“The Good News Is…All Are Invited” a sermon on Luke 14:15-24

Luke 14:15-24
“The Good News Is…All Are Invited”
Preached Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Today you are getting the soft launch of our new Sermon series. I’ll introduce the theme again on Sunday morning as we’ll have more people there…but that’s not holding us here tonight back from starting our Lenten journey of rooting ourselves in The Good News.

Our sermon series this Lent is entitled, “Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in the Good News this Lent.”

Lent is often viewed through a negative lens. Yes, it’s a season of fasting, of repentance, of turning back to God. Traditionally, Lent was a time for new converts or those who needed to be welcomed back into the fold of the Church, to study and learn about the core tenants of the Christian faith. It is a season of focusing on the Gospel. And the Gospel inherently means, “Good News.”

Perhaps like me, your soul is deeply longing for some Good News.

I think our world is deeply longing for Good News. And I think we all desperately need to hear the Good News of the Gospel. It is a tragedy of our current world that many non-churched people or folks who have left the Church, don’t see the Christian church spreading “Good” News - what they’re heard coming from the mouths of preachers or through the actions of people who confess Jesus with their mouths and deny him with their actions are anything but “good.” The Good News must be what the angels pronounced at the birth of Christ: “Good News of Great Joy for all people.” If it’s not that, it ain’t the Gospel.

I think people who already know Jesus and his Good News need to reconnect to the Goodness of the Gospel message too. In a world of so much “bad” - it’s all too easy to become disconnected from the core Goodness of the Gospel.

And so this Lent, we will focus on the Gospel. We will focus on news that is Good for all. We will repent of all that is not the Good News of the Gospel.

And so today we are going to perform two rituals to connect us to the Good News of the Gospel: the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion. Let’s talk about the meaning of each, the goodness inherent in them, and what practicing them together this Ash Wednesday has to say to us.

First: the imposition of ashes.

Throughout Scripture, ashes are used as a sign of repentance and humility. In the Old Testament they are regularly used to convey sorrow for one’s sins, a desire for forgiveness and return to right living with God. Part of humbling ourselves before God with the imposition of ashes, is recognizing our own mortality and relationship to God. The Divine Creator of the Universe formed us from dust - and when we die, our bodies are meant to be returned to the earth, decomposed, becoming one with the earth again - dirt, dust, ash. When our mortal bodies return to the ground, our eternal souls are in the presence of God, the one who created us and the one who is forever and ever our God.

I have always held that Ash Wednesday is one of the most counter-cultural traditions of the Church.

We live in a culture where humility is not seen as a virtue. We admire those and give positions of power to those who puff themselves up - who have endless wealth. Who get what they want and do whatever they want with little to no accountability. If we too could just do the impossible task of pulling ourselves up by our boot straps and become billionaires, we too could be like gods and so our culture tells us to puff ourselves up, to live large and in-charge, to move through this world with heavy footsteps as one determined to leave a mark of our own greatness.

We live in a world where we pretend that death and grief are not real. We hide death away - regulate it to hospital rooms where death is seen as the loss of a great fight, not a fate that eventually will meet us all. We embalm the dead bodies of loved ones, making them look as if they are just asleep and keeping their mortal forms from becoming one with the earth again. We expect people to mourn in private - especially after the funeral. And if it’s “too long” after to get over it, as if grief isn’t complicated and something we live with our whole lives after losing a loved one. And we don’t deal well with our own mortality - so often sticking our heads in the sand rather than dealing with eventual fate - whether that is our aging bodies or the fact that none of us are promised tomorrow.

A Christianity that seeks and admires worldly power, that is proud, that is focused on individual greatness is not the Good News of the Gospel.
A Christianity that hides away from death and grief, that pretends that we will live forever, that death will never touch us is not the Good News of the Gospel.

Ash Wednesday is deeply counter-cultural.

On Ash Wednesday we say we are not gods. We are not powerful. We are not great. One of the traditional readings for Ash Wednesday is from Psalm 22 that compares ourselves to worms before God. That might be too strong language for my tastes because each of us is beloved and special in the eyes of God. Each of us is called to love ourselves. We are to love God and neighbor as self - that means we need to love self too. That self-love though is a love that comes with a dose of humility. We are loved by God and held in the hands of God. The Creator of the Universe made us out of dust and to dust we shall return. We are mortal. Our time on earth is limited. We will die. And, we are not afraid of that death.

Henri Nouwen wrote this on accepting our deaths, “Death is such a mystery. Forcing us to ask ourselves - why do I live? How do I live? For whom do I live?
And also, am I prepared to die? Now? Later?...
…When you are no longer afraid of your own death, then you can live fully, freely and joyfully.”

And so Ash Wednesday causes us to pause and view our limited earthly lives in light of God’s eternal and Divine love for us. To move beyond fear of death to acceptance. That acceptance makes us ask questions: How are we to move through this world knowing that we are just passing through? How are we to live in this world knowing that God is ultimately in charge? How should we spend our precious days on this earth knowing that we will all stand before God - sooner or later - and we will be asked by the God who is Love how we loved God, loved neighbor, and loved self in this life?

This is what it means to put ashes on our foreheads. We are to repent from the norms of this world that would have us living in ways that are not loving, that are contrary to the Good News of the Gospel. This requires humility, it requires us grappling with our mortality, and it requires us - in light of those things, to commit to leading lives of Love - Love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. In our precious limited life spans, to choose a life rooted in love - this is the Good News of the Gospel presented to us on Ash Wednesday through the imposition of ashes.

The second ritual we are participating in today is Holy Communion.

There is so so so much Good News present in this holy ritual.

There is the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection.
There is the Good News that through this meal we are empowered to be Christ to and for others.
There is the Good News that this table connects us to Christians in all times and places who participated or will participate in this meal.
There is the Good News that this table is just a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that we will all one day feast at.
There is the Good News that Christ is present in this meal through the Holy Spirit and participating in this meal is a guaranteed encounter with the Divine.

There is so much Good News in this meal - and the Good News I want to focus on right now is that all are invited.

In The United Methodist Church we practice an Open Table. That means we do not put hoops you have to jump through, barriers you have to climb over, in order to receive this sacrament. You do not have to be a United Methodist, you do not have to be a member of this church, you do not even have to be baptized in order to receive - all you have to want is to encounter our risen and loving Lord in the bread and the cup.

The invitation is truly for all - the question is, are we accepting it?

In this evening’s Gospel lesson we heard of a parable of a banquet feast where those invited did not accept the invitation - those who would have been on equal social standing with the host of the party make up excuses of other things to do. They will not be attending dinner. And so the invitation is extended - to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Those who would have been considered - and often still are considered - the last and the least. The invitations, however, do not stop there. After that, the host then tells his servant to go into the streets and compel anyone and everyone - any who will accept the invitation - to come in and feast.

So often our invitations to the tables we sit at look like the first round of invitations the host sent out - invitations to those of the same social standing or sphere. So often our tables are full of people who look, act, and think just like us. This is not the Good News of the Gospel.

The Good News of the Gospel is that the invitation is truly to all.

At the birth of Christ the angels proclaimed “Good News of Great Joy for all people.” That is echoed in this parable - all are invited to come and feast with Christ, all are invited into the Kingdom of heaven - all - and especially the last, the lost, and the least. This is the Good News of the Gospel. This is the Good News we are rooting ourselves in today.

And so it is at this point where you may ask, Pastor Allison, where is the overlap? How do these two rituals we are participating in today overlap for us? Where is their interaction of Good News? I want to lift up three brief but very Good intersections between the two rituals.

One - Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality. The table reminds us that this is but a foretaste of the heavenly banquet table. Even in the midst of our world where there is so much grief, death, and general hopelessness - there is hope. There is something more. Remembering our mortality is not all doom and gloom and sadness - remembering our mortality reminds us that the life after this one is a big party with a generous and lavish table overflowing with food, laughter, and joy.

Two - That heavenly banquet table is more diverse and more beautiful in its diversity than we could ever imagine. People of every race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, ability, social status, etc, etc, etc are surrounding that banquet table. This is something to celebrate and it also should give us a dose of humility - that same humility we accept when we receive ashes. We need to remember that we are but one guest at a table where all are invited. It should make us pause and to consider how we treat and love our fellow guests. And even who we are inviting to feast with us at our earthly tables?

And finally, three - just as the act of receiving ashes is extremely counter-cultural in a world that values pride and power and hides from death and grief, inviting everyone to the table, and even eating at a table full of every diversity under the sun, is highly counter-cultural as well. In The Moral Teachings of Jesus, David P. Gushee writes: “It is as if Jesus is looking at every social gathering that he witnesses as a rehearsal for that great messianic banquet in the upside-down kingdom of God. And he suggests that we had better start thinking and acting in this same upside-down way if we wish to be ready for that day.” Ash Wednesday and indeed the whole season of Lent is a counter-cultural or upside down way of life. It is repenting of the ways of this world and following the ways of Jesus. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World - that which is Power and the lie of Earthly Immortality. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World which limits who receives an invitation to the table based on social status, ability, or a myriad of other divisions. It is rejecting all that is not the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Good News of Great Joy for all people.

The Good News that we are but dust - and in being dust, are eternally cared for and loved by the Creator of the Universe who is the God of Love who formed us out of the dust.
The Good News that we are all invited to the table.
The Good News that all of us can humble ourselves and accept that invitation.

Today, this Ash Wednesday, let us embrace the Good News by humbling ourselves through the imposition of ashes to accept God’s invitation - to the banquet feast and to a life rooted in the Good News.

Amen.

"The Beloved" a sermon on Matthew 17:1-9

Matthew 17:1-9
“The Beloved”
Preached Sunday, February 15, 2026 

Who here likes to talk without being listened to?

Admittedly, some of us may like the sounds of our voices or to process things aloud, and yet, when we are talking to someone, we hope they would not just hear the sound of our voices but listen to our words as well. Although, anyone with a spouse, long-term partner, children, grandchildren, or siblings…actually, any human in relationship with other humans knows what it’s like to not be listened to when speaking.

We often talk about prayer as the act of not just speaking to God but listening too. Of course, if it can be hard for our spouse to listen to us - or our children or grandchildren who are distracted to pay attention to us - how much harder is it for us to discern the voice of God in our lives when that voice is not an audible voice but the nudges and leanings of the Spirit?

In fact, there are only 3 times in the Gospels where a voice from heaven speaks audibly. And only two of those are in the synoptic Gospels - what we call Matthew, Mark, and Luke whose narratives largely overlap while John is out here doing his own thing. So the two times that God speaks audibly as a voice from heaven in the synoptic Gospels are at Jesus’s Baptism and Jesus’s Transfiguration. Let’s look at both of those, from the Gospel of Matthew:

Jesus’s Baptism: “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.’”

And the Transfiguration: “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’”

If we were to make a venn diagram of these two statements from Heaven, there would be significant overlap. Especially the phrase, “This is my Son, the Beloved.”

What does it mean that in these very rare instances where it is recorded that the voice of God came from heaven, came from above - not words spoken by Jesus, not the rush of wind of the Holy Spirit, not that still small voice inside of us, not from an angel or messenger - but an unexplainable voice coming from God the Creator of the Universe - what does it say that in the two rare instances this happens in our Synoptic Gospels - that the voice of God calls Jesus, “Beloved”? To call someone beloved or “my beloved” is basically saying, “I love you.”

For God to express Love is inherent in the very nature of God’s self.

Our traditional language for the Trinity, our three-in-one God is, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” St. Augustine referred to the Trinity as, “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love which exists between them.” This stems from the statement in one of the most beautiful passages of Scripture that God is Love. 1 John 4:7-12: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

God is Love and this Love extends to our understanding of the Trinity. Richard Rohr defines the Trinity in his book, “The Divine Dance” like this:

“The fourth-century Cappadocian Fathers tried to communicate this notion of life as mutual participation by calling the Trinitarian flow a 'circle dance' (perichoresis) between the three. They were saying that whatever is going on in God is a flow that’s like a dance; and God is not just the dancer, God is the dance itself! The Incarnation is a movement—Jesus comes forth from the Father and the Holy Spirit to take us back with him into this eternal embrace, from which we first came (John 14:3). We are invited to join in the dance and have participatory knowledge of God through the Trinity.”

Let me state that a little more simply: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are dancing together! And they’re not just dancing together - they ARE the dance. As the three persons of the Trinity dance together, you can no longer see any lines where they differ, they become a blur of unimaginable beauty, awe, and wonder.

Combined with Augustine’s definition of the Trinity as “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love which exists between them” we can understand The Trinity as a Divine Dance of Love. And when we Love - when we love God and when we love neighbor as self - we become participants in the Divine Dance of Love along with the God who is Love itself. Augustine is also attributed with saying, when teaching on the doctrine of the Trinity, “Lest you become discouraged, know that when you love, you know more about who God is than you could ever know with your intellect."

Perhaps we can now understand why God, in those rare moments in the Gospels when the God of Love, the Creator of the Universe, speaks in an audible voice - it is to call Jesus Beloved. Because there is no more important thing that God could call Jesus -- or even us.

Jesus is called many things in Scripture: Rabbi, Messiah, Anointed One, Saviour, Lamb Who Takes Away the Sins of the World, Emmanuel, The Good Shepherd, King of Kings, Prince of Peace, The Word, Lord…and many, many more.

Beloved may be one of the most important names that Jesus is called in Scripture - not only because this is the name that God the Father places on Jesus but because it tells us not only of Jesus’s identity but our identities in God’s eyes as well.

We were made in the image of God - the God who is “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love which exists between them.” Scripture tells us that we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ - part of our inheritance is the Love of God, the title of God’s Beloved.

Part of the miracle of the Transfiguration up on that mountaintop is it’s a moment where the layers of our earthly reality are pulled back and we see the heavenly reality of who Jesus is - God’s Beloved son, shining in glory.

It is at the moment where that voice from Heaven calls Jesus “son” and says, “listen to him.”

So my question to us today is - are we listening to the voice of God who is telling us that we too are beloved, loved by God? The voice is not coming out of the clouds and reverberating in our eardrums but there are other ways that the Holy Spirit is constantly telling us - “You are beloved.” Are we listening? Are our spirits attuned to listen to the voice of Love? God may be speaking to you through the people in your life who love you well. God may be speaking in your life through nudges towards kindness. God may be speaking in your life that comes in the outrage of injustice against fellow children of God. God may be speaking in your life of moments of peace. There is never a single moment of our lives where God is not speaking love to us.

I am going to say that again because I really truly believe this:

There is not a single moment of our lives where God is not speaking love to us.

The issue comes from us not listening.

Mother Theresa said, “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer... Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”

I would define listening to God as an openness of heart. True listening comes from a place of receiving. So often we don’t truly listen to one another. We are simply waiting for our turn to talk. Our turn to make our point. Our turn to share our story or to win the argument. To listen means to open not just our ears but our hearts and minds as well. This takes practice in listening to our fellow human beings and certainly in listening to God - and listening for God through our world and our fellow human beings.

Are our hearts truly open, truly listening, ready and waiting to receive what God has to give to us? Wherever that message comes from.

Let us listen to the voice of Love. Let us listen to the voice of God that is calling us Beloved. Let us listen to the voice of God that is calling - our neighbors, our friends, and even our enemies - beloved as well. The God who is calling each and every person in this world “Beloved” - loved by God. We need to listen to that Love so that we can act on that Love.

When we attune our souls to constantly listen to the voice of God we may be surprised in all the numerous ways that God uses to speak Love into our souls. God has no limits - not even of what we would divide into camps of sacred versus secular. During the Super Bowl halftime show last week, it ended with a giant message on the screen: "The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

In a world where the message of hate, of othering, of diminishing the image of God inside of ourselves and one another, this is an important reminder. Love is stronger than hate. As Christians we believe that Love is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than the Grave. Love is more powerful than all for our God is Love itself - “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love which exists between them.”

And so - are we listening to Jesus, God’s Beloved?
Are we listening to the voice of Love?
Do we know our own Belovedness?
Do we love others as if they are beloved by God?
Are we participating in the Divine Dance of Love?

May we listen to Jesus.
May we listen to all the ways God speaks Love to us.
May we know our own belovedness.
May we love all like God loves.
May we be a part of God’s Divine Dance of Love.

May it be so. Amen.

“Finger Pointing & Yokes, Salt & Light” a sermon on Isaiah 58:1-12 & Matthew 5:13-20

Isaiah 58:1-12
Matthew 5:13-20
“Finger Pointing & Yokes, Salt & Light”
Preached Sunday, February 8, 2026

One of my favorite TV characters of all time is Leslie Knope from Parks & Rec. Leslie is known as an energetic go-getter with a deep passion for her work in the local government parks department. She is also known for her ridiculous, next-level, over-the-top compliments. Here are a couple compliments she gives to her best friend:

“You beautiful tropical fish.”
“You opalescent tree shark.”
“You’re a beautiful, talented, brilliant, powerful musk-ox."
“You poetic, noble land-mermaid.”
“You rainbow-infused space unicorn.”

Some of these compliments are, not just over the top, but kind of weird, right? Like…what does it mean to be an opalescent tree shark? But it’s a TV and so we laugh it off as cute, quirky nonsense.

When I read today’s Gospel reading, my mind went from Jesus to Leslie Knope. See, Jesus is giving us a weird “What does that even mean???” kind of compliment.

“You are the salt of the earth.”

Uhhh…thanks, Jesus? I think?

Now, “You are light” - that makes a little more sense to us. But what are these declarations that Jesus makes to his disciples and, through the ages, to us, that we are salt and light? Let’s look a little bit closer at them.

Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”

Let’s think about salt. Salt compliments and brings forth other flavors in food. Salt is also a preserver. It quite literally…cannot lose its saltiness. If it wasn’t salty…it wouldn’t be salt. Now, we know through cooking that salt loses its saltiness, or a dish loses the taste of saltiness if it is overwhelmed with other flavors. If there are enough other things in the dish that cover up the saltiness.

But we’re not talking about cooking and food when Jesus says we are the salt of the world. We are talking about who God created us to be and living into those true authentic selves.

A book that I found deeply meaningful is, “Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints” by James Martin. Allow me to give you a brief synopsis of some of the insights this book gives.

Thomas Merton, a renowned saint and writer in the Catholic Church, famously said, “For me to be a saint means to be myself…Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and discovering my true self.”

In other words, the more we are our true selves, the more holy we are. As Methodists we talk a lot about sanctification. That we are all on this journey towards Christian perfection - which means every day we strive to love God and neighbor better than we did the day before. And sometimes, we tend to think the more sanctified or holy someone is…the less of a personality they have. The point this book makes is that isn’t true - that each of us, at our core is, well…the salt of the earth, with our own unique flavor or personality that is not lost in the process of sanctification. Rather the more we love God and neighbor, the more our personalities, our true selves, who God created us to be, shines forth. The “holier” you are, the more you can…taste your inert saltiness.

Martin uses two saints as an example:

1 - St. Theresa of Lisieux who was a contemplative saint and spent all her days in a convent in worship and prayer and cleaning and gardening and what others would claim as menial tasks. And
2 - Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Workers movement and a staunch supporter of social justice and an activist.

Martin poses the question: was one of these women less holy than the other? No! Their own personality, their own salt of the earth saltiness, was seen through their unique ways that they were their true selves for God and neighbor.

Which brings us back around to how can salt lose its saltiness…if we in our inner core are salt of the earth because that is how God created us - how can we lose our saltiness? Just as salt in a dish can be overwhelmed by other flavors, we can be overwhelmed by false selves.

We all have false selves. Richard Rohr says, “Our false self is who we think we are. It is our mental self-image and social agreement, which most people spend their whole lives living up to - or down to.” Think of it like this - our false selves are wrapped around us like bandages wrapped around a mummy. We may have many layers of false self that we have to peel back to get to our true self, who God created us to be, salt of the earth. Now, Martin says, when he was writing a book about finding your true self, a friend said to him, “Well, that’s fine, but what happens if your true self is a horrible, lying, mean-spirited person?” A good question to ask! Maybe a question you are sitting in the pews thinking.

Martin’s answer was “that this would not be the person God created. In other words, to find his true self, the horrible, lying, mean-spirited person would have to uncover his true self - the good self that God created - from underneath all those layers of sinfulness. And I would suspect that the longer he has been living as a selfish person, the longer it might take for him to uncover his true self.”

Our reading from Isaiah shows us examples of people not being their true selves, shows us how we can get overwhelmed by other things and lose our saltiness. Our passage this morning talked about those who professed with their lips and their rituals a desire to get closer to God, but their actions showed them oppressing their workers and putting heavy burdens on others. They got into fights and quarreled and finger-pointed. Which is absolutely nothing like so many in our world today… I am sure you’re detecting some sarcasm.

Isaiah goes on to say this: “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”

When we not only don’t put oppressive burdens on others, but we actively work to remove those burdens from others, we are also lifting a burden - a layer of our false selves - from our own shoulders. When we liberate others, we liberate ourselves. This is the mentality of the Kin-dom of God. You may have heard it as the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

An example of liberating others that in turn liberates ourselves is doing anti-racism work. Racism is not just a Black or Person of Color problem. It oppresses and marginalizes People of Color and they bear the brunt of its violence and force. There is no denying that. And - as white people, racism also affects us negatively - it affects our souls. It warps us into who we were not meant to be, as all sin does. It obscures our true selves who God created us to be, adding a layer of false self, overpowering our saltiness. To do anti-racism work is to loose the bonds of injustice and undo the thongs of the yoke…for all. For People of Color, to remove the violence and scourge of racism. For white people, to remove the sin that infects our souls.

The same is true for anything that keeps us from being who God created us to be - Salt of the Earth. Isaiah talks about pointing the finger and speaking evil. Any -ism or -phobia (racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc, etc) not only does violence against our neighbors but they harm the soul of the one who holds on to that act of othering and oppression, Any blame game, power struggle, or speaking evil of anything, these things obscure our true selves, they overpower our salt.

When you are your true self, who God created you to be - not only are you the salt of the earth - your light also shines before others.

In Matthew, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

It is an echo of the prophet Isaiah: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…”

You are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of the world.

Just as Leslie Knope’s ridiculous compliments are meant to lift others up, I mean for this sermon today to be a sermon of encouragement because, here me on this:

You *are* *already* the salt of the earth.
You *are* *already* the light of the world.

God created you this way - this is who you are - your true self - at your core. Now - how you will live that out? That will depend on the unique you that God created you to be - AND, with confidence I can say, at your core, you have everything you need to be salt and to be light.

Every day we can work on removing layers of our false selves. Every day we can work on not letting our true selves get covered up, on not letting our saltiness be overwhelmed, on not hiding our light under a bushel - we do this by loving God and loving neighboring - knowing that when we show God’s love to our neighbors by removing their burdens, we also remove the yoke off our own shoulders. Every day we can work on this by letting our light shine - by living out our faith, through sharing God, through sharing love - in the unique and inert ways that God created us to do so.

Thomas Merton said “For me to be a saint means to be myself.”

And so today I say to you:
For you to be a saint means to be yourself.
Your true self is salt.
Your true self is light.

Let’s let ourselves be salty and shine - by loving God and loving neighbor.

Amen.

“A Healing God” a sermon on Matthew 4:12-23

Matthew 4:12-23
“A Healing God”

In my family, every single family member is guilty of telling convoluted stories. You start here and instead of going directly to the point you kind of weave your story around like this…. (Zig-zag finger around) ...and part of it is, every side story, every rabbit trail is connected in my mind - I know the path my brain is following even when the listener doesn’t!

And this week’s Gospel lesson may seem like one of my family’s stories. We have a lot going on - Jesus finding out news about John, some references to land regions, a quote from Isaiah, a call to repent, calling some disciples to follow him, and then Jesus traveling, preaching, and healing.

To the reader we hear this is at least four distinct stories:
The beginning with the land regions & Isaiah.
Jesus calling to repent
Jesus calling his disciples and
Jesus traveling, preaching, teaching and healing.

But the question is: What was the Gospel writer thinking as he wrote this story and why are these pieces tied together like this? What path of logic was his brain following? What’s connecting these different subjects that may seem like a rabbit trail to us?

I believe the thread that connects them all comes from story #4, the last part of this passage -and that is that we follow a healing God. And the other three threads are really examples of Jesus doing his work and ministry as a healing, life-giving God.

Now each part of this Scripture reading could be its own sermon...but let’s quickly work through and see what each section is saying about Jesus and God’s healing work in this world.

With John’s ministry coming to a close in Galilee, Jesus steps in to continue God’s work in that region and take it to the next level. “The territory of Zebulun and Naphtali” reference tribal lands that God had promised to the Israelites through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - we can read about these in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. And to the readers of Matthew, the names of these lands would have brought God’s covenant people and promises to mind. But even though John was doing ministry in these regions and now Jesus was, these regions were not in the hands of the Israelites - they were under imperial Roman rule.

Enter the Isaiah reference - this passage from Isaiah came from a time where the Kingdom of Judah was looking for salvation from Assyrian rule. In the midst of darkness, war and the threat of the oppressive rule of the Assyrians, there was a light - God’s promise to save the land and people from the Assyrian Empire.

Jesus is now that same light in the midst of darkness. His ministry is heralding that God wants to release people from the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. This Scripture is declaring who Jesus is - Jesus is a Savior from oppressive regimes. Jesus is light and life in the midst of darkness and death.

And now, we have the next quick line “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” The Kingdom of Heaven is in contrast to the Kingdoms - the Assyrians and Romans of this world. And so we have to repent from any Kingdom we are following, any power that is of and in this world that is not God’s Kingdom - turn from anything that is death-wielding to that which is life-giving. This is what we pray for every week when we pray for weapons to be beaten into plowshares. To take that which gives death and turn it into that which tends life. There is so much in our world that is death-wielding and yet - when we look for it, when we participate in it - there is vibrant and abundant life there. For The Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into the world and God is active in this world - so what Kingdom are we actively seeking and following?

It is here that Peter and Andrew, James and John, are invited to follow Jesus - and they quickly answer the call. Fishermen did not live easy lives. The Roman Empire actually controlled all production from the lands and the sea and on top of their jobs being physically demanding, they were contracted and heavily taxed on every aspect of their livelihood. When Jesus shows up and offers them another way - they are quick to answer Jesus, to give up everything they knew, and to follow him. Sometimes we preachers have imagined a longer dialogue here or an inner struggle - but today I am struck by their quick response. When Jesus walks by on the shore - do you think in him they saw light shining in the darkness? I think they did. In Jesus, in his offer to make them fishers of people, they heard hope. They heard freedom. They heard a new way of living and being that offered wholeness. I think we desperately want to hear this see, see this, encounter this hope and new way in our world. And when it’s before you, you don’t hesitate. When you hear an offer like that, when you are given a gift like that, it is one you don’t hesitate to accept - you readily say yes - as the disciples readily followed Jesus.

And then, here’s how Matthew ties it all together:

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”

Jesus traveled through Roman controlled land and brought the Good News of another Kingdom, another way of being. A Kingdom of life, a Kingdom free from oppression, a kingdom of healing, a kingdom of wholeness. And this was a Kingdom that people so desperately needed to hear about. We may sometimes wonder why there is so much sickness in the Gospel stories? Why is Jesus healing everywhere he goes? Under the Roman Empire, 70-90% of the population lived in poverty which meant poor hygiene, high stress, dirty water, and food scarcity. These factors make for a petri dish of diseases. They also did not have the science and medical care that we have today. The people not only needed physical healing from their ailments -- they desperately needed hope and a new way to live. Living as a poor person under the Roman Empire basically guaranteed death at some point or another. Death like John the Baptist’s, his head on a platter for Herod. Death like Jesus’s, hung on a cross, considered an enemy of the state. Death from disease, from the strain of work, from poverty and hardship. So Jesus not only brought healing -- he brought the Good News -- that there is another Kingdom to follow. Another Kingdom that will eventually establish its full reign on Earth: not a Kingdom like the Roman Empire, but a Kingdom of Wholeness, of Life, of no more pain, death, or tears - the Kingdom of God.

It is this point - that Jesus is ushering in and inviting us into a new kind of Kingdom ruled by a Healing God - it is this point that all these stories, these seemingly rabbit trails, are pointing us toward, they are connected in showing us a light in the darkness; inviting us to turn from whatever is not life-giving; whatever power of this world, idol, or death-wielding way we are following - and readily follow Jesus and be participants in God’s Kingdom.

And today, I think we need this invitation and we need to answer its call just as much as the fishermen by the sea needed the invitation and needed to answer it. Just as much as those living with disease and every sickness needed healing.

We too need healing. We need healing from the empire we live in. From powers and systems that oppress, that divide us, that separate us, that profit off of our being scared, that profit off of us seeing our neighbors as our enemies, and that profit off of our pursuit for healing.

We need healing from broken relationships and broken homes. From addiction. From grudges. From abuse.

We need healing from disease and sickness, physical and mental, that hurts our bodies, our hearts, our minds.

We need healing in body, mind, and soul and the world we are living in needs healing. We are desperately looking for a light in the darkness to come and offer us deliverance.

And the Good News is...we do worship a healing God.

But, what does that mean? Does it mean we will be healed? Does it mean we can pray for healing? Does it mean we shouldn’t trust modern medicine and doctors? Will we be healed in this life? These are questions many are asking themselves as they wrestle with what it means that we worship a healing God.

These are my answers to that question and you may not find them satisfying.

“Does it mean we will be healed?” Maybe. We simply don’t know the future. We don’t know the way God acts. Sometimes healing doesn’t come in the form we expect either. We may be praying for healing of our bodies or the body of a loved one wracked my illness. The healing may come instead in the form of a mended relationship. Or the healing may come in the next life when we are fully in God’s presence without any pain.

“Can we pray for healing?” Yes, yes, yes. Healing of body, mind, and spirit. Prayers that we are in God’s hands - no matter the outcome. God wants us to talk to God though. To pour ourselves out. To talk, to listen, to be in God’s presence. Even just that act is a kind of healing.

“Should we trust modern medicine and doctors?” I believe God has many routes for miracles and God acts through modern medicine and doctors. We are often participating in folly too when we don’t see this as the way God acts in this world to help offer us wholeness and healing. Unfortunately even this system can cause corruption - for example, physical healing through medicine should not cause us financial distress that brings us into other situations that need God’s redemption.

What does it mean that we worship a healing God? It means that our God is a life-dealing God and wants life for us -- that God walks alongside us through every illness and every challenge. That our God who is “Emmanuel,” God with us, hurts with us and cries with us. And that our eternal hope and rest is in the promises of God, the promises of the Kingdom of heaven - that one day there will be a place of no sickness, pain, or death.

And until we reach that place - God is with us.

May it be so. Amen.

Call to Worship based on 2 Peter 1:16-21 & Matthew 17:1-9, Transfiguration Sunday

Leader: We come together to worship the God who is Love.
People: Who created the universe and knit us in our mother’s wombs with Love and out of Love.
L: We worship Jesus, God’s Beloved Son.
P: Who showed us how much we are loved by God.
L: We worship the Spirit, who proceeds from the Love of God the Father and Jesus the Beloved.
P: Who guides us in loving one another.
L: May we be transfigured and transformed by the Love of God.
All: Let us worship our Holy Triune God. Amen.

Call to Worship Based on Isaiah 58:1-12 & Matthew 5:13-20

Leader: Family of God, welcome to worship! God has a message for you today! Listen to it now: You are salt of the earth.
People: May I live as such.
L: You are a light on the hill.
P: May I live as such.
L: You are called to to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.
P: May I do as such.
L: You are called to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin.
P: May I do as such.
L: May we all live as salt of the earth and lights upon a hill, our actions and whole lives reflecting God’s love.
All: May we live as God’s beloved. Amen.

“Called to Be Saints” a sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

1 Corinthians 1:1-9
“Called to Be Saints”
Preached Sunday, January 18, 2026 at Boardman United Methodist Church

Our Burritos & Bibles Bible Study just started 1st Corinthians this week. We meet at a local Mexican restaurant, read the Scripture together, and discuss. It was fitting that this week we discussed the first chapter of 1st Corinthians - of which the first 9 of the 31 verses in the first chapter are the assigned New Testament reading for this week.

When we consider the context of 1 Corinthians as a whole, we know Paul is writing to them because they are a church that is in conflict. They are deeply divided - divisions of theology, social class, and more have wreaked havoc among them. And they generally aren’t behaving or treating one another as they should be treated.

Does this sound anything like our world and our church today?

Our world and especially our country is increasingly seen as more divided than ever. A 2022 Pew Research study showed that “72% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats viewed the opposing party as more immoral than other Americans—up dramatically from 47% and 35% in 2016.” And that was three years ago. Look around - I can imagine it’s only gotten worse. In fact, we’re seeing a rise not just in polarization but dehumanization. It’s not just that “the other side” is more immoral - it’s that they are less than human, not like you and me, and therefore whatever happens to them - up to and including their deaths - should not be a moral concern.

Our hearts and souls should be deeply, deeply troubled over this. And I don’t like to use the word “should” in sermons and yet in this case, I feel I must. We are to remember that all humans were made in the imago dei, the image of God, all humans are beloved by God, and we are called to treat one another with love, basic human dignity, and kindness. We are to remember, as The Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber says, whenever we draw a line between “us” and “them” - God is always on the other side of that line.

People have often wondered, if Paul wrote a letter to the church in America today, what would that letter contain? What would he lament? Where would he call us to repent? What teaching or wisdom would he have to correct our course?

For today’s consideration, I would wonder…would Paul start the letter to us, like he started the letter to this deeply divided and conflict-filled church in Corinth?

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together will all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…”

He starts his letter to the troubled church by reminding them that they are sanctified in Christ and called to be saints.

He goes on, before he brings up any conflict, before he offers any criticism, before he calls them to repent and be and do better, to say he thanks God for them - always. He reminds them that, through Christ, they already have everything they need to be saints, to partner with Jesus Christ, in the work of the Gospel, which is love of God and love of neighbor.

And this, friends, is what I want to say to each of you today.

I am thankful for you. And all those who are sanctified in Jesus Christ, all those who call on the name of Jesus Christ, who call him Lord - all of those who are called to be saints. And that was the church in Corinth, us here today, Christians across America, and around the world.

Now - what do we think of when we think of Saints? Most Methodists - or Protestants in general - aren’t too into saints - they think it’s too Catholic-y. Personally, I love reading and learning about the lives of the saints and appreciate the beauty of icons. But that’s one way we think of saints right? As 1.) A Catholic thing that doesn’t concern us and 2.) We think of saints as these...OTHER people, these high and holy people who are just a step below Jesus basically and pretty high for us to reach.

If we are familiar with any specific saints at all we might think of saints like St. Teresa of Avila who spent her whole life in a monastery, praying, subsiding only on the Eucharist, and having visions.
Saints like Mother Teresa, a woman who gave her whole life to ministry of the poor, the least of the least of these, living among them.
Saints like St. Maximilian Kolbe, a franscian friar who offered to die and did die in the place of a stranger in Auschwitz.
Saints like Bishop Oscar Romero who in El Salvador, sided with the oppressed landless poor against an increasingly violent and authoritarian regime - and he also preached to the soldiers who also claimed Christ, telling them they didn’t have to follow orders to kill and torture. He was assassinated while presiding over Holy Communion.

We might even think of individuals who aren’t officially sainted in The Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions but whose lives and service of Christ has offered them near saint-like status.
We might think of people like Martin Luther King, Jr. - fitting as tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - a pastor and civil rights activist who fought using non-violent methods for equality across divisions of race, especially for Black Americans.
We might even think of people like Fred Rogers, who’s quiet Protestant faith led him to be an example of kindness and gentleness and what it means to be a neighbor for an entire generation.

These are some of the saints that come first to my mind and they’re like...it seems like they’re up here - you know? And I’m...more here-ish. Like -- Paul says we are all called to be saints? But...well...my life is nothing like this. I am not good at fasting, I live a fairly comfortable life, I am often afraid to stand up for social justice causes - especially as a mother who has children to take care of at home. I have no desire or plan to die a martyr's death.

And yet - Paul says we are called to be Saints -- all who call on the name of Jesus are called to be saints.

Now, in the United Methodist Church, we do observe all Saints Day and recognize those who have led Christian lives, who have shown us the way of Christian living, who have died in the past year. We say their name, ring a bell, and light a candle for them. And while I do think it is helpful to widen the definition of saints as to those who lived their lives as followers of Christ...I think we also relegate this day and sainthood in this sense, to those who have died. And while my life has been deeply touched by saints who have gone before me...I also wonder if we don’t sentimentalize the idea of what it means to be a saint. In our loss, we assign sainthood to others - without the understanding of what it means for us to be called to be saints while we are yet alive in the here and now. Saints are not only these people who we view as having lived extraordinarily holy and selfless lives. And saints are not only the dead. Paul is talking to a church full of ordinary people - ordinary Christians like you and me. You and I. Here and now. While we are yet alive - are called to be saints.

So what does this mean for us?

Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King, Jr the civil rights advocate but Martin Luther the Protestant Reformer) is credited with saying that we are all simultaneously saint and sinner. This is a statement primarily about our identity in God’s eyes. That yes, we are all sinners. We have all failed and fallen short. We have all messed up.

I’ll be honest with you, as I wrote this sermon I was planning on saying, “I don’t think we need much convincing in our world today that are all sinners.” And I wrote that line. And I deleted that line. And I wrote that line. And I deleted that line. I think we are often very aware of what we would call the sin of others without being aware of the sin we are complicit in through action or inaction. What we have done. What we have left undone. It’s the old “speck in your neighbor’s eye, plank in your’s” deal. Part of it might be how we define sin. My go to definition of sin comes from the Greek word for it that is a word about archery - a word that means “missing the mark.” We sin when we miss the mark of loving God and loving neighbor as self. And that’s called...being human. So yes, we are all sinners.

So the question is, how can a messed up sinner, an ordinary human, like you and me, simultaneously be a saint? Luther said: “The saints are sinners, too, but they are forgiven and absolved.” We are ordinary humans, sinners - but because of God’s grace and forgiveness in our lives - we are also saints - capable of so much, restored and made right in God’s eyes - called to live out our lives in light of God’s gifts to us - called to love as God would love - called to be saints.

So, that’s what Luther says about being a saint in this life and this Methodist would agree! And, I think John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, has something else to add to the picture.

One of Welsey’s more controversial theological positions was that Christians can reach perfection in this life. Being perfect in this life does not mean that your life is not without errors or mistakes. Christian perfection means reaching a state of perfect love of God and perfect love of neighbor as self - fulfilling God’s greatest commandment with your whole life. Wesley never claimed this for himself, claiming he may have only met one or two people who reached it in this life...but that isn’t supposed to stop us or deter us from trying to reach Christian Perfection - loving God and loving neighbor as self. We are supposed to ever be on a journey, working on ourselves, working on our relationships - with God and with others - ever trying to reach this state of perfection - ever answering God’s call on our lives to be saints.

So when we consider Paul - that all who call upon Christ’s name are called to be Saints
And when we consider Luther - that we are simultaneously saint and sinner
And when we consider Wesley that we are called to ever strive towards perfect love of God and perfect love of neighbor in this life…

It is here that we find a beautiful and convicting truth:

That we, yes WE are called to “Come and See” the glory and life of Jesus. The way to live. And then WE, yes, WE are called to emulate it. We are not an exception. There is no such thing as “ordinary people” as Christians - our ordinary is a journey to sainthood, to the extraordinary - to invite all to come and see the one who is Jesus, the teacher, the Anointed one, the Messiah, the Lamb Who Takes Away the Sins of the World.

What it means that John declared Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world - is that, through Jesus, we can hit the mark. We can love God and neighbor as self. We can love like Jesus loves. We can be and do better. We can be saints, partners with Jesus for the good of the world, the good of all.

Saints are not those we place up on some pedestal.
Saints are not just those who have died.
Saints are not other people out there, far removed from us.

We - you and me - are saints - are called to be saints.
Saints are ordinary people - human, sinners, too.
Saints are those who live their lives doing the best they can to follow Jesus.
Saints are those who are doing everything they can to reach perfect love of God and neighbor in this life.

So friends, today, proudly take up the title of saint. In a world that is ever divided. In a world that ever seeks to diminish the image of God. In a world where love is so sorely needed…It is never too late, to come and see Jesus, to follow Jesus, to live the life of a saint. Leave from this place, refreshed, renewed and strengthened, to answer God’s call to be saints.

Amen.