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SERMONS:
Pastor Peg posts her sermons from our most recent sermon series on this page. If you are interested in reading more of her sermons you can go to pastorpeg.wordpress.com. Our last series examined the baggage that we carry in life and how it hinders us. Our current series Explores Ordinary People in the Bible and how they related to God and how God related to them. Enjoy.
Deborah, Barak, and Jael
November 8, 2026 24th Sunday of Pentecost
Judges 4:1-23
That was a pretty heavy-duty set of scriptures, wasn't it? The story does not end the way you think it's going to. While the part about Barak and Deborah are occasionally preached on, usually we don’t preach about Jael and Sisera because it is not a G-Rated ending.
Most scholars and archeologists think Deborah lived between 1200 and 1125 BCE. One of the reasons why I love this story is because it turns on its head our expectations of Biblical women as being subservient and placid. It’s true that Deborah is the only female judge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible but is quite possible that there were other female judges during this time, but she’s the only one mentioned historically.
The purpose of a judge was to settle both legal and social problems. Traditionally a judge would preside just outside of a city gate or in a grove of nearby trees and would listen to disputes and sort them out. It was an early form of a judicial court. To be accepted as a judge you had to be wise, fair, patient, a really good listener, and render fair judgement. Those traits would give anyone a high reputation and standing among society. However, Deborah was also considered to be a prophetess. She probably got that tiltel because she was known to be a holy woman who you talked to God, and God answered her. And I’m sure that some of her predictions came true, so she was considered to be a prophetess.
So, one day this highly respective woman sends a message to a gentleman called Barak. We don't know much about Barak, but he must have been a very formidable military commander for God to have chosen him. I have no doubt that he was someone who could inspire his troops and teach them to fight in an effective manner. After all, he manages to raise 10,000 troops to fight Jabin’s army.
To understand who Jabin is, I have to take you a little farther back to the time when the Hebrews first settled in the area that we now know as Israel. When the Hebrews first migrated from Egypt there were other people already living there. It’s believe that when the Hebrews first came into this territory that they spread out and occupied the mountainous areas. This area was not great for agriculture but very good for sheep and goats. They settled first in the mountains because the valleys, the prime agricultural land, were already settled by those other people, who were groups of tribes that can be classified as the Canaanites.
The Canaanites were really a loose coalition of different tribal groups and, depending on who dominate the tribal groups, was the king. That would be Jabin.
At first there wasn't a lot of tension between the established people who were down in the valleys and the Israelites who were scattered around the mountaintops but, as both populations grew, there was more clashing for space. So, Jabin, during his 20-year reign, was threatened by this idea of a growing population that was slowly moving out of the mountains and down into the valleys. You can imagine that to maintain the Canaanite dominance he was oppressing the Hebrew people. I am sure that tried and true methods were used, such as raids on farms and livestock, confiscating crops, and capturing people for slavery. (You can imagine the political tension that is building up.)
Jabin has a commander called Sisera. Interestingly, his name has been examined against foreign languages of that time, and it is possible that he was Egyptian or even Sardinian. Was he a hired mercenary? Possibly. Sisera is Barak's counterpart. He is the one that trains his men to fight the most effectively. And one thing that Sisera has done is to modernize the Canann army by providing them with iron chariots.
Now I don't think these chariots were all iron because iron is very heavy and it would be difficult for them to move and the horses to pull them if they were. I do think however, that the base components such as the baseboards, wheel shafts, and whatever took the shock of traveling were probably made of iron and therefore were very, very durable and stable over rough ground.
Chariots were the Sherman tanks of their day. A chariot always had a driver and a soldier, usually an archer or someone who is good at throwing a spear. An effective chariot would ride forward into battle, cut a turn in front of an enemy’s advancing line firing 8-10 arrows in one minute, before the chariot would turn around and then ride back for the next round. Imagine a squad of chariots, let’s say five at a time, coming forward all turning, 50 arrows flying at the enemy, then turning back while the next wave comes; repeating and repeating and repeating the maneuver. Very scary, and not very survivable.
This is what Barak and Deborah are up against. And yet, Deborah tells Barak that he is going to do the impossible and defeat this undefeatable force. And he says: I’ll do it, but you’ve got to go with me. Why? Well, I think that Deborah is seen as being powerful and strong with the Lord. So, as a symbol, they are telling the men that God is on their side, and that she’s not just a women sending men off to war, she’s standing by what she’s said in her actions.
Faith in a higher power is very powerful, and it enables people to reach greatness because they know that they have something greater supporting them. That is certainty, and certainty gives us trust that events will work out alright. See, Jabin and Sesera have faith and trust in mechanics and the material, but iron chariots cannot work their magic in the mud. It doesn’t say in the Bible that they got stuck in the mud, but it is mentioned in Jewish commentaries that this is what happened. And if you think about it, when an army is forced to fight in a way they’re not good at, they’re going to panic and lose. I’m not saying the Hebrews weren’t good soldiers, they were, but they knew God was with them and giving them the advantage, and the Canaanites had to rely on hand-to-hand combat, which they were probably not good at.
Now Sisera flees when the battle is lost. Let’s not say he’s cowardly; I think he’s simply trying to make his way back to regroup. But in seeking to avoid capture, he ends up at the tent of Jael. And what she does might seem to be a betrayal of friendship, but her tribe is descendant from Moses’ father-in-law; and, though not a descendant of Abraham, they were considered to be Jewish. Jael makes a very hard choice. Here is the man who has actively been oppressing her kinsman. If he rests, and then continues on to safety, the war will continue. But she has a chance and a choice to end it.
Now I hope that none of us are in a place of such extremity that we have to do something like what Jael did. But I think that the horrible lesson of this part of the story, is that sometimes people do have to do extreme things to protect themselves and/or their loved ones, especially in war. This story reminds me that I need to examine all the facts and the context before I come to judgement.
I don’t think that Jael could have killed Sesera without the strength of God. Still, she’s going to have to live with what she’s done for the rest of her life. I don’t think she walks away unchanged or that she isn’t traumatized. But she did it for the people she loved. And I think that in the mystery of the horrors of life, God gives us grace.
So, what do we take away from this story of war? Perhaps it’s that war affects everyone, soldier and civilian alike, and that to oppress will lead to violent reactions, which do not end well for anyone. The soldiers who lost, and the ones who won, will both carry the trauma of battle all their lives. Civilians, like Jael will also be affected and traumatized and will be forced to do things they don’t want to do. War and conflict don’t stop at the battlefield, no matter if it’s on a field, a conflict at work, bullying at school, or abuse in a family. Violence, of any degree, changes all of us, and it is up to each of us to counter and stand up to oppression and hate with compassion, justice, and love.
For that lesson, Christ gave us his life. To prevent an incident like this story can we dedicate our lives to peace? I hope we all can, so that the sacrifices of those who went before us to make a better world will not be in vain.
Nehemiah
November 1, 2026 All Saint’s Day
Nehemiah 6:1-16 1 Peter 3:13-17
We usually don’t preach about Nehemiah, even though he has a whole book dedicated to him. He wasn’t a prophet, a great warrior, or a king. He was just a government official who was doing the best he could to make things a little bit better for his people in difficult times.
Nehemiah was a descendant of the Hebrews who had been taken captive and brought to Babylon, the capital city of Mesopotamia, in 586 BCE. In 539 BCE, Cyrus the Persian gained control over Mesopotamia and he permitted the Hebrew exiles to return to the city of Jerusalem, but some Jewish people remained in Babylon. A century later the Persian ruler, Artaxerxes had a personal Jewish cupbearer called Nehemiah.
The Jewish people who were still in Persia were in contact with their kin in Israel. In 445 BCE Nehemiah learned of the deplorable conditions of the returned exiles in Jerusalem. You can imagine that it was difficult for people to return to a conquered area and city. War tends to destroy buildings and land. The Jewish people who returned had to deal with people who had taken over family farms as well as crumbling infrastructure that had to be rebuilt. Today it takes 4-5 years for an area to recover after just one year of war. Back then it could take several generations.
The wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates were burned. The people were in distress trying to farm and earn a living while rebuilding their homes and their lives. They didn’t have the resources to rebuild the city wall. But why is a city wall so important?
We don’t have walls around our towns now but in ancient times most people didn’t live in villages in a valley; they put their homes up on a hill. The valley was for cultivation and a village up on a hill gave you some distinct advantages. It allowed people to see far, so you could be on the lookout for a change of weather, a caravan that was coming to trade, or an enemy that was on the horizon. And if you put a wall around your village or city you had protection from wild animals and bandits. The people who were living in Jerusalem were probably farming in the valley and trying to rebuild their homes, but they were very venerable to attacks by other tribes in the area. Remember, a lot of other people had been transplanted into the territory of Israel after it was conquered, so it wasn’t just Hebrews who were living there. The Bible lists three leaders and tribes that they were concerned about: Sanballat of the Horonites; Tobiah of the Ammonites; and Geshem of the Arabs.
Nehemiah asked the king if he could go to Jerusalem to help restore it. Artaxerxes appointed him governor of the province with the authority to rebuild the Jerusalem city walls. This is important because in a vassal state the ruler was the one who gave permission for city walls. A city wall could act as defense so it could mean that if Jerusalem was rebuilt, the Jewish people had a place to rebel from. Artaxerxes probably had a great trust in Nehemiah. Essentially, he is saying: Okay Nehemiah, I will give you the power to build a wall around Jerusalem, the center of your religion and culture because I trust that you won’t turn against me and use this as a base for rebellion.
When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he realized that the political situation was a bit touchy. The tribes mentioned before didn’t want the walls and city rebuilt because they felt this would give the Jewish people too much power. Nehemiah surveyed the walls at night, and then he organized a labor force to begin the work. The builders worked with construction tools in one hand and weapons in the other. Nehemiah and his crew were harassed by the three tribes but neither their ridicule nor their conspiracy to harm Nehemiah could stop the project.
When the tribal leaders tried to get him to come out of the city to “negotiate” Nehemiah stayed put and replied: I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. It should be noted that the tribes couldn’t openly rebel because they, like the Hebrews, were also under Persian rule, and Nehemiah was an appointed governor under the direct order of the king. To oppose him would have labeled them as rebellious. But they could delay or prevent the city from being rebuilt by scare tactics and assassination.
Jerusalem's wall was finished in 52 days, which was a marvelous accomplishment for such a great task. But Nehemiah always claimed that the success came from the fact that he continually prayed: Oh God, strengthen my hands. Nehemiah's activities didn’t stop with the completion of the wall; he also led many social and political reforms among the people. Essentially, he was the person who reestablished the functioning government of the Israelites. Yes, they were still vassals under the Persians – but Persia was a long way away, and as long as the government functioned in a productive manner for the people, the Persian’s didn’t interfere.
Nehemiah was living a comfortable life in Babylon. As cupbearer he held an incredibly high position at court with immense powers. The cupbearer’s main role was to manage the wines and drinks of the court and make sure that they weren’t poisoned. Because they were with the king most of the day, they were trusted individuals and often became close friends of the king, and would give advice, when asked, as an observer rather than someone who was trying to push policy. They were also a side-door access to the king; not the straight line through the political advisors. This gave himincredible training and insight on how to be a governor.
But Nehemiah gave that all up when he heard about the difficulties in Jerusalem. I really think that God put a calling in his heart. God does this all the time to ordinary people; He works his way and will through us. A few years ago, a young man in Los Angeles took a hard look at two of the city’s problems: the homeless people and the street garbage. He put together a non-profit that hired homeless people to clean up the garbage, there by giving them jobs and making the city cleaner. A lot of those homeless people were able to get connected to social services through his organization and eventually were able to find homes and more permanent jobs. When interviewed he said: This was something that spoke to my heart – I knew I had to do it. Now I don’t know if he believes in God, but that is what God does.
Another point to Nehemiah’s story is that he didn’t just go haring off to Jerusalem without resources. He got support from the king and once he got to Jerusalem he got support from the people. I’ve seen a number of good ideas fail because people just dove in and didn’t see if they could build a support network of people to help them. If God puts something into your heart, share it with as many people as you can. I’m sure that there were some of Nehemiah’s friends who said: Are you crazy? You’re going to give up a dream job to go help some refugees? But I’m sure there were many others, including the king, who said: Go for it! and What can I do to help? So don’t keep your ideas secret – share them and see who is willing to help you. You just might start a major movement.
Nehemiah also didn’t just dive in immediately. He got to Jerusalem and saw that there was a lot of work to be done but also some opposition. He planned – first by surveying the wall by night, so that the opposition didn’t know what was happening, and then by providing the tools and protection for the people who were willing to work with him. Also, he didn’t let the local politics distract him. He just kept on going until he got the work done. Finally, he relied on his faith during the tough times to keep going using the prayer Oh God, strengthen my hands! To keep going.
At the beginning I said that Nehemiah was just a government official. But aren’t we all JUST something or someone? I’m just a housewife; I’m just a bank teller; I’m just a teacher, or lawyer, or plumber, or electrician. But that’s who God uses: People who are JUST someone.
So, if God puts something into your heart that you feel is a calling to do something remember that you are not JUST someone. You are God’s child and you are enough. If you have a passion or a cause to fulfill, God will be with you the whole way if you are working on building his kingdom. So, don’t keep your callings secret, reach out for help and support from others, and trust and be connected to God. And who knows? Maybe you will build something great that will reach many and endure through time.
Hannah
October 25, 2026 22nd Sunday of Pentecost
1 Samuel 1:1-20 1 Samuel 1:24-28
I'm giving you fair warning: This sermon is going to have a feminist bent to it because we are going to be talking about Hannah; a woman who is trying to fit into her world and her relationship with God in the best way she can. And that’s going to involve some female thinking and reflection.
Hannah is an ordinary housewife of her time. The scriptures do not say that she comes from an aristocratic family; nor is she descendant from the priesthood. Her husband, Elkhana, is from the hill country of Ephraim, so he was probably a farmer. I like to think that he had a good size holding and was able to take care of his family. But the one thing that stands out in scripture is that he loves Hannah; that she is his favorite wife.
And yes, he has two wives. Hannah has not given him any children, so it is quite possible that even though he loves her, his family has pressured him into marrying another woman so that he will have children to carry on the family line. Now polygamy was not common in Jewish culture. It was only accepted in certain specific instance as a necessity, such as if your first wife didn't have children. The taking on of a second wife for that purpose was excused and allowed.
I want you to think of the dynamics of Hannah’s family. She’s the first wife, so she is, by custom, the female head of the household. She is the one who gets to decide how the work is parceled out; how the food is managed; what the textiles are used for; and she’s responsible for the servant’s wages. She has power, but no children.
Peninnah is the one who has children, but no power. Her sons will inherit the land, but she doesn't have power in the running of the household. And you can imagine that this sets up a dynamic of tension and resentment. Hannah, while she loves her husband and is his right hand in the managing of his affairs, feels incomplete as a wife and woman because she isn't able to have children. Plus, she is constantly reminded that she has not fulfilled the primary duty of a wife in the Jewish culture, which is to continue the line, because there is another woman in this household who has given her husband children.
Peninnah, on the other hand, is the one who has the social status of fertility but has no power in the social structure of the household. She is second to Hannah and is expected by society to follow her orders. I can see that she might resent that, especially if she feels that Elkanah loves Hannah more than her. So, it is no wonder that Peninnah is a little bit of a (and I’m going to use this word) bitch to Hannah and constantly flaunts her childbearing status.
I think the only thing that kept Hannah going was the fact that her husband did show her that he loved her and would say to her, “Am I not worth more than ten sons to you?” He loved her even though she didn't give him children. And in this story Elkanah is an example to other husbands to love your wife, even if they’re not perfect according to social norms. To not cast them off and treat them as less. Elkanah accepted Hannah for who she was as a loving, caring person, and I think that must have kept her going.
But finally, one year it's just all too much for her. After years of taking care of her husband's house as best she could, while enduring snide abuse from the second wife, and probably a lot of continual pity from society because she wasn't a complete, fertile woman, she breaks down. It's all just too much.
But Hannah doesn't go into her room and cry. She has faith. So instead, she takes her petition to God when the family is camped at Shiloh.
Now remember this is pre-Jerusalem and pre-temple. The Ark of the Covenant was on a wagon which traveled from town to town with Eli, the high priest. When they came to a town, a tent would be set up around the Ark with an altar in front. People would bring their prayers and sacrifices to the altar, but only the priest could go inside the tent because that is a very holy place of great power. Ordinary people were not allowed inside, but you could stand at the entrance and look in, to the Ark.
Hannah rises early and goes and stands at the entrance and prays. She is praying with her whole heart, and mind, and soul. She’s distressed and all that emotion is coming out of her and she’s weeping bitterly. She’s praying quietly through the sobs and asking God for a son. And she tells God that if she does have a son that she will dedicate him to the Lord.
That's very important because that is her sacrifice. She knows that her husband has sons by his second wife who will inherit. That's not what she wants or what is important to her. She feels broken and incomplete. She wants to have a part of her heart and spirit restored to her and to be made whole. And if that wholeness is restored to her then she will gladly give up her son to become a servant of God.
I find this sacrifice of Hannah to be very inspiring. It’s so easy for a parent to get caught up in what you think your child should be or what you think they should become. And Hannah is willing to let her son leave her and her house, and become a priest, if that his calling. We might think that this is like a modern-day mother who tells her kid that they’re going to be a doctor or lawyer. But a Jewish person would read this and realize that Hannah is giving him to be educated but ultimately, he will or will not be called to God by God, and it’s his decision to become a priest or not. She is saying to God that she won’t stand in her son’s way if he wants to serve. She knows there are certain obligations the priests had to go through that separated them from their families. And remember the family structure was the bedrock of the Hebrew culture. People without families had a really tough time.
But Hannah is willing to let go of her expectations and her ego so that her son can be what he is meant to be according to God and God's plan. She trusts that God will take care of her child and find a way forward for him.
But while Hannah is praying in a very distressful manner, it's interesting that Eli the priest sees this woman and what's the first thing he thinks of? She's drunk. Well, it's good to know that even back in biblical times there were some men who were highly insensitive to women and their feelings. But I'll give Eli credit; once Hannah explains to him what's going on he's on her side and he comforts her and assures her that God has heard her prayers.
You know Bible characters aren’t perfect; they’re human like we are. And sometimes they do something and we think: Whoa dude, what are you thinking? When that happens, we’re being given an example of how not to act. I think that this reflects Eli’s assumptions of Hannah. If people are distressed, don’t assume they’re drunk or crazy. Don’t minimalize their feelings. Find out what’s wrong with them and see if you can help.
God does give Hannah a son and she explains to her husband what she promised God. Now here we have another good example from Elkanah. Does he say, “This is my son and I will decide what to do with him?” No, he sees the sacrifice that Hannah is making to become whole and he honors her promise and supports her decision.
She gives Samuel up when he is weaned, which is not when he stops breastfeeding, but when he is about five or six years old, the age at which sons would start to be taught by their fathers. But she does continue to visit him and take him presents as he grows.
Hannah shows us that no matter who with are, with whatever perceived social deficits we have, God still loves us. We are his children and he will listen to us. Today we wouldn’t blame Hannah for not being able to have children. (Elkanah was a man very ahead of his time; he never blamed her.) But society still puts expectations on us as to what makes a good and complete person. Does a high-school or college diploma make you a complete person? Does a husband or wife make you a complete person? Does owning a house makes you a complete person? Society puts on us many expectations, big or small, and we cannot live up to them all. But in the end, they don’t really matter to God.
What matters is loving God, ourselves, and each other by doing acts of generosity and compassion every day. Being a compassionate human being who loves kindness, does justice, and walks humbly with God is the only expectation that God has of us. So when you don’t feel whole because society says you’re not, go to God for your healing. And he will show you your true worth, and put you on a path that will lead you to joy.
Gideon
October 18, 2026 21st Sunday of Pentecost Laity Sunday
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Judges 6:11-16
I think it's really cool that we're starting this new sermon series which focuses on some very ordinary people in our Bible history and how with the help of God they did extraordinary things. I think it's also very cool that we’re starting this series on Laity Sunday. And since it is Laity Sunday, I would like to read the thank you note that I included in the scripture insert.
Laity Sunday is observed each year on the third Sunday of October. It recognizes the people who carry out the church’s ministry every day: Teaching classes, leading committees, organizing events, feeding neighbors, visiting the homebound, serving on mission teams, and so much more.
I would like to thank each and every one of my congregants who help to make our church a place of vitality and peace. No matter what you do, whether it be serving on committees, helping out with events, participating in worship, attending Bible Study, visiting people, it contributes to building the Kingdom. Every brick, big or small, is important.
Thank you for these four years that I have served with you. Your kindness, patience, and dedication have sustained myself and Michael. I literally could not have done this calling and job without all of you. And I pray that I can continue to serve you well into the future.
Now let's talk about Gideon who is from the Book of Judges. (Please note that Judges weren’t kings – they were people you went to, to settle disputes.) You know, if you want to read a pretty terrifying historic novel read this book. It's kind of like reading about the lawless Wild West in America. It takes place over a 410 year period, from about 1,400 BCE to 1,000 BCE; after the Hebrews entered into the promised land until the appointment of Saul as king. In the book there’s tribal fighting between the tribes of Abraham and tribal fighting between other tribes and religions that live in the region. The book ends in a civil war in which the tribe of Benjamin is very nearly wiped out. In fact, the last line of the book of Judges says: In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
So, who is Gideon? Most scholars agree that he was alive during 1180 BCE. He was a member of the tribe of Manasseh, which is one of the smaller Hebrew tribes. The Bible narrative tells us that for about 40 years, after Barak and Deborah’s victory, the Hebrews had peace with their neighbors. But they also started to become interested in the other gods of the region and started to worship them as well. This is a bad thing. Part of the first commandment is that you’re only supposed to worship God and not put any other gods before Him. So, God allowed the Midianites to take over Jewish territories.
When we meet Gideon, he’s pounding his wheat in a wine vat. If you look at your bulletin you will see that the vat was a stone pit, that you would place the grapes in, then crush them, cover the vat, and then let the juice ferment. Once the wine was fermented you would take it out of the vat, drain it, and put it into jugs to age. You would then clean out the vat, making it ready for the next year’s harvest.
The vats were usually about three to four feet deep, and Gideon is in this vat beating out the grain from the wheat because he’s hiding the harvest results from the local Midian raiders. This shows us that the Jewish people were living in a state of fear. An angel comes to Gideon and tells him that he is the person who is going to save his people from this oppression.
Gideon doesn’t believe him at first. In fact, he asks God for several tests to prove that He IS the almighty God and will stand by his side. The most famous one is when he asks God to keep a fleece dry during a wet night and wet during a dry night, and God provides.
You might ask: Why would you want to test God before going out and doing something that He asks of you? Well, Gideon is a man of faith, which is why God chooses him, but he’s also surrounded by these strange gods and spirits that stand against God and his people. And Gideon is probably worried that one of those other gods or spirits is going to play a trick on him and cause his people to be wiped out if they go to war with the Midianites. So, he’s being cautious.
Gideon is an important character for us because he shows us that it’s okay to question and maybe even test God when you feel that He wants you to do something. Especially something important or life changing. And God is okay with that. He understands that Gideon needs some proof. If you feel that you need some confirmation that you’re doing the right thing or taking the right stand you can say: Hey, God. I need a little proof that I am doing the right thing, and my actions are what you want me to do. In fact, the origin of the phrase putting out a fleece, which we don't use so much anymore, is a reference to Gideon and means: To look for a sign from God before undertaking some action or carrying out some plan.
Once Gideon is convinced that God is who He is, who will be on the side of the Hebrews, he raises an army, defeats the Midianites – even though they have vastly superior numbers – gives God the glory for the victory; throws down the altars of the local gods, and restores peace to the region while reigning as a Judge for 40 years.
Besides showing us that you can question God and ask for proof, Gideon is also an example of someone who carries out God’s purpose, even though the odds of completing the mission are overwhelmingly against making that purpose come true.
How many of us give up on something or don’t even start something because we feel that the task or project is just too impossible? I remember when I was presented with the idea of going to Japan, something in me aligned and felt right about doing it. But it was such a big idea that it didn’t seem to be possible to do. And there were also several nay-sayers in my life who told me that it was just too big a thing and wouldn’t work. But I remember saying to myself: If God wants me to do this, He will show me how to do this. So, God show me how to do this. I then started to meet people, who led me to information, and gradually it all came together. I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me in my life.
I can also tell you that I have NOT done things because things did not line up. And I really think that God was blocking me from doing something that I shouldn’t do. And when that happened it always seems that something else came along that I was meant to do.
That is living in faith. Do I do it all the time? No. I have not lived in faith as often as I could have. But I will say that God sometimes whacks me on the head and gets me back in line. But part of living in faith is that you’ve got to pay attention, and be open to communicating with God, like Gideon did.
You’ve all heard of the Gideon’s Bible? The Gideon’s International is the organization that’s responsible for leaving Bibles in hotel rooms. But it’s primary purpose is to be a spiritual organization dedicated to helping people live in their faith, using Gideon as their example. The organization states: Gideon was a man who was willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do regardless of his own judgment, as to the plans or the results. Humility, faith, and obedience were his great elements of character. This is the standard we try to establish an all our members. Each person to be ready to do God's will at any time, at any place, and in any way that the Holy Spirit lead us.
Getting back to Laity Sunday. As a minister I can do nothing without God, but I also can do nothing without all of you. This church is here because you all have faith. It is my job to encourage and help you grow that faith, and to help you figure out how live it. This is your platform, your safe space to try out ideas, to confront difficulties, and to test out how you want to express that faith to the world.
Once Gideon was sure that God was working with him he was bold because of his faith, so be bold in living out your faith like Gideon. And as we live boldly in our faith may we find and live our purpose in God.
The Flow of Grace
October 4, 2026 World Communion Sunday
Ephesians 3:5-12 Luke 10:25-37
We don't realize in our current age how radical Jesus' message of the parable of the Good Samaritan was.
Back in the 1st century, Israel was occupied by the Romans and was Rome’s vassal state. Anything foreign was considered to be suspect. It was thought that different cultural ideas and practices would undermine and destroy the religion and traditions of the Hebrew people.
Maybe this sounds a little paranoid but there was a lot of history behind this. Before 1,000 BCE The Hebrews were a collection of tribes living in scattered territories with Canaan tribes. Then under the rulers of Saul and David they became strong enough to claim the territory of Israel as their own and they created a Jewish Kingdom with a central capital and a central place of worship in Jerusalem. This only lasted for two generations and then David's grandson, Rehoboem, was such a bad ruler that he ended up splitting the Kingdom into Israel in the north and Judah in the South. But those two countries still functioned as Jewish nations for several hundred years, until Israel got run over by the Assyrians, in 732 BCE, and then Judea by the Babylonians, in 586 BCE.
When the Assyrians and Babylonian conquered those nations, they moved Jewish people over into the Assyrian and Babylonian territories and moved Assyrians and Babylonians into the Jewish territories. In the old world this was a way of forcibly assimilating people. It was believed that the mingling of the different cultures would eventually produce a single coherent population. It didn't work. The Jewish people maintained their identity and then during the reign of Cyrus, the first Persian emperor, they were allowed to go back to Israel and rebuild their temple.
They were still a vassal state, but they had maintained their Jewish identity and traditions. This worked for a while until Alexander the Great conquered the territory. After the Greeks came the Romans, who weren’t interested in allowing the Jewish people to be independent and kept the Jewish people as second class citizens in their own country.
When a culture is oppressed, you hold on to your identity by trying to keep it pure. So, the idea of considering anyone, other than a Jewish person, to be your neighbor is the beginning of a slippery slope to losing your identity.
Jesus deliberately uses the Samaritan in this story because the Samaritans were the Hebrews who had remained in the Israel territory and had intermarried with people from Assyria and Babylon all those years ago. To the Jews who had stayed “pure” in exile and then returned they thought that the Samaritans had abandoned the purity of the Jewish race, by accepting outsiders and their influence, even though Samaritans were still Jewish. They prayed Jewish prayers, they spoke Hebrew, they followed Jewish holidays and customs. Maybe they did it a little differently, because people develop their own traditions to reflect where they are at that time, but they considered themselves to be Jewish
Samaritans represented the start of outsiders coming into the Jewish hearth and home, and causing things to be divergent from what true Judaism was.
So you see, for Jesus to make the Samaritan the hero in this story is a challenge to the Jewish lawyer and those who are listening to him preach. Think about the word neighbor. Neigh means to be near and Bor means inhabitant, so it’s the person who's inhabiting the space near you. The Levite, who is descendant from Moses brother Aaron could be neighbor, and the Priest, who is someone considered to be holy and right with God, could also be a neighbor. But the Samaritan, cannot possibly be a neighbor, or even a person, because he isn't Jewish.
Jesus was asking his people to expand the idea of who their neighbor is beyond the Jewish person living next door to anyone who we meet on the road.
It’s interesting that we don't know who the person on the road is. Jesus just tells us that a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, encountered robbers who beat him and left him there. We don't know his nationality, or ethnicity, or religion. Jerusalem to Jericho was a main trade route, that connected to all over the Middle East, so this guy could have been anyone. Jesus was telling this Jewish crowd that the Samaritan is your neighbor, and by extension couldn’t the injured man be a Greek, or a Roman, or an Egyptian? Are they also your neighbors?
But it is not the “good” Levite, or the “good” Jewish Priest who goes to check on the person in the road; they actually pass on the other side. It is that not-our-neighbor-Samaritan who goes to check, who shows mercy and care. And that mercy and care extends beyond the road, even beyond when he drops him off at the inn.
You get the feeling that these guys are going to be friends in the future. Well wouldn’t you become friends in this situation?
But of course, in our 21st century we are more evolved now.
Are we? There’s a war going on in Gaza right now that could maybe use this message. We have a history of politicians that play on and use xenophobia for their own ends. The early settlers used the Native Americans. In the 1700’s the Germans were the people who were coming to ruin our way of life. Then it was the Irish, then the Italians, then the Asians, then the Mexicans, then the Haitians. Politicians have labeled groups as not our neighbors, even though they’ve lived peacefully among us for years.
Like the people that Jesus was challenging, at some point we have to decide: Who is our neighbor, and how do we treat them? With distain or with compassion?
Today is World Communion Sunday. It’s a day when we remember and celebrate the fact that we are gathered together here at the Table of Grace. But we are not just celebrating with each other in this space. We are celebrating with Christians in the next town, in the next county, in the next state, all throughout the country, all throughout our hemisphere, and all throughout the world. We acknowledge that we are all God’s creation and children, and that all of us live in, and with, God’s Grace.
How will you carry your communion with God today out into the world? Will you accept the challenge that Jesus gave to that lawyer, 2,000 years ago? Will you live the holy mystery of God and Jesus’ love that calls all of us be neighbors to each other? I hope that when we leave this place we will all agree with Jesus who said, “Go and do likewise.”
Finding Our Contentment in God
September 27, 2026 18th Sunday of Pentecost
Hebrews 13:5-6 1 Timothy 6:6-12
This week the bulletins at Hobart, Township, and Bloomville have on the cover a set of scales. On one side of the scales is a bag of money and on the other side is a heart which is lower than the bag of money, showing that the heart is stronger than money. This weighing of the heart is actually a very old image dating back to ancient Egypt.
When a person died in Egypt they went before the gods, and your heart was weighed on a scale against a feather. Now this wasn't just any feather; this was the feather of Ma’at the goddess of truth, justice, and balance or order in life. If you had lived a balanced life, attempted to speak the truth as much as you could, and treated others with fairness and justice, your heart would be lighter than this feather, and you would be judged to be a good person. If, however, your heart sank, that showed that you were a bad person and your heart would be fed to the crocodile-lion, which would effectively destroy your soul.
Most ancient cultures actually thought that the heart was more important than the brain. You thought with both your heart and mind. Logic was important, but for human interaction pure rationality was thought to be an abandoning of your human self. Because, although the brain thought, it’s in heart that we feel and value those thoughts. So, all the important memories of what you did in life was kept in the heart. And that was why it was weighed.
Judaism also has this theology. It’s said that we must write the words of God on our hearts, not just know what they are. We must connect them with our emotions; with the love that we have for God, others and ourselves, in order to make them meaningful and valuable to us. If we do this, we will act upon those values with the compassion and grace of God.
Money is often used as a symbol of the material world because that’s how our society gets stuff. It’s what we use to label the value of something. Tribal groups didn’t use money, they just bartered goods for what they needed; so many squirrel pelts for so many arrow heads. But somewhere along the line someone figured out that you could use a substitute for squirrel pelts – whether it was beads, or shells, or pieces of metal – and the concept of money was born.
Money is a convenient thing. It’s how we buy our food, clothing and houses. It’s nice to have enough money to take care of all our daily needs. And it’s understandable that we worry that we won’t have enough money for those needs. I’ve been surprised in the last few years to see ads on television targeted at 20-year-olds that offered services to help with their credit ratings and retirement funds. I don’t remember those kinds of ads targeting me when I was 20. While I don’t disagree with credit ratings and retirement this worries me because you can get so easily caught up in the stress of do-I-have-enough that your focus devolves to: How much money do I have? Do I have enough stuff? Do I have the right stuff? Is my stuff going to last?
You can spiral down into a worry that will drive you crazy. So crazy that it will be the only thing you’ll focus on, and it will become the lense through which you see the world. Do I have enough? Maybe I should work harder to the neglect of those in my life, and maybe even my own health. Do know that the Japanese have a term Karaoshi, which literally translates as “death by overwork?” In Japan, if you can prove that a person worked constantly over 65 hours a week, you can put Karaoshi down as cause of death on the death certificate.
This is why we are warned that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. What happens when you love something? When you fall in love with someone, they become your focus. That person is the one you are thinking about all the time. Even when you’re away from them you think about them, and you want to do things that will nurture your relationship with them. I have to confess that every time I go to Stuart’s for milk that I check to see if there is eggnog, because my sweetie likes eggnog. And, yes, I do buy it for him. That is focusing on love.
We do need food, clothing, and shelter in our lives; we do need money in our lives. And let’s face it most of us really do like to work. Oh, my gosh if you find your passion, if you find the job that or career that you love to do – that’s wonderful, because you are going to have a source of happiness other than just acquiring money. The money is going to be incidental to the satisfaction of your heart. Finding joy is part of fighting the good fight of our faith. But while we’re getting the stuff we need, we need to focus also on our faith.
Timothy reminds people that this world is a fleeting place. We come in without stuff and we exit without stuff. You can’t take it with you, and the person who dies with the most toys is dead. But how do we find our balance between what we actually need and what we don’t need? How much money is enough? And instead of money and the acquisition of stuff, how to we direct our focus to our faith?
Well, John Wesley had a phrase that he gave to people when they asked him these questions: Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.
Earn all you can: It’s understood that people have to earn money to live and that people like to work. Like I said before there is nothing wrong with having a job that you love which pays well. But our commandments are to love God, love our neighbors, and to love ourselves; and work shouldn’t come at the expense of those relationships. Work can be a reflection of our faith because it’s a chance to show our love to the people we work with. But don’t use work as an excuse to neglect your family and friends. We need to find the balance between our work commitments and our relationships outside of work. We need to allow ourselves to have the time to connect to God in worship. We need to understand that earning all we can doesn’t mean sacrificing our relationships to earning more money. All we can means there is a line we need to establish of how much we earn, but still have time to honor our commitments to those we love, and allows us to continue to nurture our relationships.
Save all you can: This is where you can find the balance between necessary spending and unnecessary indulgence. When you’re actively saving for something, like a car or a trip, you budget what you can spend and sacrifice unnecessary things to save your money towards that goal. You find out what you need, and don’t need to have, to get by. You become more aware of the stuff that you have, use it to your advantage, as opposed to wasteful spending and consumption. I once gave myself the challenge to NOT by any new clothing for one year, except for socks and underwear. (I deemed those to be a necessity.) This meant that I had to go through my clothing and see what I actually had to use. Which also meant that I found some clothing that I had forgotten about, and some clothing that didn’t fit anymore, or was worn out. But I didn’t buy to replace any of the stuff that I got rid of, I just learned how to more effectively mix and match the clothing that I had. Saving all you can is not just putting money in the bank – it’s learning how to efficiently use your assets and resources.
Give all you can: Since we’re talking about money, we automatically think about giving money. But although it’s nice to be able to write a check to a charity, what most local charities need is people to give their time to help them. CORE VALUES, Angel’s Attic, the Christmas Feeling Fund, the Fire Department, and our churches, are all organizations in our area that cannot function without people giving of their time and energy. And think of what happens when you do give of your time to those charities. You make friends; you connect with the community; and you know that you are helping beyond your circle of contact. You are nurturing the love and good will in your community, and anytime you give someone or something love, you are also giving love to God through His creation.
When we put our relationships as the focus of our lives; when we work for joy and connection; when we live with necessity, not the gain of surplus; and when we give what we can, when we can, to help our neighbors; then we find ourselves living a content life with and in the intentions of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And then, instead of money being our shield against the world, we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
Living With Abundance
September 20, 2026 17th Sunday of Pentecost
Acts 11:19-30 Matthew 6:24-34
Today we're going to start a new sermon series on generosity. Being the English nerd that I am, I started with the definition of the word generous, which is: Showing a readiness to give more of something, such as time or money, than is considered to be necessary. And the word generosity is the action of being generous.
So, a person is generous when they give more than what is normally expected. I tend to be very generous when it comes to baking for bake sales. I always seem to end up making double batches of cookies, pies or cakes. Personally, I'm not sure if that's being generous or anxious, because I’m always sure that we will never have enough to sell so I end up making more than is expected of me.
But my generous-anxiety illustrates an aspect of generosity; the motivation behind our actions. We do acts of generosity for a variety of reasons. Maybe a person just likes to do something, like baking, and so they give more of their time and energy to it. Maybe a person has a certain cause or organization that speaks to their life experience, such as someone whose parents died of cancer, so they give to, or work for, a cancer research organization. Maybe a person wants to help out in their community because they know that their neighbors are in need, so they donate to the food bank or the Christmas feeling fund. Or maybe they are a person who wants to look good in society, so they give money and time to certain causes that they think will give them some status.
Some of these reasons are altruistic, some are self-serving, and some of them might be a little mercenary. But you know what? I don't think the motivations really matter, because generosity, whether it is for a belief in a cause, just wanting to help neighbors, or even seeking social status, is going to help someone. Any blessing, no matter what the motivation, is still a blessing. Let’s let God worry about people's motivations. He can handle them a lot better than we can.
But I do think that there’s a condition that exists before people can be generous. I think many of us feel that we need to have enough to take care of ourselves satisfactorily before we can be generous. And I’m not necessarily talking about having a level of stuff or money. It has to do with what you can donate of and from yourself. I volunteered at the school radio station when I was in college, and I liked it and I learned a lot, but I had to give it up because it interfered with my classes and study time. I just couldn’t be that generous with my time at the radio station.
This memory hit me when I was reading the Matthew scripture. We actually read this same scripture a few weeks ago when we were talking about worrying. At that time I said that Jesus was trying to keep his disciples from worrying about the present and future to the point that they would freeze and not do anything. And I wondered, “Why is this scripture here in a sermon series about generosity? How does this relate?”
I thought that maybe one of the beliefs of the disciples that caused them to worry, was that they were surrounded by scarcity, and they feared that they wouldn’t be able to find enough for themselves, or what they needed wouldn’t be provided for. There was a thought in the back of their minds that they didn’t have enough to get by on. Yet, they are listening to Jesus preach a gospel of generosity of spirit. Jesus said that if you have two cloaks give one to your neighbor who doesn’t have one. But I think the disciples probably only had one cloak. How can you be generous when you only have the basic necessities?
I think that besides worry, Jesus was trying to turn the disciple’s minds from an outlook of scarcity to one of abundance.
When I was living in Japan a friend gave me a collection of motivation tapes by Tony Robbins, a 90’s motivation guru. One of his comments that has really stuck with me was his claim that we are very lucky to be living in a country of abundance. He pointed out that all of us have access to many public facilities like libraries and public parks that we can enjoy for free. He encouraged people to see the abundance that they had in their lives in terms of their resources and opportunities.
Often in stress-filled times we tend to focus on what we don’t have. We say to ourselves: If only I had enough money, or enough time, or enough education, or enough tools, or enough talent, I would be better off. I would be able to fix whatever problems I have and live a more stress-free life.
Now I don’t want to belittle the fact that very often we don’t have all the resources we need to fix our problems. Sometimes we get stuck because we’re looking at what we have and not considering that there is stuff that can help us that lies beyond the little circle we’ve been staring at. One of our big resources are the people who surround us. Look around you – this includes your family, friends, and neighbors, plus the greater community of organizations, like our church, that can be utilized.
I know of one woman who was going through a rough time with cancer. She lived far from the hospital that she went to for treatment and couldn’t make the support groups that they offered. She advertised that she was going to start a cancer support group using her local church as the meeting place. She was hoping for a small number to start with, maybe 3 or 4 people. She had 24 that first meeting! Using the resources around her – beyond what her hospital offered – she started a vital program for herself and others which went on for years and helped many people, not just herself.
Abundance and generosity doesn’t have to be huge – they just have to be what we need right now, at this moment, that we can share with others. And remember that enough-list that I just gave you? The one with money, time, education, tools, and talent? We all have those things. Maybe not enough to solve our problems at this moment, but we all have enough to build a base to get more of what we need.
Jesus tells his disciples: But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? Later in Matthew he will urge his disciples to ask God for what they need because God will not deny them. I admit that sometimes I am of little faith because I have a reluctance to ask God to help me with resources that I need. My reluctance comes from an independent-streak that makes me believe that I should be able to handle everything by myself. Wrong! I have to really step on my ego when it gets like that because I KNOW that I’m not a superwoman who can do it all. Why shouldn’t I ask for help if I need it? We all need help at some point or another and there is nothing wrong with asking God! In fact, I’ve found that if I ask God for help first, it’s easier for me to ask for help from others.
If I believe that I have the necessities to live, and I practice seeing the abundance around me, then I am well on my way to having the right mind set to be generous to others. Because when we believe that we have everything we need, we also believe that we can share it with others. I can share my money, time, education, tools, and talent. Maybe not all of them at once, but the ones that are needed when they are called for.
Look for the abundance that you have around you. Go ahead and take some time to make a list of your money, time, education, tools, talent and especially our love. And don’t be afraid to ask God for more. With our little faith, our hearts in Christ, and our generosity to share our resources we can do much. All it takes is a willingness to live in abundance, not scarcity, and we’ll be living in in a world of generosity that is building the Kingdom.