Sermons from Saint John’s

Sunday sermons from St. John’s Episcopal Church, a growing, vibrant, inclusive community in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Sermons from Saint John’s is a religion podcast hosted by Saint John’s Episcopal Church, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Saint John’s Episcopal Church hosts Sermons from Saint John’s, a religion show with 100 episodes published.

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  Sermons from Saint John’s

  Vulnerability

  Aug 16, 2026—

  Just before I left for vacation, movie theaters around the world began showing the epic action fantasy film The Odyssey. Has anyone seen it? I haven’t. And in fact, I forgot my copy of The Odyssey at home, so I didn’t even read any Homer on the beach. But I did read an adaptation that I hadn’t read before: a novel by Natalie Haynes entitled A Thousand Ships, a re-telling of the stories of the Trojan War from the perspectives of the women involved. It’s a great book, a powerful reminder of the horrors that lurk behind these stories of war. And it reminded me of one of the ironies of epic tales: the heroes involved are often physically very strong and emotionally very fragile. Most of the first half of the Iliad consists of Achilles pouting over a slight; I don’t want to spoil the ending of The Odyssey for anyone who hasn’t found time to read it in the last 3000 years, but I can’t help but think that it would’ve ended a little differently if Odysseus could gather up the courage to talk to his wife. The ultimate Homeric hero is Achilles, who is almost entirely invulnerable; but the “almost” makes all the difference. He’s almost completely safe from harm, but can be killed by an arrow to the heel; he’s completely unmoved by the victims of his violence, but his world is completely shattered by the death of his best friend. For all his invulnerability, he’s a very vulnerable man. The Bible has its own fragile heroes of this kind. But its central stories are different; they’re stories in which vulnerability itself is the source of strength.

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  Sermons from Saint John’s

  While You Wait

  Jul 19, 20269 min

  So I have to admit: I don’t really like traveling. I might even say I really don’t like traveling, especially by plane. My problem with travel is not the being-in-a-new-place. It’s the uncertainty and the waiting that drive me nuts. I wait anxiously before a trip, worrying that the worst could happen. And then I spend my time away worrying about the trip home. And then I return home safe and sound. And I wonder: wait, would I have enjoyed this more if I’d known in advance that none of the things I worried about were going to happen? (None of them have ever happened, by the way. Maybe one day, I’ll learn.)

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  Sermons from Saint John’s

  The Sower and the Soil

  Jul 12, 202610 min

  In the next two weeks, we’ll hear two stories on two Sundays about sowing seeds. Anyone who’s ever seen me in a garden knows that I am not at all qualified to speak about seeds, although I’m very good at killing houseplants. But then again, Jesus was a carpenter and his disciples were mostly fishermen. And let’s be honest: it’s another warm summer day, and the Parable of the Sower doesn’t really need much explanation, does it? It’s a famous parable, one that’s well-known (and tame) enough that it even appears in our Sunday School curricula. And it’s a pretty simple story. A sower goes out to sow seeds. Some fall on the path, where the birds eat them up. Some fall on rocky ground, and spring up quickly, but they don’t last. Some are choked out by the weeds. But some fall on good soil and bring forth grain. (Matthew 13:1-9) The story is straightforward enough. But as with any parable, the meaning isn’t obvious.

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  Sermons from Saint John’s

  I Do Not Do What I Want

  Jul 5, 2026—

  An Emerson College poll last year revealed a surprising paradox about news consumption in America: social media is the least-widely-trusted and most-widely-used source for information about the news. More than half of Americans reported that they put “not much trust” or “no trust at all” in the information they received from social media sites; even so, nearly 40% said that social media or YouTube were their main sources of news. Some would say that this is an example of what economists call “revealed preferences”; the idea there’s a difference between what consumers say they prefer and the preferences that are revealed by their actual purchases. Or you might think that there are two kinds of people: the ones who distrust social media, and the ones who get news from it. But I don’t think either of these is right. Like many people, I’m in both categories. I really would prefer to do what my wife Alice does, and get all my news from long-form journalism and 19th-century novels. And yet “I find it to be a law that when I want to [read The Atlantic online], [Facebook] lies close at hand.” (cf. Romans 7:21) Again and again, fifteen minutes into scrolling through posts that alternately baffle and enrage me, I realize I’m that I’m just like Paul: “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15)

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  Sermons from Saint John’s

  Bad Father’s Day

  Jun 21, 202612 min

  I generally avoid making a big deal out of certain days that are widely celebrated in the world around us but aren’t Christian “holy days.” I don’t give a “Mother’s Day sermon.” There are no special prayers for Father’s Day. And that’s really because, while there are many people celebrating these days, many people find them hard; I’ve known more than a few people who avoid going to church on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day entirely: because they never wanted to be parents, and don’t want a whole morning about how great parents are; or because they do want to be parents, but aren’t; because their own parents were not loving figures in their lives; or because they were, and they wish they were still here. Ordinarily, I’d say a quiet “Happy Father’s Day” to a few of the dads after church, and that would be all. Unfortunately, our readings today are a little on the nose. So we will be talking about parents and their children. And so I’d like to begin with a greeting that’s appropriate to the spirit of our religious observances today, and wish a Happy Bad Father’s Day to you all.

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