Faith – SSJE - Podcast Details

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Faith – SSJEGrace Continues – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Matthew 11:20-26 When saying, teaching, and showing the same thing over and over, it’s frustrating when your children, students, friends, or audience don’t listen or understand or respond or rise to the invitation. It’s hard to be ignored and misunderstood. Jesus knows that firsthand. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, introduced Jesus to the crowds and baptized him. But lingering in prison and not seeing expected change, John doubted. John asked: “Are you really the Messiah or should we wait for another?” Jesus replied: Yes, I’m doing...2025-07-1607 min

SSJE SermonsGrace Continues – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Matthew 11:20-26 When saying, teaching, and showing the same thing over and over, it’s frustrating when your children, students, friends, or audience don’t listen or understand or respond or rise to the invitation. It’s hard to be ignored and misunderstood. Jesus knows that firsthand. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, introduced Jesus to the crowds and baptized him. But lingering in prison and not seeing expected change, John doubted. John asked: “Are you really the Messiah or should we wait for another?” Jesus replied: Yes, I’m doing...2025-07-1607 min

SSJEGrace Continues – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Matthew 11:20-26 When saying, teaching, and showing the same thing over and over, it’s frustrating when your children, students, friends, or audience don’t listen or understand or respond or rise to the invitation. It’s hard to be ignored and misunderstood. Jesus knows that firsthand. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, introduced Jesus to the crowds and baptized him. But lingering in prison and not seeing expected change, John doubted. John asked: “Are you really the Messiah or should we wait for another?” Jesus replied: Yes, I’m doing...2025-07-1607 min

SSJE SermonsWon’t You Be My Neighbor? – Br. Jamie NelsonBr. Jamie Nelson Luke 10:25-37 Who here remembers watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? For those who need a refresher, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a children’s television show that aired from 1968 to 2001. Mr. Rogers, the titular character, was a silver haired man with a gentle smile. Each episode began with him welcoming viewers into his home, then removing a businesslike suit jacket and putting on a comfortable handknit cardigan while singing the show’s theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The lyrics go like this: It’s a beautiful day in...2025-07-1311 min

SSJEWon’t You Be My Neighbor? – Br. Jamie NelsonBr. Jamie Nelson Luke 10:25-37 Who here remembers watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? For those who need a refresher, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a children’s television show that aired from 1968 to 2001. Mr. Rogers, the titular character, was a silver haired man with a gentle smile. Each episode began with him welcoming viewers into his home, then removing a businesslike suit jacket and putting on a comfortable handknit cardigan while singing the show’s theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The lyrics go like this: It’s a beautiful day in...2025-07-1311 min

Faith – SSJEStriving with Angels – Br. Keith Nelson Genesis 32:22-32 One of my favorite contemporary poems is “The House of Belonging,” by David Whyte. The speaker in the poem awakens one morning and ponders a series of truths in the quiet of the house he calls home – the home he has made as an adult. Here are the closing words: This is the temple of my adult aloneness and I belong to that aloneness as I belong to my life. There is no house like the house of belonging. It’s clear that the...2025-07-0909 min

SSJEThe Stories of Our Lives – Br. Jack CrowleyBr. Jack Crowley The Nativity of St. John the Baptist Luke 1:57-80 So much happens before we are even born. I know that’s quite an understatement, but it’s true. So much happens before we are even born. No one is born into a blank story. We are born into ongoing stories that are well under way by the time we take our first breath. These are the stories of our parents, the stories of our ancestors, and the stories of the age we live in. We are born into a st...2025-06-2508 min

SSJE SermonsEmbodied Grace – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Saint Barnabas the Apostle Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus named Joseph. He was living in Jerusalem when he joined the follower of Jesus. The apostles give him the name Barnabas which means son of encouragement. He sold a field of his and gave the money to the apostles to help provide for the community. Barnabas encouraged and provided for the poor financially, possibly sacrificially, as well as how he led relationally. After Saul saw Jesus on the Damascus road, Barnabas introduced him to the...2025-06-1108 min

SSJEEmbodied Grace – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Saint Barnabas the Apostle Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus named Joseph. He was living in Jerusalem when he joined the follower of Jesus. The apostles give him the name Barnabas which means son of encouragement. He sold a field of his and gave the money to the apostles to help provide for the community. Barnabas encouraged and provided for the poor financially, possibly sacrificially, as well as how he led relationally. After Saul saw Jesus on the Damascus road, Barnabas introduced him to the...2025-06-1108 min

SSJEThe Counsel of the Lord – Br. Jack CrowleyBr. Jack Crowley Psalm 16:5-11 In any journey of faith, there is always the question of what it looks like to ask God for help. Asking God for help comes in many forms. We are all familiar with foxhole prayers. Prayers asking for help in times of overwhelming stress. There are also the day-to-day prayers of people asking God for help to just function. Other times, we approach God with a problem we think of as so complicated that no one else would ever understand. It’s with that spirit of looking for he...2025-06-0504 min

Faith – SSJEThe Counsel of the Lord – Br. Jack CrowleyBr. Jack Crowley Psalm 16:5-11 In any journey of faith, there is always the question of what it looks like to ask God for help. Asking God for help comes in many forms. We are all familiar with foxhole prayers. Prayers asking for help in times of overwhelming stress. There are also the day-to-day prayers of people asking God for help to just function. Other times, we approach God with a problem we think of as so complicated that no one else would ever understand. It’s with that spirit of looking for he...2025-06-0504 min

SSJE SermonsThe Counsel of the Lord – Br. Jack CrowleyBr. Jack Crowley Psalm 16:5-11 In any journey of faith, there is always the question of what it looks like to ask God for help. Asking God for help comes in many forms. We are all familiar with foxhole prayers. Prayers asking for help in times of overwhelming stress. There are also the day-to-day prayers of people asking God for help to just function. Other times, we approach God with a problem we think of as so complicated that no one else would ever understand. It’s with that spirit of looking for he...2025-06-0504 min

Faith – SSJEGod Is Still at Work – Br. Jamie NelsonBr. Jamie Nelson Acts 18:1-8 In today’s reading from the Book of Acts, we hear a story about a time when the Apostle Paul faced disappointment and seeming failure in his work spreading the gospel, yet that failure wasn’t the last word for God. We hear the story of Paul’s arrival in Corinth, a Greek city where people of many cultures, languages, and religions passed through or made the city their home. Some of those people were Jewish refugees who had recently been expelled from their homes in Rome d...2025-05-3005 min

Faith To Go PodcastEverybody Gets Fed • Lent 4 with Simeon BruceHow does this week’s Gospel challenge us to act? Charlette is joined by Simeon Bruce, Director of Communications with St. Andrew’s in Encinitas, to reflect on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 and share practical ways to embody the message of welcome and abundance in our communities and personal lives. Be inspired to take your faith to go!Learn more about Simeon’s ministries below.St. Andrew’s Episcopal Churchhttps://www.standrewsepiscopal.orgSaint Lawrence Episcopal Churchhttps://stlawrencechurch.org/homeSt. Igna...2025-03-2425 min

Faith – SSJEFinding meaning in our flight into Egypt – Br. Jack CrowleyMatthew 2:13-15, 19-23 Well good morning and Happy New Year! Thank you for braving the cold and joining us. I know for me, at some point a little after New Year’s, I start to say to myself…I think I’m ready for spring. Even this New England boy has his limits. Our Gospel this morning featured the Holy Family’s great flight into Egypt. Now I must confess that this is a story I don’t think about too often. During Christmastide, I prefer to think about warm, cozy manger scenes. Yet there is somethi...2025-01-0511 min

Faith – SSJEGod’s Purpose for Us is Joy – Br. Keith NelsonLuke 2:1-20 The only shepherd I have ever met outside the pages of Scripture is a Navajo elder with a heart on fire for Jesus. I’ll call him Edward. At the end of six weeks of crosscultural ministry with Navajo Episcopalians last summer, my supervisor invited me to spend several days helping Edward tend the sheep on her family sheep-camp. I spent time in a hogan, a traditional, eight-sided, dirt-floor dwelling reserved for ceremonies. In the sweltering heat of midday and early afternoon, I sat in silence, listened to the creatures around me, prayed, an...2024-12-2416 min

Faith – SSJEAnnouncing Trust – Br. Lain WilsonLuke 1:26-38 Our reading this morning is familiar, and not just because the Annunciation is such a beloved story. It’s familiar, because we heard a lot of the same story beats, and even words, yesterday, in Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, which directly precedes it in Luke’s gospel. We are meant to hold the details, and differences, of these two stories in mind. I am struck, this morning, by how differently Gabriel responds to questions about his revelations. Gabriel renders Zechariah mute for questioning God’s power. A miraculous, late-in-life pregnancy? You shou...2024-12-2005 min

Faith – SSJESeeing New Life – Br. Jamie NelsonBr. Jamie Nelson, SSJE Matthew 9:27-31 Can you imagine what Jesus’s Curriculum Vitae might look like? What speaking engagements, teaching series, events, & mission statement might be included on his CV? Let’s imagine what it might look like based on today’s gospel passage, and rest of the stories in the ninth chapter of Matthew’s gospel. In Chapter Nine, Jesus’s mission statement is clear: to heal the sick, offer forgiveness to sinners, and bring Good News of the Kingdom of God to God’s people. So, what’s liste...2024-12-0603 min

Faith – SSJEExpansive Hope – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Luke 21:5-9 “All this will be thrown down.” The temple, a monumental building, glorious and beautiful fall. The prized, central, historic place of worshipping God. The temple is not God, and it will not last. People respond not surprised or upset but asking: When? Jesus replied: Don’t be led astray. Some will come saying they are the One. They will say the end is near. Don’t follow them. And “Do not be terrified.” There will be wars and insurrections, but these don’t mean the end is soon. Grieving loss...2024-11-2706 min

Faith – SSJEThe Ultimate Worth of Life – Br. Curtis AlmquistBr. Curtis Almquist Psalm 146:4-9 Luke 12:32-34 In the calendar of the church we remember today a medieval princess named Elizabeth, born in year 1207 into immeasurable privilege as the daughter of the King of Hungary. At age 14 she happily wed a German nobleman, Ludwig. Meanwhile the poor surrounded her on every side, especially because of a famine and epidemic that had ravaged the population in 1226. Elizabeth was smitten by the endless needs. With her husband’s blessing, she built a hospital, then gave away her dowry, crown, jewels, and royal attire all for the re...2024-11-2007 min

Church Year – SSJEMarking Time – Br. Lain WilsonAll Souls: All the Faithful Departed Wisdom 3:1-9 When I was ten years old, we gave my grandmother a calendar with family pictures. I think that’s a fairly standard Christmas gift for a grandmother. She hung it up in her closet . . . and it continued to hang there for the next twenty-seven years. On it, year by year, she noted major life events: vacations, births, marriages, deaths. Long after it ceased being useful as a way of noting the day of the week, the calendar provided a different way of marking time, through the vital rh...2024-11-0204 min

Faith – SSJEYou do not know what you are asking – Br. Jack Crowley Mark 10:35-45 You do not know what you are asking. I can’t imagine the feeling of having Jesus Christ himself say that to me. It’s a real conversation stopper. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus said in this morning’s Gospel. You do not know what you are asking. You have no idea what you are talking about. You do not know what is best for you. You do not understand the bigger picture. We’ve probably all been in situations where some version of these words is said to us. It’...2024-10-2011 min

Faith – SSJEKnowing More Than We Know – Br. Curtis AlmquistBr. Curtis Almquist The Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 10: 17-24 Jesus expresses thanks: “What God has “hidden from the wise and intelligent [God] has revealed to infants.” To infants and, presumably by extension, to young children whose cognitive abilities are underdeveloped; and to those without formal education; and to the elderly whose mind is slipping away. I’m wondering whether what God “has hidden from the wise and intelligent” in someway includes his own mother, Mary, whose improbable pregnancy was announced to her by an angel.[i] No reasoning, no wisdom could explain to her what she...2024-10-0505 min

Call – SSJEConformed to the Image of Christ – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof Micah 5:2-5a Rom. 8:28-30 Matt. 1:18-25 As some of you know, I was raised in the Reformed tradition of the Church. Reformed churches are among those that emerged out of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Central to our particular denomination was a statement of faith written in 1563 called the Heidelberg Catechism. It was composed of a series of questions and answers conveniently organized into 52 sections – called “Lord’s Days.” Each Sunday – that is, each Lord’s Day – the pastor would preach on one of these sections, thus explaining the who...2024-09-1108 min

Faith – SSJEWisdom’s Table – Br. James KoesterBr. James Koester,Superior Wisdom 9: 1-6 I’ll begin this morning, not so much by putting you out of your misery, but rather to satisfy your curiosity. I’ll begin by saying there is nothing, yet, to announce. The Chapter will meet later this morning to elect a new Superior to succeed me and that of course will initiate a host of things. We anticipate an announcement going out sometime this afternoon. If we have your email address, you should receive something from us later today. If we don’t have your email address, the an...2024-08-1810 min

Virtues – SSJEVulnerable Courage – Br. Lain WilsonJudith 9:1, 11-14 John 20:11-18 Psalm 42:1-7 We encounter tonight two very different women. The first prays to God for the success of her plan of deception to save her besieged city. The other, a young woman, stands weeping by an empty tomb. What connects these two women—the one, daring all to save her people; the other, alone and bereft, met in the garden by her savior? Faith, for sure. But something else—courage. This is of course obvious with Judith. During the siege of her...2024-07-2405 min

Faith – SSJEAge of Anxiety – Br. Jim WoodrumBr. Jim Woodrum Job 38:1-11 Mark 4:35-41 In 1947, a friend of the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein suggested that he write a piece of music based on W.H. Auden’s epic poem, “The Age of Anxiety.” Despite critics deeming the poem as Auden’s “one dull book, his one failure,” it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. The poem’s subject is four strangers who meet in a New York bar during wartime and contemplate their lives and the human condition.[i] The title of the poem evokes a theme that permeates society, both ancient and mo...2024-06-2315 min

Faith – SSJEWho Is It that Conquers the World? – Br. Keith NelsonFor your homiletic dessert I have whipped up 500 words about one word. The word is nīké, if you enjoy New Testament Greek; or Nike, if you have ever heard of basketball. “To conquer.” The word “conquer” makes me uncomfortable generally, and even more so when it appears in Scripture. But for those of us who place the Johannine witness at the center of our discipleship, it is a word to be reckoned with. In our reading from the First Letter of John, we heard: “And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who i...2024-05-0406 min

Faith – SSJEDeath and Life – Br. Lain Wilson Acts 5:27-33 Psalm 34:15-22 John 3:31-36 Have you ever faced a life-or-death situation? For many of us, the honest answer will be no. Proportionally few of us serve in the armed forces, or are subsistence farmers, or fetch water by walking down long, dangerous roads. Or do as Peter and the apostles did, defying the authorities to preach in the name of Jesus, witnessing to the truth and risking death for it (Acts 5:28-29). What allows those facing such danger, such precariousness, to go on? Need, for sure—the ne...2024-04-1105 min

Redemption – SSJEChrist died for you – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof John 11:45-53 The gospel passage we have before us today wraps up the greatest miracle story in all of the gospels: Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Other miracles pale in comparison to it, but still, as is so often the case in the gospel accounts, the reactions to this astounding miracle are mixed. Many of the Jews who witness the miracle come to believe in Jesus. But others report Jesus’ words and actions to the priests. Their report prompts an interesting discussion: Jesus’ increased popularity poses a threat to the chie...2024-03-2305 min

Faith – SSJEKnowing God – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Each of the gospel writers has come to know Jesus and in his gospel is trying to convey his understanding to others in order that they, too, might believe in Jesus. For Mark, Jesus is the “Son of God,” proclaiming the good news that the “kingdom of God” has come near (Mk 1:1,14). For Matthew, he is “the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1). For Luke, he is the “Son of God” (Lk 1:35), the one whose miraculous birth was foretold by an angel (Lk 1:30-33). For John, he is “the Wor...2024-03-1506 min

Faith – SSJEStars and Rock – Br. Luke DitewigBr. Luke Ditewig Genesis 15:1-6 Luke 6:43-49 When will it happen? How much longer? What’s coming? Part of our trouble is waiting, not seeing answers or provisions as we expect. God promised Abram a son. Years had passed. Still nothing. God comes again in a vision and says: “Don’t be afraid.” Abram says: “What? You haven’t given me a son! I’m still childless. So my heir will have to be Eliezer, a slave born in my house.” How do you hear and see the tone? Perhaps angry, blowing up and shaking h...2024-03-1210 min

Redemption – SSJEJoy in the Midst of Grief – Br. Lain WilsonLuke 18:9-14 Psalm 30 Philippians 1:15-20 Just over 1600 years ago, a young couple dreamed a dream: “One night we went to sleep, greatly upset, and we saw ourselves, both of us, passing through a very narrow crack in a wall. We were gripped with panic by the cramped space, so that it seemed as if we were about to die.” This young couple was Valerius Pinianus and his wife, Melania. They were two of the super-rich of the later Roman world. They were also Christians. And at this period in history these two...2024-02-2708 min

Faith – SSJEHoping Against Hope – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Romans 4:13-25 The promise first came to Abram when he was already 75 years old! God said, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great…. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). It was unthinkable even then, unimaginable, impossible, given his age and the barrenness of Sarai’s womb. But Abram believed God. The second promise came eleven years later, when Abram was 86 years old! This time, Abram questioned God, “You have given me no of...2024-02-2514 min

Faith – SSJEWe have seen his glory! – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof Mark 9:2-9 What do we make of a story like this? Jesus leads three of his closest friends up a high mountain and there he is transfigured before them! His clothes become dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them! Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets, suddenly appear beside Jesus, speaking with him! A cloud overshadows them all, and a voice booms out of the cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him!” No wonder the poor disciples are terrified! What do we make of a...2024-02-1110 min

Faith – SSJEHumble Joy – Br. Jack CrowleyBr. Jack Crowley John 1:6-8, 19-28 Good morning and welcome to the third Sunday of Advent. We are just about one week away from the big day. Next Sunday, Advent four and Christmas eve will collide, and liturgical heads will spin. Every year during this final stretch of Advent, I always love to imagine how Mary must have felt as the birth of her baby boy drew near. I’m sure Mary was filled with all sorts of emotions. I mean imagine for nine months carrying the son of God in your belly and fe...2023-12-1711 min

Faith – SSJEMary’s Brain – Br. Lain WilsonLuke 1:26-38 What if this story is all about Mary’s brain? The beats of today’s Gospel reading are familiar to most of us. Here at the Monastery, we recount them in the Angelus, which we pray before Morning and Evening Prayer. “The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary . . .” pause, “and she conceived by the Holy Spirit.” So much happens in that pause. And what if it’s all about Mary’s brain? Of all the young women God could have chosen, God chose Mary. And what is the first thing we f...2023-11-0704 min

Faith – SSJEUnshakable Faith – Br. David VryhofBr. David Vryhof Psalm 27:1-6 Most preachers, when they reflect on their preaching, will find that they have a few themes that they come back to again and again. For me, one of those themes is the question of what it means to believe. I return to this theme repeatedly because I want to challenge the popular understanding that believing means holding a certain set of statements or claims to be true – statements, for example, about God or Jesus or the Bible or salvation. When we speak of believing in this way, Christianity becomes a matte...2023-09-0508 min

Faith – SSJEConceived for Glory – Br. James KoesterFeast of the Transfiguration Luke 9: 28-36 One Christmas, rather than giving individual presents to members of my family, my aunt gave my family several posters to hang in our basement room. That fall we had built a very 1960’s “rec room” where my siblings and I could invite our friends and not have to worry about either noise or mess and my parents could then reclaim the living room as their space. So, my aunt decided to help us decorate the space, and hence the posters that Christmas as her gift to all of us. 2023-08-0614 min

Cowley Magazine – SSJEIdentity & Belonging in the Great Sacraments“If I want to be a follower of Jesus, do I have to identify as a Christian?” I was asked this question recently by a friend of mine (a member of the Millennial generation) who’s been exploring the teachings of Jesus. The question startled me. It startled me because it caused me to consider two concepts that are closely related to belief and the ways God engages with humanity: identity and belonging. It never occurred to me that someone on the verge of faith might have reservations about identifying with or belonging to the large, diverse popula...2022-10-2130 min

One More ThingRule of Life - Season Finale!In our last episode of the season, we discussed creating a Rule of Life! Our apologies for some challenges and feedback we had with the microphone a couple of times! In this episode, we discuss the collect for the the Third Sunday of Advent, and wrap up our season on the spiritual disciplines. Join us as we discuss what a rule of life is, how it guides us and helps us find balance and connect with God and our neighbor!Notes:1. The collect this week was Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent from Book...2021-12-0727 min

Love – SSJEBehold, I tell you a mystery! – Br. Geoffrey Tristram1 Corinthians 15: 51-57 Today we celebrate All Souls Day. We ‘celebrate’? How can we celebrate when shortly we shall be remembering by name before God our loved ones who have died, and whom we so miss? ‘Behold, I tell you a mystery! We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.’ Those amazing, thrilling words from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. I can never read them without hea...2021-11-0309 min

The Discerning Leader PodcastGroup Discernment: How | Discerning God in Community (Ep 05)Host: Steve Macchia, Guest: David Vryhof “We’re all trying to listen deeply to what God wants of us throughout the entire prayerful process.” – David Vryhof, SSJE Prior to group discernment, it’s important to follow guiding principles: does the group have a stated covenant? Do we all share a faith view of reality and willing to be led by God prayerfully? Are we willing to bathe the process in prayer, laying aside our preconceived ideas, have holy indifference and an openness to consider various opinions? Will we honor one another, listen well, contribute positively, pause freq...2021-08-0550 min

Theology – SSJEThe Defeat of Horrors – Br. Todd BlackhamMartyrs of the 20th and 21st Centuries 1 Peter 4:12-19 Ps. 69:31-36 Mk. 10:34-39 As recently as 2015, the extremist group ISIS produced a video to terrify the world. Dressed and hooded in black, the militants marched a group of 21 Coptic Christians dressed in orange, prison-style jumpsuits along a beach in Libya. The horrifying scene concluded with the cruel beheading of all 21 Christians. It shocked and horrified the world to see such a brazen act of violence not only perpetrated but promulgated to a global audience. One of the men was from either Ghana or Chad...2021-04-2406 min