Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Transformative Love: Following Jesus in a Complex World

The Rev. Philip DeVaul delivers a sermon from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer that reflects on difficult sayings of Jesus in Matthew 10 about being “worthy” and the divisions that can arise even within families. He argues these harsh words make sense in context: Jesus’ whole ministry proclaims that God is present, faithful, and that every person is made in God’s image, known, loved, and belongs. Jesus heals and welcomes without requiring a creed, showing God loves everybody. But making love the center of life and insisting on everyone’s belonging confronts social hierarchies and can create enemies and conflict, including family rejection. Jesus warns that following him will transform lives, challenge beliefs, prejudices, and loyalties, and may be uncomfortable, yet nothing should block knowing one’s belovedness or recognizing it equally in others.

Crossing Spiritual Thresholds: Answering the Call of Faith - The Rev. Joyce Keeshin

… the word threshold? I found myself really resonating with that this week, and I asked people what their understanding of the words were. A friend of mine who works with wood said, "Oh, a threshold, that's that thin piece of wood between one room and another. It's in a doorway and you walk past it each time you move from room to room." Another one talked about how a threshold frequently involves sacrifice. To be able to pass through something to move forward, we frequently have to be willing to let go of something else. And my trainer, my very patient trainer, talked to me about a threshold being when you reach that, that level of your performance where you just can't go any further.

Belonging and Love: A Vision Beyond Sacrifice - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

In this sermon from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Rev. Phil reflects on readings from Hosea, Romans, Matthew, and Psalm 50, focusing on Matthew 9 where Jesus calls the tax collector Matthew, eats with “tax collectors and sinners,” heals a woman suffering for 12 years, and raises a synagogue leader’s daughter. Noting the Pharisees’ fixation on propriety and appearances, the sermon highlights Jesus’ citation of Hosea—“I desire mercy, not sacrifice”—and the psalm’s critique of ritual sacrifice. Jesus is portrayed as extending God’s steadfast love to a diverse set of people without first demanding they become “right,” showing that all belong in God’s kingdom. Rev. Phil encourages “thinking right” by seeing oneself and others as included in God’s unconditional mercy, starting with being merciful toward oneself so mercy can be shared with the world.

Into the Dance of the Divine: Embracing the Trinity - The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade

In a Trinity Sunday sermon at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade reflects on Genesis, Psalm 8, 2 Corinthians, and Matthew 28:16–20, arguing that the Trinity is not abstract doctrine but God’s living reality inviting people into divine communion: Creator as promise, Christ as fulfillment, and Spirit as continued presence. Interpreting the Great Commission on the mountain, he emphasizes that the Church participates in God’s mission and that baptism in the singular “name” incorporates believers into the triune life, redefining identity beyond fear, empire, or despair. He connects the Trinity’s mutual, self-giving love to resisting domination, racism, and dehumanizing systems, notes that worship and doubt can coexist, and ends with Jesus’ promise of abiding presence and a call to live God’s love together.

When Water Flows - Anny Stevens Gleason

Today's preacher, Anny Stevens Gleason, prays for God’s Spirit, then reflects on Jesus’ festival proclamation, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,” linking it to a crowded water ceremony remembering Israel’s wilderness thirst and God providing water from the rock. Jesus’ words are framed as relational and about belonging: people thirst for connection even when surrounded, unseen, or valued only for usefulness. Gleason shares personal experience of trying to earn belonging through productivity and self-curation, finding instead that belonging came by showing up authentically, being witnessed by her fiancée Katie, and held by community. “Living water” is described as Spirit-filled mercy, courage, and love—not endless availability or self-exhaustion. The sermon connects this to baptism and Eucharist as sacraments of belonging, especially for Michael Edward Eslinger, baptized before achieving or proving anything, and closes with congregational reflections on freely given love and mutual longing for relationship with Jesus.