Sermons

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...

Independence Day 2025July 6, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton "The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords ... who executes justice for the orphan and widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the...

Proper 8CJune 29, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Many years ago, I worked in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia that housed people who had escaped from horrendous persecution in Laos and Cambodia. My job was to help prepare them for a new life in America....

Proper 7CJune 22, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton I had a sermon all ready for today. Here it is. But when I woke up this morning I realized that this sermon didn't really fit what I am thinking and how I am feeling today. So I made a page of notes (you...

Proper 7CJune 22, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton I had a sermon all ready for today. Here it is. But when I woke up this morning I realized that this sermon didn't really fit what I am thinking and how I am feeling today. So I made a page of notes (you...

Trinity Sunday CJune 15, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton   “Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” For much of the church year, we begin our worship service with those words, as Christians have done since the first century. Today is Trinity...

Pentecost CJune 8, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton It’s a dangerous moment for Christianity. The disciple are gathered together in a locked room. It’s a familiar place to them. They locked themselves away from the world after Jesus’ arrest and...

Easter 7CJune 1, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to God’s holy name.” That last verse from Psalm 97, which we said today, reminds us that people of faith are always supposed to rejoice and give thanks...

Easter 6CMay 25, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Today is the 30th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. That is a milestone of sorts. I hope you'll indulge me for not preaching on the Biblical texts today, but instead reflecting on the path...

Easter 5CMay 18, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton It is the very first church controversy, and like the hundreds, if not thousands, since then, it threatens to tear apart the body of the faithful. The controversy is ancient, but its content could be pulled...

Easter 4CMay 11, 2025St. Dunstan'sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Today is the fourth Sunday of the Easter season, a day that is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year on this Sunday the prayers and scripture readings reference shepherds and their flocks. We see that...

Easter 3CMay 4, 2025St. Dunstan’sThe Rev. Patricia Templeton Every Sunday one of the most dramatic moments of the Eucharist is the breaking of the bread. The loaf of bread is held up and broken, a symbol of Christ’s body broken for us.  For a long time here at...