Sermon time! Boy, if that doesn’t get you excited, what will??

This was one of those weeks that I suspect happen to all preachers at some point: “Still trying to find that spark for the sermon,” I texted my colleague Saturday afternoon. Did I find it eventually? That, dear reader, is up to you.

The main text for the week was the story from Matthew’s gospel of Jesus being interrogated by a partnership between two groups that [Keith Jackson voice] “plain don’t like each other.” Yet they banded together in order to try to take down their common enemy. Jesus’ relatively famous response to their question: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”

For ideas on questions, I quote Harvard Business Review:

The wellspring of all questions is wonder and curiosity and a capacity for delight.

…and Teach Thought:

A good question causes thinking – more questions. Better questions. It clarifies and reveals. It causes hope.

The Google question section came from here and…somewhere else I can’t seem to find today. My apologies.

Perhaps what we could learn from Jesus is how to handle people operating in bad faith. Lord knows our current political climate is full of such people. Jesus responds to those asking in bad faith by not directly answering their question. He doesn’t let them control the narrative because that’s all they want: Control. Power. Selfish means for selfish ends. 

Here’s my “The Curious Case of The Question.” Sermon begins at 39:41 of the video. You’ll notice, I’m sure, that something funky is going on with the color from our camera. As my daughter put it, “You look like you are in one of those ghost hunting videos.”

If you prefer audio-only, this is for you:

While I wouldn’t rate it as my best, we did manage to have some fun and, I hope, challenge how we interact with the world around us.

We also need to push ourselves beyond selfishness with our questions: 

How can I best protect my neighbors during this pandemic?

What are we doing to fight for freedom for the oppressed?

How will we stand against racism and the lie of white supremacy?

Will we vote?

Will we vote in a way that looks out for those most in need?

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash