Jered Weber-Johnson Archives - St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church

Vulnerable People

January 11, 2026

Our baptismal promises call us to “persevere in resisting evil”, to “seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbors as ourselves”, and to “strive for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being.” This is our calling, in short, as those who were brought to the waters of baptism, vulnerable, often unable to speak for ourselves, by a community of love and care, we are sent out to be a people who care for the vulnerable. Our calling in baptism begins in community and is enacted in community—never alone.

Looking Away from Empire

December 24, 2025

“Look with awe at the glowing center where those with access gather. Look on the bright armor and blazing torches of battalions and be afraid.” After all, fear is the currency of empires, and so it must hold our gaze and teach us what we must fear. But the Christmas story is different. It pulls our focus.

Imagine A Place Where All Are Welcome

November 9, 2025

Jesus’ answer points to the Sadducees’ lack of imagination, what it could mean to live in a world unafraid of death. What would that world look like? Can you imagine it? Jesus isn’t telling us that such a world wouldn’t have marriage. He’s telling us that such a world would not have systems that keep people stuck, trapped, or captive. Such a world would allow us to imagine who we truly are, to become even more fully who God created us to be, without fear or shame.

Resurrection Dancing

April 20, 2025

“In the garden that morning, Mary Magdalen, alone, eyes full of tears, thought she met the gardener, only to be surprised into joy when she recognized it was Jesus. I imagine she caught him in an embrace, that they twirled in amongst the flowers, to the songs of the early birds and the rhythms of the insects buzzing. And Jesus told her, do not hold onto me. This was a dance of abandon, a body resurrected and a whole world went free, unrestrained, unafraid, unabashedly itself as it was meant to be.”

This Is How You Stand

March 16, 2025

“The image of Ieshia Evans captured the imagination of so many, because of the way it juxtaposed a courageous vulnerability with a world bound in systems of death and destruction. Evans’s galvanizing witness in that moment showed us a more human way to be in the face of great suffering and evil. “

Too Amazed To Be Weary

February 9, 2025

Genuine amazement might seem like a rarity these days. Cause for wonder might feel aloof and out of reach – those moments when the impossible happens, when hope is answered, beauty dazzles us, when something feels miraculous. Like you, I yearn for these things.

Come, Eat, Taste Again Your Salvation

April 14, 2024

“The gospel of Luke bounces from table to table, meal to meal, and while the details are omitted, I cannot help filling them in with my imagination. You can smell the smoke from the fish. Candlelight reflects off the slick oil in a bowl on the table. Bread is broken. There is wine in cups.

Why did Luke take such pains to include food at every turn in his gospel? Luke wants us to know that this Jesus is the same Jesus who died, who was buried, who has returned—changed yes, but still the same, wounded, hungry, and yearning to be with his people.”

Drifting Apart

March 17, 2024

“It never ceases to amaze me how easily the church, even our beloved Episcopal Church, slips into a kind of legalism, using scripture to lend credence to creating even more rules and rubrics, higher walls and thicker barriers, in a world already drifting apart, especially when all we crave is community, connection, and healing. We yearn to come together!”

Sparks of Connection

February 14, 2024

“The spiritual greats of our faith tradition tell us that fasting is an opportunity to draw closer to God. In giving something up for a short season, we create necessary space to focus new or renewed attention on our connection with God. I wish I could say this has worked for me. But, more often than not, when I am fasting, I seem to become more keenly aware of my appetites, my hunger, my grumbling stomach or my fuzzy decaffeinated brain. So, how is it that we cultivate space for God? Or, more importantly, how do we cultivate the desire to find our way across the gulfs between us and the one who made us?”

Liturgy and Dignity

February 11, 2024

“This is why we practice our faith together over and over with rituals and rites that affirm we are worthy of love and dignity, that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Because none of us can believe on our own, each and every day, that we are loveable and deserving of love. We have to hold this truth together in community, reminding and being reminded by one another, by the nearness of sacraments like Eucharist and baptism, by the stories of the saints and Jesus himself,.”

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