is that the Spirit of God refuses to stay contained. The Spirit spills out.

Fr. Lonnie Lacy's Ascension Day sermon tells us how the Ascension turns everything upside down; because now Christ fills all things, which means there is no place where he is not already present.

St. John's Episcopal Church celebrated Baccalaureate Sunday where we honored our high school graduates. St. John's Youth, Forester Shelton, preached a sermon reminding us to always set our hearts on fire for the Lord.

Director of Music, Marissa Hall's sermon encourages us all to sing a new song unto the Lord.