Whether you call them homilies, sermons, or talks, there’s a lot you can learn from the spiritual leaders in our community. While in a perfect world, you’d have time to listen to everyone, that simply isn’t possible for most with limited time to spare. To help, we’ve surfaced and summarized the teachings from the audio sermons of some of the most influential priests and pastors from around town and in the Christian sphere.
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- Fr. Mike Schmitz
- Buckhead Church
- Cathedral of Christ the King
- Passion City Church
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
Fr. Mike Schmitz’s homily, “Waiting Well: Engaged,” for the First Sunday of Advent, frames the season not as a period of passive waiting but of active preparation. He opens with an anecdote about a marathon runner training for a race in June who clarifies, “I’m not waiting, I’m training.” This sets the stage for the core message that Advent is a time of preparation for the Lord’s coming. Fr. Mike highlights that a significant amount of our lives is spent simply waiting—in lines, commuting, or at red lights—and often, we perceive this waiting as a waste of time.
The homily explores the difficulty of waiting, recalling childhood struggles with Advent calendars and paper chains, and referencing the classic “marshmallow experiment” as a testament to our aversion to delayed gratification. Fr. Mike suggests that our discomfort stems from wanting the uncertainty of the future to be resolved immediately. Because we often view waiting as passive, our typical reaction is to worry, whine, or simply “check out” by numbing and distracting ourselves—like looking at our phones while in line—choosing to be somewhere other than here and now. He cautions against “sleepwalking through entire seasons,” such as by rushing to celebrate Christmas before Advent is complete.
The central declaration of the homily is that “waiting is not simply to be endured; waiting is something that we need to engage.” To wait well means to be an active participant in the present moment, holding the confidence of faith that “this moment is crucial” and that it truly matters. Fr. Mike challenges the tendency to scrub through life, always focused on the “then” and minimizing the “now,” comparing it to fast-forwarding a movie just to know the ending. In order to get there, we first have to fully be here.
Finally, Fr. Mike argues that the process is the point. He illustrates this with the example of a child in the NICU, noting that the great kindness of the doctors and nurses wasn’t just their gentleness in the moment, but the years of hidden preparation that made them the kind of people who could help in a crisis. Similarly, the period of waiting helps us become the kind of people God needs us to be. He concludes by returning to the marathon, asserting that while the destination (Duluth) matters, no runner would accept a ride because the act of running—the process—is essential. Advent, therefore, is not a race to Christmas; how we wait matters because “God is doing something now,” and this moment is necessary to get to the next moment.
Listen to the full version here.
Buckhead Church
Andy Stanley’s sermon, “Redefining Messiah,” addresses the confusion surrounding Jesus’s identity and mission as found in the Gospels. Stanley begins by noting that Jewish leaders in the first century had a flawed, political, and nationalistic view of the Messiah, expecting a warrior king in the mold of David who would liberate Israel from Roman rule. He explains that Jesus could not immediately claim the title of Messiah because the people would apply their current, distorted definition to Him. Consequently, Jesus spent His ministry simultaneously acting as and redefining the role of the Messiah, using parables, miraculous deeds, and carefully worded conversations as “breadcrumbs” to slowly lead His followers to a deeper understanding of who He was and the true nature of His kingdom.
Stanley specifically tackles the misconception that the “Love God and love your neighbor” commands are the marching orders for Jesus’s followers. He explains that when Jesus mentioned these, He was responding to questions about the greatest commandment within the context of the Mosaic Law (Torah), as that was the standard authority for the lawyers and Pharisees asking the questions. This dual command summarized the entire Old Testament—the Law and the Prophets—but it did not provide assurance of eternal life because there was no way to perfectly fulfill it, leaving the people with the same uncertainty they started with.
The central turning point, according to Stanley, occurred during the Passover meal, where Jesus declared He was instituting a New Covenant, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah. This new covenant, secured by His body (the bread) and His blood (the wine), was established for the forgiveness of sins and made the Old Covenant obsolete. In replacing the 613 laws of the old covenant, Jesus issued a single, simple, yet more demanding command for His followers.
That single, simple, new command is to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus inserted Himself as the new standard for love, forgiveness, and service, eliminating all loopholes found in previous commandments. Stanley concludes that this radical love is the mark of a true Jesus follower, making their love for one another the sign by which “everyone will know that you are my disciples.” By loving like Jesus, believers become the answer to the prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” completing Jesus’s mission to establish a kingdom for all nations.
Listen to the full version here.
Cathedral of Christ The King
This homily, delivered by Archbishop Hartmayer for the First Sunday of Advent, frames the start of the new liturgical year as an urgent call to alertness and action. Referencing the Gospel of Matthew, the Archbishop reminds the congregation that preparation for judgment is not a passive waiting game, but an active commitment to alleviate the hunger, thirst, and needs of those around us, as detailed in Matthew Chapter 25. He stresses that Christians are responsible for one another and must allow this awareness to penetrate the practical aspects of their daily lives.
The Archbishop warns against the dangerous delusion that we have “plenty of time” to get ready, a point he illustrates with a fable about a little devil whose most effective temptation is telling people, “there’s no hurry.” He reinforces this warning with the Gospel’s reference to the days of Noah, when people were going about their lives, unaware of the impending flood. He also shares an anecdote about a fire alarm going off during jury duty where citizens ignored the warning, prompting the question: do we assume every sign of danger is a false alarm? The message is clear: there will be no warning—no alarms or flashing lights—for the return of Christ or the certainty of our own personal judgment, which is why preparedness must be a daily, urgent reality.
However, the Archbishop clarifies that this call to vigilance should not terrify but rather fill the faithful with “joyful anticipation.” He cites Pope Leo the 14th (likely a misattribution in the transcript, but referring to a recent Pope’s message) who taught that “Advent is the school of hope.” This season reminds us of our mortality and the seriousness of living out our baptismal covenant, but it is ultimately an opportunity to trust in a God who is not distant but is approaching with mercy. It is a time for hope and not fear, eagerly awaiting the one who comes to save.
To make Advent a time of waiting that is active and joyful, the homily offers concrete steps for the faithful. Adults are encouraged to slow down their rush toward Christmas and take full advantage of the season by setting aside time for family prayer, lighting the Advent candle, and participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He specifies that active waiting involves praying with attention, serving the poor and vulnerable, and repenting of sins. The Archbishop concludes by urging the congregation to “snap out of our slumber” and to live “this day, this hour, this moment worthily and faithfully as if it were our last day.”
Listen to the full version here.
Passion City Church
Grant Partrick’s sermon, “Jesus: The Death Defeater and Life Giver,” centers on Jesus’s profound claim in John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life.” He begins by establishing that the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith, echoing the Apostle Paul’s assertion that without it, all Christian preaching and faith are useless. The core of the sermon is an in-depth exploration of the raising of Lazarus, which serves as the seventh and most dramatic sign in John’s Gospel, revealing Jesus’s identity and power. This miracle is presented not just as a historical event, but as proof that Jesus is the solution to the greatest human question of eternity.
The sermon focuses heavily on the context of Lazarus’s death, addressing the confusion of Mary and Martha, who questioned Jesus’s timing by saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Partrick uses this to tackle the common misconception that hardship equates to a lack of God’s love, pointing out that Lazarus was both loved by God and sick. Jesus’s delay is framed as intentional, highlighting the theological truth that “God’s aim is always God’s glory, and God’s glory is our good.” By waiting until Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, past the time when Jewish tradition considered resuscitation possible, Jesus ensured that his coming would demonstrate the ultimate impossibility. Partrick reassures listeners that God’s timing is perfect and His track record is flawless.
Partrick also draws attention to Jesus’s dual response to the grieving sisters, Martha and Mary. To Martha, who spoke of future resurrection, Jesus offered the “ministry of truth,” declaring, “I am the resurrection and the life,” asserting that resurrection is not an activity He does but an identity He possesses. To Mary, who collapsed at His feet, Jesus offered the “ministry of tears,” weeping Himself in the shortest, yet most powerful, verse in the Bible. This moment of Jesus weeping is interpreted not just as compassion for His friend’s death, but as “fierce and ferocious anger” at sin and its final effect: death. This demonstrates that Jesus is a compassionate King who empathizes with our weaknesses while simultaneously preparing to defeat our enemy.
The ultimate point of the Lazarus account, Partrick concludes, is that it foreshadows Jesus’s own death, burial, and resurrection. When Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come out,” dead things listened and obeyed, proving that no tomb or amount of time can stop Him. Partrick connects the command to take off Lazarus’s grave clothes to the church’s role, where other believers help new Christians shed the “grave clothes” of their former life, embracing their new identity in Christ. He closes by emphasizing that because Jesus conquered the tomb, death for a believer is merely a doorway into everlasting life, posing the final question to the audience: “Do you believe this?”
Listen to the full version here.
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