Shows
Sermons from St. John the DivineWalking in Faith When life brings triumph or tragedy, how do we respond? In this sermon, The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill reflects on Paul’s letter to the Colossians, urging us to live lives rooted in Christ—not as an add-on to busy lives, but as the very center. Especially in seasons of grief and doubt, we are called to keep walking in faith, trusting in a God who walks with us. 2025-07-2718 min
Sermons from St. John the DivineThe Note That Finds Us On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus offered His disciples—and all of us—a stunning promise: “I will not leave you orphaned.” In this sermon, the Rev. Dr. Leigh Spruill reflects on John 14 and the intimate care of Christ, who sends the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, Comforter, and constant presence. Through vivid personal stories and biblical insight, hear how the Spirit brings truth, peace, and belonging—even in a disoriented world. Whether you're seeking clarity or comfort, this message is a reminder that you are never alone. 2025-05-2517 min
Sermons from St. John the DivineFrom Home to the World | The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill | January 26, 2025 There is an old adage that I love: “the light that shines farthest shines brightest closest to home.” As we move more deeply into our mission to be A Light for the City, we do well to remember this wisdom as it relates to the gospel. 2025-01-2619 min
Sermons from St. John the DivineDirty Hands and Clean Hearts | The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill | September 1, 2024 It would be so much easier if the Gospel worked like the rest of our lives where hard work, keeping the rules, and striving for success won the day. But it doesn’t work like that. 2024-09-0118 min
Sermons from St. John the DivineSermon from the Institution of Leigh Spruill 2021-10-2122 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: We Belong to ChristOn his last Sunday at St. George's Church, the Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill reminds us of our identity.
John the Baptist is crystal clear that his identity is not found in himself, in his own ministry, in his preaching, in his followers. Rather, he is clear, it is found in the mighty merciful one who is outside of himself. I belong to Christ, and so do you.
Sermon from 12/13/2020.2020-12-1415 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: More Than A Return To NormalWhat if the message from Jesus this Advent is: do not hope to go back to your life pre-2020. Not that it was bad; it’s that there is more!
Sermon from 11/29/2020.2020-11-3017 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Choose this Day Whom You Will ServeHere is common sense wisdom for the life of the church: the best way to ensure a long wilderness experience is to try avoiding it by rushing too quickly and neglecting the gift being offered. This is a time to remember, trust, and pay attention to how the Lord is fortifying you for a new day, a new land lying before you.
Sermon from 11/8/20202020-11-0920 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Rendering All To The God Who Renders All To UsGive Caesar absolutely no more than his due. Do not make the myriad concerns of this world to be like Caesar to you, ruling you.
Sermon from 10/18/2020.2020-10-1915 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Grumbling and GratitudeWhat if a secret to the Christian life were letting go of all our prescriptions of how we think the world should go and accepting with gratitude how it actually does go according to this One who brings water from the rock – life from the Rock who is Jesus.
Sermon from 9/27/2020.2020-09-2816 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Exodus Power as Ongoing PowerGod’s mighty hand, this life-force we know as grace, opened a path for the fleeing Israelites, it opened a tomb for Jesus, and it opens the way for us.
Sermon from 9/13/2020.2020-09-1418 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: How God Changes The WorldThe main focus of our Christian social engagement is not in winning power but in winning relationships… Relationships trump issues.
Sermon from 8/30/20202020-09-0120 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Wrestling Changes ThingsThe question is not “Can I overcome my past?” The question is, “Can God be overcome by my past?” And the answer is “no.”
Sermon from 8/2/2020.2020-08-0316 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Despair Is PresumptuousIt is in the nature of how Jesus wins the gospel for us that it is birthed on the other side of the Cross. We look in eager expectation even as, for now, we groan.
Sermon from 7/19/2020.2020-07-2018 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: A Challenging Word From The LordJesus doesn’t say what we want him to say today. But Jesus is the ultimate truth-teller and he wants to be clear about the real calling before us: to represent a contrast to the dominant ways of the world is a gift to the world.
Sermon from the 10:00am service on 6/21/20.2020-06-2216 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Missing ChristWhat is revealed when we realize that what we’ve been missing in life is bigger than what we thought?
Sermon from 5/24/2020.2020-05-2614 min
Sermons from St. George'sDay 1 Weekly Program: Sunday, May 10, 2020Leigh Spruill has been featured by Day1 Radio as a guest preacher for their weekly podcast. Listen here to his sermon and interview with Day 1 host Peter Wallace. This program titled The Promise of Heaven for Here and Now aired on Sunday, May 10, 2020.
Learn more about Day 1 at day1.org.2020-05-1232 min
Sermons from St. George'sDay 1 Weekly Program: Sunday, May 3, 2020Leigh Spruill has been featured by Day1 Radio as a guest preacher for their weekly podcast. Listen here to his sermon and interview with Day 1 host Peter Wallace. This program aired on Sunday, May 3, 2020.
Learn more about Day 1 at day1.org.2020-05-0533 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Belief and BelongingOur life together is the criterion our neighbors and our city will use to judge whether our message is truthful, whether we really know abundant life and in whom it is found.
Sermon from 5/3/2020 at the 10:00am service.2020-05-0417 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Easter in the Time of CoronavirusWhat an opportunity we all have right now to ask the God-questions and take time to see if this Easter God, whose image is finally a crucified and risen Jesus, will respond.
Sermon from Easter Sunday on 4/12/2020.2020-04-1315 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: To See AnewThough 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 3/22/2020.2020-03-2515 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Our Disenchanted World and GodIn 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.2020-02-2416 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Jesus, Anger, and LustThe Sermon on the Mount is not a list of requirements. It is a vision of Jesus.
Sermon from The Table on 2/16/2020.2020-02-1716 minSermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: A Sword Will Pierce Your HeartThere 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 2/2/2020.2020-02-0314 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Geography of our Highest LoveMaybe 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 1/26/2020.2020-01-2713 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Greatest Juxtaposition (Christmas Eve)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.2019-12-2713 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: A Life DisruptedJoseph 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 12/23/19.2019-12-2313 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Advent PeopleTo 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 12/1/19.2019-12-0214 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: More Fishing Hats, Fewer Swinging HelmetsThe Lord God says, “I am about to create…” These are the five most powerful words in reality.
Sermon from The Table on 11/17/19.2019-11-1812 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Who Will Join the Procession?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.2019-11-0416 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Right With GodWe 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 10/27/19.2019-10-2814 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Gift of PainTo be saved means sensitivity to our diseases that only Jesus can heal. Sermon from The Table on 10/13/19.2019-10-1412 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: How Much Faith is the Right Amount?It is one thing – and a very good thing – to want more faith. But I think the worst thing we can do is merely to despair that our faith is too small and will never change.
From the 8:45am service on 10/6/19.2019-10-0714 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Finding Hope in a Hard WordWhat is it to deliver a hard message of inevitable judgment when your heart aches with supreme compassion? Ask anyone who has ever truly loved an addict.
From the 8:45am service on 9/22/19.2019-09-2314 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Getting Close to GodWe are never closer to Christ than when we come before him stripped of pretense, confessing that our lives are filled with all kinds of waywardness, and trusting that this is precisely when we stand closest to the cross.
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 9/1/19.2019-09-0313 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: So Great A Cloud Of WitnessesThe ultimate measure of success will be this: a faithful local community that feels like family willingly, courageously, generously, lovingly, trustingly joining together with each other and with those who have gone before us, knowing there are those who must come after us; committing to this ministry for the sake of Christ, for the future of his church, for the future of God’s mission for the world, for the sake of the world. And I cannot think of anything more inspiring or more exciting than that.
From 10:00am service on 8/18/19.2019-08-1912 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: On Big Barns and a Bigger LifeThe real failure of the Rich Foolish Farmer in all of us is that despite the big barns we have built for ourselves, despite the countless days devoted only to storing up figurative crops to secure our futures, we fail in thinking to take off our shoes, having forgotten we are always walking on holy ground, to trust the presence and provision and purposes of God in all of life.
Sermon from the 10:00am service on 8/4/19.2019-08-0517 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: To Be A Christian NeighborGod has an extraordinary purpose for us in these times: to be as the Good Samaritan to those near us, to help heal the wounds in our fractured society. More than ever, we are called to the places that we can actually influence – the people God has physically placed around us, next door and across the street, literally! – such that isolation gives way to neighborliness, loneliness gives way to friendship, and habitual absence gives way to faithful presence.
Sermon from The Table and the 10:00am service on 7/14/19.2019-07-1513 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: On Being Christian Where You Already Are"The place to live out your relationship with Christ is not “out there” in some idealized new life. . . The best place to look for the power of God at work in your life is to your right and to your left, across the table from you, in the bed with you, under your roof with you, next door to you, in your office with you, and here in the church. Jesus says, 'Go home, and tell what God has done for you.'"
From Leigh's sermon at The Table service on 6/23/192019-06-2414 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Dance Of Abundant Life"I wonder if the opposite of joy is not sorrow as we may assume. I wonder if the opposite of joy is a failure to join life where it is really happening; to sit out the dynamic life of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Sermon from the 10:00am service on 6/16/192019-06-1917 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Persistent Love Of The Holy SpiritThe witness of Scripture is that the Holy Spirit is power given to us so we can respond to God’s response to us - God’s response in Christ to our voids and darkness and scattered souls, to our sin and death. To respond to that is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Sermon from the 10:00am service on 6/9/19.2019-06-1019 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Do You Want To Be Made Well?Are you willing to die to anything that prevents you from real, genuine, loving relationships? Are you willing to die to any or all of that? Get up. The path may seem hard or daunting, but Jesus shows us the way. And is there anyone’s promise that is more trustworthy than his?
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who...2019-05-2814 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Turning Into A Hopeful FutureIn an age like this one with reasons abounding for deep concern about our society’s prospects, can there be any better time to make great investment in strengthening our community for the sake of others, as those who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and turn again to him… and into our future?
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 5/12/19.2019-05-1318 min
Sermons from St. George'sEaster Sunday | Leigh Spruill: The Space Between "He is not here" and "He is risen."What is it that we miss when we aren’t quite sure what we miss, but we nevertheless intuit a gap, a space, a hole in our lives, in the world? What we miss may actually be a lingering presence of sorts: the living God poised perhaps yet again to do a new thing.
From Easter Sunday 4/21/19.2019-04-2415 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Passion Narrative and HomilyThe Passion Narrative presented by members of St. George's Church, followed by a short homily. From the 8:45am service on Palm Sunday, 4/14/19.2019-04-1625 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: An Awkward Dinner Moment With JesusI believe that Christian communities most committed to faithful worship are those that end up doing the most good for the world. You rarely start with “do-goodism” and end up at the feet of Jesus, at the foot of the cross. You end up with works-righteousness and a lot of burnout and frustration when you realize “the poor you will always have with you”… and the rich too and all their problems.
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 4/7/19.
John 12:1–8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a...2019-04-0816 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Cure For ResentmentWhat I have come to learn - and what I hope the elder son comes to learn as well - is this: I am powerless to root out my feelings of resentment and unfairness about the way life sometimes goes… Only God can root out feelings of resentment and unfairness. But I can take responsibility. For what I can do is place myself in a position for God to do that work of rooting out. I can make the decision over and over to return to this story, this gospel, this church, this worship… to return to this Father, and to t...2019-04-0114 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Despair Is PresumptuousThe return of trust after a “dark night of the soul,” after the experience of deep disappointment and grief, may be the hardest reality to realize. Yet it is a great miracle God can give us. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 3/17/19. (Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18)2019-03-1820 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Gospel ExperienceSermon from The Table on March 3, 20192019-03-0412 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: That's Why I Read The BibleFor me, as for generations and generations of Christians, the Bible tells the story of definitive reality about our world because its entire narrative arc, from beginning to end, leads us to Jesus the Christ. The Bible is not the only place to come near Jesus. But you will not fully recognize him anywhere else if you do not know him through Scripture. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 2/17/19.2019-02-1818 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Wine Ran OutMary says to the servants, “do whatever my son asks of you.” Do you? What is Jesus asking of you this day? Where has the wine run out? What if the Son’s request of you this day is to open up that part of your life to him with this simple but powerful prayer: “Lord, fill this empty place. Pour yourself into me like water poured into those stone jars. And make in me new wine.”
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 1/20/19.2019-01-2115 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Light Leading To Another Road"The wise men came to visit Jesus, but they didn’t stay. Whatever happened to them? I think we are left to wonder if they were truly converted by this experience or not. Perhaps they came and worshiped and gave presents but didn’t really give their lives to Jesus. Perhaps that sounds a bit like Christmas for us… for me. But I give the wise men great credit: there are a lot of stars in the sky to follow. The wise men chose the right one to go and seek out." Sermon from the 8:45am service on 1/6/19.2019-01-0715 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Before The Announcement That Christ Is Born"Jesus’ birth pulls us into the point of intersection between heaven and earth, between God and humanity. We call this place “glory.” Mary and Joseph are in it. The shepherds are in it. We want to be in it too." Sermon from Christmas Eve, 2018 at the 5:30pm service.2018-12-2713 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: A Can Of Tuna Fish For AdventBy and large, our lives here are good. We are full of life and love and energy. But our lives are also fragmented, divided… And we, only partially seeing, work hard to piece together all our colliding commitments into a coherent whole. So we arrive again here, this time of year, daring to hope that these fragmented lives can be different than they are. John the Baptist would want us to know again, that this hope is well-founded. Turn, watch, and wait….
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 12/09/18.2018-12-1217 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Our Temple Complexes Will Fall DownAll our temple complexes crumble sooner or later. That is just the way life is. But such unhoped-for steps may nevertheless offer the way into the real Temple, into knowing who God really is as Jesus, and perhaps, we might pray, into the beginning of the Good News.
Sermon from the 8:45am service on 11/18/18.2018-11-1915 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Nothing to Give that Will Earn God’s GraceThe point is that the poor widow had nothing to give. There is no pretense of self-sufficiency in her before God or others whatsoever. And only in the demolition of self-sufficiency or self-sacrifice as the way to the fullness of life do we find the fullness of life. Sermon from The Table on 11/11/18.2018-11-1214 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: For All the Saints and for the Sake of the WorldLeigh Spruill: For All the Saints and for the Sake of the World by St. George's Nashville2018-11-0517 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: I Want To See AgainDeep down we would like to see with new eyes… to be healed by God, to become amazed by some new irresistible attraction to Jesus who may not have previously gotten much of our attention but who now gets our whole life. Sermon from 10/29/18.2018-10-2917 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Our Calling in this Wilderness EraLeigh Spruill: Our Calling in this Wilderness Era by St. George's Nashville2018-10-0116 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Rituals That Matter MostSermon from the 8:45am service on 9/2/182018-09-0519 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Satisfaction of All Our HungersSermon from 10:00am on 8/12/182018-08-1315 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Epic Fall, Epic GraceSermon from The Table on 7/29/182018-07-3016 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Our Fractured Nation and the Touch of JesusSermon from the 10:00am service on 7/01/182018-07-0215 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Children Of The New CreationSermon from the 10:00am service on 6/17/182018-06-1817 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Trinity Is Not A Postage StampSermon from the 10:00am service on 5/29/182018-05-2916 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Holy Spirit, the Power of GodSermon from the 10:00am service on 5/20/182018-05-2115 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Perfect Love Casts Out FearSermon from the 8:45am service on 4/29/182018-04-3019 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Good ShepherdSermon from The Table on 4/22/182018-04-2312 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: So What Do You Think?Sermon from the 8:45am service on Easter Sunday, 4/1/182018-04-0315 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Letting The Light Shine Into Our DarknessSermon from The Table on 3/11/182018-03-1210 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Good News of Mt. SinaiSermon from the 8:45am service on 3/4/182018-03-0516 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Identity And The Lenses That Distort True VisionSermon from the 8:45am service on 2/18/182018-02-1919 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The Path to Glory Runs Down the MountainSermon from The Table on 2/11/182018-02-1212 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: The First To Know JesusSermon from the 8:45am service on 1/28/182018-01-2917 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: 3rd Sunday after the EpiphanySermon from The Table on 1/21/182018-01-2211 min
Sermons from St. George'sLeigh Spruill: Take Responsibility For Your FaithSermon from the 8:45am service on 1/14/182018-01-1619 min