Recordings of recent sermons can be found on our YouTube channel. Click here, then fast forward to the sermon part of any Sunday service video!
Christmas Eve sermon, 12/24/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The Lord became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We do not boast of ourselves, but witness to God’s glory, that glad tidings went to shepherds, who brought them into Bethlehem.
12/21/2014 Fourth Sunday of Advent sermon by the Rev. David Andrews. Even though Christmas is only a few days away, take a moment to reflect on the idea that God became human and dwealt among us.
12/14/2014 Third Sunday of Advent sermon by the Rev. David Andrews. The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally a time to talk about our joy. With the recent death of one of our active members, Dr. Kitty Esterly, and hearing our city called “Murder Town USA”, talking about our joy as Christians is a bit difficult.
12/07/2014 Second Sunday of Advent sermon by the Rev. David Andrews. The prophet Isaiah cried out to God’s people in exile, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” Centuries later, John the Baptizer cried out to the people, “Repent and be baptized.” Even now, two millenia later, many are crying out. God’s messengers are among them.
11/30/2014 First Sunday of Advent sermon by the Rev. David Andrews. Keep awake! To see what is here, you must be present in this place, this hour, with a grateful heart. Our challenge is to love the world as it is, other people as they are, even ourselves as we are, not ignoring the heart-rending distance between what is and what could be.
SEASON OF CREATION SERMONS, 2014
Learn more about the Season of Creation at SsAM.
11/23/2014 Season of Creation Sermon: “Christ the King Sunday” by our Rector Emeritus, the Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson. Let us stand in awe before the unfathomable magnificent mystery of creation. Let us read again James Weldon Johnson’s poem, “The Creation”. Let us hear what the Vietnamese Buddhist poet Thích Nhất Hạnh says about the Eucharist.
11/16/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “Stewardship Sunday” by the Rev. David Andrews. Stewardship is simple: care for what you love, what you have been given. At SsAM, this is not an annual Beg-A-Thon. We don’t say, “Give Until It Hurts”. Instead, reflect appreciatively on what you have been given by God and what you can return.
11/9/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “World Peace Sunday” by Rosita “Mike” Abel, Peace Activist with the Delaware Churches for Middle-East Peace and DNATO: Delaware Neighbors Against The Occupation. She describes what needs to be done to bring peace to Palestine and Israel..
11/2/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “Celebration of All Saints” by Joe Hickey, Executive Director, St. Patrick’s Place. The reality of poverty in Wilmington, Delaware, is that those providing help to the poor are often the poor themselves. These are some of the saints among us.
10/26/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “The Human Family” by Eunice LaFate, artist, educator, and storyteller. Ms. LaFate talks about The Human Family by comparing it to her own family of seven sisters and two brothers. Her family’s hospitality and unity was challenged when one sister returned to Jamaica with her fiancee, a white Englishman.
10/19/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “Mother Earth” by Chad Tolman of the Climate Change Task Force. The greatest moral and ethical challenge of our generation is to live sustainably and to advocate for environmental justice, that the poor not suffer what our abundance has wasted, that the earth not suffer because we were indifferent and careless. WRITTEN SERMON: Click here to see the sermon text.
10/12/2014 SEASON OF CREATION SERMON “In the Beginning” by the Rev. David Andrews. An introduction to the Season of Creation, seven weeks in which we explore our stewardship of this church, our community, our country, and our planet, beginning with a reflection on the Christian creation stories. NOTE: This recording begins with the Drumming Circle, Adult Choir, and organ performing their impression of creation, which then blends into the sermon. If you prefer to skip these sonic theatrics at the beginning, jump to the sermon 3:30 minutes into the recording.
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10/5/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The Earth is hot! The Earth is on fire! We are the fire department. It is up to us to cool society as well as the climate. We don’t have all the answers. We will make mistakes, but we are going to try anyway.
9/28/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. In the old testament, Moses for the first time shares his leadership with others. To be a good leader is to serve others, to be humble, not proud, yet at the same time not to be taken advantage of by others but, having listened, bring others to agree to the best way forward.
9/14/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. If our lives are infused with God’s love and grace, then love and grace, not judgement, goes out from us, through us, from the Holy Spirit abiding in us.
9/7/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. In a world wired to speed communications, we can become hostage to our electronic devices, to the latest call, the newest tweet. We can choose to do otherwise. Instead of jumping to respond, we can be thoughtful in our response, even prayerful.
8/31/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Let us pray through to the end of whatever challenge confronts us. Let us be disciplined in our prayer, not just praying when we first recognize our limitations to meet the trials of our lives, but praying consistently, so to abide in God’s mercy and joy.
8/24/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Let us stand with the people who suffer, just as we have suffered. Let us remind the world of the story from Genesis to the present of God’s love for the world, even us.
8/17/2014 by a visiting preacher, the Rev. Deirdre Whitfield. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. Will God then deny us a spark of grace, enough to light up our world? READING: Matthew 15:10-28
8/10/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The Book of Genesis is full of sex, lies, war, murder, and betrayal; stories unfit for reality TV but stories very much real and with us still today. Yet, in spite of all our human frailty, God was with us then and is with us today, calling us, asking us to do the difficult work of turning around, turning toward heaven.
8/3/2014 by a visiting preacher, the Rev. Margaret Pumphrey.
Jesus first says, “You give them something to eat.” Then Jesus takes what we have and turns it into abundance. Even in our brokenness, we have something to share with each other. God creates abundance. God makes us whole.
7/27/2014 by a visiting preacher, the Rev. Deirdre Whitfield. As you are able and God’s grace allows, keep yourself in a “Kingdom of Heaven” state of mind. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be found, not only after death, but also in the here and now. Heaven’s boundaries extend to earth, even to Wilmington, Delaware.
7/20/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. In hope we are saved. We hope for what we have not seen. We wait for it with patience. Often, waiting is difficult.
7/13/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The other six days of the week, who is God calling us to be? We move forward in faith, but that doesn’t stop us from hitting a wall. Faith lets us turn around and retrace our steps, letting us look again for the right way without giving up hope, accepting the dead ends as normal, progress as a gift.
HYMN #333 “Now The Silence, Now The Peace” [A recording from within the congregation, without a choir.]
7/6/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The journey from birth to death is not linear but full of stops and starts, ebbs and flows, mountains and valleys. Every stage is an opportunity for gratitude or disappointment. May we always find good reason for gratitude, to give thanks from the heart for what God has given us.
6/29/2014 sermon by the Rev. Peter Huiner on Psalm 46. Fr. Huiner thought carefully about preaching on the Bible readings assigned for this Sunday (the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost), but he preached instead on Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength…”
6/22/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. As Christians, we don’t need to harmonize certainty and mystery. There can be tension in the music of our faith, like the way unlikely musical motifs can wrestle with each other in invigorating ways in a jazz improvisation. In this, the Rev. Rod Welles was a role model for us.
6/15/2014, Trinity Sunday & Annual Meeting Sermon, by the Rev. David Andrews. We shall be always learning and renewing.
6/8/2014, Pentecost Sunday, by the Rev. David Andrews. The Spirit of God is among us, blowing where it will. We cannot stay behind closed doors, with our windows covered. The Spirit calls us to venture beyond our walls, beyond our comfort zones.
6/1/2014 by the Rt. Rev. Wayne Wright, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. You have been fed by Jesus. Share what you have been fed.
5/25/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Let us seek stability in the face of life’s changes including daily prayer and, on Sundays, gathering to worship God together. Let us continue to be obedient to God by taking time to listen.
5/18/2014 sermon by the Rev. Peter Huiner on John 14:1-14. Easter isn’t over, it’s barely begun!
Mother’s Day Sermon, 5/11/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. We are all called upon to be mothers to the children around us, to be shepherds to the sheep. And, since we are sheep, we should listen to the voice of The Shepherd.
Sermon, 5/4/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. In the middle of all the pain of life, we say life is good. In the face of death, we look beyond the moment to Easter, to Love’s victory.
4/27/2014 by a visiting preacher, the Rev. Deirdre Whitfield. who begins by singing a gospel hymn, “I Woke Up This Morning”, and goes on to preach about the days after that first Easter, about those who saw the risen Jesus and those who did not yet believed.
Easter Sunday Sermon, 4/20/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. The cross is not the end of the story. It continues in hope and faith, in trust of God’s redemption.
Maunday Sermon, 4/17/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Easter gives us a new sense of sacrifice, of what it means to give up our cherished ideas and go with God.
Palm Sunday Sermon, 4/13/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Jesus was dangerous, a threat to the status quo, and so he was crucified. Dangerous as Jesus is, let us walk with him.
Sermon, 4/6/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. When a loved one dies, what then will we think of God and our fellow Christians? Before the sermon begins, we hear the last verse of “Hush, Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name.”
Sermon, 3/30/2014 by a visiting preacher, the Rev. Deirdre Whitfield. In matters of the heart, God sees, and loves what is seen. Praise, worship, and thanksgiving may be our most important tasks. Let us not be blind to God’s purpose in our lives.
Sermon, 3/23/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Each of us has a spiritual geography, a map that charts of journey of faith and doubt, crowded streets and empty alleys, from birth to death. This recording begins with a long reading from the Bible, John 4:5–42.
Sermon, 3/16/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Late in life, Abraham was called to go to a new country. My mother, a Yankee, felt herself late in life to be called to moved to South Carolina. Old and young, our church is called to renewal, as are you and I.
Sermon, 3/9/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. We are precious in God’s sight and loved as God’s own children. We are co-creators with God and stewards of God’s creation.
Ash Wednesday Sermon, 3/5/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Not a Sunday sermon, but Fr. David’s message from the 7:30 p.m. Ash Wednesday service, encouraging us to make these 40 days a time of renewal, a time to reconnect with our love of God and one another.
Sermon, 3/2/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Jesus climbs the mountain with his disciples and is glorified. Soon thereafter he climbs Mount Calvary, carrying a cross. Life lifts us up and beats us down, even those of us with faith. May our hope never fail!
Sermon, 2/23/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Every Sunday we remember Christ’s words and acts at his last meal, his sharing of bread and wine with his disciples. Too often we remember past wrongs, wrongs against us or our people. Too often we remember disappointment in ourselves, in other people, and in institutions. Let us remember that we are Christ’s body.
Sermon, 2/16/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Let us live beyond ourselves, toward God, in community, not only on the surface but clean through, beyond gossip and complaint, allowing for differences and growth, increasing in respect for one another and the community we share.
Sermon, 2/9/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. How can we add flavor to the world when we are pre-occupied with life’s challenges? God, make us spicy!
Sermon, 2/2/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Our church must be a place where people are challenged as well as comforted; where people hold themselves accountable as well as forgive themselves; where people seek God’s purifying grace.
Sermon, 1/26/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. “Spiritually, we travel to valleys as well as mountaintops. What shall we carry? Shall we drop everything to follow Jesus?
Sermon, 1/19/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. “I’m so happy I didn’t sneeze.” These words, from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. are not his most quoted.
Sermon, 1/12/2014 by the Rev. David Andrews. Today we baptize four new Christians and promise to do all in our power to support them in their journeys of faith.
