Baptismal Remembrance Congregational Hymn Sing

Call to Worship for Baptismal Remberance Congregational Hymn Sing

Leader: Remember you Baptism!
People: We remember how Christ was baptized in the Jordan.
L: Remember Your Baptism!
P: We remember how we are all one in Christ.
L: Remember Your Baptism!
P: We remember how, dying with Christ, we will be resurrected with him.
L: Remember Your Baptism!
P: We remember that we are given new life, freedom, forgiveness.
L: Remember Your Baptism!
P: We remember that we are God’s beloved children.
L: In light of remembering our baptisms, let us worship our Holy God.

All: Amen.

Baptismal Remembrance Hymn Sing

Baptism of our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17:
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’”

Today is “Baptism of Our Lord Sunday.” It always falls here, at the beginning of the calendar year, the Sunday following Epiphany. Jesus’s baptism is the start of his public ministry. Before this in Scripture we just have the birth narratives and the story of him as a boy in the temple. Jesus has been growing up, hidden away from the public eye, the stories lost to time - but now, with his coming to the Jordan River, everything is about to change.

John had been baptizing the crowds - this was a baptism of repentance of sins. They confessed their sins, they were washed clean. It was a public commitment to the movement that John preached - that the day of the Lord was coming and with it an end to oppression and reign of justice.

Jesus came to the Jordan, not for forgiveness of his own sins, but to be baptized in solidarity with the people he came to save. And, indeed, as he came up out of the water, a dove descended from the heavens and declared Jesus as God’s Beloved Son.

The one for whom John was preparing the way, the one for whom the crowds were waiting, the one that all of creation was longing for has finally come - Jesus, God’s Beloved Son.

It is on this day we remember not only Jesus’s baptisms but our own baptisms, in which we too are sealed forever as beloved children of God.

Let us sing, “When Jesus Came to the Jordan,” UMH 252

Initiated into Christ’s Holy Church

1 Corinthians 11:12-13, 27: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit…Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

In the United Methodist Church we baptize both children and adults. We will baptize anyone when they are presented or come for baptism - but we only do one baptism in a person’s life. This is because Baptism is the work of the Holy Spirit and there is nothing we can do that will un-do what God has done. This is also the work of what we Methodists call “Prevenient Grace” - the grace that comes before we even know there is grace to be had. And so even as small children we are given the gift of grace and initiated into Christ’s Holy Church.

One of the primary acts of Baptism is incorporating that child of God of any age, into the Body of Christ, into the Church community. In fact, the body of Christ plays an essential role in the act of Baptism. The idea of a “private baptism” is an oxymoron - for in the very act of Baptism, the baptized is welcomed into the fold of community. The congregation makes vows to the person baptized - to nurture them, to teach them, to be an example of Christian love and discipleship to them, to surround them with love and forgiveness, to help them know God and to know God’s love through the congregation. Through you. These are vows we make on behalf of all Christians everywhere and it reminds us just how we are to treat one another in the church. Anything less than love and forgiveness for one another is a breach of our Baptismal promises we made before God.

Baptism recognizes that we are all the Church. We are all the Body of Christ. We are all One in Christ Jesus. Baptism marks each and every one of us as one of God’s beloved people - may we view ourselves and treat each other as such.

Let us sing, “Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters,” UMH 605, vs. 1 & 3

Incorporated [Included] into God’s mighty acts of Salvation

Romans 6:3-11:
“Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed[a] from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Christ’s death and resurrection opened the door for all of creation to be saved through Jesus. Baptism is a celebration of walking through that door, and accepting God’s salvation for us.

We live in a world marked by sin - in which sin is impossible to escape. Every person born is affected by our fallen world - we cannot help but be for the marks of sin are all around us. Sin would have us following selfish desires that are not God’s will. Sin would have us labeling our neighbors as enemies rather than fellow children of God. Sin disrupts our hearts, our relationships, our world.

God has always been at work in our world to show us another way. Baptism places us inside God’s story of salvation. The story of God at work in the world is now our story too.

Jesus is the pinnacle of God’s actions in offering us the path of life over the path of sin. God sending Jesus, God enfleshed, to Earth is a sign of God’s love for us and desire to be in relationship with us. It is through Jesus that we come to know who God is and how God wants us to treat our neighbors. Salvation is a relationship with God and neighbor and sin is anything that separates humanity from God, each other, and all of creation.

One of the primary images in baptism is dying to our old self. When the water is sprinkled, or when the baptized is fully immersed, it represents dying to the ways of sin and death. The hold sin has on us is broken. Under the water, we are dead in the tomb with Christ and dead to sin. Arising from the water, or on the other side of our baptism, we leave the tomb with Christ - a new creation ready to follow the ways of Love and Life rather than Sin and Death.

Baptism shows us intimately the very acts of God’s cosmic salvation. It is the salvation of all of creation - it is also the losing and saving of our very lives.

Let us sing, “Child of Blessing, Child of Promise,” UMH 611, vs. 1, 3, 4

Given new birth through water and the Spirit

John 3:1-8: “Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”

We have died with Christ and are born anew, given new life. This is done through Water and the Spirit.

Our Baptismal liturgy recounts many of the ways that God has used water in the saga of God’s salvation of God’s people: the deep primordial waters of creation; the ark that floated upon the waters of the great flood; the passing through the Red sea; crossing the Jordan to the promised land; Jesus nurtured in the water of a woman’s womb; the water in which Jesus was baptized in.

It would be a folly however, to view these just as bodies of water, the combination of molecules that gives us H20. This is more than water - it is water and the Spirit. All of this is guided by God, infused with the Holy Spirit who is ever present in our history, our world, and our innermost lives. It is not simply water with which we are baptized - we are baptized by water and The Spirit. We bless this water. We recognize it as holy. We invite God’s Spirit into it, into our midst. Here with us - in the act of the sacrament of baptism and to be a guiding presence throughout our lives.

We are called to new life - to put to death the ways of sin - and, to every day, let the Spirit of God move within us, to sanctify us, to make us more holy. Holiness is simply a life marked by love of God and love of neighbor as self. It is through water and the Spirit that this journey of holiness begins - and it is the Spirit who continues with us on the journey, throughout our whole lives.

Let us sing, Baptized in Water, FWS 2248 

God’s gift, offered to us without price

Acts 2:38-39:
“Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’”

We often view Baptism as a choice we make - or our parents or guardians made for us and then we affirmed it when going through Confirmation. And yes, Baptism is a choice - a choice to give one’s self, to give one’s child, over to God. A choice to die to self and be risen with Christ. A choice to love God and to love one another. A choice to be planted firmly in Christian community.

We fail, however, when we view Baptism just a choice we make and not a beautiful, divine gift, given to us by God.

Baptism is a celebration that we are God’s children, adopted into God’s family, and loved dearly and intimately by God - just because we were created by the God of Love.

When the preacher says, “Remember your baptism” - this is what we mean. We are not talking about the year or day or how old you were. We are not talking about the church in which it took place or the minister who presided over the sacrament that day. We are not talking about the details of your baptism. When we say, “Remember you baptism” we are saying: “Remember that you are God’s child. Remember that you are loved by God. Remember that you are God’s beloved.”

From the day we are born, to the day we are baptized, to the day we die and are returned into the arms of God - and every day in between, we are defined by our Baptisms. We are called to live with our Baptism as the primary source of our identity - everything in our lives should be changed because we have been Baptized - because we know God loves us.

After we sing our next hymn, we will have the opportunity to join in a congregational remembrance of Baptism. As we share the liturgy, as you come and touch the water, I invite you to remember your baptism - and above all, know that you are God’s beloved child.

Let us sing, “I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry,” FWS 2051 

“Even in Our Fear…We are Called Forward” a sermon on Jeremiah 1:4-10 & Luke 1:26-39

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Luke 1:26-39
“Even in Our Fear…We are Called Forward”
Preached Sunday, December 14, 2025 at Boardman United Methodist Church

Let’s talk about first steps.

My husband, Zach, and I have two small children literally running circles around us. We are always tired. The other night, right before falling asleep, Zach said to me, “When do you recover from parenting?” Not to burst his bubble of exhaustion but I answered, “I don’t think you do. It just changes.”

When little children take their first steps, you can move the coffee table to the basement. You can set up baby gates. You can put foam pads on the corner of furniture. You do what you can to limit the dangers, limit hard falls and tripping hazards. And yet they still happen and there are many times that you will scoop a crying child into your arms as you check their head for bumps and their knees for scrapes.

And there will come a time in their lives when you can’t remove the obstacles. We’re talking metaphorically now. You can’t limit the tripping hazards and the pain they will feel when they fall. And yet, you are still called to help them when they fall. To offer comfort, to be a soft place to land when they’re beat up by the world.

And this example isn’t just for parents - no matter what age you are, think of yourself as the inner child who is taking trembling first steps. Trembling first steps to follow God. Trembling first steps to change direction. Trembling first steps to do a new thing. Trembling first steps to follow a path in front of you that you don’t know where it will lead.

What fear of falling or bumps or scraped knees is holding you back from taking those first steps?

The Rev. Sara Speed captures this sentiment in her poem, “The First Step:”

“Watch any parent. It starts with the first step.
They kneel down. They smile with anticipation.
They reach for their baby, calling and cooing them forward.
And then before they know it, they’re running behind a bike. They’re yelling,
‘Keep pedaling! You got it! I’m right here!’ And they’re jumping up and down,
because that little red helmet passed the mailbox.
And then, just like that, they’re driving circles in the church parking lot.
They’re giving instructions about easing on and off the pedal.
They’re having conversations about curfew and heartbreak.
And then, before they know it, they’re standing in a hospital room.
Their heart is bursting. And they say, ‘Put her head right here.
Rock her gently. Do you remember the nursery rhymes?
You were born for this.’
The first step is always the hardest,
but you, beloved, were born for this.”

While thinking about trembling first steps, let’s turn our attention to the Annunciation. That is what we call this conversation between Gabriel and Mary in today’s Gospel reading. It starts:

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.’”

I want to focus on the words translated here as “much perplexed.” During Bible study this week, there was some sentiment shared about “much perplexed” not really getting to the root of what Mary was feeling. And I can understand that - I am often “much perplexed” when trying to solve the daily crossword puzzle or when trying to understand why the Instacart shopper thought frozen chopped kale was a good substitute for broccoli. No - “much perplexed” can seem like an under-reaction to an angel just appearing before you and telling you that you are favored by God. The Greek word used here is stronger than our English translation might imply. The Sanctified Art team offers this commentary on the phrase ‘The text says she is “greatly troubled”...suggesting not just inner disturbance but a deep, bodily dissonance. Mary is not simply puzzled— she is shaken, thrown off-balance, possibly afraid for her life.”

Mary is shaken to her core at the appearance of this angel, his pronouncement of her favoredness, and with what the angel tells her - that she will bear God’s son, the Savior of the Nations, the coming Messiah, God-Enfleshed, planted in her virgin womb.

Mary had real reason to be afraid here and not just from the out of nowhere appearance of the Angel - according to Deuteronomical law, an unmarried pregnant woman could be stoned to death in her father’s doorway. And even if there is very little evidence that they often happened, it would still bring her shame and change the whole trajectory of her life.

And so Mary says to the angel - “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

Let’s take a step back here - almost every single call story in the Bible starts with self-doubt, trepidation, uncertainty, or even downright denial. Think about it - Moses says he can’t do it, no way - he stutters. Jonah runs to the opposite end of the earth. Gideon said he was too weak. Peter denied Jesus. Ananias was afraid of Paul.

Jeremiah - who we heard from in our first Scripture reading this morning - said, “I am only a boy.”

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’”

Some background on Jeremiah. The Babylonian Exile is when the elite or ruling class of Israelites was banished from Jerusealem and taken to serve in Babylon. But the everyday people, the people of no great political or religious significance were left behind in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was appointed by God as prophet to them. And a huge concern of theirs was, without the Temple and without the Ark of the Covenant - was God still with them? One of Jeremiah’s main messages to them is this - yes! God is with you always.

But first he says - I am only a boy.

To which God replies, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you.”

Today my question to each of you is this: What is your “I’m only [fill in the blank here].” What is your “How can this be? For I am [fill in the blank here]?”

God, I can’t do it - I’m only in my 30’s.
God, I can’t do it - I’m only an old man.
God, I can’t do it - I’m only a high school graduate.
God, I can’t do it - I’m only, I’m only, I’m only….

How can this be for I am not…strong enough, smart enough, powerful enough, rich enough, magnanimous enough, just…enough.

Where is fear holding you back from the thing that God is calling you to take first steps into? It might be following a call into ministry. It might be a career change. It might be retirement. It might be starting a new ministry in our church or in the community. It might be volunteering for a ministry or for a community group. It might be taking that first step to reconcile a relationship, to offer a hand of forgiveness, to say “I’m sorry.” It might be making a medical decision about treatment options. It might be making the decision to move houses or into assisted living. It might be following a passion, starting a new project, or putting yourself out there in a new way… It might be, it might be, it might be…

And here’s the thing - that first step that God is calling you to take - it might not be this huge thing. It might not move mountains or make headlines - but the Kingdom of God is brought closer to realization here on earth whenever anyone takes a step towards justice, mercy, and love. The Kingdom of God is brought closer to realization here on earth whenever anyone - whenever you - take a step towards more perfect love of God and neighbor as self. The world that was promised to us through the birth of Jesus, a world where all is made right, where “justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” - a Kingdom without End…we are brought closer to that day every time you take a step towards it. When you trust God. When you love neighbor. When you reconcile with one another.

Even when we are afraid, we are called to take first steps.

The past week I finished a fantasy novel called Spinning Silver and it had this line that resonated with me and stuck with me as I was writing this sermon. The character is saying all the hard things she had endured and she says, “But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing.”

We might not know we are strong enough to do the thing God is calling us to do. We might think “I am only.” We might think, “how can this be?” But God says to us - “Do not say I am only…” God calls us to say “yes” even if our voice shakes. God calls us to take first steps, even if we tremble. God calls us to move forward, even if we are afraid.

Even when we are afraid - even when there are coffee tables with sharp hard edges or tripping hazards on the floor - we are called to take trembling first steps towards the new thing that God is calling us toward. The fear may be very real - and we are called forward anyway.

And so, back to Mary - she is much perplexed. She is greatly troubled. She is shaken down to her core. She asks “How can this be, for I am a virgin?” And then, and then - despite her fear, despite her self-doubts, despite her misgivings, she says, she chooses to say - “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” It doesn’t say her fear dissipated when she said yes. She simply said yes despite her fear.

And then, the angel departs.

I really like this poem by Luci Shaw entitled “Mary Considers Her Situation” that imagines Mary in this very next moment:

“What next, she wonders,
with the angel disappearing, and her room
suddenly gone dark.

The loneliness of her news
possesses her. She ponders
how to tell her mother.

Still, the secret at her heart burns like
a sun rising. How to hold it in—
that which cannot be contained.

She nestles into herself, half-convinced
it was some kind of good dream,
she its visionary.

But then, part dazzled, part prescient—
she hugs her body, a pod with a seed
that will split her.”

And in this very next moment - after the Angel departs, with all these thoughts flooding through her head, after she took the trembling first steps of saying yes to the angel and to God - Mary takes some other very important steps - she goes to Elizabeth.

You may have noticed our Gospel lesson ended at kind of an awkward place today with the sentence, “In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country.” It’s not even a full sentence, it ends in a comma - it was meant this morning to convey these important next steps that Mary took - she took her first steps of saying yes to God and her very next steps were seeking out community. She went with haste to see Elizabeth.

Maybe Mary went to Elizabeth for protection - away from her father and those who would throw stones.

Maybe Mary went to Elizabeth for confirmation - if Mary could see with her own eyes that Elizabeth was pregnant, well into her pregnancy of six months, then that meant that this was all real, the Angel was telling the truth, this miracle really was taking root inside of her. And maybe, above all, Mary went to Elizabeth for companionship, community, wise advice, friendship - for we are never meant to walk this journey alone. We are called to support one another - to take first steps, and next steps, and walk with each other step by step until together we usher in the Kingdom of God.

And when we do - God is that parent, with arms opened wide in excitement and encouragement, celebrating our first steps - and walking with us.

So even when we’re afraid - let us move forward together.

Amen.

“When We’re Running Out of Hope…God is at Work” a sermon on Matthew 11:1-11 & Isaiah 43:19-21

Matthew 11:1-11
Isaiah 43:19-21
“When We’re Running Out of Hope…God is at Work”
Preached Sunday, December 7, 2025 

Picture this with me - a man in the wilderness, wild in appearance, so assured of his actions and words, a force to be reckoned with. He was not a lone crazy man that was ignored by passersby, no - crowds flocked to see him, news of his charisma and his message that justice was coming spreading far and wide.

This man is John the Baptist at the height of his ministry. This is normally where we approach John in the season of Advent - at the height of his ministry, at the pinnacle of his cult of personality. In hungry religious circles, he was the Good News that they so desperately needed - a message that judgement for those who oppressed and lorded power over them was coming. This season marked by a lack of hope was not going to last long.He preached for the brood of vipers to repent, he warned that the ax was at the root of the tree for those who abused power, he promised that someone even greater than he was coming - someone who would usher in the Kingdom of Heaven when all is made right with the world.

But this is not the John the Baptist we heard about in today’s Gospel text. John is no longer the brave and triumphant prophet boldly proclaiming a radical message. No, after he baptized Jesus and Jesus entered the wilderness for 40 days, John was arrested and has been in prison for the entire duration of Jesus’s ministry thus far. He was imprisoned for criticizing and questioning the legality of Herod’s marriage. He preached truth to power and upset those in power…so they arrested him and threw him in prison. John is just about at his lowest.

Last week we read from the book of Lamentations of a person crying out to God in their lowest point: “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit.” John is calling out to God from the depths of the pit. He has been brought low, locked away in a prison cell, knowing that his imprisonment might well end in his death - and as readers of this text - we know that it does eventually lead to his gruesome beheading. His hope is running thin. He sends a messenger to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

There are a couple things going on in John asking this question.

First is the disconnect between John’s vision for the Messiah and the ministry of Jesus. Theologian Stanley Saunders puts it like this: “John’s own ministry, which carried a healthy dose of judgment, seems to have roots especially in Malachi 3:1-5, which says that the one who prepares the way for the day of the Lord’s coming refines and purifies the people with both soap and fire. Jesus’ ministry, in contrast, has focused on healings, exorcisms, and public banquets with tax collectors and sinners—in other words, strong on healing and restoration, but weak on judgment and vindication. As John sits in Herod Antipas’ prison, awaiting death … he may be wondering whether and when the liberation of God’s people from bondage and oppression will really take place.” End quote. And this is not the metaphorical liberation - John is literally wondering if Jesus and his followers are going to come knock down his prison door and release him, free him, liberate him - not just from his cell but from Herod and the powers that be.

The other thing going on in John asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” is that he is wondering if his ministry was all worth it. He is at a low point. “Did I get it all wrong? Did I really hear that voice coming down from heaven when I baptized him? Did my ministry and my life make a difference at all? Did everything I did and everything I am…does it amount to anything?”

How many of us, at some point in our lives, have asked these same kinds of questions? Perhaps at a low point, in the depths of the pit of our inner lives, in days of depression, in days when you’re feeling beat up, undervalued, underappreciated. Perhaps at the end of a career, at retirement, or a time of looking back and wondering…Maybe when adult children are out on their own and making decisions that hurt your heart - did I do enough? Whenever you’re looking back and wondering, “Did I make the right choice? Did I take the right fork in the road?” When you’ve had setbacks…. When, when, when…

“Was all this work worth it? Am I on the right track? Does all I’ve done and am doing amount to anything?”

It is at this point in John’s life and our lives that hope is running thin.

So John sends this message to Jesus and what was Jesus’s response?

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus is performing miracles. Jesus is doing the work of the Messiah, all those things that would herald the coming Kingdom of God. Wholeness…

Except something is missing from that wonderful list. Did you pick up on that? Isaiah 61 talks about that Lord’s Day, the prophecy that Jesus is fulfilling and it says this:

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,”

Jesus’s list has six wonderful things, MIRACLES, amazing things that proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the one that John was to prepare the way for - the blind see, the lame walk, the leper is cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have Good News….but that’s six things. The number 7 represented wholeness in the ancient Near East and Jewish custom. We are missing the 7th thing - release of the captive.

John would have picked up on this when he received this news in his prison cell.

In other words, Jesus is answering John - Yes! I am the One! You got it right. What you did made a difference…and…your release is not coming. You will not be freed in this life, not by my hand.

Let’s use our Biblical imagination here for a second - what was John’s reaction to receiving this message? Did he have despair that he was not going to be released? Or did it kindle hope for the future work of God, even if he would not be a part of it? His ministry had come to an end - but that did not mean that it was all for naught.

Artist Lauren Wright Pittman did depict this moment of John receiving this news in a piece of art. In the artwork, John is in a dark prison cell but it captures the very moment he hears of Jesus' ministry and a lantern flares, filling the room with dancing light. John’s face is mid-laugh at this joyous news, even as a tear forms in his eye.

John was faithful. He did the work of God. The fruit is being borne and his hope is renewed, even as he is still physically in that dark place.

So let’s turn again to examining our own questions that come from places where our hope is running thin. The Sanctified Art commentary on this text says this about the questions we ask: We selected this passage because far too many of us can relate to John’s exasperation. We may also ask: ‘Have my efforts made a difference? Is God truly at work?’ This week, let’s validate these questions, but also introduce follow-up questions for self-inquiry: Is my hope solely dependent upon outcomes, tangible proof, or positive change? Can I practice hope even when I don’t see the fruits of my labor? Do I trust that God is at work, even if I cannot always see it? Might God be at work in ways I don’t expect?”

Our reading from Isaiah this morning captures God’s answer to us when we ask these questions:

“I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.”

A similar sentiment is captured in the poem, “God in the Kitchen” by The Rev. Sarah Speed. She writes:

“I called home my first semester of college. I told my mom I was fine,
but I was homesick. She must have heard the truth in my voice.
The ache ate at me. It was a long, slow song, a million tiny ants
slurping the juice from a peach. I was tender and bruised,
in the doldrums of it all. But she could hear all of that. So three states away,
she preheated the oven. Three states away,
she tossed blueberries in a thin layer of flour. Three states away,
she dusted a layer of streusel over the soft peaks
of a dozen warm muffins. And three days later,
I unboxed a package from home—
a dozen blueberry muffins, a love letter with my name on it,
a reminder that I was not alone.
If you’re running out of hope, count to three.
God is in the kitchen. She’s just waiting for yeast to rise.”

End quote.

Do you not perceive it? God is at work under the surface. A way is going to spring forth, a deluge of water in the desert, carving out a path. God is at work in the kitchen - we just don’t know it yet. We are called to hope even when we can’t yet see what the outcome will be, when we don’t know what the future will hold, when we don’t know if it all will be worth it. We are called to trust in the unseen, not yet revealed work of God.

It reminds me of the beloved song in our hymnal, “Hymn of Promise:” “In the bulb, there is a flower. In the seed, an apple tree. In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter, there’s a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.”

Of course here in Ohio we know the cold and snow of winter - and we know the cold and snow of winter metaphorically too - when it’s dark too soon and too regularly - when we’re desperate for signs of God at work, but we can’t see it all underneath the frozen ground. We have to trust - God will bring us hope. God is at work, just under the surface.

And here’s another thing about what Jesus said to and about John… Jesus did not condemn John for his doubt in him or his questioning of him. John tells the messengers to go and tell John the Good News and then Jesus still praises John for the type of man and faithful follower of God that he is.

So too, Jesus does not condemn us for our moments of doubt or questions; Jesus does not scold us for our times when our hope runs thin; Jesus does not leave us to our low places…

Jesus says to us - take heart. Have hope. Do not fear. Do you not perceive the new thing I’m doing?

God is at work, just under the surface.

Holy Communion, which we will share today, is an example of God at work beneath the surface. On the surface level, we are all just eating bread from a local bakery and Welch’s grape juice. But when we look closer, we can perceive the work that God is doing just beneath the surface. God is coming to us in bread and cup. God is working among us. God is uniting us in this meal. God is empowering us for the path ahead… Yes, God is at work here, just under the surface.

If we can let go of what was or what our expectations were… to make room for what will be, for what God is doing - a way out of no way…. If we could have but hope and trust that what God is at work doing just underneath the surface will be so so good…

Let us all have renewed hope. Amen.

“In the Time of Herod…We Long For God To Break In” an Advent 1 sermon on Luke 1:5-13 & Lamentations 3:55-57

Luke 1:5-13
Lamentations 3:55-57
“In the Time of Herod…We Long For God To Break In”
Preached Sunday, November 30, 2025

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new worship and sermon series that will carry us through Christmas. It is called:

“What do you fear? Insisting on hope this Advent.”

The sermon series focuses on the narrative in the Gospel of Luke that starts with the words “In the time of Herod…” Our Scripture translation was a little more wordy today: “In the days of King Herod of Judea…” It has long been said that Luke was the more historical of the Gospel writers and he wanted to cement the story of Jesus’s birth in the historical narrative. This opening sentence, however, conveys more than just the year in which these events took place. It also lets us know what kind of world Jesus was born into. It is the important backdrop for everything that is about to happen.

Saying “In the time of Herod…” would be synonymous with saying
“In a time of rampant oppression,”
“In a time of economic disparity,”
“In a time of uncertainty,”
“In a time of instability.”

It sounds like it might be a time not too unlike our own.

If this story had happened “In the time of 2025…” what background knowledge would that give for our stories and lives…
“In a time of stark political divides,”
“In a time of a widening gap between socio-economic classes,”
“In a time of mass deportations,”
“In a time of covid & post-covid,”
“In a time of war and broken peace treaties,”
“In a time of, in a time of, in a time of….” I will let you fill in the blank.

And yet, and yet. In the time of Herod…the angels of God repeatedly say, “Do not fear.” In a time when there was so much to fear, the most repeated phrase in the Christmas narrative is, “Do not fear.”

I believe, in our world, in our times, God is repeating that same phrase to us here and now, today, and across our lives. “Do not fear.” And so this Advent we will explore where we can release fear and hold tightly to hope, peace, love, and joy - the promises of God.

Therefore we are invited this Advent to gently and tenderly examine our fears - the larger fears of our world and the fears of our personal lives, for so often they are deeply intertwined. As we hear the echoes of the angels saying, “Do not fear,” I do not want you to imagine a deep booming voice issuing a command from the heavens to tell us to instantly banish all fear. It is not a scolding command that fills you with shame and doesn’t actually work to make fear just go away. Instead imagine it whispering softly in your ear, in the voice of a loving Divine parent, coming to comfort a child who just had a bad dream. “What are you afraid of? Do not fear. I am here with you.”

It is in the comforting Divine embrace that we are called to release our fears, acknowledging what they are in order to make room instead for hope.

We may never in this life let go of our fears completely. And fear can be lived with in a healthy way, acting as a safeguard and a teacher. But fear cannot be allowed to run our lives and shrink our hearts. I sometimes think of fear as a protective measure for our hearts - for my heart. If I expect the worst, if I don’t dare to hope, then our cruel and harsh world will hurt me less when it eventually disappoints me.

The Rev. Sarah Speed wrote about this in a poem called, “In the Time of Herod.” The beginning of the poem reads:

“I didn’t live during Herod’s time—that brutal, murderous king, God save his soul.
But even hundreds of years later, I know the prayers of his people.
I know the prayers of the mothers and the children under his rule.
I know the prayers of the young men under his angry arm.
I know their prayers, because anyone who has ever lived in this soft world for more than two days
knows how to pray for a miracle.
We rub our hands together.
We fold weary shoulders in,
a cage of bone to protect our bleeding hearts.”

I know that posture, shoulders folded in, a weary weight upon them, constructing a cage around my heart in the hope of protecting it ...but also closing it off to the miracles that God is working in this world…

The poem concludes:

“And when all of that is said and done, we whisper to our creator,
God, break through the yelling and the fear. Break through the violence and the oppression.
Get past the Herods of this world, and come be here.
Like every bleeding heart before, we pray for a miracle.”

Enter Zechariah, praying for a miracle.

Zechariah was living in this world in the time of Herod. As a priest and as a Jewish man, I believe he would have been praying for an end to the oppression of his people. And on a personal scale, as a man, as an individual, he was praying for a child.

He was praying for a miracle - miracles.

My question is, was he praying for a miracle that he really believed would happen? Was he praying for a miracle with hope in his heart for Divine intervention? Was he praying with the assurance that God was listening to his prayers? Or was he praying the prayers he had prayed for many years, going through the routine of saying them but devoid of the hope they would be answered, let alone heard.

Let’s pause here and ask these questions of ourselves. Are you praying for any miracles? Are you praying with hope? Have you stopped praying for the miracle at all? Have you stopped praying?

In John 14:27 we have this famous line from Scripture, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Do not let your hearts be troubled. That word which we translate as troubled is Zechariah’s reaction to the angel appearing before him. Started, disturbed, agitated.

Do not be afraid. That word, translated as afraid, implies a shrinking of the heart. And yes, since we are entering Christmas time, think of the Grinch who’s heart was two sizes too small. The translation and understanding of this word as “afraid” tells us what we all know because we have experienced it ourselves - in our lives or the lives of people we know - fear shrinks the heart. It can shrink our hearts’ capacities for love. Fear holds our hearts back from loving and treating others as God would have us love and treat them. Fear shrinks our hearts and doesn’t leave room for God breaking into our world and lives with loving action. Fear obliterates our hearts’ desire for hope. It erases even the hope that our prayers are heard at all.

And that’s what I want to focus on today - not on the miracles themselves but on the prayers being heard.

For the miracles we pray for, we know they may or may not happen. More often than not, our world has taught us that they won’t happen, to not even hope for them…and I also think that makes us not even look for them and we miss the small miracles that happen right in front of our eyes.

And yet we know…we know that the healing that we so desperately pray for doesn’t always come in this life but in the soul being healed before the presence of God. We know the child that is so longingly prayed for doesn’t always come. We know that the peace we want to descend on our world may be a long, long way off.

We don’t always get what we want. We don’t always get what we pray for, what we hope for. The mountains don’t move, God doesn’t appear before us as an angel, clear before our eyes. Our prayers aren’t answered in flashing neon lights. And perhaps it causes us to begin to think,
God isn’t listening to me. God doesn’t even hear my prayers.

But what the angel says to Zechariah is, “for your prayer has been heard.”

The same sentiment comes to us from our Lamentations reading this morning. That passage of Scripture is written from the perspective of an oppressed person under Babylonian rule, crying out in personal pain to God.

“I called on your name, O Lord…you heard my plea”
“You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’”

Friends, I don’t want to diminish what it means for God to hear our prayers. I feel so often it has been diminished, brushed off, not seen as the absolute miracle that it is.

I said our prayers aren’t always answered in the way we would want or the way we would hope - we don’t get our big miracles in flashing lights. The healing that the doctors can’t explain. The life-changing news. Whatever it may be…

But. And.

God hears our prayers every time we pray.
God draws near to us when we call out to God.
The God of the universe hears each and every prayer that you pray.
The God who is the Creator of All Things…draws near to YOU.
The God of Love loves you intimately and dearly and listens to every single prayer you say.

This is a miracle.

Our God comes to you like that loving parent who comes to the child’s side when they’ve had a bad dream. God tucks your hair behind your ear, kisses your forehead, and whispers in your ear, softly and surely, “Do not be afraid. I’m here with you…”

And so…

In the time of Herod. In our time. Don’t let fear shrink your heart. Keep on praying with hope and don’t lose sight of the miracle that is God hearing each and every prayer you lift up and drawing near to you.

May it be so. Amen.

“Christ the...Humiliated? Lowly? Crucified? King” a sermon on Luke 23:33-43

Luke 23:33-43
“Christ the...Humiliated? Lowly? Crucified? King”
Preached Sunday, November 23, 2025

Wow...what a coronation.

Today’s Gospel reading from Luke, the crucifixion, is when Scripture calls Jesus King - King of the Jews, a sign hung above his head as he was killed by the state in a torturous and brutal way - a way of death that was reserved for those who had committed treasonous crimes against Rome. The sign above his head - why? Was it put there by someone who truly recognized who and what Christ was? Was it put there as a warning to other Jews who were thinking of challenging the social and political order? See - this is what we do to the likes of you. Was it meant to degrade and humiliate, threaten or terrify, or to speak truth in the midst of a horrible scene. Either way, it, along with a crown of thorns, was Christ’s coronation. Where Christ was marked as King.

Let’s compare this to an earthly coronation. And I am going to skip King Charles and talk about Queen Elizabeth because of the hit TV show The Crown which followed Queen Elizabeth’s life. Have any of you ever seen this show? I remember watching the re-enactment of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation with awe.

Elizabeth II was crowned as Queen of England in 1953. They recorded the coronation and broadcast it internationally. Royalty gathered and watched. Elizabeth wore a silk velvet cloak. She was handed the royal orb made of gold, jewels, and pearls, then the scepter with diamonds and sapphires, and the royal ring with sapphire, rubies, and fourteen diamonds and then finally the crown - velvet and with a whopping total of 444 stones. She was given dozens of titles and everyone, including her mother and her husband swore allegiance to her and sang God Save The Queen. When the ceremony was over, she left in a golden carriage.

Christ’s crucifixion, his coronation, on the other hand gives us a stark contrast from the opulence and power from the coronation of the former Queen of England. And lest people think I am just bashing the British monarchy here, our political system celebrates the assumption of power - maybe not with some many precious gems but still with the glorification of power, wealth, prosperity, and popularity. We don’t have kings and coronations but we do have inaugurations - the last several of which cost in the 100s of millions of dollars. All of this wealth and cost and ceremony is in stark contrast to what happened to Christ on that hill of Calvary.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It marks the last Sunday of the church year - next week will be the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year.

Today you may think - careful, Pastor! You're getting too controversial here! And that's because calling Christ King is an inherently controversial statement. Whether it was 2000 years ago when Caesar was King; 100 years ago, when this day was added to the liturgical calendar; or today. 100 years ago, Pope Pius XI added this day to the liturgical calendar that has trickled down through the Catholics and all the Protestants to us here today. What was going on 100 years ago? Mussolini had been in charge of Italy for 3 years and Adolf Hitler had just published Mein Kampf. The Roaring 20s were in full swing - marked by extravagant waste and class divides - soon leading to the collapse of the economy that we know as the Great Depression.

Pope Pius XI wanted to remind the world of where our allegiances as Christians should lay - with Christ the King and no other power or even wealth.

And again, 100 years ago wasn't the only world that needed or needs this message. It is always at the core of who Christians are and who Christ is.

And so, it is on this Sunday that we celebrate that Christ is King.
When we call Christ king, that bucks all the world’s expectations and assumptions about kingship and power.
And that, in turn, makes us question our allegiances to powers of this world that do not embody power in the same way as Christ.

These are not easy topics to examine, they are not easy questions to ask ourselves. They are harder yet to enact in our lives as we withdraw our allegiance from where it should not be and focus more on living and serving alongside Jesus as Lord. We will only skim the surface today and yet I want to say: this is the duty of all Christians who would serve Jesus as King: to do the hard work of self-examination and then the harder follow up actions to make sure that our lives - our words and our actions - serve Christ and no other as King.

First, let’s consider what the world expects of Kings - looking at one of the classic examples of Kingship that I grew up with.

The Lion King.

One of the classic earworms from the Disney classic “The Lion King” is “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” In it Simba sings:

“I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware!..
I'm gonna be the main event, like no king was before.
I'm brushing up on looking down.
I'm working on my roar!...

…No one saying ‘do this,’
no one saying ‘be there,’
no one saying ‘stop that,’
No one saying ‘see here.’
Free to run around all day,
Free to do it all my way!”

What Simba sings about being King is in line with our kings, royalty or not, today - a King is someone powerful who can insight fear in their enemies. A King is someone who is in the center - the center of attention, of authority, of everything. A King is someone who looks down on everyone else, seated high on their throne.

We have lots of “kings” in our world today even if they don’t wear a crown. These “Kings” are people who think they are untouchable, who look down on others, who use their power and fear and violence to get their way - from churches, to the streets, to government and beyond - there are kings wherever there is power to be grabbed.

Which brings us back to today and this day in the Christian year that we call “Christ the King Sunday” - what does Christ’s life and death teach us about what it means for Christ to be King?

You know, many wanted Christ to be the kind of king we were just talking about - a king who used violence to grab power. A king who overturned the current seat of power and then assumed the throne himself, a king who would loftily rule…In our world today, 2,000 some years later - it’s so so so tempting to be a revisionist of history and Scripture and to paint Jesus as the King that they wished he would have been. The kind of King we wish Jesus would be. You know, the kind of King who thinks just like us. The Kind of King who is lofty and uses power to extort instead of help. We can easily make Jesus into that kind of king - like many “kings” we have in our world today - but let us not forget that Jesus was put to death by those in power - some “cleaning their hands of situation” but still dirty as it goes today, too…But Jesus is not that kind of King. If Jesus wanted to be that kind of King he could have been. He had followers. He could have told them to take up the sword and fight for him, he could have shamed his enemies, he could have staged a government coup, he could have ruled with an iron fist so that all would be forced to worship him...but Jesus did not choose to be this kind of king. Instead he went willingly to the cross, where he was mocked and humiliated, sided with a criminal on the cross, and then killed.

I want to say that again: …but Jesus did not choose to be this kind of king. Instead he went willingly to the cross, where he was mocked and humiliated, sided with a criminal on the cross, and then killed.

And then...3 days later, Jesus rose from the dead, definitively and defiantly showing us that there is another way to be King. And that way sides with the lowly, the outcast, and the shamed. That way is a path of humility and lowering oneself to be a servant, to wash the feet of others. That is a way of praying for your enemies instead of overpowering them. That is the way of love over hate. Life over death.

In Christ’s death and resurrection, everything we know about power, everything we know about kingship, everything we thought we knew about God - is flipped on its head.

For Christ is King and his realm is The Kingdom of God.

And remember what Scripture tells us about the Kingdom of God:

The kingdom of God looks like a wasteful son being greeted by a loving father, running to him with open arms. The Kingdom of God looks like a shepherd searching for that one lost sheep. The Kingdom of God looks like a weed that overpowers everything else in the garden and provides shelter for the birds. The Kingdom of God looks like a rich man’s feast opened up to the uninvited, the poor and the lame. This is not a Kingdom that any Kings of our world would want to reign over.

For in our world we have kingdoms of power, greed, and violence. Kingdoms would condemn Christ the King to the cross.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of forgiveness, empathy, humility, service, and love. Jesus reigns over this Kingdom and invites us to be citizens of it - to remove our allegiances from the Kingdoms of this world and serve Christ as our only and true Lord.

So my challenge to you as we close out one liturgical year and begin another one, as we enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas and implore Christ to come, come into our world once again...my challenge to you is to ask yourself this: If Christ were to come again into our world, into our lives, in the here and now, soon - would Christ find your allegiances to only be to him and the Kingdom of God and not any kings or powers of this world? Are we looking for power ourselves? Or someone to follow and claim as our King...but who is not leading us in the ways of Christ, of love, forgiveness, and humility? Instead, turn your heart to ponder upon what it means for Christ to be King and for Jesus to be Lord in your life and in our world.

Amen.

Call to Worship for Christ the King Sunday, based on Luke 23:33-43

Leader: We come together today to worship Christ the King!
People: We bow at his feet in adoration.
L: Feet that were nailed to a cross.
P: His crown is a crown of thorns.
L: Christ our King, hanging on a cross.
P: What does it mean to worship the Crucified King?
L: We worship a God of humility, of self-sacrifice, of love that goes even to the grave - and beyond.
P: May we live like our king - humble, giving, with love that knows no bounds.
All: We come together today to worship Christ the King! Amen.

“The Ground Beneath You” a sermon on Luke 21:5- 9 & Isaiah 65:17-25

Luke 21:5- 9

Isaiah 65:17-25
“The Ground Beneath You”
Preached Sunday, November 16, 2025 at Boardman United Methodist Church

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? I have never experienced a real one but when I was studying abroad in Japan during my high school years, I had the opportunity to do a level 7 earthquake simulator. We were sitting at this table in a mock kitchen, and all of a sudden, the room started to shake violently. The lamp overhead swinging back and forth - making the light dance around the room in disconcerting ways. The loud sounds of crashing pots and pans and breaking dishes played over a speaker. We were supposed to grab the pillows on our chairs, use them to cover our heads and get under the table as fast as we could. My friend fell down as she tried to get under the table, literally tipping over sideways. The chairs around us tipped over. You could barely crawl let alone stand, the whole room was swaying, shaking, the ground beneath you couldn’t be trusted.

Have you ever felt like the ground beneath you couldn’t be trusted? I’m no longer talking about earthquake simulators or icy parking lots - I’m talking about when it feels like the ground was just pulled out from under you.

When a relationship has a fall-out. When you get the diagnosis you don't want to hear. When someone we love dies. When we lose our job. When we move from one life stage to another..

And things beyond ourselves, things out of our control - whether that be in our families, our community, our world - there is so much pain, suffering, strife - we want to be able to make it all better but we so often realize we can’t...

It can feel like there is no sure footing, no ground to stand on.

Enter this week’s Gospel reading.

The setting for this reading is the temple. Jesus just watched a widow give her offering in the temple. It is here that the text says:

“When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’”

Jesus is literally talking about the ground beneath them, the walls around them, this magnificent structure that seems so strong, so sturdy, so splendid….

It will all fall. The walls will crumble. The beauty will fade. The very ground beneath you will no longer be there.

Jesus goes on to talk of those times when it feels like there is no solid ground to stand on.

When there are those who claim the name of Jesus but do not live like him. When there are wars and rumors of war. When nation rises up against nation. When there is destruction. Hunger. Illness. Persecution.

Many interpret Jesus’s words here to be a prophecy of a specific time period when the world will be ending. But to read Jesus’s words here in reference to a particular point in time would be misreading them and a misunderstanding of the Biblical genre of apocalypse.

Jesus is speaking in a well known genre of his time, like when he told parables - a genre marked by over-exaggeration. The Bible is filled with the genre of apocalyptic stories. Think about it like this, if you start a story with “Once Upon a Time…” or “It was a dark and stormy night…” People know what kind of story you’re going to tell.

And for the listeners of Jesus’s day, It is the same here in this little apocalypse. This is a genre that takes tricky little stories that seem to be about the future, to say something profound about the present. Will the temple walls one day crumble? Yes. This passage of Scripture was actually written by Luke not long after the temple was destroyed. Remember that the Gospels weren’t written down until decades after Jesus’s death. The scholarship on this varies but remember that Jesus died in about 30 CE. The Temple was destroyed in about 70 AD. And Luke was written in about 80 CE. Does this mean that Jesus didn’t say this? No. That’s not what I’m saying… And. It means that we should also take Jesus’s words as a statement of the present time - his life and the lives of Luke’s readers. For in Jesus’s and Luke’s time there were false teachers. There were wars and rumors of wars. There was nation rising against nation. There was destruction. There was Hunger. Illness. Persecution.

The text through the genre or apocalypse is saying, “Why are you so focused on the temple? On its beauty and its ornateness? And even its supposed sturdiness? Don’t you know how impermanent things really are? Don’t you know how easy it is for the ground to come out from underneath you and for it to feel like there is no solid ground to stand on?”

Now, Jesus does say “why are you talking about the temple?” but he doesn’t say what we should be focusing on instead. Although, right before this passage, he was commenting on a widow giving all she had to the temple - the story of the Widow’s Mite. Maybe it was like whiplash for Jesus - to see a widow giving all she had, to the point of destitution, and then to hear others praising the ornateness of the temple. Maybe Jesus was trying to serve up a little whiplash back to those around him, to pull the carpet out from beneath them, so that as they flayed around trying to find solid ground, their eyes may rest on the poor and needy in front of them instead.

And so as we read these words through the lens of the genre of apocalypse - what does Jesus have to say about our present lives?

Jesus’s words about impermanence. About wars and illness and the ground beneath us crumbling may sound all too familiar to many of us today.

So where do we turn? Where can we find solid ground beneath our feet?

Enter this morning’s text from Isaiah.

The contrast from the Luke text is striking. Instead of crumbling ground, instead of war and destruction, we have something with much more joy and delight. We have an image that is being weaved with words, built around us, built underneath us, an image to give us somewhere firm and life-giving to stand.

This image in Isaiah illustrates The Lord’s Day - this is also a common theme or genre in the Bible. It depicts that day when God redeems all creation, when everything and every one is reconciled to God. A day where God creates a new heaven and a new earth. I firmly believe in this day. I believe that God has the power and the intent to do this, to reconcile and recreate all of God’s creation in perfection and love.

When? I don’t know. None of us know the day or the hour...but I also believe that God has already started this re-creation. And we, you and me, are part of this much, much bigger picture as given to us in Isaiah.

A bigger picture that is full of joy and delight.

“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress..”

God - delighting in us. No more weeping, no more distress.

The text says that there will be no more death among children. No more pain.
The text says that all will have homes! That they will plant and reap and benefit and thrive off the land - humanity and creation in harmony and balance with each other.
The text ends “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.”

It is here, in the hope and the promise, that is a new heaven and a new earth, on God’s holy mountain, where we can find solid footing, solid ground beneath us.

Theologian Walter Brueggeman says this passage from Isaiah “is...an act of daring, theological faith that refuses to be curbed by present circumstance. This poet knows that Yahweh’s coming newness is not contained within our present notions of the possible.”

This image cannot be curbed, cannot be dampened or weakened by whatever our current reality is, it cannot be curbed by whatever mini apocalypse surrounds us...

When our lives turn upside down, when we don’t know which way is up, when everything seems impermeant, when we don’t know what to do, when we are lost...look for signs of the work God is doing in this world.

Looks for signs of the re-creation. Of a new heaven and a new earth.

Of peace being fostered.
Of relationships being restored.
Of love being tended.
Of new life and joy and hope…

Look for signs of God’s Holy Mountain. Trust in the work of God. Trust that you have a role in it, in this beautiful, delightful, restored creation - something that is not like those impermanent walls of the temple, something that will not come crashing down...somewhere where the ground underneath you is solid and firm, trusting in God’s goodness and grace.

May we all be found on such solid ground.

Amen.