Sermons by Washington National Cathedral

January 8, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope

“Baptism is done at the beginning of the faith journey, not at the middle or the end. You don’t have to have everything together to be baptized. You just have to grasp god’s grace. God’s grace is enough.” // “If I convey nothing else to you today, it is not only that you are enough, you are beloved. A beloved child of God, precious in God’s sight, no exceptions. God loves you, and so do we.” 

The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope reminds us of the significance of baptism, and that we are beloved children of God. Through understanding baptism as God’s gift to us, we come to better know and appreciate his love and our own spiritual journey.  

January 1, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson

"So maybe our New Year's resolutions this New Year’s day should be less about losing weight and getting more exercise and joining a new book club and more about what kinds of risks do I need to take right now in my life for my own good, for that of my family or my neighbors and friends.  Perhaps the nation itself, perhaps for human kind. How can I be more Christlike and vulnerably opening myself to some new and daunting and risky challenge?”  

The Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson encourages us to be vulnerable and to have courage as we go into the New Year, and celebrate Holy Name Day. Looking to God as our guide, to make this not only a good year, but a “new kind of year.”  

 

December 25, 2022 Christmas Day Sermon: The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope

“Rekindle the light of Christ that abides in each one of us and carry it out into this broken world because the light came into the world, and the darkness did not overcome it. Didn’t then, won’t now, and never will, and that’s because Christ came, Christ lives -- in you, and in me.”   

 

The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope ponders Christmas, describing it as the season when light comes into the darkness, when Jesus came into the world. Reflecting on her own experiences, and experiences of those she cares for, she urges us to be brave enough to bring that light into our world today.  

December 24, 2022 Christmas Eve Sermon: The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith

“The wonder of Christmas is that in the birth of Jesus we are shown that the God we worship is not distant and ethereal. Our God is not a God who is cold and indifferent, but a God who humbles himself to become one of us. Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, to share our joys and our pains, to know our laughter and our struggles. No, the wonder and the beauty of Christmas lies precisely in its rawness.”  

 

The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith calls us to reflect on the realities of the first Christmas, reminding us of the obstacles Mary and Joseph faced to bring Jesus into this world. Jesus came to remind us that this world is very real, and we are not alone. When we ask where God is, we find the answer in the story of Jesus. 

December 23, 2022 Gospel Christmas: The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas

“And so it is – the gospel music is nothing less than a call to our imagination, indeed a call to expand our imaginations so that we can truly envision a world, our world, where there is freedom and justice for all. God will uphold and establish God's kingdom of justice and righteousness from this time and forevermore, Isaiah tells us.”  

The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas teaches that Gospel music is all about a call and a response, the ability to hear and to act, to expand our hearts, souls, and imaginations. Once we do this, we can truly be a people of the faith and live in a way that helps share the light of Christ.  

 

December, 22, 2022 Lessons & Carols Sermon: The Rev. Canon Dana Corsello

“Let us sing! Let us remind one another why God created us, redeemed us, and sanctified us. It's so that our voices and word and song testified to the only reason word became flesh and lived among us. Love. Love that heals. Love that forgives. Love that celebrates. Love that binds us together in perfect harmony. Let us love and sing because we can. Let us love and sing because we cannot stop.” 

The Rev. Canon Dana Corsello tells the history of Lessons and Carols and offers insight into the relationship between song and story. The congregation is invited to sing, to be in community and to feel deeply, because “singing is believing.”  

December 18, 2022 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan

“The life of Joseph drifts into mystery, but I invite you to consider Joseph as more than an afterthought, but as one who had a pivotal role in God’s plan. Joseph’s story has much to tell us about the way the God comes among us. Along with Joseph, we too are called to hear God’s message to us in the midst of complicated situations, and to be faithful, even when we don’t know where it all leads.” 

The Rev. Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan shares the birth narrative of Jesus as it is told in the Book of Matthew, where we glean insight into how God appears among us. Through this telling, we are reminded that God is with us, and that he has been here before. 

December 11, 2022: Sermon by the Rev. Canon Leonard L. Hamlin, Sr.

"This is the moment when someone needs to hear what you've seen and what you have heard, what we have seen and what we have heard. This is our moment. This is our season to tell the good news. This is our moment to declare to the truth that states Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life."

On Sunday, the Rev. Canon Leonard L. Hamlin, Sr. preached on the season of Advent as the moment when we are called to share the good news of Jesus. Advent is our season as Christians because it reminds us of the life that we have been called to live.

December 4, 2022: Sermon by the Very. Rev. Randy Hollerith

“The legacy of Jesus's unreasonable ministry has outlasted every other princely power and nation. During these remaining weeks of advent, as we prepare to receive the Christ child, ask yourself, how unreasonable am I willing to be for the kingdom? Are you willing to be unreasonable enough to forgive someone in your life who does not deserve to be forgiven?”

The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, Dean of the Cathedral, reflects on Jesus’s ministry, urging us to repent of our self-absorption and apathy, our cynicism, our doubt, so that we can see the possibility that our world can be a better place, if we're willing to follow the way of Jesus.

November 27, 2022: Sermon by the Rev. Canon Dana Corsello

“The call of the season is to recognize that we're not paying attention to what really matters. To confess that we are alive, yet dangerously asleep. Jesus warns us that we cannot afford to walk through life with eyes wide shut, to be asleep at the wheel. We do so at great peril.”

The Rev. Canon Dana Corsello, Vicar of the Cathedral’s Congregation, reflects on the holy season of Advent and its significance as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ child.