St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Albuquerque

On All Saints' Day, The Rev. Mike Angell reflects on the saints who continue to shape our lives and faith. Remembering beloved dead, prophets of justice, and ordinary people who taught us love, this sermon calls us to remain present to Jesus' vision of mercy, peacemaking, dignity, and hope.

Drawing on Jesus’ greatest commandment, Moses’ journey, and Gregory of Nyssa’s mystical theology, The Rev. Mike Angell reflects on what it means to love God before all else. Faith invites us beyond certainty and control into the mystery of God's presence, where friendship with God stretches and transforms us.

Every person bears the image of God. The Rev. Mike Wallins reflects on Jesus’ command to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, calling Christians to resist fear and division, defend human dignity, welcome the vulnerable, and ground our public lives in justice, mercy, and love.

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These timestamps come directly from the full service transcript:

25:12 – Sermon Begins

25:30 – A Ministry of Compassion at the Border

29:02 – How Is Your Spirit?

30:53 – Jesus, Caesar, and a Divided Nation

32:59 – Whose Image Do We Bear?

We often look to money, success, appearance, and possessions to give us security and even save us. But these things cannot satisfy our deepest longing. Through generosity, we loosen money’s hold on us and discover a different kind of abundance: relationship, shared joy, and the feast God invites us into.

On the Feast of St. Francis, The Rev. Simone Drinkwater reflects on Francis' radical authenticity, stubborn love, and commitment to justice in a church struggling with power and change. Francis reminds us that faithfulness is not conformity but becoming fully ourselves in Christ, whose love gives us permission to live courageously and compassionately.

Explore the mystery of angels and their significance in our lives. In this thought-provoking sermon, The Rev. Mike Angell invites us to consider how angels point us to deeper truths about our existence and faith.

On the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, The Rev. Mike Angell reflects on angels as signs pointing beyond themselves to God's presence. Through the stories of Jacob and Nathanael, he explores faith as wonder, hospitality, and love in action, inviting us not to argue faith, but to "come and see."

Jesus' parable of the vineyard workers challenges the assumptions about fairness, scarcity, and reward that often shape our lives. Contrasting Pharaoh's economy of fear and competition with God's economy of abundance and dignity, this sermon explores why some hear this story as offensive while others hear it as good news. Ultimately, it invites us to trust that in God's Kingdom there is bread enough, work enough, and grace enough for all.

Drawing on Exodus, Jesus' teaching on forgiveness, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s question "Where Do We Go from Here?", The Rev. Mike Angell explores the difference between contract and covenant. In an age of anxiety and artificial intelligence, Christian community is built through mercy, forgiveness, relationship, and grace.

Our preacher in Residence reflects on what it means to be “Christian enough,” inviting us to see ourselves, our neighbors, and the world through Jesus’ soft eyes. Moving beyond judgment, fear, and exclusion, she calls the church to embody grace, community, justice, and Christ's presence through courageous love and solidarity.

What does true religion look like? Reflecting on Moses at the burning bush, Jesus' call to take up the cross, and the witness of Dolly Parton, The Rev. Mike Angell explores faith as attention to God's presence, solidarity with those who suffer, and a life shaped by generosity, justice, and love.

What if faith isn’t about getting everything right? Reflecting on Peter’s bold confession, The Rev. Simone reminds us that God works through imperfect people. Like Peter, we are invited to take risks, make mistakes, ask for help, and trust that God meets us in the unknown, transforming failure into faithful community.

After months of drought, the rain becomes a teacher. Reflecting on the Canaanite woman who would not settle for crumbs, The Rev. Mike Angell invites us to imagine a wider circle of belonging, where grace moves like water through hidden roots, restoring what has grown dry, brittle, and disconnected.

After months of drought, the rain becomes a teacher. Reflecting on the Canaanite woman who would not settle for crumbs, The Rev. Mike Angell invites us to imagine a wider circle of belonging, where grace moves like water through hidden roots, restoring what has grown dry, brittle, and disconnected.

Drawing on Peter walking on water, Joseph and his brothers, and the wisdom of recovery communities, The Rev. Mike Angell challenges the myth of self-sufficiency. Faith is not about doing more or believing harder. It is the courage to admit our need for God, community, and one another.

Drawing on Jacob’s wrestling at the Jabbok, Paul’s grief in Romans, and the feeding of the five thousand, [Name of Preacher] explores how scarcity is often a posture of fear rather than reality. God’s love multiplies when shared, inviting us to practice abundance, welcome others, and trust grace.

Many of us wish faith came with clear answers and guaranteed scripts. Scripture stubbornly refuses to cooperate. Through the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, and the wisdom of the rabbis who wrestled with this text, we discover that God is found not in rigid formulas but in grace-filled relationships, unexpected blessings, and lives that are far messier than we planned.

Reflecting on Jacob's dream and God's promise, The Rev. Mike Angell explores how accompaniment becomes a living expression of faith. Through stories from St. Michael's immigration ministry, this sermon invites us to reject fear and division, embrace human dignity, and discover holy ground wherever we say, "I am with you."

Using the parable of a grain of rice and Jesus’ teaching about the sower, The Rev. Lee Lowery reflects on how faith is meant to be lived, shared, and multiplied. God's kingdom grows when we cultivate the seeds of love, joy, kindness, and generosity in our lives and communities.

On the weekend of America’s 250th anniversary, Angel Nalubega reflects on Paul’s confession that we often know what is right yet fail to do it. Naming the realities of nationalism, racism, and exclusion, this sermon calls Christians to solidarity with the vulnerable, receiving grace together and becoming Christ’s beloved community.

Exploring Paul’s letter to the Romans, this sermon wrestles with grace, sin, and transformation. It contrasts “cheap grace” with costly grace that calls us to follow Christ. Baptism is not symbolic alone but a new identity—reminding us we are loved, redeemed, and invited into a life of purpose and possibility.

00:00 Opening & Introduction 00:45 Context: Paul, Rome, and Early Church Tensions 03:15 Jews, Gentiles, and Leadership Conflict 05:30 The Law as a Gift of Grace 07:00 “If Grace Abounds, Should We Sin?” 08:30 Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace (Bonhoeffer) 11:30 Baptism as Transformation, Not Symbol 13:30 The Struggle with Sin After Baptism 15:30 Exodus Imagery & Ne...

In a time marked by division and exhaustion, this reflection turns to an unexpected place for hope: laughter. From Genesis to the Pride parade to Jesus’ sending of the disciples, it argues that making space for one another through conversation may be how God continues to do the impossible in our midst.

In a moment shaped by fear, division, and questions about who belongs, this sermon explores how God unsettles our settled assumptions and invites us into a wider, deeper way of living together. Drawing from the story of Abraham leaving Haran and Jesus sitting at table with a tax collector, this reflection asks a simple but urgent question: who will you be?

In this Pride sermon, The Rev. Mike Angell reflects on the church’s history of both harm and courage, lifting up the witness of Pauli Murray and the faithful resistance of local communities. The message is clear: welcome is not something the church gets credit for, but something it is called to live into. The work ahead is making sure every LGBTQ+ person, and every child, knows they are created in the image and likeness of God, beloved and fully included.

On Trinity Sunday, Rev. Mike Angell reframes doctrine as invitation. The Trinity reveals God as dynamic relationship, not solitary power. Even with doubt, we are drawn into belonging, made in the image of love. In a divided world, faith becomes practiced community, where all are welcomed to the table at the heart of God.

This sermon explores the Spirit not as spectacle, but as breath—quietly bringing peace, healing, and courage. Through scripture and personal stories, it reveals how holy love restores brokenness, overcomes fear, and forms new community. True belief means giving one’s whole heart to God’s love and living it out.

On Ascension Day, this sermon contrasts a culture of shallow, disposable living with the Gospel’s call to rooted presence. Drawing on Robin Wall Kimmerer and the angels in Acts, it invites us to stop looking for escape, to love fiercely, and to live deeply. Not everywhere, but somewhere. As if we were staying.

Set against stories of injustice past and present, this sermon explores Jesus’ commandment to love as a costly, embodied practice. Rooted in the farewell discourse and the Eucharist, it calls the church to resist separation, stand with the suffering, and become Christ’s body, broken and given for the life of the world.

In this sermon, our rector reflects on how Christian faith has often been shaped by an anxious focus on salvation that Jesus himself never centers. Drawing on John 14, he argues that Jesus’ words about being “the way” point not to exclusion or superiority, but to a way of life marked by trust, compassion, and openness to God here and now. When fear‑based theology turns faith into boundary‑making or nationalism, it loses sight of a God whose house always has room to spare.

On Good Shepherd Sunday, the image of sheep and shepherd can feel distant or even insulting. Drawing on Palestinian shepherd practices, Howard Thurman’s wisdom, and Psalm 23, this sermon explores discernment, trust, and how we recognize the voice that leads toward life rather than fear or domination.

On the road to Emmaus, the risen Christ walks unnoticed beside grieving disciples. The Rev. Lee Lowery explores how we remake Jesus in our own image, miss his presence in everyday life, and yet encounter him again in community, Scripture, sacrament, and the faces of those most in need.

Preaching on Doubting Thomas Sunday, the Rev. Joe Britton reflects on John’s Gospel and its surprising claim that the Holy Spirit is given on Easter Day itself. Drawing on music, lived experience, and the sacrament of baptism, he reframes Thomas’s doubt not as skepticism but as spiritual illumination delayed. Baptism, he argues, is the moment when Christ breathes the Spirit into us, opening our eyes to abundant life and commissioning us as co‑creators in God’s ongoing new creation.

We celebrate Easter this year in a world at war, a world tired, anxious, and hungry for good news that does not deny reality. This reflection asks what Christians really mean by victory when suffering, fear, and injustice persist. Easter is not about pretending everything is fine, but about refusing to let despair win.

On Good Friday, Angel Nalubega preaches a powerful homily about the cross. Leaning on the theology of James Cone, she says that we cannot understand the cross without the lynching tree. Christ the Victor is the suffering servant, the poor man.

The Rev. Simone Drinkwater explores the significance of the cross and passion narrative, emphasizing its central role in early Christianity. She challenges the modern focus on resurrection, urging believers to embody self-giving love and hope, transforming present suffering into a vision of the world to come.

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 larg...

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...

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...