“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.

Prayer of Confession for Christmas Eve

Holy God, tonight is a night of Good News of great joy for all people. Yet we often let our fear be louder than the assurances of angels. We have failed to believe that the Good News is for us. We have not accepted that it is for all people. We have taken joy and put it on the back burner - living lives of apathy. Forgive us for not fully accepting the gift of your Son, Jesus, God-With-Us. May this Good News of Great Joy for all people transform our hearts and lives - for love of God and love of neighbor as self. Amen.

Gratitude & Generosity Hymn Sing

This hymn sing is meant to replace the sermon portion of an order of worship. There is also an accopmanying Call to Worship.

Call to Worship for Gratitude & Generosity Hymn Sing:

Leader: Scripture tells us to sing hymns to God with gratitude in our hearts.
People: We’ve come today, ready to sing praises to God.
L: We want to live lives of gratitude and praise.
P: We give thanks to God with hearts and hands and voices!
L: Gratitude pushes us towards generosity -
P: With eyes on God, we care for one another.
L: May all that we have, all that we are, all that we give - bring glory to God!
P: And so today we gather with gratitude in our hearts.
All: Let us sing praises to God. Amen.

Gratitude & Generosity Hymn Sing

God Comes First
Colossians 3:1-4:
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”

What are you focused on? Where is your energy going?

There are many voices in this world that compete for our attention. Some are good - those who love us well; good causes that help one another; those that push us to live more holy lives of love; the voice of the Spirit urging us to spend time with God.

Some are…not so good - a thousand advertisements vying for our attention and wallet; ideologies that want us to buy what they’re selling hook, line, and sinker without thinking for ourselves or thinking of the needs of others; the voices that come when we doom scroll that trap us into anxiety, depression, and apathy; the voices that tell us to only care for me, myself, and I; that bog us down in all the things of this world.

Colossians tells us to set our minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth - for our very life is in Christ. Our life is not made up in the abundance of possessions or in the achievements of this life. Our very life is in Christ who has died for us to give us a new, eternal life. A life of hope. A life of glory. A life of love.

The issue is - the things of this world, all those voices that vie for our attention, they confuse our hearts about the things that are really important. We get bogged down, worn down, and left unfulfilled - always searching for more. And so - we need to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Keeping our eyes, hearts, minds, and souls oriented on the things above, helps us keep everything else in its proper place, helps us know what really matters in this life. Jesus, the God who loves us and fills us with the gift of the Holy Spirit comes first - for it is in Christ that our very lives are found.

In a moment we will sing “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” - many may not know that the author of this hymn, Helen Lemmel, had a serious illness and was left blinded. Her husband, unwilling to take care of a blind wife, left her. It was then, in about 1918, she wrote this hymn. At a time of uncertainty, pain, and darkness in her own life - she penned “turn your eyes upon Jesus.” In doing so, she found what really matters. May we too turn our minds to the things of above.

Let us sing.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, x2, UMH 349

Gratitude Follows
Colossians 3:15-17:
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

When our eyes and our hearts are focused upon Jesus, our priorities fall into place, and we make room for gratitude in our lives.

The exhortation to give thanks or participate in thankfulness, appears about 150 times in the Bible. If our eyes are focused on the things of this earth, we will not experience true gratitude as we will always be seeking for the endless “more.” We will never have “enough” by the standards of the world. We will never be satisfied.

And yet, when Christ dwells in us richly - that is, when we listen to the wisdom of Christ, rely on the peace that the Spirit gives, when we recognize that we are not just ourselves but that we all are one body in Christ - we realize that we have “enough” - for Jesus is all we ever need.

I am not sure that there is a more counter-cultural message than this in our current consumer obsessed world. Can you imagine that Christmas commercial this holiday season, “We’re not selling you anything. You don’t need to buy anything. There is nothing you need but Christ.”

When we focus on God first, it makes room for gratitude in our lives. When we focus on God first, our priorities are in line and we can see all that we have - and all that we share with one another in the body of Christ, comes from God. We can know we are loved and held - and give thanks with psalms, hymns, and voices raised to God.

In a moment we will sing thing hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God” - a hymn we often associate with the holiday of Thanksgiving - which, for many, is a holiday of excess - although there are many in our country who scrimp and save and sacrifice in in order to put food on the table to celebrate that holiday. And that is more in line with the circumstances in which this hymn was written.

Martin Rinckart likely wrote this hymn during or soon after the Thirty Years’ War in about 1636. He was one of the sole surviving ministers in a refugee city - he spent most of his resources in order to be able to feed refugees - meaning he often ate only scraps. It was the time of the plague and he reportedly did over 50 funerals a day. It is under these circumstances that he wrote the words, “Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices…”

Would we be giving thanks in the circumstances that Rinckart and his congregation would be in? A life filled with uncertainty, war, loss, hunger, death… Perhaps we would if our eyes were fixed upon Jesus. If we relied solely on Jesus - who gives us peace, keeps us in grace, guides us and frees us - in this world and the next.

Let us sing.

Now Thank We All Our God, UMH 102

Simplicity & Contentment Go Hand in Hand
Philippians 4:11-13:
“Not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

As we sang that last hymn, we can imagine that Rinckart felt gratitude and contentment even as he lived a hard and simple life.

It may be that simplicity and contentment go hand in hand - this is the secret of Paul’s contentment in times of plenty and in times of need - keep things simple by focusing on God with gratitude and contentment follows.

The lure of abundance and the accumulation of things and wealth has a gravity that weighs us down. Often the more we have, the less content we are. The more we fear losing what we have. The more we place our hope in things that rust, that moths destroy, that thieves can steal.

Simplicity that is rooted in our hearts being oriented toward God, brings contentment. For what do we truly need? What really carries value? Simplicity breaks the pull of the endless drive for more and allows us to focus on what really matters.

In a moment we will sing the hymn, “Simple Gifts.” This hymn comes to us from the Shaker movement of the 1800s that sought to make little utopias here on earth - they believed in communal living, equality between the sexes, and, above all, simplicity. For them, simple living was the absolute key for being able to connect with God. Free from distractions of this world, simplicity allows us to focus on what really matters - loving God and loving one another.

Simple Gifts, x2, Insert (http://gbod.org.s3.amazonaws.com/legacy/kintera/entry_14599/66/simplegifts.pdf)

Generosity Pours Out to Care of Neighbor
Matthew 25:31-40:
“‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’”

When we turn our eyes on Jesus, when we practice gratitude, when we cultivate contentment through simplicity - it is not just about us and God. It’s about our neighbors too.

God wants us to love one another. This is the second greatest commandment - love neighbor as self. When we live lives orientated toward God, God will orient us toward our neighbors and in our neighbors, in the least of these, we will encounter Jesus.

Lives of simplicity and gratitude free our resources and our hearts to serve one another. To feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Welcome the stranger. This is the ultimate sign of a life based in Christ - a life of gratitude and generosity where love overflows to all we meet. Where we consider their needs as our own. Where we see the face of Jesus in every outstretched hand.

Love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin - together they are the wholeness of the life we are called to live as followers of Christ. We love God and thus we love our neighbors and serve them. We love and serve our neighbors and in them, we encounter Jesus, which pushes us back to better love God.

In a moment we will sing the hymn, “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service” which was written by Abert Bayly. He wrote this hymn in response to a call for hymns focused on social welfare. Having lived through The Great Depression and both world wars, Bayly knew how important it was to serve one another, to support one another, to love neighbor as self, to serve Christ through serving our neighbor. Thankfully, Christ lived his life in such a way that wholly pointed toward God and serving our neighbors. When we are generous - with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness - we follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Let us sing.

Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service, vs. 1, 2, 4, UMH 581

It All Comes Back to God
James 4:7-10:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Ultimately, a life that is fully oriented in Christ, recognizing that our life is in Jesus, pushes us to realize that everything in our lives is not ours - it is God’s. There is nothing in our lives that we can hold back from God. We are called to give God everything. Everything in our lives is both a gift from God and belongs to God. We are but stewards - using our lives and resources in such a way that brings glory and is pleasing to the one to whom they belong.

We should hold all that we have loosely - so that it doesn’t hold us back from drawing near to God. As we draw near God, God draws near to us. As we give all that we have to God, God consecrates it and makes our lives holy.

In a moment we will close out of hymn sing with the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be,” this hymn reflects all the things in our lives that we are called to give over to God. The hymn includes: My moments, my days, my hands, my feet, my voice, my lips, my silver, and my gold, my intellect, my will, my heart, my love, myself - my life - take it all Lord, and let it be.

Singing this hymn causes us to pause and reflect - what in our lives are we holding back from God, what in our lives is keeping us from gratitude, simplicity, and contentment? What in our lives is keeping us from generosity and service? What in our lives is coming between us and God? May we give it all to God - that our whole lives would be in our God. May it be so.

Let us sing.

Take My Life and Let It Be, UMH 399

“Obtained an Inheritance” a sermon on Ephesians 1:11-23

Ephesians 1:11-23
“Obtained an Inheritance”
Preached Sunday, November 2, 2025 at Boardman United Methodist Church

Have you ever received an inheritance?

Perhaps for some of us, we have been left money when a family member died. Or perhaps a piece of jewelry or something special to us and our loved one that was passed on to us. Or even something we gave them - I know I have this little glass penguin that I gave to my grandmother when she was alive and now I have it back - and I am reminded of her when I look at it. Some of us, I know, are left with the responsibility of their parents’ or family members’ houses when they die - and that’s a whole other story, less of an inheritance per say and more of a responsibility to care for.

When we think of the word inheritance we think of large sums of money, estates...perhaps we think of the stereotype of spoiled heiresses or we think of crime movies that start with the reading of a will…

On this All Saints Sunday, I would encourage us to realize that we all have received an inheritance worth far more than anything that can be left behind in a will.

First, from those who we have called saints of our lives, we have received all they had to teach us, all the love they had to give us, and all the memories and moments that makes us who we are because of their love for Christ and us. By saints of our lives, I am referring to those people in our lives who we call saints. Not a saintdom decided upon by an institution, not a saintdom based on miracles performed or any other sort of rubric…but a saintdom based on how they loved Christ and how they loved their neighbor and how they loved us while we shared time with them on earth. These are those people who have the opportunity to remember today and give thanks for. These are the people that we will have the opportunity to remember today. To read their names, to light candles…

And to give thanks for them and all that they have given us - the inheritance they passed on to us. Not an inheritance of things but an inheritance of showing us how to live a life of love. Of showing us what it means to follow Christ, what it means to be a saint. Perhaps of how they participated in a local church community. Of how they talked about their faith. Of how they helped those in need. Of how they had love for us and for others. They left us an inheritance of Love - Love for God, love for neighbor, love for us.

I’d like to pause here for a moment to give an opportunity for you to call to mind those saints from whom you have received an inheritance of love. Say their names - in your hearts, outloud, or to your neighbor sitting next to you. Let’s just spend a moment bringing them to our minds with gratitude in our hearts.

That’s one of our inheritances - the inheritance of those who have loved us well. For which we say, thanks be to God!

And secondly, in Christ we have obtained an inheritance far beyond any other!

Our short but very theologically dense passage today from Ephesians uses the word inheritance three times. I’m going to quote from that passage now for the three times it’s used. But Paul is particularly wordy and uses run-on sentences in this passage - including the longest sentence in the New Testament! So I’m going to use some ellipses here and there to help illustrate our inheritance in Christ.


“In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance…so that we…might live for the praise of his glory.”
“In him you also,...were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people”
And then the last one is part of a prayer toward God: “that…you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints…”

Now normally we think of inheritance as something we receive after someone dies. And in the traditional usage of that word, that’s what it means. But the inheritance we have in Christ is not something we have to wait to receive - Christ has already given us his inheritance, in the here and now. Christ’s inheritance is being a beloved child of God. Christ’s inheritance is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Christ’s inheritance that we obtain through believing in Christ is enabling us to live a life for God’s praise and glory, loving God and loving neighbor. In other words, living the life of a saint.

Living the life of a saint…here and now. Today we remember the lives of those we’ve loved who have died. And let’s be honest, sometimes in death, people do get a little white-washed. We don’t want to “speak ill of the dead.” We might forget the rough edges and remember the good times. Or not - each and every relationship is complicated. But, often, in general, we give someone the title of saint AFTER they die. But our inheritance of having everything we need for sainthood is given to us, here and now, in this life.

So what do we need for sainthood?

We need love. Simple as that.

One, we already have God’s love. We are God’s beloved children, adopted by God, and thus full heirs with Christ - and we’ve obtained that inheritance through Christ!

Two, we need the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And we know we have that. The Holy Spirit is given to all of us. The Holy Spirit is our inheritance in Christ. The Holy Spirit is God at work in our lives, here and now, and is with us all, never farther away than our next breath.

And three, we need Grace. Grace is God at work in our lives and God, through the Holy Spirit, is always at work in our lives. As Methodists we have a specific term for the grace that helps us to love better - and we call that sanctifying grace. Sanctifying as in - to make sacred. What is it to be sacred in the Christian tradition? It’s to resemble God or to be of God. And who and what is our God? Our God is the God of love. So we believe that every day, God gives us sanctifying grace - that is, every day, God works in our lives to help us make choices and actions that allow us to love God and to love neighbor as self. And overtime, day after day, we get better and better at it. We find we can more easily choose and show and share love. This is the work of sanctification - the work of becoming more like the God of love - the work of being a saint, here and now.

And well, we have all three of those things! We have God’s love! The Holy Spirit is working in our lives! And God is constantly offering us grace. Isn’t that a marvelous thing when you realize we have all we need to live our lives as saints? We have all we need to choose and show and share love every day - love of God, love of neighbor, love as self.

We already have everything we need to be saints!

Isn’t that a really great feeling? It’s like when you get a craving for cookies or an itch to bake and you haven’t done it in awhile and you walk into your kitchen and you open the pantry and you realize - you already have everything you need! You can bake cookies here and now.

But we also have a bonus ingredient: We have the examples of those whom we call saints in our lives. Those are like the chocolate chips in our cookies - they just make everything better. We have all we need - and we can look to the examples of those who are saints, who have shown us and others their love for God, we can pull on our inheritance from them - our memories, our lessons learned, all the love shared - and look to their examples to know where to go - with everything we could ever need - to choose love every day, love of God and love of neighbor as self - to be a saint.

And so today as we read the names of those who have died in the last year and light candles in honor and memory of the saints of our lives…and as we share in Holy Communion, a meal which surpasses all boundaries of time and place - even the boundary of death - a meal that we share with all the saints of earth and all the saints in heaven - As we do all this, may we remember and give thanks for all those who have shown us and the world the love of Christ. And may we follow in the footsteps of those saints, knowing that we have all we need through the inheritance we’ve obtained through Christ - and live as saints, here and now.

May it be so. Amen.

Call to Worship based on Luke 21:5-19

Leader: We came to this sanctuary this morning, seeking a safe haven.
People: Our world seems to be in turmoil.
L: Hold fast! God is at work in our world.
P: Even when the ground falls out from under us -
L: Hold fast! God is at work in our world.
P: Even when violence reigns and kindness is hard to find.
L: Hold fast! God is at work in our world.
P: Even when all seems lost.
L: Hold fast! God is at work in our world.
P: We come today seeking Good news, seeking Hope, seeking sanctuary.
L: May we find it here. For God is at work in our world.
All: May we worship our God who is at work in our world. Amen.

All Saints Call to Worship

L: We come together in worship this morning:
P: To sing praises to our God.
L: We come together in worship this morning:
P: To be together in Christian community.
L: We come together in worship this morning:
P: To encounter Christ in the bread and the cup.
L: We come together in worship this morning:
P: To remember the saints who have gone before us.
L: We have come together in worship -
All: Let us worship with all the saints. Amen.

“Enough: Defined by Generosity” a sermon on Genesis 28:20-22 & Acts 20:32-35

Genesis 28:20-22
Acts 20:32-35
“Enough: Defined by Generosity”
Preached Sunday, October 12, 2025

When I meet with a family to plan a funeral, I like to take the time to listen to them share about their loved one’s life. Both so that I can honor them and their life as the minister presiding over the funeral - and also to give the family a time to process, to share, to celebrate and give thanks to God.

One question I always ask the family is - what are three words or phrases would you use to describe your loved one? Loving, caring, hard worker, encourager, resourceful, faithful, thoughtful, kind, sweet, generous…these are some of the words that were given to me for recent funerals I’ve done. I don’t think it’s too morbid or too egotistical to spend time reflecting on this question for yourself. When you die and move on from this life, what defining traits do you want to be remembered by? What three words or phrases would you hope that your family would share with the minister? And, are you living your life now in such a way…that that will be your lasting legacy? Asking this question of yourself now, and semi-regularly, helps keep a watchful eye on what is most essential in your life, what your values are, and how you are living them out while you are still six feet above the ground.

On the other end of life, we baptized a beautiful, beloved child of God this morning. We celebrate that so new into this world, her family has made the commitment to raise her in a faith community and for her to know that she is God’s beloved child. This is one of the primary aspects of Baptism that we celebrate when we baptize a baby. Just as in Jesus’s baptism, the voice of God called Jesus God’s beloved son. So we too, in our baptisms, are claimed and celebrated as God’s beloved children. It is our new and primary identity in this life - and for our whole life long - we are beloved children of God.

And a life that is defined by that belovedness, God’s belovedness for us, changes how we live, how we view ourselves and how we treat others. A life defined by belovedness can not be sequestered into an hour a week at church. Belovedness overflows into all areas.

When we are talking about generosity in our sermon series, “Enough,” I believe that knowing that we are truly beloved and living a life of generosity do go hand in hand. Generosity does not come from a life that is parched for love. It comes from one saturated with the knowledge that we are God’s children.

And so, this morning, I’d like each and everyone of us to ask - Do I know that I am beloved by God? Is that belovedness pouring out of me in the form of generosity? Is generosity a defining trait in my life? Am I known as a generous person? Will I be known as one after I die?

And if not - what is holding us back?

One of the primary answers is: fear.

Fear that if we give too much away…we won’t have enough left for ourselves. Or fear that if the bottom drops out from under us, we will find protection, a safety net, in our belongings and bank accounts. Systemic factors definitely influence this fear. Inflation goes up. Unemployment numbers go up…and we hold more tightly to what we have. I do think the fear of, “I won’t or don’t have enough to feed my kids” in a world with increasingly less safety nets is real and valid. But often, the fear comes in and starts when we have more than enough…but the fear of not having enough is still there. There is also the fear, that is less valid, of not having enough for self-gratification. For what I want, for the next vacation, for my daily coffee run…

We cannot let fear overrun our lives. We have to turn our fear over to Jesus. Trust in the God who calls us beloved and let that belovedness overflow in all areas of our lives - including generosity.

This is not the “Prosperity Gospel” that espouses that if you just give a certain percentage or a certain amount then you will have no problems, no job losses, no food insecurities, no medical issues. No - this is not that lie. Living a life marked by belovedness and generosity is a recognition that nothing we have, even our own lives, really belongs to us.

A famous prayer in our tradition is the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer:

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt;
Put me to doing, put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for the or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee;
Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and heartily yield all things to that pleasure and disposal…Amen.”

This is truly a mindset change from the way our world sees ownership, possessions, and the driving urge to put me, myself, and I, first.

Scripture echoes this idea that all we have and all that we are…belongs to God.

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” - Psalm 24
“The land is mine…you are but aliens and tenants.” - Leviticus 25:23
In the creation narrative in Genesis, creation is given to humanity for us to be stewards of the earth - Stewards are those who take care of something that is not theirs, and stewards are a very common occurrence in the parables that Jesus tells.
Everything - from our money and possessions, the earth we walk on, the air we breathe, our very lives - they all belong to God. We are but stewards of these gifts. This realization makes us ask - How does God want us to use, or steward, these gifts? The answer is to share them generously.

Generosity begets generosity. Generosity includes caring for the poor and the least of these. Proverbs 22:9 wisely states that those who are generous are blessed for they share bread with the poor.

Generosity also binds all together in loving community. In a place where all belong. In a place where we take care of others and are cared for in return.

Because generosity is so important, Scripture helps give guidelines on giving. This is where the concept of the tithe comes in - mentioned several times in Scripture - a tithe literally means “a tenth.” It’s the theological concept that one tenth of what we have - our harvest, our income, whatever that may be - should be given back to God.

I am going to tell you today - don’t get caught up in the number. For many a ten percent gift, ten percent planned generosity, seems so impossible, that the discussion of a tithe actually shuts down all conversation about generosity and smothers the budding inclination towards a more generous life. The thing, the lesson of the tithe, that I want to focus on this morning is giving to God first. We call the tithe first “fruits” so let’s look at fruit as an example: we have ten apples. I am going to go ahead and say these are not Red Delicious apples from the grocery store, a misnomer name if there ever was one. These are delicious suncrisp apples from White House Fruit Farm. So anyway, we have ten delicious apples - and a tithe calls us to give one apple away and live off the other 9. If we give the one away first…and then live off the remaining nine, we may be tempted to take a bite out of that first apple, but it has already gone on to feed another. If we don’t give first, and then use up all nine and then…well, maybe we take a bite out of the tenth. Or we keep the whole tenth apple for ourselves, insteading of giving it away. There are the voices of fear, the voices of consumerism, the voices - a million voices - that tell us there are ways we can spend that apple for our own “happiness” or security - and generosity never happens.

And so, the concept of a tithe is all about making a plan to give, being intentional about giving - and to give first. Calculate the percentage of your giving - just so you know where you’re at. From there you can think about where you want to be without smothering the spark of generosity that has caused you to make an intentional effort to give in the first place.

And a reminder that more money doesn't actually make it easier to give. In 2025, Forbes reported that there were over 3,000 billionaires in the world. In 2017 there were just over 2,000 and that was twice as many as a decade before that. These are part of the systemic issues of class inequality…To put how much money a billion dollars is in perspective…if a billionaire spent roughly the average US YEARLY salary in a single day - it would still take almost 10,000 years for a billionaire to spend all their money. But, and here’s the cincher, billionaires rarely give more than single digit percentages of their money away.

Indeed, the more money you have - often the louder the voices of fear and self-gratification are - and the more removed we become from the generosity that thrives in connected communities.

Here’s a humorous story about this, originally told by Peter Marshall who was the chaplain of the United States Senate for many years:

“There was a man who struggled to tithe even though he had a large income. The man said to Marshall, ‘I have a problem. I used to tithe regularly some years ago, but.... But now… I am earning $500,000 a year and there is just no way I can afford to give about $50,000.’ Marshall reflected on this wealthy man's dilemma but gave no advice. He simply said, ‘I can certainly see your problem. Let's pray about it.’ The man agreed. So Marshall bowed his head and prayed with boldness and authority, “Heavenly father, I pray that you would reduce this man's salary back to the place where he can afford to tithe.”

The truth is, regardless of income level - each and every one of us is going to wrestle with questions of contentment and generosity. Each and everyone of us is going to wrestle with how much “enough” is - how much is “enough” to live on. How much is “enough” for happiness…of course for contentment and happiness, there will never be “enough” for those things cannot be found in money and possessions. At Wednesday morning Bible study this last year, there was a point when we were talking about how much is “enough” to be giving away - is a tithe enough? What about giving beyond the tithe and so on and so forth - and for starters, this is a better conversation to be having because it’s coming from a desire to be generous - The desire to be generous, to give what what can, to give all one can, and to give to God and neighbor first.

I want to take a moment and thank you for your generosity here…I know, I know. I thank you for your generosity every week. I imagine some of you who are here weekly may tire of hearing me say, “thank you.” But truly - thank you! Your generosity sustains the life of this church. Your generosity creates beloved and caring community here. Your generosity allows us to gather to worship and to study the Bible and to be community together. Your generosity allows for our church to be a spot for the community to gather - a third space for AA, support groups, girl scouts and more. Your giving allows us to teach children - on Sundays and through the week as part of BUMP - that they are beloved children of God. Your generosity does so much - thank you! And thank you for those who go the second mile too. Jesus said if someone asks you to walk a mile with them, go a second too. The first mile is the generosity that sustains the life and work of this church. Planned and intentional giving - thank you. Many of you have chosen to walk the second mile by giving to our Today, Tomorrow, Together capital campaign to help ensure the longevity of our facilities and ministries for years to come. Thank you ALL.

Let’s take a step back from our context and talk more broadly again as to what happens when we choose to give and let our lives be defined by generosity. As I said in the beginning of this sermon - this is not the prosperity gospel. It’s not give and you will get what you want. AND. Generosity still affects us.

Generosity shapes our lives by the desire for all that we are and all that we have to bring glory to God. Generosity is a form of recognizing that we are God’s children, claimed in our baptism as beloved. We live into this identity when we give to God first - it is a very practical, tangible thing - that centers our intangible belovedness.


Generosity is the antidote that brings us relief from the voices of fear and self-gratification that can control our lives. If left to the world’s devices, we so easily become self-absorbed, money obsessed people who have little room for the joy of generosity in our lives. When we give - to God, our families, our friends, neighbors, and those in need - it opens our hearts, allowing them to be filled with joy.

And, generosity begets generosity. We don’t always see it but sometimes, in beautiful glimpses of the kingdom, the circle is closed. I recently had a conversation with a pastor who was my pastor at a critical point in my life. He played a huge role in my faith formation. About two years ago, His child heard a sermon I preached - and the Spirit spoke through that sermon, saving this child’s faith at a critical point in his life. And then my former pastor, his dad, came and told me. The circle was closed. This happens all the time but we just don’t always see it…

A gift is given that changes someone’s life for the better, allowing them to give a gift, allowing them to give a gift…until perhaps you are the recipient of a gift, a blessing, that makes your life all the better.

When we give, our world looks more like the world God desires for us all - a world marked with generosity and joy and community - a world where all of us live into our identity claimed in our baptisms as beloved children of God which overflows in contentment, joy, and generosity - and it is enough.

Amen.