Sermons from St. George's

Sermon from Holy Saturday on 4/11/2020.

Sermon from Good Friday on 4/10/2020.

From the Maundy Thursday service on 4/9/2020.

We must not abandon ourselves to the great lie that our actions, however limited, are futile. Sermon from the Palm Sunday service online at 10:00am on 4/5/2020.

Sermon from the 10:00am online service on 3/29/2020 by the Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee.

Though we pray to avoid it, often a crisis serves as a medium of grace, the means through which - in bad things happening - people nevertheless begin to recover their sight. Sermon from the 10:00am service on 3/22/2020.

The last two weeks have left us feeling powerless. With the coronavirus and the tornado it is clear that we are not in absolute control of our lives. During these times we must remember that God is faithful and reliable. He is with us and will meet our needs. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 3/15/20.

Jesus unveils the woman at the well and we see vulnerability; Jesus unveils himself and we see God. Sermon from The Table on 3/15/2020.

Sermon from the 8:45am service on 3/8/2020. Our lives do not hang together by our own creative wills, nor do they expand outward into some cosmic chaos, But they take on the very shape of God’s pursuit of his beloved.

Sermon from The Table on 3/8/2020. The central truth of Christianity is that humans must be born again to connect back with God in the spirit and to be able to enter God's kingdom after death. God's Spirit must come into a willing person's heart, through total repentance, surrender and by personal invitation to make that person born again, or a child of God. That is how eternal life, which is the life and nature of God, is introduced from God via his Spirit into a person, and the person automatically becomes totally transformed from a regular-helpless sinner, into a saved-Godly practitioner. Only when that happens to a person can that person be qualified to enter the kingdom of God, says Jesus to Nicodemus. Each of us must come to Christ for this, by ourselves. (John 3:4-10, 16-17)

On this Sunday we read the story of “The Fall” found in Genesis. Whatever else it may signify, this story speaks of our failure to accept the world as a gift from God. In this sermon we examine our reluctance to give thanks and how God calls us back into relationship with Him. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 3/1/2020.

Sermon from The Table on 3/1/2020.

Sermon from Ash Wednesday, 2/26/2020.

In this disenchanted world that has largely forgotten even to ask the God questions, we may discover in the most mundane moments, the most ordinary interactions, a ray of bright light piercing the cloud of our unknowing with something that actually can be known: the incandescent aliveness of God both near and mysterious who knows and loves us. From the 8:45am service on 2/23/2020, the last Sunday of Epiphany.

Because of Jesus you can stand in the presence of God. From The Table on 2/23/2020, the last Sunday of Epiphany.

The Sermon on the Mount is not a list of requirements. It is a vision of Jesus. Sermon from The Table on 2/16/2020.

It is the human condition to be restless—to long and search for something to assuage that unmet desire. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 2/16/2020.

We welcome the Rev. Dr. Mark Clavier, Residentiary Canon of Brecon Cathedral in Wales and featured expert in Bloomsbury’s Reading Augustine series. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 2/9/2020.

Christian wisdom is grounded in seeing the cross for what it truly is: the power of God. Sermon from The Table on 2/9/2020.

There is a light at the center of reality who is Jesus the Christ, dedicated and lifted high to God in his dedication to coming low to us, wherein our hearts – with Mary’s, with God’s, with his – are pierced but our lives saved, our futures secured. Sermon from the 11:15am service on 2/2/2020.

Sermon from The Table on 2/2/2020.

Maybe it’s hard to see your life with Jesus as more than a self-contained part of life, like a country touching but not crossing the borders of all the other realms of your life. Sermon from The Table on 1/26/2020.

Jesus tells us that if we follow him, he will make us fish for people. What does it mean to fish for people? Sermon from the 8:45am service on 1/26/2020.

Sermon from the 11:15am service on 1/19/20.

Sermon from 1/19/20 at The Table.

Sermon from The Table on 1/12/20. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and baptized into the body—the church—that belongs to him.

Sermon from the 8:45am service given by our guest preacher, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Wandera from the Anglican Diocese of Mumias, Kenya. Holding a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Cape Town, Bishop Wandera taught for several years at St. Paul's University, Limuru, Kenya, a leading ecumenical university. In addition to teaching courses in Religious Studies and Mission, he also co-founded and coordinated the Centre for Christian Muslim Relations in Eastleigh (CCMRE).

St. Paul says that God has an inheritance. Something described as glorious and rich that he will receive in the future. What is the inheritance of God? Sermon from The Table on 1/5/2020.

If we have eyes to see, we might imagine all of Scripture not as a law court where God stands as an aloof and detached judge, but as the story of a family court that finds us justified in Christ our new brother as we are given a new Father, a new Spirit in our hearts, and yes, even a new mother, Mary, the new Eve. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 1/5/2020.

Sermon from the 8:45am service on 12/29/19.

In the beginning was the Word ... and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and lived among us ... But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born ... of God. On Christmas we celebrate Christ who became human to save us from sin, Satan and hell. By becoming human, he made it possible for humans to become divine (gods - Psalm 82:6; John 10:34) through him. Those who receive him and believe in his name are born of God (John 1:12-13). It's time to see ourselves as we are - sons and daughters of God. (1 John 3:2, 17b). Let's rise up in our spirit and live with confidence and strength, to defeat Satan and conquer in every trial, temptation, test and struggle, through praying and believing firmly in what the WORD (scriptures) says we are. Sermon from The Table on 12/29/19.

What power usurped Caesar’s? We worship tonight, remembering not only how it happened but where it happened… and where it might be happening still. Sermon from the service on 12/24/19 at 10:00pm.

Joseph is representative of this truth: “God with us” means life disrupted for us. Conversely, “God without us” means life as you please, perhaps even a normal-seeming life, but not a life that really is LIFE. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 12/23/19.

Jesus is both the sun that nourishes the vineyard and he himself is the vine that we can abide in. Sermon from The Table on 12/22/19.

In the very place and at the very time that nothing is possible—when it seems we have arrived at a complete dead end, God’s salvation provides a way of life that is characterized by extraordinary beauty and joy. Sermon from the 11:15am service on 12/15/19.

When Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, she sings the Magnificat, a song of praise which promises a radical reversal of fortune. (Luke 1:46-55) Sermon from The Table on 12/15/19.

The reality of life is that we will all prepare for something: we’ll prepare for a marathon; we’ll prepare for a date or a meeting; we’ll prepare for our loved ones arriving. The Question posed to us by Advent and by John the Baptist is, will we — in hope-filled anticipation — prepare our hearts for God’s arrival? Sermon from The Table on 12/8/19.

Bishop Allen completed his undergraduate degree in Theology from the School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee. He was awarded a Master’s Degree in Theology and the Doctorate of Divinity from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 and to the episcopate in 2001. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 12/8/19.

To be Advent people is to cast our weary eyes out for signs that in spite of our world being terribly amiss, the Lord reigns, is not absent, does not leave his subjects without resources to live fully abundant lives, and does not leave us orphaned to the future. He comes. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 12/1/19.

Sermon from 12/1/19 at The Table.

Jesus tells the criminal on the Cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” He doesn’t say, “Tomorrow you will be with in Paradise.” He says, “Today.” Sermon from the 11:15am service on 11/24/19.

The only way our lives will be renewed, and we will be preserved from inflicting the ways of violence and death on others, is by realizing and surrendering to the fact that Christ the King has pinned down death and has made it, ‘Say Uncle.'" Sermon from The Table on 11/24/19.

The Lord God says, “I am about to create…” These are the five most powerful words in reality. Sermon from The Table on 11/17/19.

Our purpose is to cause people to give glory to God. It’s a relay position. Sermon from 11/17/19 at the 8:45am service.

When Jesus walks into Jerusalem and finds rubble, he proves that God will complete his work. Jesus himself becomes the link that enables Israel to pass death on to life. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 11/10/19.

"When Haggai spoke from the Lord he shook things up in Jerusalem... challenging us also to consider what are our Christian priorities. Has being a disciple slipped down the list?" Sermon from The Table on 11/10/19.

I am more and more convinced the future of the church will need to characterized by a posture of humility and hospitality, mercy and service, rather than a defensive posture protective of what we have for fear of losing it. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 11/1/19, All Saints' Sunday.

When we see how heaven breaks into our present activity, then we are like the Saints, whose work on earth are so united to God’s purpose that they are acts of praise. And I believe that when the Church has understood this, it has been a source of cultural renewal on every level. Sermon from The Table on 11/3/19.

We are never more human than when we make our humble way before God with nothing to offer except our need for righteousness only Christ can give. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 10/27/19.

Life is full of requirements. You apply for college, there is a list of requirements. You put your name in for a new job, there are requirements you must meet. According to Jesus, this is true of God’s Kingdom. So…who qualifies for the Kingdom of God. Sermon from The Table on 10/27/19.