Welcome! I’m the Rev. Dr. Ken Saunders, and I currently serve as the Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Greeneville, Tennessee.
The sermons and homilies posted here were preached in the context of worship at the various places I have served, from 2007 to the present.
A brief note about what you’ll find here: sermons and homilies are not academic papers. They are commentaries on the appointed Scripture readings, written primarily for the ear rather than the eye. They are meant to be heard in the context of worship, and as a result, you may encounter sentence fragments, conversational language, repetition, and other characteristics of spoken rather than written communication.
My hope is that these sermons offer a glimpse into my approach to preaching, Scripture, and the ministry of the Gospel—and, perhaps, give you something to think about, question, or carry with you.
Thanks for stopping by!
This morning’s gospel story from John begins in the quiet of early dawn. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb while it is still dark. She carries with her the weight of grief, confusion, and loss. She is not looking for resurrection. She is simply trying to make sense of what has happened. And when she finds the stone rolled away, her first thought is not hope, it’s fear. “They have taken away my Lord…”
As we gather this morning, we come with our own burdens. We do not arrive untouched by the world. We carry with us what we have seen, what we have felt, what has unsettled us.
The last several months have been a heavy time for most people. We have witnessed violence that shakes our sense of safety... lives lost in places meant for learning and community. We have watched divisions deepen in our public life, where disagreement too often turns into cruelty. We have seen fear take hold... fear of those who are different, fear that leads to suspicion instead of understanding. And many of us are simply exhausted... weary from trying to keep up. Weary from trying to care.
Today, that is the place where Easter meets us... Not in a world that is neat and resolved, but in a world that is hurting. Mary stands outside the tomb, weeping. Even when she sees the angels, she doesn’t yet understand. Even when Jesus stands before her, she doesn’t recognize him.
Grief has a way of overcoming us and narrowing our vision. And then it happens… Jesus says one word: “Mary.” He calls her by name. And in that moment, everything changes.
This is the heart of the resurrection. Not just that the tomb is empty, but that the risen Christ meets us personally, tenderly, right there in the middle of all our confusion and fear. Right in the middle of our deepest sorrow. Jesus calls us by name. He sees us. He knows us. He does not abandon us.
The resurrection is the turning point of the Christian faith. It is not just simply something we celebrate once a year... but it is the lens through which we are invited to see everything. Because how we see the world shapes how we live in it.
Many ways of seeing are shaped by fear. Our fears tell us to withdraw, to protect ourselves at all costs, to treat others as threats rather than neighbors. That is a way that leads us to isolation, division, and more pain.
But resurrection offers us another way. A way shaped by life and peace. A way that trusts that love is stronger than death. A way that invites us to see the image of God in every person. A way that calls us into courage, compassion, and hope.
In our baptismal vows, we make that choice. We renounce the forces that distort and destroy... And then we turn toward Jesus. We commit ourselves to seeking and serving Christ in all persons and striving for justice and peace. Those promises are not abstract. They are meant for a world like ours... right here, right now.
St. Paul reminds us that in baptism, we are united with Christ in his death and raised with him into newness of life. That means we are no longer defined by our fears. We are not bound by the darkness we see around us. We are free. Free to love boldly. Free to stand with those who are overlooked or pushed aside. Free to be people of light.
We have walked through the story of Holy Week. We have lingered at the foot of the cross. We have felt the weight of loss, and pain, and grief. But today, we stand in a different place. We stand at the empty tomb.
And the good news for us is: Death does not have the final word. fear does not have the final word. Hatred does not have the final word. Because Christ is risen.
And because of that… We are called to live as resurrection people... to embody hope in a world that often feels hopeless... to choose compassion when it would be easier to turn away. We live as if love truly is stronger than death, because we know that it is.
As followers of the Way of Jesus, we are an Easter people. We have followed Jesus all the way to the cross and beyond. We are people who listen for the voice of Christ calling out our name. We are people who carry the light of resurrection into our homes, into our communities, and into our world.
So, my friends, as we go from this place, we are to take Easter with us. Because we know that the resurrection of Jesus is not something we keep, it’s something we carry. We carry it with us into the places where people are afraid. We carry it into conversations that need grace. We carry it into moments when it would be easier to stay silent.
We are the ones who remind the world, by how we live, that love is stronger than fear... that mercy is stronger than judgment... and that life is stronger than death. Because the risen Christ is already at work out there, and he is calling us to join him.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia… From where ever you are, I hope you heard the bells this morning at 7:00 a.m. as the churches of downtown Greeneville rang in the resurrection at Sunrise.
At this point… I’m usually a little nuts - running on pure adrenaline. On Easter Sunday, I typically go romping up and down the center aisle… encouraging you to get louder in your proclamation! I shout ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! And hope you reply with a resounding - The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia! And I usually continue that till an acceptable volume is achieved…
Because, indeed, the resurrection of Jesus is something to get excited about! As we participate in the story of the stone being rolled away, and the tomb being found empty! Jesus has been risen, just like he said would happen.
We get the story this morning from John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel story is interlaced with all kinds of intricate details and meaning, but the basic message is the same, “Christ is risen, he is not here!
The story opens up with two disciples running toward the tomb, trying to outrun each other. There are Peter and the unnamed disciple, the one the scriptures say whom Jesus loved. We are never actually told who this disciple is… Who is that disciple? The disciple whom Jesus loved… The disciple that outruns Peter on the way to the tomb. You can see them both in your head, running together, trying to get there… full of excitement… full of wonder and awe… Who is that disciple? That unnamed disciple… This beloved disciple?
Henri Nouwen writes, "But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen to a voice that says something else, that says, "You are the beloved and on you, my favor rests."... I want you to hear that voice. It is not a very loud voice because it is an intimate voice. It comes from a very deep place. It is soft and gentle. I want you to gradually hear that voice. We both have to hear that voice and to claim for ourselves that that voice speaks the truth, our truth. It tells us who we are. That is where the spiritual life starts - by claiming the voice that calls us the beloved."
I want to suggest for a minute that you are that disciple… You or me, or any that believe in our Lord Jesus... Any of us is that beloved disciple. That beloved disciple that outruns Peter to the tomb… He gets there first but is scared. So scared that he just peaks in, to see only the darkness of the tomb.
And when Peter gets there, and Peter goes in first. And we believe today because Peter believed, and saw that the tomb was empty. We have the message today because Peter and the Church passed down that message to us in the scriptures.
I appreciate the fact that the evangelist, John, gives us the tools to put ourselves in the story. So, put yourself in the story! That’s what we all need to do. We need to take ourselves out of our mundane lives, out of our day to day, 9 to 5, 7 to 3, or whatever it is. Take ourselves out of our lives and put ourselves in the story. Live the Gospel and the message of the resurrection. Be the first one to the tomb and dare to go in.
We live out this life day to day, week to week, hour to hour, minute to minute, and we can only cope with what’s going on out there in the world… we can only cope with that because we do what we do and what we have learned to do here... This makes that livable. It is something to be excited about. It is something to share with our friends, our neighbors, and our families. It is something that supercharges us from the inside out.
It’s the expressions of the resurrection that we live in our day to day lives, not just on Sunday… not just from 9:00 to 9:45 on Sunday (or 10:00 depending on how long this goes). Not just on Sunday, but in our day to day everyday lives… I want you to ask yourself, “how do you live out the resurrection in your life?” “How do you show others the Christ-light that burns within you?”
That’s what this great candle represents for us… the Christ-light… The Christ-light that burns and will burn the whole 50 days of the Great season of Easter. It was lit at your baptism, and it will be lit when you are laid to rest. We are part of the story of God redeeming the world! When you were baptized, you were made a part of the story. The story of our God who redeems recreates and renews God’s people over and over, and over again.
The Holy Scriptures give us a foretaste of that story, and in our baptism, we attached ourselves to the story… we have become part of the story and the mission of Jesus in the world… we have become that beloved disciple that is unnamed in the Gospel according to John. That disciple that outruns Peter to the tomb. But that’s not the end of the story… that’s not the end of OUR story.
The Gospel continues... It says that Mary Magdalene was crying outside of the tomb, after the other disciples left and had gone away. She was crying outside the tomb because she assumed they had taken away the body of Jesus. She was upset and in mourning because she didn’t remember what Jesus told her. So, she wanted to know where they had taken him. Mary’s vision must have been obscured by her tears… and her grief must have been so great that she didn’t recognize Jesus when he appeared to her.
She doesn’t know who he is until of course, Jesus calls her by name, Mary! And then she turns and acknowledges him, Rabbouni! (my teacher) I think that she didn’t recognize him because she didn’t expect him to be alive… It was just Friday, when she watched him die… She saw him wrapped and laid in the tomb… She cried for him then, and her grief now is still raw. She has come to the tomb, to tend to the body… because she was prevented from doing it on the Sabbath… and she didn’t recognize him because thought he was the gardener.
I think sometimes, we don’t recognize Jesus because we are not looking for him in the right places. We often look for Jesus in successes of our day to day lives measured by our world's measuring stick. Some sort of scorecard we call a paycheck or the stock market… It drives me crazy when we say that we are so blessed because we measure success by what kind of car we drive, or how big our house is. But all of these ways fail!
The primary way we can see Jesus is by connecting ourselves to the body of Christ, Christian to Christian, looking at each other in the eye, and seeing that Christ-light in each other. Seeing the light of Christ that was given to us at baptism, lived out in our resurrection experiences with each other in Christian community.
Right now, in the midst of this horrible virus, that is keeping hospitals full, businesses closed and churches from gathering and the economy tanking… We ask ourselves, "where is Jesus?" We look for Jesus, but where do we find him...
We see Jesus in the healthcare givers standing over the bed of a sick patient, helping them get better the best way they can.
We see Jesus in the folks who are using their resources and networking skills to help others in the community that are at risk get the things that they need to live, like food or medicine.
We see Jesus in the actions of those individuals who continue to strive for those things that we promise at our baptism… the ones who advocate for justice freedom and peace among all people, and strive for the dignity of every human being.
And personally, I hope you see Jesus in the Pastors and Priests, that are trying to keep our communities connected but are making the responsible decisions and using good judgment and loving our neighbor enough to not gather physically.
As I’ve said before, Christianity is a communal thing. When we gather together as a community of faith... When we fellowship… Anytime we worship together, when we are ingrained and involved with one another, then we have a chance to experience the risen Christ. And that includes our efforts to stay connected in this community even though we are apart.
There is a Christ-light that burns in each and every one of us. Our challenge is do we run away from the tomb? Are we scared to death that someone is going to call us foolish? Or that someone is going to make fun of us – or call us Jesus freaks? Or something silly like that?
Or... do we live out the resurrection in our lives? Do we show forth the love for our neighbors that Jesus commanded us to have? Do we love God more than anything else this world could ever show us? Because God loved us that much!
He loved us so much that He became one of us. He became one of us to live a life like ours, yet without sin. He lived the life that we live, day to day, week by week, hour by hour… And when he was here, he spoke the truth. He spoke truth to power… He lived for freedom and peace. He restored order and connection, and taught that our human relationships and our relationships to God are more important than our stuff or our money. He challenged authority and he loved more deeply than any human ever could…
And our answer – the human answer was to convict him unjustly and hang him on a cross to die. But today we know that isn’t the end of the story… Jesus has been raised from death, defeating death by resurrection.
Resurrection life is not a resuscitated life… It is actually life after life after death. I know that's hard to get our heads around, but that’s what it is. It is not some bodily resuscitation (or zombie Jesus), but it is a resurrection! Living into the resurrection is a life lived anew for the Glory of God! We are the beloved of God, Believers in Jesus the Christ. We are a Resurrection People, Easter people, living life anew, living into and building up the kingdom of God.
The tomb is empty, and Jesus has risen indeed! And it is our job to go forward from wherever we are and live into that resurrection life, doing the good work in the world that our living God has given us to do!
ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! THE LORD HAS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
