Sermons March 29, 2020-January 5, 2020

Sunday, Lent 5
God knows
3/29/20
Do you feel as the Israelites did that “Our hope is lost. We are cut off completely”? The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves takes our reading from Ezekiel to help us understand that only “God knows” when our lives will be freed from the current pandemic. In the meantime he urges that while “Our normal life might be constrained at the moment, …let’s seek to develop our
spiritual life at this difficult time.” Read now.

Sunday, Lent 4
A Lent Like No Other
3/22/20
Speaking to the camera from the steps of St. James, the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves uses Psalm 23 as our assurance that we are not alone, that we might want to “let Jesus drive”, and that too much fear is unhelpful. He recommends we look to our formative Christian texts for guidance, stating:  “This is a time of testing. These are the experiences that
shape us. How are we responding to this crisis?”
Read now.

Sunday, Lent 3
Living Water
3/15/20
Directly addressing the anxiety of the Coronavirus on our lives, the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves urges us to drink of the living water so sought by the Samaritan woman in our gospel reading, noting “We’re not to be reservoirs of God’s love, we’re to be streams. The love that flows into us is to flow out.”
Read now.

Sunday, Lent 2
God’s Love
3/8/20
The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves invites us to parse Jesus’ nighttime discussion with Nicodemus on the nature of God, and the very definition of love and God’s grace, noting “God’s love is enormous, all encompassing, beyond our imagining, and yet it’s on a scale, which includes us as individuals.”
You are invited to find yourself in this.
Read now.

Sunday, Lent 1
Happy Lent!
3/1/20
Lent? Happy? The Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo invites us to go into the desert this Lent, to journey with Jesus for 40 days, and in the process come away with true joy. She challenges us to discern what “desert” we can experience. Read now.

Ash Wednesday 
Don’t Give Up – Take On!
2/26/20
In his Ash Wednesday sermon the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves asks us to take on something for Lent. Our Lenten call is “…to participate and establish the kingdom of God, God’s rule of justice and righteousness in our midst.” How to do that in
​in our lives? He has some suggestions for us.
Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 7
Face to Face
2/23/20
We know how to avoid looking at someone, we know the discomfort of looking directly into the eyes of someone from whom we may not be ready for affection or attention. In his sermon today, the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves asks us to take on a task for Lent, that of looking directly into the face of God who has already told us of his love: “…it’s me, I’m your
Father. You are mine.” Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 6
Heart work
2/16/20
Seeing Lent on the horizon the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves uses today’s gospel reading to show us how Jesus went further than the law in order to plant seeds of faith that will grow in our hearts. Using the metaphor of the law as an acorn, he sees Lent as “a good…opportunity for that seed of faith
to
grow in our hearts…” Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 5
Salt and Light
2/9/20
In our gospel passage today Jesus charges us to be both salt and light. The Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo helps us understand just how to do that, and what an honor and joy it is. She urges us to “…be as salty as you can – for the love of God.”Read now.

Sunday, Presentation of Jesus, Epiphany 4
Recognizing Enough
2/2/20
Halfway from Christmas to Easter Simeon sees the baby Jesus in the temple and says that was enough for him. The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves discusses that Holy Spirit filled gospel reading and asks “What is enough for us? How much of God do we need to see and experience before we find peace? What counts for us as fulfillment? … How
would we recognize that?” Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 3
1/26/20
People of the light
On this Annual Meeting Sunday the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves, speaking to the state of the parish, tells us “We’re called to worship and grow in faith. So I’m full of hope. Let’s continue to be a people that stride out in faith and walk in the light, God’s beautiful light.”
Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 2
1/19/20
Get out of the boat
On “Outreach Sunday” The Rev’d Kevin Finch, Executive Director of Big Table, tells how today’s gospel passage of Jesus urging Peter to get out of the boat and come to him across the water inspired him to found Big Table, and how it can inspire us to do the equivalent through St. James outreach ministries, or whatever we are called to do. “This is
where the deepest joy and the greatest adventure of the Christ-formed life is to be found.” Read now.

Sunday, Epiphany 1
1/12/20
Spirit Power
As we start a new year the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves explores John’s baptism of Jesus and the power that comes to us with the Holy Spirit. He encourages us “to draw on the power of the Spirit to lead us and equip us and take us into new directions that we might not have explored before.”
Read now.

Sunday, Feast of the Epiphany
1/5/20
Follow Your Star
The Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo celebrates the Epiphany by pointing us to the stars in our own lives and enjoining us to follow them: “…seek your purpose – find your stars – and follow in faith, the light that God sheds upon your unique path.”​Read  now.