All Saints’ Park Slope: Recent Episodes
All Saints’ Church
"You give them something to eat." Jesus doesn't leave us alone to realize God's kingdom of love. Jesus is with us to guide us, to assist our labors, and to sanctify our gifts.
We find our true freedom in love, by being and living love, no matter the powers and principalities of this world.
God cannot be silenced, and neither can God's Holy Spirit, which we all carry from our baptism into the body of Christ.
Jesus says there are many dwelling places in his Father's house. God's house on earth should be just as open.
In the breaking of bread, God reveals Godself to us, and we are also called more deeply into God's story.
Here is your King. The lowest of the low, lifted high on the Cross, the holiest of holies
"The hour is coming, and is now here...." And, it's not wrought by human acts like war.
Though ice imposes upon our streets and sidewalks on these coldest of days, living the righteous life as a disciple of Christ -- one that is not simply spiritual but wholly religious -- helps God transform the world.
Guest preacher Max Thorn (Virginia Theological Seminary, Class of 2027) delivers a message on the first Sunday after the Epiphany.
God has poured the light of life into the world and into our hearts for us to be the light for the world.
Dreams can point us to something that God is revealing, in our hearts and in the world.
The world may feel like it's ending, but God is creating a new thing. Be glad and rejoice!
Is there no balm in Gilead? Humanity is ailing and we seek a salve for our souls. We seek a balm in Gilead.
For Christians, the state of the nation and the state of our souls are two parts of the same equation.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” And, that means so is love. Keep loving and abide in Christ Jesus.
Jesus says, where your treasure is there your heart will be also. But what if both your treasure and your heart are in the wrong place?
Our hearts break, as does God's, for all the ways we fall short of loving each other and loving God. God's heart grieves, too, and yet God is constantly calling us into relationship with God, a relationship that reveals the fullness of life.
Jesus assures the Holy Spirit to those to ask the Father. When we communicate with God, we receive the Holy Spirit and are inspired to live together as the Body of Christ in the world.
Amos’ summer fruits were rotted to the core by the greed of the wealthy and powerful. Sound familiar?
Even though we are in the midst of kingdoms men have built, the Kingdom of God has come near to you. Where do we find and receive the Kingdom of God?
The Rev. Miguel Escobar preaches about Jesus’ healing power in the face of empire, as told in Luke’s story of the Gerasene demoniac.
Today’s guest preacher is the Rev. Dcn. Joo Hong Young, Pastoral Care Manager at New York Presbyterian-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
Being made well is about being made whole through and in relationship with each other and the Divine. And that wholeness is only the beginning.
We are all children of God. What can kids and youth teach us adults about loving one another and a deeper relationship with God?
In a world that profits from fear, the risen Christ calls us to peace, mercy, and fearless love.
The Rev. Miguel Escobar, deacon at San Andrés in Sunset Park, explores the Parable of the Prodigal Son as Jesus' response to those scandalized by his mercy.
There are many temptations and many enemies of the Cross of Christ, as St. Paul calls them. But as disciples of Jesus, we stand with and follow in the way of the Cross of Christ.
The purpose of Lent is to set us free, not to make us feel bad. So do the thing you need to do to be free today.
Jesus preaches some hard words, often words we don't want to hear.But, keep listening and stay close. Healing is in the hearing.
Those who came to hear Jesus were made whole. Go to hear God's Word. Receive it and be blessed.
Christmas can feel a bit anticlimactic once the day comes and goes. God has come to us; God is with us. But, ultimately, it's an invitation into living a life always and everywhere expecting God to come into our lives and in the world.
Light can feel like it's in short supply these days. Light, however, cannot be held or possessed, and it cannot be overcome. Light shines and will continue to shine; we are to receive it.
Our guest preacher this week is the Rev. Canon Claire Woodley, Canon for Congregational Support for the Diocese of Long Island.
Destructive things are happening in the world, as they always have been. More than signs of an end, they are signs of our need for God's love. And, in the midst of it all, Jesus calls us to be love.
Power is not found in might or strength. Power is found in living justly, as Jesus did. The life baptized means living into the newness of life, as Jesus did. A life of loving service to others creates right relationship between humans.
Jesus challenges the rich man - and all of us - to transform our relationship to money and possessions.
"Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you," says St. James, highlighting the movement of both sides of a divine relationship. Where do we draw near to God? In the depths of the human experience.
We find true religion, true connection, and relationship with God, not in our human-made traditions themselves but in the output of our hearts and spirit and mind and strength.
Humans with our own ideas and plans, like King David and like us all, can so easily get in the way of God's kingdom. But, living together, we can all play our part to make real God's kingdom and God's will - newness of life.
God's Kingdom isn't on a silver platter. God's Kingdom is at hand, in our midst, if we but hear God's voice, let our hearts be transformed, and live out God's love.
Even when our boat is being tossed and turned by the wind and the waves, God is most powerfully revealed in direct, intimate relationship.
The Church Fathers thought of God as a three-person dance. Can our theology be as creative as theirs?
It's somewhat natural for us to feel incomplete. Jesus prayed for wholeness at the Last Supper and realizes it in His entire life. The apostles sought wholeness of the Christian community in the early church. What does oneness look like for All Saints' Park Slope?
Christian nationalism is on the rise, but history teaches that Jesus’ followers must remain vigilant against dangerous movements like it.
Philip and the Ethiopian show us the miracle of two people from different worlds finding God in one another.
What would it be like if we only had one word to say to God?What would it be like if we only had one word to say our fellow sheep?
God desires relationship with creation because God loves creation, and we experience this in God's covenant. Our part of the covenant is to let God be God and to be the beloved child of God we are intended to be.
The season of Lent offers a special time to draw nearer to God, purify our hearts and become more available to our loved ones and the world.
God takes God's word seriously, because words have meaning and power. And, that shows us how seriously God loves us.
God's love didn't happen just once; it happened from before time, and still does, and always will. We just have to receive God's grace and let that transform our lives, from the inside out.
God's time is being our sense of time, but every beginning, every step we take in the wilderness to make the highest for our God, we step into God's loving kindness and patience and time.
There are so many reasons to keep snoozing, but the Gospel calls us to stay awake to reality.
Generosity is life-giving, counter-cultural, and the only way to participate in God’s reality.
We have a choice: to serve God or to serve lesser gods. And, there are so many ways we serve God, by loving God and by loving neighbor as oneself.
The tale of a saint who gave away everything she had and a pre-saint who stole $8 billion.
Jesus calls us to give God what God is due. God ordained humankind to be in relationship with all the God-made - the God-made self, the God-made neighbor, the God-made earth - and relationships filled with mercy is how we can give God what God is due.
What if we thought of the Ten Commandments as our gracious response to God’s love for all people?
We are bound together not by blood or ethnicity or tribalism, but by the Spirit of God, led by the Gospel. And as the history of All Saints’ has shown, that spiritual bond cannot be broken.
Love asks us to exceed our habitual ways of being and doing for our neighbors and for our planet.
Sometimes the best way to hear God’s voice is to notice what’s slightly out of the ordinary.
In the Georgian language, Jesus calls Peter a “cliff,” not a “rock” as in the English translation. Imagine the church were built on a cliff instead of a rock…
Even when God feels silent or distant, God's grace is available to us and to all. In faith, we persist in seeking God's grace dawning on us and flowing through us.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus keeps us focused and allows God to work miracles through us. Yet, even if we lose contact with Jesus and we're sinking like Simon Peter, seeing the waters rise around us frees us to say, "Help me, Lord!"
God is standing with us even in our deepest moments of running and rest, in our most distant moments of wandering and running. And, God is always with us, promising never to leave, from generation to generation.
The parable of the sower teaches us that God actually can and does make holy things flourish and grow.
Our planet is sick, but so is the species that is killing it. As followers of Christ, we must never lose faith that healing is nonetheless possible.
Our planet is sick, but so is the species that is killing it. As followers of Christ, we must never lose faith that healing is nonetheless possible.
"These stories remind us of God's promise that there will be a future for children and for life on this planet."
"On this Pride Sunday, we not only celebrate queer families but we look to what God is teaching us through them."
"Walking by faith into a new a better reality might seem like a miracle to some, but it’s just how we get things done with God."
"Depictions of the Trinity come in an oblique way, always preserving some of the mystery."
Thank you to Taye Marcellin and Zara Skinner, graduating high school seniors and our preachers for Youth Sunday 2023! We are so proud of you!
"If there had been a Christian in the subway car where Jordan Neely was killed, they would have acted on their faith that there is room for everyone in God’s house."
"Christ offers each one of us this shelter, this rescue from all those forces which set themselves against our fullest flourishing."
"All of our doubts and our faith find their place here, in Christian community, in our spiritual lives lived together."
"You were made out of the love that bridges heaven and earth. Now let that peace which passes all understanding be your Easter joy."
"Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34) - Shayan Mirzahaidar
"And he said to him, 'Truly, I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.'" (Luke 23:43) - Deacon Jennifer VanCooten Webster
"Woman, behold your son; behold your mother." (John 19:26-27) - Max Thorn
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) - Duncan White
"I thirst." (John 19:28) - Miranda Dennis
"It is finished." (John 19:30) - Susan Riley
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46) - Michelle Melendez
"Each one of our readings this morning is essentially about the same thing, something that we understand as being at the core of what the Christian faith and experience reveals to us. And that is resurrection."
"Rejoice in the ways you can see, but let the miracles that give us sight inspire us to help shape the world into the form as God sees it."
"The purpose of our Lenten observance is not to make ourselves feel bad or even self-improvement, but to arrive at the Peaceable Kingdom promised by Jesus’ resurrection on Easter."
"No matter what we have to confess, no matter what floats up in our hearts and minds as we say these words and do these practices, we are always already forgiven."
"[Christianity] is not the most obvious, conformist, rolling along with things, go-with-the-flow kind of faith. It demands, often, a rejection of what's going on in the world around us; the actions of our leaders and authorities; the ways our lives are governed by certain sets of 'unquestionable' principles."
"When Jesus calls us to be fishers of people, he invites us to quality time with him in the boat, not to be predators of those we cannot see."
"We receive baptism so that we can be equipped for the work God ordained for us to do for the rest of our lives. Dr. King was an example to us of how to live out the life of the baptized."
"Just as the water used at Jesus’ baptism flowed from the River Jordan into the sea and evaporated into great clouds then fell on a parched earth, baptism reminds us that our lives also flow together in the grace of God’s love."
"He has come into the world, which sets in motion something world-altering, foreshadowed in the name that he receives from before birth by way of divine messenger."
“Advent invites us into receptivity to God’s mercy. Each year, Advent is an opportunity to renew our relationship with Christ; to invite him to be born anew in our hearts.”
"Longing, hope, and repentance. These are some words that point us directly to the meaning of this holy season."
"God is eternal. But God is also in every moment. Our religion holds these two truths together in tension."
"As Christians, we are indeed citizens and resident aliens at the same time. We are residents of Brooklyn, yet our citizenship is in the kingdom of God, and our loyalty is ultimately to a very different king."
"Jesus doesn’t tell us these about these horrible things to scare us. He tells us about them because they are real. So the question isn’t: how do I avoid them? It’s: what helped me endure for the last 6 years—and what will help me endure for 6 more?"
"Sainthood isn’t a solo venture. It’s a collective event. Your sainthood contributes to the saintliness of the fellowship, and the fellowship enfolds you in its holiness."
“As we remember our loved ones tonight, perhaps we can sense how very thin is the veil that separates us. Perhaps we can sense the luminosity of their spirits, like sparks in the stubble, like candles in the night.”
"Throughout his life, Zacchaeus had only ever known scarcity, and maximizing his own personal profit at the expense of everything else. And then he met Jesus."
"It’s remarkable that in 2022 we still treat women with husbands differently from women without husbands. But Jesus sees the strength in you, lifts you up, and encourages you to be persistent."
"And if we are unsettled spiritually in what can feel like a strange land, it is for the better, because we have seen a glimpse of the world as it should be beyond the one which is."
"Isn’t it amazing that God chooses to communicate with us not just in grand gestures, but also in the tiniest seeds of faith?"
"Wealth is the root of all sorts of evil because it causes the people who have too much of it, in so many cases, to deny the reality of their own contingency."
"The steward always understood they weren't his resources. He just changed his mind about what he wanted to do with them."
"Is it possible that the lost ones in this story are actually the ones who are the most righteous? Or, rather, the most self-righteous?"
“What will it take for you and for me to more deeply surrender to the work God is doing in us? What small adjustments, or big adjustments, are calling out to us, to live more in the path of love, commitment, and transformation God is leading each one of us on?”
“What will it take for you and for me to more deeply surrender to the work God is doing in us? What small adjustments, or big adjustments, are calling out to us, to live more in the path of love, commitment, and transformation God is leading each one of us on?”
“And there is profound freedom in living a life this way, a life that opens us up out of ourselves and toward someone else.”
"What we learn is that, more than anything, [right religion] is about a disposition of the heart that comes directly out of what our lives look like when we are not 'doing' religion."
“And why is it that when we see the Good Samaritan, we see and celebrate him as this kind of a Lone Ranger figure, who against all odds and without anyone else in the mix, is jumping in as the sole hero to help and aid and console? Why do we think it’s only his responsibility? Why do we think that this is a good thing?”
"It's a reason to rejoice. It's a reason to be glad. That you have been called to this high work. That you have been given the strength and the power of the words that Jesus says in the Gospel to do this work."
Our rights have changed since we gathered last week. But the Gospel doesn't promise things will always stay the same. It does promise that if we follow Jesus and proclaim the Kingdom of God, he will always be by our side.
“It is just true that there are times like these for all of us, where grace and mercy and healing-received come to us as the cost of our certainty, of our cynicism, of our stability; that the abundant life and better world we hope for runs through a dark abyss of the unknown, and that part of the life of faith is cultivating the ability to look into this darkness, not run away from it; and to find, in doing so, that we see the face of Jesus, stepping off the boat and calling us by name.”
“We say that we feel the Spirit when, in our moments of mourning and loss and despondency … when it seems like there is no way forward, when we are broken and exhausted and weary; and then something, somehow, breaks through — a fresh spirit of justice, of truth, of hope, understanding across those barriers of language and culture and suspicion of the other, breaks through.”
“If someone wants to know what the preacher said, between the Ascension and Pentecost, say he read the Bible—so as to find the almighty wiping away our tears, tears that we have during these strange and awesome times.”
Our preachers for Youth Sunday 2022 were Emmeline Zuba & Cam'Ron Guinn. We are so proud of our young people at All Saints' Church.
"We [New Yorkers] may be an ornery bunch that likes to complain. But at the same time, especially in times of tragedy, we have a way of coming together, that has given us just a tiny bit of a glimpse of that New Jerusalem."
"Jesus is our Good Shepherd. We belong in his flock. Every single person belongs to him. He misses our wool. He misses our bleats. He misses our foibles. Our playfulness, and everything that we are. Because we belong to him, and he created us."
"We have learned to live in a way that doesn't horde our life for ourself as if it is our own, as if it is simply ours to do with what we will. Our lives are gifts to be given back in loving service of our neighbor."
"But when you cling to your certainty just a little too much, it can start to tip over into something a little more insidious: fear."
This year's meditations are offered by members of Brooklyn Neighbors for Refugees (BNR), the organization founded by All Saints' and Christ Church Cobble Hill to resettle refugees in New York City.
Click here to learn more about Brooklyn Neighbors for Refugees.
"Today's joy may be tentative. But that's all the more reason to make your Amen true and your Alleluia ring."
"And we know that 'love is strong as death', and indeed stronger. Even death can't kill it for long."
A unique meditative service which combines the traditional Anglican service of Evening Prayer with healing sound. Monthly throughout the year at All Saints' Church.
Featuring musician Alex Beckmann (IG: @alexbeckmannsound)
"And that’s what makes me want to join Mary. To take all that is precious to me in my life, to break it open, and to pour it at his feet."
"The kingdom of God is like a massive feast -- a feast to which every single person is invited."
"You begin to look around at this world and say to yourself, 'There's something to this need for deliverance'--and a deliverance that ultimately we can't seem to conjure up of our own volition; of our own individual power and might."
"So let not your wait be idle. Seek God, believe God, serve God, even as you wait patiently on God."
"We must resist the temptations of the 'petty demons' that haunt us. And as we do so, we not only heal ourselves, but we heal the world around us."
Text referenced: The Petty Demon by Fyodor Sologub (1907)
“Notice the need to say, ‘Black Lives Matter’. I always thought I mattered — but now, there’s a need to say that.”