Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Blueprint Trinity - The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade

Friends, the Trinity is not a riddle or a secret to be solved or unveiled, but the Trinity is a mystery, and it's an invitation to be accepted and entered into. It is a relationship of mutual glorification where each person of the Trinity points not to self, but to each other, one another. You see, the relational pattern of the divine Trinity is not solely reserved for God and the heavens.
 
No. It is given as a blueprint for the church and human life. A vision for how we live with one another, particularly across differences. On this Trinity Sunday, it seems fitting that we are called to ponder the mysteries of the Trinity and how it speaks to the struggles and hopes of our divided world.
 
You see, the Trinitarian truth of which Jesus speaks is not a truth merely of doctrinal correctness. This truth is not about having the correct beliefs in our heads. No, this Spirit's truth is deeply moral, deeply relational and deeply historical. It is the truth that rips off the band-aid and uncovers hidden wounds.
 
It is the truth that names Injustice, and it is the truth that, if heard, brings liberation. We have seen this spirit at work through movement for racial reconciliation and justice. We have seen truths long buried come to life. We have learned and have lived with the truth of stolen lands, broken treaties, red line neighborhoods, segregated schools, and generational trauma.

Intimacy - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sunday, June 8, 2025
I remember I was 24 years old. I had recently come back to church after being away for a while and I had become an Episcopalian.
I wasn't one of these people yet, but I was out there. I used to sit towards the back, like over there. And I remember sitting in church one Sunday and this Gospel that we heard today was read. And Jesus said, have you been with me all this time, Philip? And still you do not know me. If you don't know, my name is Philip, and I've heard that text many times, but that day I remember it was as if Jesus was speaking directly to me.
Now, I am nothing if not incredibly self-centered, and I love when Jesus says my name, but I really, I remember that day being, hearing Jesus say to me, have you been with me all this time, Philip? And still you do not know me. And I remember thinking, yeah, that's about right. Jesus. Yeah. I have been with you my whole life and still sometimes I have no idea what you are up to.

Full Circle - The Rev. Joyce Keeshin

 June 1, 2025
 We sat in the third row where Sue was sitting right on this side always, and we became such a part of this loving and welcoming community. We felt totally embraced by the community. Now, over four decades later, I find myself as one of the elders in this community, and I see some of you who have grown into Elderhood as well.
We are the ones now welcoming the new ones. Delighting in the sometimes lively and boisterous presence of the precious little ones among us, especially when they come up the center aisle. I love it. It's a full circle, a full circle of love. Our reading from Acts this morning tells us more about the 40 days, tells us about what Jesus continued to teach the disciples for the kingdom of God.
And again, we hear of how he has told them to wait for the promise of the Father. He tells his disciples, you'll be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Not many days from now. 

From a Distance - The Rev. Brooklin Taylor

May 25, 2025
It feels like Jesus is building something out of his words, a bridge, perhaps a way for the disciples to cross the growing distance between what will be and what is now, his presence and what will be his absence. He is tying up loose ends here. Yes. But more than that, he is offering the deepest of truths, God refuses to love from a distance.
This reminds me of that truth playing out in my own life. The first time I dropped my oldest child off for his first day of school. In the car line, we hurriedly hugged and kissed and I told him how much I love him and I spent the last few seconds before his teacher would open the door, reminding him of who he is.
You are kind, you are smart, you are brave, you've got this, and I love you. Just in time for him to jump out excitedly and for me to cry all the way home.
But that morning I had tucked a little note into his lunchbox. I'd hoped that note was more than reassurance. It was a presence to unfold later, a whisper in paper form when he opened his meal. Even when you can't see me, you are not alone. I am with you. That's what this section of John feels like to me.
 

Love Like Jesus - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

 May 18, 2025
I walked up to the desk, and the lady behind the desk was the only one in the office. And as I walked up, she said, You're a DeVaul, aren't you? And I was like, yeah, I am. Now this is why that's weird to me. My brother and I don't look alike. He's a couple of inches taller than I and many pounds slimmer than I.
I used to have a lot of hair, and I had this big, thick, curly brown hair on the top of my head. And a nice little beard. And he was clean-shaven and had blonde straight hair. I mean, he looks more like my mom's side.
I look more like my dad's side. There was no reason to assume I was a DeVaul. So I said, yeah, did Grant tell you that I was coming? And she said, no, you walk just like him.
That is probably true, but no one had ever told me that. But it's an interesting idea in my mind. No one would ever confuse me with my brother or even connect us unless we stood next to you and said, We are brothers in the same family. Because in my mind, we don't look alike. We don't seem alike.

Victories - The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade

May 11, 2025 
 
Collectively, we are unraveling morally and spiritually. It has gotten so bad that no one is safe from moral decay. The dark clouds are so thick, they touch everything. People claim to be saved but wish for another to die. Others gloat about blessings and watch others starve. Did we forget that someone died so that we can live?
 
Are we not disciples of that very person whom we have forgotten? Friends, something has gone very wrong. He who died for us seems to be hard to find right now. At the polls we make choices that we know will literally hurt others. We make phone calls that we know can literally kill someone. We seek victories that wreak of self preservation, self-righteousness, self satisfaction, and self delusion.
 
We even cheat for victories that leave specific populations without rights, without dignity, and without hope. We should know better because these victories look like nothing of those of God, but instead, they are corrupted with darkness, revenge, and taunts. These victories are awarded to the complicit, that sit silent, they're privileged, and they're hypocritical.

No Blank Slates - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

I get, it's like I'm starting anew with Jesus. You'll notice the moment if you were paying attention to the story that Peter was fishing naked, which translated from Greek essentially meants that he was probably like in his undergarments, he'd taken off his outer garments so they wouldn't get wet and dirty while he was fishing.
 
But then it says that he puts all of his clothes on and jumps in the water. That's the opposite of what you're supposed to do, right? The literal opposite, but it's perfect actually because Peter is putting on his clothes and jumping in the water to get to Jesus as quickly as possible. The symbolism is there.
 
I'm not leaving anything behind. I'm getting my clothes on. I'm leaving the boat, and let's get back into ministry. Jesus, I'm ready to follow you. Jesus, with all of my clothes, however impractical that seems. Why does Peter need a do over, though? Well, you might remember the last time he and Jesus spoke in John's Gospel.

Led into a Deeper Faith - The Rev. Cannon Jodi Baron

Our sacred texts have managed to pass down for thousands of years. I truly love these aspects of my work. Like this morning's gospel from John. Sometimes it's referred to as Doubting Thomas Sunday. Have any of you heard it called that?
 
Yeah. Every time I encounter this text and knew that adage bugs me, it crawls right up and gets under my skin. It might be because I myself am a wonderer as a product of Generation X. I find deep meaning in deconstructing things. I thought I lost my religion when I first began questioning things when I was in college.
 
But turns out it's what led me to a deeper faith. One that valued both science, that answered questions about the physical world and faith that answered the spaces of mystery that neither science nor religion were really designed to address. So I guess if St. Thomas were ever to fit into a modern generation, I would see him in a jean jacket, maybe sporting a non-ironic mullet and mustache and matching stone washed peg legged jeans.
 
We'd probably be reading the same newspaper and drinking the same kind of coffee.

Believe Women - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sunday, April 20, 2025
 
Every time, even now when we tell the story, we will often remember one of the stories of Peter looking in or later on in the John story, where Peter and John race to get to the tomb. Or we might remember the rolled away stone, or we might remember the angels, and still we'll forget to whom the angels are speaking; the faithful women who never abandoned Jesus.  The women who were there when he was on the cross, who prepared his body for burial, and who came to see him.
 
They're the first witnesses of the resurrection and we even hear it today, they see this and they go back and they tell the men, and the men consider it an idle tale. Oh, well, you know, those women, they must be getting hysterical.
 
It is an interesting aspect of the story that if the men would just, I don't know, BELIEVE what the women said they saw, we might have a different story. That has absolutely no relevance for today's life. So we'll just move right on.
 
The women are justifiably scared when they go to the tomb. They are not expecting the resurrection, and I wanna make that clear, this is one of those things we almost forget. Yes, Jesus tells them that this is going to happen, but it is uniformly clear throughout our Gospel readings that every single time Jesus tells them this is gonna happen, they don't understand what he's saying and they don't get it.
 
And when they get to the tomb, they are not expecting it to be empty. They are expecting Jesus to be there and dead.

Trapped in False Freedom - The Rev Dr. Herschel Wade

Sunday, April 13, 2025
Jesus wasn't that kind of king. The crowd shouts praise, not because they understood everything, but because they knew something was happening. They sensed God at work. There's no security, no VIP section. Just a radically open and welcome procession.
 
A moment where heaven touched earth. Where peace was promised, not just on earth but in heaven to, but left to the human imagination, Jesus would've had a gold crown and a world robe. Instead, he gets a ring of thorns, a mocking coronation, and a wooden throne. The cross. He doesn't establish peace through domination, he becomes our peace through suffering.
 
He defeats death, not with force, but with the most powerful weapon against darkness, and that is love. So I ask you, do we believe Jesus is king? Do we really believe that he is our savior? Then why do we keep placing our hope in political parties and flawed leaders who chase power over principles? Why do we identify more with ideology than our identity in Christ?
 
Why are we so trapped in fear, self preservation and false freedom, and how is that working out for us?