St. Thomas Episcopal Church Sermons

In this sermon, the Rev. Tom Ortung turns to one of the Gospels' best-known moments: Peter's declaration that Jesus is "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:13–20). Reading it alongside Paul's call to be "one body" with many gifts (Romans 12:1–8) and Isaiah's promise of comfort and renewal (Isaiah 51:1–6), Father Tom explores what it means to hear from God's Spirit rather than reason our way to faith alone — and what it looks like for a community with a wide range of gifts to stay unified without becoming uniform, especially in a season of transition.
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In his first sermon as St. Thomas's new interim rector, the Rev. Thomas Ortung dives into one of the Gospels' most puzzling encounters: Jesus and the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21–28). Alongside readings from Isaiah, Psalm 67, and Romans 11, Father Tom asks what this hard, unsettling story reveals about the width of God's grace — and invites St. Thomas into a season of transition marked not by closed hands, but open ones.
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In this week's sermon, the Rev. Karen Haig explores the story of Jesus walking on water and calming Peter's fear, drawing on her own lifelong love of the sea to unpack what it means to trust God amid life's storms. 
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In this week's sermon on the Feeding of the Five Thousand, guest preacher Fr. Jim explores what happens when the disciples' instinct toward scarcity meets Jesus's invitation to abundance. Preaching on Matthew 14:13-21, Fr. Jim traces the arc from "send them away" to "bring them here to me," and asks what it looks like for a congregation in an in-between season to trust that there is enough. This sermon calls us to see our ordinary lives and gifts as exactly what God uses to satisfy the hunger around us.
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"Will you recognize the kingdom when you see it?" In his farewell sermon, Fr. Edmund reminded us that God's kingdom rarely looks the way the world expects. It shows up in mercy, humility, and the people we might otherwise overlook. 
The sermon asks, "Will you recognize the kingdom when you see it?" What might help you recognize it more clearly in your own life?

Fr. Edmund Harris explores Jesus's parable of the wheat and the weeds, a story that asks one of faith's hardest questions: how do we live in a world where good and evil grow side by side? He traces the temptation to "sort the field" ourselves, in our relationships, our communities, and our nation, and points instead to a different calling: to tend what God has planted, trusting the harvest to God alone.
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A sower scatters seed everywhere—even on the rocks, even in the thorns. 🌾 This week Fr. Edmund reminds us that God's generosity isn't governed by our calculations, and that Jesus never condemns—only invites us to open our hearts a little wider
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On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Fr. Edmund preached on the difference between political and spiritual freedom. Drawing on Paul's letter to the Romans and Jesus's words to the weary and burdened in Matthew, he asked: now that we have freedom, what will we do with it? The sermon points to gentleness and humility — not power or domination — as the truest measure of a life, and a nation, aligned with Christ.
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A cup of cold water. That's what Jesus points to.
Not wealth. Not influence. Not great achievements. Just a simple, ordinary act of kindness — because what we worship eventually becomes visible in how we live.
This Sunday, Fr. Edmund asked the question Saint Augustine and Saint Paul both wrestled with: What has your allegiance?
📖 Scripture: Romans 6:12–23 | Matthew 10:40–42

What does it mean to tell the whole truth? In this sermon, we explore the story of Slab Town — a thriving Black community founded by formerly enslaved people near Yorktown, Virginia, that was quietly erased from the landscape in the 20th century. Drawing on Jesus's words in Matthew's Gospel and the meaning of Juneteenth, we reflect on why truth-telling is at the heart of discipleship, and why it is the truth — the whole truth — that sets us free.