St. Mark's New Canaan

All Saints' Sunday

What if your eternal life is already underway? In this All Saints’ Day sermon, Rev. Elizabeth reflects on what it means to welcome people in baptism and remember those who have died in the same service. She invites us to recognize God’s presence in our everyday lives and hear the Beatitudes afresh. What changes when we see the merciful, the grieving, and the peacemakers as people whose lives Jesus calls honorable?

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

What happens when loving others opens us to the very pain we want to avoid? The Rev. Anne K. Bartlett explores Jesus’ command to love God and our neighbors as ourselves—and the transformation it asks of us. From an unexpected moment on a New York subway to an ordinary encounter at a grocery store, she considers how love changes the way we see, the presence we bring, and the risks we dare to take.

The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

What does God want from you? Between work, family, and everything else asking for our attention, giving ourselves to God can sound like one more overwhelming demand. The Rev. Ledlie Laughlin invites us to consider whose image we bear—and how compassion, creativity, generosity, and the gifts we already carry can become expressions of God’s love.

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

What if taking God seriously begins with questioning what we say about God? Preaching on the parable of the wedding banquet, the Rev. Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones challenges images of God that justify violence, exclusion, and harm. He invites us to embrace mystery, examine our own lives, and consider the difference between praising Jesus and following him.

#WhoGodIsNot #FollowingJesus #FaithInAction #EpiscopalChurch #StMarksNewCanaan

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

When Jesus tells a story about violent tenants, his listeners supply the ending: revenge. But is that the ending God chooses? Rev. Elizabeth explores God’s response to human violence through resurrection, peace, and forgiveness…and the courage it takes to practice that same love ourselves.

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

What if the convictions we hold most tightly are the very things keeping us from receiving what God is doing? Through Jesus’s encounter with the religious authorities and the Parable of the Two Sons, Fr. Peter explores the unsettling invitation to change our minds. We may think we’re knocking at heaven’s door—but what if heaven is knocking at ours?

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Life isn't fair. We learn that almost as soon as we're old enough to protest. But what if following Jesus means learning not to get stuck there? Rev. Elizabeth explores Jesus' challenging parable of the workers in the vineyard and a radically different way of looking at fairness, grace, and the Kingdom of God.

The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

What if forgiveness isn’t about excusing what happened or waiting for someone else to make things right? What if it’s about what happens within us when we refuse to let go? Fr. Peter explores a shocking lesson and the surprising freedom that might be waiting on the other side of forgiveness.

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

What if the conflict we avoid is sometimes the very conversation we need to have? Fr. Peter explores the difficult work of reconciliation and reflects on how unresolved hurt escalates, why our triggers matter, and how seeking to understand can help us become instruments of peace.

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

In the life and legacy of Dolly Parton, Rev. Elizabeth finds an unlikely spiritual icon: a woman whose generosity, humility, empathy, and love embodied Paul’s call to “overcome evil with good.” Her example helps us hear Jesus’ command to Peter (and to us) to get behind him and follow a way of power defined not by domination, but by sacrificial love.