Deacon Pete reflects on a difficult Father’s Day sermon prompted by Jesus’ harsh words about setting family members against each other, concluding that Jesus is not condemning fatherhood but redefining it under the kingdom of God, where even the sacred institution of family is subordinate. He explains that in Jesus’ time family meant economic survival, inheritance, and religious community, so following Jesus entailed profound social upheaval and sacrifice. He offers three examples: God’s care for sparrows and counting hairs portrays the reassuring, protective love of a good father; “losing life to find it” parallels a father’s sacrifices that bring deeper joy and purpose; and loving God above parents liberates believers from idealizing human fathers, opening a truer relationship with God. He acknowledges gratitude, grief, and pain associated with fathers, noting broken homes, and points to God as the perfect Father. He connects this to Eucharist, honoring fathers and forgiving shortcomings.00:00 Opening Prayer00:13 A Tough Fathers Day Text01:38 Family Then and Now02:39 Example One Gods Care03:51 Example Two Sacrifice04:34 When Fatherhood Hurts05:53 Example Three Loving God First07:41 Losing Life Finding Love

Mother Paige focuses on compassion in the lectionary readings, highlighting the Greek word “splagchnizomai,” Jesus’ gut-wrenching compassion for people “harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd,” an indictment of failed leadership. She describes Jesus commissioning the twelve to proclaim that the kingdom (or empire) of heaven has come near, contrasting this “good news” with Rome’s imperial “euangelion.” Noting that Matthew’s Missionary Discourse spans three weeks and that Matthew never actually narrates the apostles being sent, she emphasizes discipleship as compassion in action—healing, restoring, and caring for those failed by systems. She points to the diverse community of disciples (including Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot), the initial focus on the lost sheep of Israel, and the boundaries of compassion (offering peace, leaving when necessary). Reading Romans through compassion, she stresses God meets suffering with transforming love that produces endurance, character, and hope through the Holy Spirit.00:00 Opening Prayer00:06 Choosing Compassion00:40 Splagchnizomai Explained01:53 Sheep Without Shepherd02:38 Commissioned to Heal03:01 Good News vs Rome04:47 Missionary Discourse Setup05:58 Discipleship in Action06:42 A Diverse Apostle Team08:01 Start With Our Own09:04 Boundaries of Peace09:47 Romans Hopeful Ending

Rev. Madeline opens with prayer and situates the sermon in the season after Pentecost and the lectionary’s journey through Matthew, where Jesus teaches the Kingdom of God through stories and metaphors. She imagines the Kingdom as a banquet or rowdy party already underway: after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus welcomes the poor, mournful, hungry, persecuted, and others through healings that restore both bodies and social belonging. In Matthew 9, Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector to the table, heals a woman who has hemorrhaged for 12 years and been cast out as unclean, and risks becoming unclean to bring life to a synagogue leader’s dead daughter—“risks marginalization for resurrection.” The sermon emphasizes mercy, inclusion, and a holy banquet with a vast guest list where all are welcome.

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:20 Season After Pentecost

01:37 Kingdom Party Image

02:25 Healings Before Matthew

03:12 Matthew Joins Table

03:57 Hemorrhaging Woman Healed

04:56 Raising The Daughter

05:52 Healing And Inclusion

06:45 We Are Invited Too

07:33 All Are Welcome

Graduating senior Tegan Inns reflects on growing up at St. Peter’s from infancy, first experiencing faith through church community and activities like Easter egg hunts, Advent candle-making, children’s sermons, and praying nightly with her sister. As an acolyte, she began paying closer attention to services and saw Mother Paige’s teachings as life lessons, while youth group discussions with Madeline, Joseph, and Gabriel helped her form her own understanding of faith. Tegan describes faith as something that grows in daily moments and became especially meaningful amid high school stress and disappointment. She shares how unexpectedly committing to the University of Washington ultimately felt guided and comforting, shifting her faith from routine to trust in God’s presence in good and bad times. She thanks St. Peter’s, its leaders, choir, and her parents, and closes with Scripture affirming Jesus’ continuing presence.00:00 Growing Up at St Peter's00:23 Childhood Faith and Traditions01:20 Serving as an Acolyte01:49 Youth Group and Personal Belief02:26 Faith Through High School Stress02:39 Finding My Path to UW03:22 Gratitude to the Community03:50 Carrying Faith Forward04:01 Scripture Farewell

Deacon Pete delivers a Memorial Day homily that contrasts the holiday’s cultural start-of-summer tone with the church’s solemn remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring veterans present and especially fallen service members and their families. Centering on John 15—“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”—he explains that Jesus speaks on the eve of his crucifixion, describing love that is concrete and costly, and he connects this to military service, loyalty to comrades, and the grief of Gold Star families and veterans living with physical injuries, moral injury, PTSD, and loss. He highlights Jesus’ call to “bear fruit that will last,” urging veterans to honor the fallen by living for freedom, peace, and justice and by keeping the baptismal covenant to strive for justice, peace, and respect for human dignity. He closes with a prayer for comfort, gratitude, and a future of peace.00:00 Opening Prayer00:14 Memorial Day Meaning01:24 Greater Love Verse01:41 Jesus Calls Us Friends02:37 Veteran Sacrifice03:32 Wounds and Grief04:12 Bear Fruit After Loss04:45 Living the Covenant05:36 Final Gospel Charge06:16 Closing Prayer

Deacon Pete reflects on Pentecost as the celebration of God’s divine indwelling through the Holy Spirit, recalling an childhood conversation with Father Boyd about connecting with God in ourselves and others. He contrasts this with the disciples’ fear behind locked doors, noting that fear can be physical, emotional, or communal, and that resurrection does not deny suffering but enters and transforms it, echoing Richard Rohr’s idea that untransformed pain is transmitted. In John’s account, Jesus greets the disciples with “Peace be with you,” shows his wounds as proof that scars remain yet do not block resurrected life, breathes the Spirit as in Genesis, and commissions them for mission: being God’s hands and feet and embodying Christ’s peace. He emphasizes forgiveness—especially self-forgiveness—as freedom from guilt and shame, concluding that Eucharist gathers people behind locked doors and sends them out to do holy work and offer peace.00:00 Opening Prayer00:51 Pentecost Explained02:35 Locked Doors and Fear05:11 Peace and Scars07:15 Breath of the Spirit08:14 Sent on Mission09:11 The Challenge of Forgiveness10:30 Four Things Jesus Does11:38 Eucharist Sending Forth

Bishop Susan preaches at St. Peter’s on the Ascension, describing the disciples’ in-between moment after 40 days of the risen Jesus teaching about new creation before ascending from the Mount of Olives. Drawing on trips to Israel, she portrays Jerusalem as holy yet conflicted, both today and in Jesus’ time, and imagines Jesus ascending with a clear view of the Temple, Golgotha, Roman power, and ordinary life. She explains the Ascension as completing Jesus’ earthly mission and offers two perspectives: looking up, Jesus ascends still marked by crucifixion, carrying wounded human humanity into God’s presence and interceding for us; looking down, the angels redirect disciples from staring upward to witnessing in widening circles. Christians are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet, living sacrificial love that seeks justice, peace, and dignity, returning to forgiveness and trying again amid division and fear.00:00 Welcome and Context00:14 Ascension Mystery01:30 Jerusalem Then and Now04:15 Mount of Olives View07:16 What Ascension Means07:59 View Up Wounded Healed10:04 View Down Our Mission12:31 Love as Witness13:39 Final Amen

Mother Paige reflects on Paul in Athens using the Temple of the Unknown God to meet people where they are and proclaim that God is not far from us: “in Him we live and move and have our being.” She asks the congregation and those worshiping at home why they came—praise, community, peace, guidance, love, even donuts—and says that whatever we seek, the answer is love. Turning to Jesus’ farewell address on the night of the Last Supper, she recalls foot washing, Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, and the mandatum novum: “Love one another as I have loved you.” This sacrificial, chosen love is how Christ abides with us, how we keep his commandments, and the message the world needs: “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:08 Paul in Athens

01:17 Why We Came

02:32 The Answer Is Love

02:49 Last Supper Night

04:16 New Commandment

05:29 Abiding in John

06:30 If Not Love

07:36 Love Is A Choice

08:14 Closing Charge