Sermons by Washington National Cathedral

October 22, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope

"It's so hard when the pain and the suffering are so profound to find the language, to find our way. Jesus shows us the way."

October 15, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith

In this powerful sermon, Dean Hollerith reflects on God's invitation to all of us to be a part of God's kingdom, not only by showing up, but also by "clothing ourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

October 8, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Leonard Hamlin

"I don't know about you, but when I look at the stone that some have rejected, when I look at the stone that we are using to build God's kingdom, I see something amazing when I see Jesus."

October 1, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Dana Colley Corsello

"Repentance begets forgiveness, which begets wholeness, which begets peace. This is living water for our parched tongues."

 

In her sermon this Sunday, the Rev. Canon Dana Colley Corsello stressed the life-giving power of repentance.

September 24, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde

"Oh, but black worshipers and visitors, they knew. You knew, you knew what we chose not to know, and what we knew for years and tried not to know, or minimize, 'til we couldn't any longer. And I played a part in all that, and I apologize."

In her sermon this Sunday, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of Washington reckoned with the lost cause myth and the role the Cathedral played in perpetuating it and considered the ways we are working to atone for past wrongs and build Beloved Community.

September 17, 2023 Sunday Sermon: Canon Historian Jon Meacham

Forgetting is arguably a sin as consequential as hardness of heart. For it is only in remembrance that we can know what wrongs we must right – what perils we must avoid – and what injustices we must ameliorate."

In his Sunday sermon, Canon Historian Jon Meacham reminded us that forgiveness and remembrance go hand in hand.

September 10, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope

"Most of the time, I think we're painfully aware of when we've hurt another person, when we have breached a relationship. But there are times when we don't know."

In her sermon this Sunday, the Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope addressed Christ's command to repair the broken relationships in our lives.

September 3, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan

"We can't see the hurt we cause or the doors we close. We can't see how not bearing our own cross makes another person's cross heavier."

In her sermon this Sunday, the Rev. Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan considered the ways in which our limited perspective keeps us from seeing the fullness of God's grace.

August 27, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith

"Martin Luther King said that Jesus Christ was, 'an extremist for love, truth and goodness.' He didn't come to make us happy. He didn't come to punish us for our sins, or to wrap himself in the American flag. He came to save us from ourselves and to teach us how to walk in the way of love.

 

This Sunday, the Very Rev. Randy Hollerith reflected on the sixtieth anniversary of the March on Washington. 

August 20, 2023 Sunday Sermon: The Rev. Canon Leonard Hamlin

"And this is still our hope as it was their hope." 

In his sermon this Sunday, the Rev. Canon Leonard Hamlin reminded us that we need faith as we pursue justice and progress.