Sermons - First Quarter March back to January 2021
To find sermons other than from this quarter browse the "Archive" buttons at the bottom of the page.
Palm Sunday
3/28/21
Listening to Jesus
Enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Setting the scene, the Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo invites us into a place of humility, and asks us to listen carefully for Jesus, what he might say and what he might do, as he leads us to the cross. Read now.
Sunday Lent 5
3/21/21
Seeing Jesus
What do you see when you look at the cross? The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves offers a number of perspectives, stating “…my challenge and invitation this Holy Week is to look again at the events of Holy Week and try to see them all with fresh eyes.” Read now.
Sunday, Lent 4
3/14/21
God’s Got the Check
Parsing the readings for the day (Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21) the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves speaks to the subjects of God’s love and God’s grace and how we come by both, noting “There's nothing we can do to add to what God has done in Christ Jesus.” Read now.
​Sunday, Lent 3
3/7/21
Rage in the Temple
What Jesus found in the temple set him in a rage we’re not accustomed to seeing, turning over tables. Digging deeper into Lent, the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves examines seven specific tables we might consider overturning in our lives, asking that “this Lent, may we turn over our lives to the God who overturns everything.”
Read now.
Sunday, Lent 2
2/28/21
Finding Heroes
It’s hard to find heroes in today’s world. Instead of looking around for them, the Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo asks us to become heroes ourselves. She invites us to “become heroes of faith – heroes that take up our cross and follow Jesus…and in doing so gain so much more than this world could ever offer us.“ Read now.
Sunday, Lent 1
2/21/21
How we choose
No one chooses the wilderness of a pandemic. But when Jesus was in the wilderness he found he had many choices, and so do we today. As we enter Lent the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves looks at how Jesus made his choices and then asks us to “…use the season to examine the choices that we make.” Read now.
Sunday, Epiphany 6
2/14/21
A Valentine from God
On this Valentine’s day we see God deliver his love to us and the world through the Transfiguration. As we approach Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo asks us “How will you soak in the love of God this Lent? And…how will you share the message of God’s love to others?” Read now.
Sunday, Epiphany 5
2/7/21
Lift Up Your Eyes
Giving voice to the weariness of our pandemic lives and how many of us are trying to “white knuckle” through it, the Rev’d Mark Hargreaves offer us some hope and advice from Isaiah, asking us to lift up our eyes and see, so that we “…know the rest that Jesus offers.” Read now
Sunday, Epiphany 4
1/31/21
Monty Python
The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves channels Monty Python in order to wade into St. Paul’s letter to the folks in Corinth. Paraphrasing, there's more to truth than the merely logical, and just because you can doesn’t mean you should! It’s all in service to a delicate balance between truth and love he hopes we can model to our families, our neighbors, our colleagues, and our politicians. Read now.
Sunday, Epiphany 3
1/24/21
Follow Me!
The Rev’d Mark Hargreaves parses St. Mark’s gospel story of Jesus’ recruiting his fishermen, and examines what our lives might look like if we could but follow too. It’s a “…call to participate with God in God's saving work. It's the work of change and growth…about moving to a larger vision, orientating our life in a new direction, and experiencing our…story of life connected to that much grander, larger story of God's life in the world.” Read now.
Outreach Sunday
1/17/21
Hearing God’s Call
On “Outreach Sunday” the Rev’d Dr. Richard Lee, Priest in Charge at St. Mark’s City Heights, visited us to highlight St. James’ partnership with St. Mark’s Food Pantry, and to give thanks for our continued support and prayers. Referring to the day’s reading, noting how it took a while for Eli, and young Samuel, to figure out it was God that was calling, he encouraged us to listen closely, and “. . . always try to remain open, outward looking . . .[and perhaps discover]. . . new ministries, new ways of sharing God's love.” Read now.
Sunday, Baptism of Our Lord
1/10/21
Decide To Follow Jesus
Responding to the events of the week the Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo offers that “We do well to remember today that the spirits of this world and the spirit of this age is not the spirit of Christ.” As we enter the season of Epiphany, she leads us in prayer to renew our baptismal vows and “…vanquish the spirit of this age.”
Read now
Sunday, Christmas 2
1/3/21
God With Us
Mary, Joseph, Jesus and family soon found themselves in Egypt escaping Herod’s slaughter. Think about the culture shock they faced and what’s going on for you now in this time of pandemic induced disruption. The Rev’d D. Rebecca Dinovo offers that “In our darkest times – in the midst of our collective culture shock – and the loss, the division, the grief and oppression-- we know this is not the end or sum total of the story.” Read now.