Sermons

November 26, 2023

[Our service this Sunday was memorial for our friend, member and Steward, Vince Shepherd. Below is a biography of Vince followed by Trish Nemore’s eulogy.]

Vincent Juarez Shepherd – Biography

Vincent Juarez Shepherd was born September 20, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois, where he remained as a young adult, working at Bankers Life and Casualty. He moved to San Diego, California, in the early 2000s, then came to Washington, DC. Here Vince worked as a cook at Charlie’s Place, a feeding program for the homeless out of Saint Margaret’s church in DC, then in the kitchen of the Hebrew Home in Rockville, Maryland.…

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Twenty-fifth Sunday After Pentecost

November 19, 2023

When I signed up to preach this Sunday, I had a sermon in mind that didn’t connect directly with any of the readings.  I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to say, and so I didn’t start to think about it until maybe a week ago.  That was when I discovered that my original topic no longer interested me, and I didn’t have anything worth saying about it.

          Up to that point, I hadn’t even read the lectionary.  So when I did, I found the passage from Judges, concerning some ancient quarrels that I had no stake in; the passage from Thessalonians, whose author has the rather sweet belief that drunks only get drunk at night; and .…

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Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost

November 12, 2023

Today I’d like to talk with you about Holiness. I know this may conjure up all kinds of memories and perspectives. But it’s a concept that’s been bouncing around in my brain for a while now. And then it bounced really hard when, several weeks ago, John Morris shared of his dislike and maybe embarrassment of the word “Christian.” Before we get it into that I’d like to draw your attention to a poem. It’s a poem speaking of her frustrations of reducing God to fit into a particular framework and ideology and challenging a soul to experience the Divine in all aspects of life.…

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Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost

November, 5, 2023

Text: Matthew 5:1-12

Today we celebrate all the saints who have gone before us – people who have shown us the way to be truly human – living God’s intention for human life. I say that because the root word for salvation is salvus, which means wholeness or completeness. Saints are people who were truly alive! Juicy! Compassionate and connected to something larger than themselves! Have you known any saints?

As Christians, we honor Jesus as the primary example of God’s intention for human life, but in each generation, there have been people who show us the way, guide us toward wholeness, and make a significant contribution to being a living, breathing Body of Christ in every generation.…

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Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost

October 29, 2023

When I signed up to preach today, I did not check what the lectionary passages were. I simply had been struck by a message that I needed to share and this was the first Sunday that was open. Frankly, I am not sure I would have had the gall on my own to pick the Sunday with the Greatest Commandment and the Second Like it. Yet, the message that has been in my heart fits.

I will confess I will be holding up a challenge which I do not always follow myself. Not through lack of effort, but that my energy and focus and will do not always align with the commandment.…

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