All of these sermons were delivered in the Abbey Church. To make it easier to find a certain topic or lectionary day, click one the blue tags below (Holidays, Sundays Year A, Sundays Year B, Sundays Year C). The sermons are posted in order of their calendar date, so not all in the same lectionary year are together – keep scrolling down, and you will find more from earlier calendar years.
Other sermons can be found on our YouTube channel.
Many of Abbot Andrew’s sermons are posted on his blog.
Malachi 4: 1-2a
II Thessalonians 3: 6-13
Luke 21: 4-19
November 16, 2025 Abraham Abbey Church
Is this what Jesus is saying in our gospel reading this morning? : “There are no signs of the endtimes; things will go on as they always have. Wars, natural disasters, and human catastrophes will happen, just as always, and even the focal point of your religion will be destroyed. In fact, everything will be destroyed, because that’s what happens to things. But – don’t worry: you will be ok. Hang onto God as the only stable thing and you will be saved. If you hang onto anything else, you will go down with it.” Is that what Jesus is saying? I think it is, and I think our other scriptures this morning back that up.
Our reading from Paul’s letter to Thessalonica is basically saying: “Keep doing the right things.” Our first reading has the prophet Malachi deliver these words from God: “Revere my name and all will be ok; revere your own name and nothing will be ok.”
We can look at all this from a monastic perspective: Don’t focus on temporary things (they are not bad, they are just temporary – they are not bad, they just aren’t God.) Focus more on God. Detach (in a good way) from things and attach to God. Then, one day we will look up and realize: ‘all these things have been added unto us.’ And they will be more beautiful, meaningful, and wonderful than we ever could have imagined.
God is good, and God makes good things and makes things good. But – there is only one God, and relying on anything else brings disaster. Seek first the kingdom of God, and these other good things will be added unto us.
I think that is what Jesus is saying, and it is a relief. We don’t have to look too far to see the truth that nothing lasts. Nothing is stable enough to build a life on. But God is, so don’t worry when things fall apart (they are supposed to.) God is always there. If we base our life on God, then all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. AMEN
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Philemon 1 -21
Luke 14:25-33
September 7, 2025 Abbey Church Abraham
There are a lot of seemingly arbitrary rules and laws in the Old Testament, but if one looks closely enough, it seems that the bulk of them are trying to get the point across that the universe works a certain way, and if we choose to fit in with the way it works, all is well; if we choose to resist fitting in with the way the universe works, disaster ensues (for us and for the people around us.) The disasters caused by our refusal to follow the way of the universe is sometimes referred to as “wrath”, and it is often wrongly referred to as “the wrath of God,” but blaming it on God is wrong.
Our gospel reading ties into this in its last sentence, because one of the universal laws is the fact that we really have no possessions; everything is merely loaned to us for a short time. Our job is to be good stewards of the things given to us, and then let them go at the appropriate time. We have nothing by right: physical, intellectual, or spiritual. The truth is: “Everything is a gift.” So, to be a disciple of Jesus (who is the way, the truth, and the life), we must give up living with the dangerous falsehood that we possess anything (even those dearest to us.)
The reading from Paul’s letter to Philemon which we heard today also ties into the truth of possession leading to wrath. The entire letter is about a runaway slave, and nothing is more wrathful than slavery. However, people were so used to it, Paul did not even say anything about it being wrong.
One aspect of the delusion of possession that can be particularly wrathful is our tendency to think we possess the correct way of doing things and thinking about things (mostly religious and political.) We get worked up when we hear of others doing or thinking things differently than we do. It is true that some ways of acting and thinking are in fact bad and dangerous, and we should do what we can to change them, but if we are so inhibited by our anger that we can not work on changing the actions or attitudes, wrath ensues (often it is visited upon the people around us, having to endure our angry but ineffective ranting.) We get so focused on belittling or mocking the person who is wrong, that we don’t have the time or energy to find solutions to the incorrect behavior, and worse, we fail to see our own incorrect thoughts and actions.
We have a choice: to calmly and objectively steward our relationships with those around us (those who agree with us, and those who don’t) and so to build peace and solve problems, or to deludedly try to control others (showing our mistaken and often unwitting attempt to possess them and make them behave) and so to produce wrath and make problems worse. Our wrath is silly, puny, and sad. If we let or cause problems to get worse because we are so busy ranting at others, the wrath that will build up will be horrific.
The world is designed to work by certain laws, and they are not arbitrary, because they all hinge on the greatest law of Love. God is Love. God does not possess; God lets us go and do as we choose, even if it causes wrath. May we choose love and stewardship, rather than possession and wrath. We know we don’t always choose wisely, but we also know we are trying to do better. That is evidenced by the fact that we are here. We want to follow Jesus, and he will help us slowly give up our false sense of possession. It might seem difficult at times (even wrathful), but we will make it. Jesus will see to it. AMEN
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
July 13, 2025 Abbey Church Abraham
Sometimes small words can add a lot to whatever is being said. Our scripture readings today have talked about: obeying God so that our lives may be blessed (that’s from Moses), and about patiently living lives of hope so that we bear good fruit (that’s from Paul), and about the fact that strangers are really our neighbors who deserve our care (that’s from Jesus.)
But maybe the most important word that holds the whole thing together is from Paul’s introduction to his letter to Colossae that we just heard: “Grace” – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” Everything is a gift, graciously given to us by God. God gives us the world and the people in it, and if we treat our world and our neighbors as wonderful gifts, then we will all have abundant lives. If we choose rather to exploit our world and the people around us as commodities we have earned and can therefore abuse, then we will all have horrible lives – ourselves, the people around us, and the entire world.
If we don’t see everything as a gift from a gracious God, then we live in fear, because we mistakenly think that we need to push other people down so that we can steal their stuff in order to have what we need. But all the while, God is desperately trying to freely give us everything, including eternal life. We can’t accept it if our hands are made into fists, instead of being stretched out with our palms up in order to receive everything from God.
“Grace” – “Grace to us and peace from God our Father.” It is scary to open up and receive. It is scary because we have all been hurt by others, and we have all hurt ourselves and others. So, we shouldn’t feel bad about ourselves when we are too afraid to open up and receive. At some point, we will. God can wait an eternity if needed. God’s grace is eternal, and brings healing, joy, and peace to all. AMEN
John 14:23-29
May 25, 2025 Abbey Church Abraham
Jesus gives us His peace, but he says that he does not give it as the world gives it. That is good, because we know that when “the world” gives us peace, it does not last, because it is peace achieved through suppression of whatever is causing agitation. Whenever more agitants pop up, the peace is gone.
Jesus gives us peace by healing our relationship with the universe, so that we need not be agitated. He also heals our relationship with ourselves, and we all know that our biggest lack of peace comes from our inner turmoil (our biggest source of agitation is our own selves.)
So. Jesus gives us this supreme peace, but we sure do not seem to experience it very often. Maybe we do not receive it because we are not receptive. Maybe we are waiting for Jesus to suppress our agitants. Maybe we are mistaken about what should agitate us.
We need to spend more time with the promised Holy Spirit who will teach us how to receive the peace of Jesus. We have an eternity in which to learn, and an infinity to learn about. We can start by listening to the Holy Spirit in scripture and silence, and by being fed by Jesus as we gather around this table.
We do not need to worry about lacking faith whenever we are not in peace. Peace is a gift, not a test. And it is a big Jesus-sized gift, so there should be no surprise that it takes so long for us to unpack and learn how to use it. The Holy Spirit is with us to show us how it works. May we be open to instruction. AMEN
Proper 26 Year B
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Hebrews 9:11-14
Mark 12:28-34
November 4, 2024 Abbey Church Abraham
Faith or works, Love or Action, Mary or Martha. These oppositions are false and harmful. Faith produces Works, Love is Active, Mary starves without Martha. If all we do is send “thoughts and prayers” when we could go further with actions to help solve a problem, that means that we are thinking about ourselves and praying with gratitude that we are ok, rather than caring about the people with the problem.
On the flip side, action without prayer can be dangerous, because it often springs from hasty decisions based solely on our own narrow viewpoint. Loving God, our neighbor, and ourself takes work and wisdom. Faith without works is just as self-centered as works without faith, because dead faith gives us a false security because we feel protected and special, while dead works gives us false security because it addresses symptoms while ignoring causes.
Of course, life is messy. Sometimes, something needs to be done, and there is not a lot of time to pray about it, so we simply do something, hoping it is the right thing to do. Other times, something needs to be done, but we are not in a position to do anything, so we just send “thoughts and prayers”, hoping that at some point we can actually do something. Those are good reactions, because at least we are doing what we can at the time with the best intentions.
Maybe the best way to live with the messy problem of life is to put our faith and work into action all the time – not just when needed in big dramatic situations. We can pray everyday. We can do small good things for people everyday. Doing so makes us people of Faith and Works, Love and Action, Mary and Martha. It prepares us for times when big faith and works is needed and it makes us and the world around us better, even if no big problems ever occur.
Faith and Works are not in opposition, because they both spring from Grace. God gives us the ability to Love and Act, and to put our Faith to Work. Without God’s Grace, we can do neither. Grace is always there – we just need to stop resisting it. It is scary only on the surface. Love God, love our neighbor, love ourself. We have all the tools we need to do that, and even the crudest attempt is a good start. The outcome is up to God. Our job is to just do it. It will seem to us that we fail often, but God’s Grace is big, and it is all we really need. Love God, love our neighbor, love ourself. We all really want that, and every attempt is a success. AMEN
Isaiah 40:1-11
Acts 13:14b-26
Luke 1:57-80
June 24, 2024 Abbey Church Abraham
The “Song of Zechariah” that we heard in our gospel story is familiar to anyone who has been around a monastery for any amount of time, because most Christian monastic communities recite it everyday. It is a good reminder that we are given the task of preparing people for the reception of Jesus as Lord. Many people tend to personalize it, especially the verse that says: “YOU, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for YOU will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.”
So, it seems that a big part of the job is proclaiming forgiveness of sins. We also know from the life of John the Baptist that he spent a lot of time reminding people that they HAVE sinned. Maybe our job is to put the two things together: letting the world know that there is right and wrong, and then letting people know that God forgives them when they inevitably mess up and do wrong.
We must do the two things in a mature fashion. In our proclamation of right and wrong, we need to be not so obsessed with simple sins that tend to be interesting to everyone (usually involving sex), and instead emphasize more harmful sins such as greed, oppression, and exploitation. In our proclamation of forgiveness, we need to not simply dismiss the sins, but to emphasize that they really are bad, that we really do them, and that they really hurt ourselves and others. Even with the knowledge that we will all sin, we must never use that knowledge as a reason to not care about the sin or frivolously excuse it.
It is also good to remember that we are preparing the way for Jesus as Lord, not for ourselves as petty tyrants. That means that one of the best ways of preparing for Jesus to come is to make sure that we get out of the way. AMEN
Acts 8:26-40
I John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
April 28, 2024 Abbey Church Abraham
There are many lists of laws and rules in the Old Testament, and they do not always match up exactly. Most of the lists work with the idea that God exists in such a different level of reality that we need to meet certain criteria in order to connect with God and not be obliterated in the process. There are certain things we must do and possess and other things we must not do and possess in order to safely commune with God. Being good to other people is high on most of the lists of things to do. Being free from involvement in things associated with beginning or ending lives is also high on most lists: recently touching a corpse or having sex or menstruating must be avoided in order to safely be in God’s presence. Being healthy is also necessary: having leprosy or missing body parts was an obstacle to communal worship.
So, our first reading this morning is surprising because it is about someone missing some body parts who had been worshiping God and came through the experience safely and positively. His story is a catalyst for all of us to reassess our private lists of rules about who is acceptable to God.
Another good reason to reassess our private holiness checklists is the fact that Jesus shows us that although God does indeed exist on a different plane than we do, God also exists on our level of reality as one of us. So, all those rules about avoiding the messy parts of physical existence don’t carry weight anymore, because Jesus lived and lives all that messiness with us. The part about being good to other people grows in importance, but even that is not necessary. The only criterion we need to meet in order to relate to God is to exist.
Our existence give us the right to commune with God, and also the right to reject God. We can be a branch on the Jesus vine and thrive, or we can go our own way and wither. What we cannot do is decide whether or not others can also be on the Jesus vine, and they cannot decide for us. We simply need to stay on the vine and make room for others. AMEN
II Samuel 7:1-11
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38
December 24, 2023 Abbey Church Abraham
Many people think that Advent is too short (especially this year.) Many of those same people consider Advent to be their favorite season – sitting in the dark, waiting for Jesus to show up. Those two actions (“waiting” and “showing up”) describe our relationship with God: God acts and we receive. God does everything – the term for that is “Grace”. Of course, whenever we speak of either God or humans, things get tricky. Yes, God does everything, but in order for us to receive the Grace to the most benefit, we need to do something (even simply waiting is doing something.)
The story of Joseph and Mary being turned away from the inn at Bethlehem is a useful focus for Advent disciplines: making sure that our lives are not so full of ourselves that Jesus has no place to go, and working at recognizing Jesus around us so that we let Him in instead of turning Him away.
So, in a way, at least from our perspective, Grace does sometimes include works. But even our works are a product of Grace: God created this beautiful universe, so we work to stop messing it up; God comes to live with us and in us, so we work to see and serve Him in everyone; Jesus is coming, so we wait in the dark.
Grace plays a big part in the collects for the Sundays in Advent. The first three mention God’s Grace specifically, and the fourth one acknowledges God’s daily presence in our lives and our desire to have a place for Jesus in them.
People have been working on figuring out the relationship between Grace and Works for a long time, and the arguments have not tended to result in good things. So, instead of trying to figure it out in this sermon, we should stick to what we know: Advent is too short. Jesus is already here, no matter what we do. AMEN
Genesis 15:1-12,17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:1-35
Anakin and Mussolini
March 13, 2022 Abbey Church Abraham
We know the story: Jesus was a good guy doing the right thing – healing and helping people with love and compassion; Herod was a bad guy doing the wrong thing – controlling and exploiting people with greed and fear. Our own stories are not so obvious.
Helping and healing people is never wrong, but sometimes we can do it in ways that are not best for everyone. Wielding power and authority and keeping public order and tradition in place are not always wrong – in fact, those things can be a means of helping and healing people. Many evil tyrants do not start out that way. They truly want to do the best thing for people, but allow fear or ego to take over their motives. Many people who start out helping and healing people and speaking out against corrupt and hurtful governments and traditions become evil tyrants in their own way, allowing fear or ego to take over their motives, and becoming rigid in their rules of how to be helped and healed.
We need to be always checking our motives and methods and never be smug about our correctness and our foes’ incorrectness. Healing and helping people is never wrong, but the way we go about it might need some refining. Keeping public order and safeguarding tradition is usually not wrong, unless it keeps people from being helped and healed.
We must always be open to the possibility that we are wrong and the people who oppose us might be right. It takes a lot of maturity, prayer, and advice to make sure our motives and methods are good. It is important to do the right thing, but it is even more important to do it in a way that is helpful.
We don’t have all the answers, but we can open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit so that we can be always learning. We can stop obsessing about ourselves so much so that Jesus can grow in us, helping us to be more helpful and healing. We can watch ourselves, so that when the Herod part of us takes over, we can catch it and put the Jesus part of us in its place. It takes time and effort, but God’s grace is always there to begin and complete the task. We can start by coming to be fed at this table by Jesus, who wants to fill and satisfy us and give us strength for the work ahead of us. AMEN