Sermons at the Church of the Epiphany

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The Church of the Epiphany

An Episcopal Community in South Haven, Michigan

Sermons

"The sermon is a brief time near the middle of our Episcopal liturgy when the priest or deacon or lay preacher opens and examines scripture in the context of a community... How do this week’s lectionary passages speak to us? What are they calling us, specifically, to do?"

"American theologian Ellen Davis, who works back in North Carolina at Duke Divinity School, put another important aspect of a sermon in focus when she famously wrote, "The preacher is called to love the scriptures in public." ... I hope that my love of scripture will come through in my sermons as your rector."

- Fr. John Wakefield, June 16, 2024

True Power is Self-Sacrificing, Abundant Love

The Rev. John Wakefield

2 days ago7 min read

True Power is Self-Sacrificing, Abundant Love

The power of Jesus, of the Kingdom of God, comes not through a sword or a gun or a gavel or a position of power but through the cross.

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At Church, All Things are Possible

The Rev. John Wakefield

Oct 138 min read

At Church, All Things are Possible

I argue that the best way to give up your “one thing” and to follow Jesus is to be a connected and committed part of your local church.

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Angels? Demons? Miracles? Be Like Jesus.

The Rev. John Wakefield

Oct 610 min read

Angels? Demons? Miracles? Be Like Jesus.

What I do know is that being a Christian involves practicing the Way, being like this Jesus whom we see in the Gospels and in the Church.

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Are Any Suffering? Be the Church.

The Rev. John Wakefield

Sep 308 min read

Are Any Suffering? Be the Church.

If you are suffering? Turn to God. If you are cheerful? Turn to God. If you are sick? Turn to each other, and then together, turn to God.

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Placing our Focus on the Divine

The Rev. John Wakefield

Sep 158 min read

Placing our Focus on the Divine

We must place our focus, our efforts, and all our attention on the divine, lest we forfeit the truly good life that God has for us here.

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Where Does Faith Require You to Act?

The Rev. John Wakefield

Sep 89 min read

Where Does Faith Require You to Act?

I hope that you take time to sit with James’ call to make sure that your faith is not just words or thoughts or beliefs but actions too.

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Listening in Order to Become Agents of Healing

The Rev. Jim Steen

Sep 76 min read

Listening in Order to Become Agents of Healing

We come here to Epiphany to have our ears and eyes opened by one another, that we may then become agents of healing in the community.

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Rooting our Actions in the Word

The Rev. John Wakefield

Sep 19 min read

Rooting our Actions in the Word

Our works must come flowing out of a heart that is not far from God, that is deeply rooted in the implanted word of Jesus living within us.

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How Could We Go Anywhere Else?

The Rev. John Wakefield

Aug 258 min read

How Could We Go Anywhere Else?

With the words of eternal, powerful, meaningful life on offer, on display in the lives of those around us, how could we go anywhere else?

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Wisdom for a Not-Yet-Broken World

The Rev. John Wakefield

Aug 188 min read

Wisdom for a Not-Yet-Broken World

When we look for wisdom as Solomon did and as Paul asks us to do, we *already* have access to it: God’s own life made flesh in Jesus.

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The Available, Sustaining Bread of Life

The Rev. John Wakefield

Aug 117 min read

The Available, Sustaining Bread of Life

The bread of life that will sustain them and fundamentally change their lives is available to them now, just as it is to us today.

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Our Baptismal Call to Do God's Work

Janet MacKenzie

Aug 45 min read

Our Baptismal Call to Do God's Work

What we do here as a community enables us to follow our baptismal ministries out of private prayer, into community, and then into the world.

32 views0 comments

To What Are We Winning Them?

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jul 288 min read

To What Are We Winning Them?

The people were excited and amazed, I believe, by Jesus’s abundant, unexplainable, miraculous generosity in the face of apparent scarcity.

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Let’s Experiment with Resting in God

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jul 217 min read

Let’s Experiment with Resting in God

The disciples needed time to be bored, to not be overstimulated, to sit in silence. They needed time to be with their God. And we do too.

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The Kingdom or Our Own Way

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jul 147 min read

The Kingdom or Our Own Way

I ask you to choose the Kingdom offered by a loving God who came and died and longs to set us free from the way of violence, sin, and death.

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The Unbelievable, Paradoxical Power of Jesus

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jul 78 min read

The Unbelievable, Paradoxical Power of Jesus

It is my prayer for all of us here this morning that we take very seriously the Christian understanding of power modeled for us in Jesus.

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Love Lived Out: Doing the Dishes

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jun 307 min read

Love Lived Out: Doing the Dishes

Doing the dishes means living out our love so that it is not just something that we believe in our heads but something we actually do.

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Faith in the Face of our Fears

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jun 237 min read

Faith in the Face of our Fears

When we embrace faith in the face of our fears, we open the door for Jesus to use us as he would, to live into the kingdom of heaven today.

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The Love of Christ Urges Us On

The Rev. John Wakefield

Jun 177 min read

The Love of Christ Urges Us On

“For the love of Christ urges us on,” Paul writes... this love is what makes us do what we do.

67 views0 comments

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