Sermons

Epiphany 2AJanuary 18, 2026St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton     It is a scene that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King would find all too familiar – protests across the country against the brutality of law enforcement agents – the killing of Renee Good, and the...

Epiphany 1AJanuary 11, 2026St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton One of the things that I learned in seminary many years ago is that in the Episcopal Church baptism is a one-time event. It doesn’t matter if you were baptized as an infant or an adult. It doesn’t...

EpiphanyJanuary 4, 2026St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Once again, the church’s calendar is out of sync with the culture. The 12 Days of Christmas may be a popular song, but in reality to most of the world Christmas is long over.  Those Christmas...

Christmas 2025December 24, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton It is good to be gathered here with you on this most wondrous night of the year, the night we celebrate the birth of a baby who will change the world. Everything about this evening is special –...

Advent 4ASt. Dunstan’sDecember 21, 2025The Rev. Patricia Templeton Every three years on this day, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, our gospel reading takes a few moments to remember a crucial character in the birth we are about to celebrate, a character who soon fades...

Advent 1ANovember 30, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton On this first Sunday of Advent, the first day of the church year, we begin worship with this prayer: “Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”...

Proper 28CNovember 16, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton The town of Chartres in France is famed for its Gothic cathedral, widely acknowledged to be one of the finest structures in Europe. The first cathedral was built in that town sometime in the fourth...

Proper 27CNovember 9, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton The words are said at the beginning of every funeral in the Episcopal Church. And no matter how many hundreds of times I have heard or spoken them, they never fail to move me with their powerful...

All Saints’ Sunday CNovember 2, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Sometimes, like today, I feel the need to explain why we are...

Proper 24COctober 19, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton “Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to...

Proper 19CSeptember 14, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton The first time I ever heard of Charlie Kirk was earlier this summer, when our Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced that the Episcopal Church was severing its long history of working with the...

Proper 18CSeptember 7, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Today we hear a story about a slave named Onesimus who was owned by a man named Philemon. After enduring years of slavery, Onesimus sees his chance for escape. He runs away from Philemon and heads to...

Proper 17CAugust 31, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton It is one of the most basic tenets of scripture in both the Old and New Testaments -- hospitality to the stranger. Abraham and Sarah are the first in scripture to model it. Abraham is sitting at the...

Proper 16CAugust 24, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Eighteen years. For 18 years the woman has not been able to stand up straight. For 18 years she has been hunched over, her back so bent that all she can see is the ground around her. For 18 years she...

Proper 12cJuly 27, 2025St. Dunstan’s The Rev. Patricia Templeton Years ago, a woman’s magazine, one of those that you could see at the supermarket checkout line, had a regular feature entitled “Can this marriage be saved?” In effect, that is the question posed in the...