This sermon reflects on Jesus’ raising of Lazarus as the culmination of his life‑giving ministry and a witness to God’s desire for human beings to be fully alive. It challenges Christians to confront the death‑dealing powers of our world that deny abundant life to so many. It ends by returning to the honest questions of a child, grounding hope in the conviction that no one is abandoned to the tomb.

We live in a world that trains us to scroll past complexity and look away from suffering. This sermon invites us to resist that pressure and to see again with the clarity, nuance, and courage Lent demands. From encounters with unhoused neighbors to rising antisemitism, and from disability justice to digital distraction, we’ll ask what God longs for us to see. And where the Spirit is already helping us take a second look.

In this session of our newcomers class at St. Michael and All Angels in Albuquerque, we explore how Christians — especially in the Episcopal tradition — understand the Bible as a library of texts written across many centuries.

Together we look at the structure of the Hebrew Bible (the TaNaK), the origins of the New Testament, how the canon came to be, and why different Christian communities treat biblical books differently.

We also talk about interpretation: literalism, inspiration, and how Episcopalians read scripture in community. Rather than treating the Bible as a rulebook, we look for the larger direction it points us toward — freedom, life, and the possibility of becoming fully alive in God.

This class is part of our “Newcomers Class” a series for newcomers and the curious. If you're wondering how Episcopalians approach scripture — historically, theologically, and spiritually — this video is a great place to start.

Join us Sunday for discussion, questions, and some hands-on engagement with the text.

🙏 Thanks for watching, and God bless.

00:00 – Welcome & Overview

00:19 – What Is the Bible? A Library of Books

01:41 – Hebrew Bible and New Testament

05:00 – The Torah and the Foundations of Scripture

12:04 – The Gospels and Early Christian Writings

17:19 – Understanding Revelation

21:56 – Inspiration, Literalism, and Interpretation

28:40 – How Episcopalians Read Scripture

31:25 – The Bible as Direction, Not Directions

32:31 – Closing Blessing

The Rev. Simone Drinkwater reflects on the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel as a story shaped by cultural tension, religious estrangement, and unexpected openness. She notes how the conversation crosses boundaries of gender, ethnicity, and faith, even as it reveals the awkwardness and pain carried by John’s community of outcasts. Drawing on her own perspective as a trans woman with Samaritan ancestry, she names both the dignity and the difficulties within the story. In a world marked by conflict and misuse of power, she calls the church to engage in similarly uncomfortable but necessary conversations, trusting the Holy Spirit to work through them and make us instruments of peace.

In this newcomers class at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, we look at two core questions: Why Christianity? and Why the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement?

The class follows four main movements:

1. Christianity and resistance

We begin with the world Jesus lived in: a world shaped by empire. Drawing on Howard Thurman and liberation theologians like Orlando Espín, we explore how Christianity began as a way for ordinary people to endure and resist systems of domination. We also name the hard truth that the church has often blessed empire—and how many Christians today are returning to the movement’s earliest roots in compassion and justice.

2. Christianity as inheritance

Christianity gives us stories that have shaped our culture and our moral imagination. Many of us inherit prayers, practices, and community through family or through returning to faith after time away. We talk about what it means to receive these stories honestly and interpret them for our own lives.

3. The centrality of Jesus

We turn to Jesus himself: his boundary-crossing compassion, his preaching about the Reign of God, and his ability to make people more fully alive. Jesus remains the deepest reason many of us stay Christian.

4. Why the Episcopal Church

We consider how the Episcopal tradition holds ancient faith and real openness together. We talk about the Anglican approach to questions, the role of the creeds in worship, and the central place of the Eucharistic table.

The video ends with two icons of the Trinity—Rublev’s traditional image and Kelly Latimore’s contemporary reimagining—both reminding us that there is room at the table for every person, including those the church has excluded.

In this sermon, the Rev. Mike Angell reflects on Jesus’ nighttime conversation with Nicodemus and what it means to be “born from the source” in a moment of global fear. Drawing on Archbishop Hosam Naoum’s plea for peacemakers in the midst of new conflict involving Iran, Mike challenges Christians to reject religious division and reclaim a faith rooted in connection, courage, and the cosmic love of God. This sermon calls us back to the Source that binds all people together and points us toward the kingdom where peace, not fear, has the final word.

Join us this Second Sunday of Lent as our Director of Youth & Outreach, Angel Nalubega, brings a powerful and challenging sermon. Together, we will reflect on the “Empires” in our lives that demand our ultimate allegiance.

Angel’s sermon draws striking parallels between the steadfastness of Palestinian Christians and the faith‑driven defiance of Ida B. Wells and Fannie Lou Hamer. Through these stories, Angel invites us to examine the illusion that we can transform systems we have already bowed to.

This is a candid call to use these 40 days to strip away the world’s “glittering” distractions and reclaim a faith that is not for sale.

Join us as we explore why saying “No” to the mountain’s offer is the first step toward true, costly liberation.

Join us on this Ash Wednesday as we lean into the beautiful messiness of faith, treating it not as a goal of perfection but as a practice. This sermon is a gentle invitation to stop pretending and start being honest. Join us as we remember that while we are indeed but dust, we are more importantly Beloved.