St. Thomas Episcopal Church Sermons

Release and Renewal: Seeing with Mountaintop Eyes | May 25, 2025 | Rabbi Daniel Weiner

What practices—spiritual or practical—help you resist systems that define people by wealth, productivity, or success?
In a world that runs on exhaustion, profit, and performance, Rabbi Daniel Weiner brings a timely and powerful word: We were never meant to live this way.
Drawing from the ancient Jewish practices of Shmita and Jubilee—sacred pauses for the land, for laborers, and for debtors—Rabbi Weiner calls us to imagine a different kind of world. One where the land gets to rest. One where people are freed from systems that dehumanize them. One where every person is treated with sacred worth.

What Matters Most Is Love Like This | May 18, 2025 | The Rev. Liz Costello

"Love one another as I have loved you."
These words from Jesus—simple, familiar, often sentimentalized—land differently in today's world. In this sermon, the Rev. Liz Costello explores what agape love actually looks like in practice: tender, embodied, and sometimes controversial. From washing feet to resisting unjust systems, this kind of love doesn’t avoid the mess—it kneels down in the middle of it. Drawing on the Gospel of John and a powerful example from the Episcopal Church’s recent refusal to participate in a discriminatory refugee program, this sermon invites us to see love not as a feeling, but as a radical, daily commitment.
📖 Scripture: John 13:31-35 | Revelation 21:1-6 | Acts 11:1-18 📍 Preached at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, WA 🕊 Learn more at www.stthomasmedina.org

Recognizing the Voice of the Shepherd | May 11, 2025 | The Rev. Edmund Harris

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, Father Edmund Harris explores what it means to hear and follow the voice of Jesus in a world full of competing noise. Through penguin parenting, childhood obsessions, and the call to resist the narratives of productivity and consumerism, we’re invited to remember the deeper truth: the Good Shepherd still speaks. Are we listening?
#GoodShepherdSunday #RecognizingHisVoice #StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #ListenAndFollow #FaithInAChaoticWorld #ChristianFormation #EasterSeason #MothersDaySermon #Eastertide

We Have Seen the Lord: Fear, Faith, and the Full Meal Deal | Rev. James McEachran | April 27, 2025

In this second Sunday of Easter sermon, the Rev. James McEachran invites us into the story of resurrection through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, Thomas the Doubter, and our own trembling hearts. In a world often shaken by fear, uncertainty, and disbelief, Father Jim reminds us that Easter is not just a moment—it’s a wake-up call. From the alleluias of sunrise to the quiet wonder of “my Lord and my God,” this sermon is both tender and triumphant, full of humor, honesty, and spirited hope. Gather with us to remember, be renewed, and leave ready to say: We have seen the Lord.
🕊️ Delivered at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, WA.
#EasterSeason #SecondSundayOfEaster #DoubtingThomas #WeHaveSeenTheLord #Episcopal #Episcopalian #IAmEpiscopal #StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #ResurrectionHope #ChristianFormation #HolySpiritPower #AlleluiaIsBack #FaithAndDoubt #PeaceBeWithYou #MyLordAndMyGod

From Philia to Agape: A Farewell Sermon | May 4, 2025 | The Rev. Shane Carlson

In his final sermon at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the Rev. Shane Carlson reflects on the sacred beauty of being loved well—and what it means to love like Jesus. With tears, laughter, and deep wisdom, Father Shane explores John 21’s “charcoal fire” moment, where Peter is invited not only to confess his love for Christ but to grow into it. This is more than a goodbye; it’s a sending. As Father Shane and his family prepare to move to Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Flagstaff, Arizona, he invites us to follow Peter’s path from philia to agape—toward the sacrificial, unconditional love that Jesus modeled. Through storytelling and scripture, he challenges us to live with the mind of Christ: seeing Jesus in everyone and feeding his sheep. Whether you've known Father Shane personally or are hearing him preach for the first time, this message is a powerful reminder of what it means to lead, to serve, and to love like Christ.
📖 Gospel Reading: John 21:1–19
#FatherShaneCarlson #StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #AgapeLove #PhiliaToAgape #FarewellSermon #ProgressiveChristianity #LoveLikeJesus #John21 #CharcoalFire #JesusIsHere #SeeJesusInEveryone

Defiant Hope: Easter in an Uncertain World | Easter Sermon 2025 | The Rev. Liz Costello

Alleluia! Christ is risen! In this radiant Easter sermon, the Rev. Liz Costello invites us into the heart of Easter hope—fierce, defiant, and deeply needed in today’s world of uncertainty. Drawing from scripture, real-life disappointments, and the enduring witness of figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Liz preaches a resurrection hope that doesn’t deny struggle, but rises in the midst of it. Whether your confidence has been shaken by the markets, elections, illness, or fear, this Easter message is an anchor in the storm. Come be reminded that the tomb is empty, death is defeated, and hope is not a naïve feeling—it is a faithful practice rooted in the risen Christ. This is a sermon for anyone who needs to remember: we are not at the end of the story. We’re living in the middle of God’s redeeming love.
#Easter2025 #ChristIsRisen #DefiantHope #EasterSermon #ResurrectionHope #StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #ProgressiveChristianity #Alleluia #EmptyTomb #FaithInUncertainty #GodOfLove #HolyWeekToEaster #HopeintheWilderness

From Dry Bones to Resurrection | Easter Vigil 2025 | The Rev. Shane Carlson

At the Easter Vigil, we step into the ancient story of God's promise to bring life from even the driest bones. The Rev. Shane Carlson invites us to move through the valley of despair into the dawning hope of resurrection. Through the voices of the faithful women at the tomb, the wind through the bones, and the light of the risen Christ, we are called to remember: hope is alive. Christ is risen! Alleluia! Join us as we journey from darkness to light, from death to life, from exile to homecoming—because God is in the business of resurrection.
📖 Scriptures: Ezekiel 37:1–14 (The Valley of Dry Bones) Luke 24:1–12 (The Women at the Tomb)
🔔 Worship with us at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington: Sundays at 8:00 AM & 10:30 AM PT | www.stthomasmedina.org
#EasterVigil #HeIsRisen #StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #ResurrectionHope #DryBonesComeAlive #Alleluia #Easter2025

Tremble: A Good Friday Meditation on the Cross | The Rev. Jim McEachran | April 18, 2025

On this Good Friday, Rev. Jim McEachran invites us into the quiet gravity of the cross—a place of sorrow, yes, but also of unspeakable love. From Golgotha to the garden tomb, this meditation walks us through the loneliness, courage, and divine grace that pulses through the Passion story.
Through memory, scripture, and personal reflection, Rev. Jim reminds us that Jesus breathed his last so that we might breathe our first. That we are the beloved—each one of us—claimed by the One who loved us to the end. What does it mean to live at the foot of the cross, to see God in action even now? Come with your questions.
Come with your gratitude. And tremble, if you must.

“Loser”: The God Who Gave It All Up | Palm Sunday 2025 | The Rev. Edmund Harris

On this Palm Sunday, Father Edmund Harris invites us into the tension between triumph and loss. We begin with the crowd's celebration—Jesus hailed as king, cloaks laid down, palm branches waving—but quickly we are led into the heartbreak of betrayal, abandonment, and crucifixion. In this powerful reflection, Father Edmund names the discomfort of following a God who chose not power, but vulnerability. Not winning, but loss. “What does it mean to follow a God who became, by every earthly standard, a loser?” This sermon challenges us to sit with that question—not rushing to Easter, but remaining with the Jesus who stands in solidarity with the powerless, the betrayed, the incarcerated, the crucified. And in doing so, we discover the radical good news: that God shows up not just in resurrection, but in rejection too.
📖 Scripture: Luke 19:28-40, Luke 23:1-49, Philippians 2:5–11, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16 📍 St. Thomas Episcopal Church | Medina, WA 🕊️ Learn more or join us at www.stthomasmedina.org

The Fragments We Carry: Faith, Rest & the Work of Compassion | April 6, 2025 | The Rev. Shane Carlson

In this week’s sermon, Father Shane invites us to reflect on the story of the feeding of the 5,000—not as a tale of scarcity solved by miracle, but as a deeply human moment where Jesus invites his disciples (and us) into rest, community, and shared abundance. Amid lives that often feel fragmented—by personal overwhelm, cultural noise, or a world in need—what does it mean to pause, take Sabbath seriously, and bring what we have to the table? Even the smallest gifts, even the simplest compassion, may become part of something more. This sermon weaves together the Gospel of Mark, Episcopal values of shared sacrament and service, and the quiet radical act of resting as resistance. It’s a timely message for anyone seeking grounding, clarity, and a deeper sense of connection.
#StThomasMedina #EpiscopalChurch #GospelOfMark #FeedingThe5000 #FragmentsAndFaith #SabbathRest #RestAsSpiritualPractice #CompassionateFaith #LiturgicalLiving #ModernEpiscopalian #GodsAbundance #SpiritualCommunity #FaithAndWholeness #FollowingJesusToday #SundaySermonSeries #HopeintheWilderness