Joslyn Ogden Schaefer
The Rev. Joslyn Ogden Schaefer serves as the rector of Grace Church in the Mountains, in Waynesville, N.C. She has degrees from Davidson College, University of Edinburgh, and Episcopal Divinity School. In this phase of life, most of her discretionary time is lovingly devoured by small children. Her two primary spiritual disciplines are child-rearing and sermon-writing, and she is regularly humbled by both.
Sermons and Bible Studies
Peace, Proper 9 (C) – July 6, 2025
[RCL] 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 What do you think of when you hear the word “peace”? Many people first associate the word with internal positive emotional states like calmness, contentment, and acceptance. Others jump straight to external realities like harmony among groups of people, or the absence of it […]
Us and Them, Easter 5 (C) – 2025
[RCL] Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35 So, we are really getting into Easter now – it is the Fifth Sunday of Eastertide. The weather has gotten warmer, maybe, the days certainly longer, and maybe saying “Alleluia” still feels like a privilege after our Lenten deprivation. We have two more Sundays, three more […]
God’s Yes, Epiphany 6 (C) – 2022
[RCL] Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26 Today’s Scriptures are filled with binaries… The Prophet Jeremiah shares God’s Word: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals… Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. The poetry of the Psalms begins with: Happy are those… who delight in the law of the […]
Welcoming the King, Christ the King (C) – 2019
Downton Abbey, the much-beloved PBS television series, recently came out with a feature-length movie. The entire plot was based on the Abbey preparing for and having a 24-hour visit from the King and Queen of England. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Downton Abbey is a large country manor that houses “upstairs” nobility, […]
A Tent Among Us, Christmas 1 – 2018
In today’s Gospel, St. John uses a fascinating image that most of our Bible translations miss. Some of us are accustomed to hearing this majestic and abstract prologue to John’s mystical-leaning Gospel: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” But we aren’t so used to hearing this: “Jesus became flesh and pitched a tent […]
The Surprise of the Resurrection, All Saints’ Day (B) – 2018
Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest political and military leaders of the 20thcentury, planned every detail of his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He worked clandestinely with cathedral staff, under the code name “Operation-Hope-Not.” (That code name reveals a lot about humanity’s attitude toward death, doesn’t it?) One aspect of his funeral […]
Lament, Ash Wednesday – 2018
After the sermon ends in the Ash Wednesday liturgy, it is customary for the minister to invite us, “in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent.” The Church invites us to self-examination and repentance, prayer, fasting and self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word. Many of us recall […]
Bible Study: Proper 21 (A) – 2011
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 This passage was written in an “in-between time,” after the first deportation of the Hebrews to Babylon in 598 but before the large exile and temple destruction in 587. Here it is God, not the prophet, who speaks in the first person. God sounds like an angry, disappointed, but ever-hopeful parent. God […]
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Sermons That Work podcast to hear this sermon and more on your favorite podcasting app! Recordings are released the Thursday before each liturgical date.
Receive Free Weekly Sermons That Work Resources!
