Wondering and Wonder

Wondering and Wonder

Wondering and Wonder

a Trinity Sunday sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey

DOWNLOAD A LIVE RECORDING

Audio from worship at the 10:00 AM Worship Service May 31, 2026
at St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Carson City, Nevada

edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine.

Scripture read on Audio: Matthew 28:16-20

  Sermons also available free on iTunes

Stained Glass Symbol of the Trinity at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Carson City, Nevada.

photo by J. Christy Ramsey

Hey, it’s Trinity Sunday. Thanks for coming out of your family events and gatherings and celebrations. I’m glad you’re all in your Trinity finest gear. That’s wonderful. Great, great. It’s a really bad Sunday to preach, on Trinity Sunday. There’s nothing. There’s nothing there. I don’t blame Donna for leaving the state. I mean, I’d get far away from the pulpit, too, if I could. Trinity Sunday is about as exciting as looking at your phone and say, “Spam likely.” That guy again. They’re always calling. Or, you know, worse is, “This is your insurance company. We’d like to talk to you about some explanation of your benefits.” Oh. That’s right up there with Trinity Sunday preacher, I’ll tell you.

Hey, I bet you didn’t know something. Trinity Sunday is with us every Sunday. I bet you didn’t know this. I bet up here, you know, way before we had these screens – whoo, nifty neat-o, we had screens in church for centuries. We just called it “stained glass.” So I just wanted people saying, oh, I don’t like this new stuff, hey, stained glass has been around for centuries. I don’t know what you’re talking about. So up here – I don’t know if I’m allowed up here, I’m destroying things – I don’t know if you can see it. This is actually a symbol of the Trinity. Everything’s clear now; isn’t it. No, it’s not. But here they’ve got God in the middle. Come up later, if you’re allowed. I don’t know if you’re allowed. But come up later.

Árni Dagur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

They’ve got a dais in the middle, God. And then they’ve got Holy Spirit here, Father up there, Son up there, Father over there on the three. And then they’ve got little connection things. Spirit is not the Father, Father is not the Son, Son is not the Spirit. And then they all go to the middle, they’re all “Is God, Is God, Is God.” Okay. We can pack it up. We’re done. Everybody understands the Trinity now. That’s great. Super. Don’t be telling people you’ve got a fidget spinner in stained glass at your church. I mean, well, unless you want to. People think, oh, that’s pretty cool. I think I’m coming, yeah. Not a fidget spinner. All right.

Way back in the 5th Century, there was a guy, his name was Augustine of Hippo. I don’t know. I don’t know, you know, if he was a portly man. But they called him Hippo. I think that’s where he lived. Unfortunate if he was portly. That would have been bad. He said this: “Si comprehendis, non est Deus.” And what that is translated from the Latin is,

If you think you understand God, what you understand is not God. - Augustine of Hippo

Well, that’s helpful, Augustine. He’s saying if you understand something, then you don’t understand it. The parts you understand about God is not something you understand. 

The difference between stupid and intelligent people — and this is true whether or not they are well-educated — is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations — in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward. - Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer (1995).

And we have a quote up here from a more recent philosopher. Good old Neal Stephenson, author of “Snow Crash,” any classic science fiction – no, nothing. Oh. No, you’re just scratching. Okay. The difference between stupid and intelligent people, and this is true whether or not they are well educated, is that intelligent people can handle subtle – Bill, what’s that word?

BILL: Subtlety.

PASTOR RAMSEY: Subtlety. Thank you, Bill. That’s why I brought him in here, roped him up to give me that word. Thank you. Subtlety. And they are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations. Whoo. In fact, they expect them. And they’re apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward. Yeah. Intelligent people are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations. In fact, they expect them. And they’re suspicious if things are too simple. You’re all intelligent people now; right? Okay. Because you all heard Trinity stuff, oh, the shamrock thing. Who’s heard of the sham – don’t put your hands up. Who’s heard this? Because that’s a heresy. I don’t want you to put your hands up, then let it go, ooh.

Not TrinityShamrock, you know, the three in the Trinity, one plant, three things. Sometimes even I said this, and I was wrong, that’s modality, that’s a heresy. This is, like, should be called Heresy Sunday because it’s so easy to slip in heresy when you’re trying to talk about the Trinity. When you’re talking about, you know, oh, it’s like steam and liquid water and ice, you know. No, it’s not. It’s modality. And it’s not even Father, Son, Holy Spirit, you know. As much as Presbyterians love committees, love them, God is not a committee. It’s not like they vote and come together, two out of three goes, you know, none of that.

It’s not like, you know, like loving, loved, and beloved, or all these other things that people try to make into some kind of social community rolling around kind of thing inside a God, and that’s Trinity. Just about anything – just like our friend Augustine found out. You know, every time you try to describe a Trinity, you’re probably not describing the Trinity. You’re not describing God. If you think you understand it, you got it wrong. What are we to do? What are we to do? Well, we’re intelligent people. We can handle things that are contradictory or complex or not clear or not simply explained. We can handle that. I mean, you know, they just don’t let anybody in the Episcopal Church; right? There is a little test you’ve got to do before you get in; right? I’m sure there is. They haven’t caught me yet. Ha.

It’s like when I go to Trader Joe’s. Does anybody go to Trader Joe’s? I go in there. I am not good-looking enough to be at Trader Joe’s up there in [totsy?] land. They’re going to kick me out because I go, wow, what are these people? Wow. Everybody comes down from Tahoe, and they’re nice? But we can handle it. And we’ve got stories here. We’ve got scriptures here that tell us about complexity. And you can come to these scriptures and be confused. You can come to the Trinity and be confused. And what confused? Well, I don’t understand it, and I should. It’s not good for me. I’m upset. Well, then you’re not intelligent. Here’s a thought. Instead of being confused, be in awe. Instead of being upset you don’t understand something, be in wonder of the glory of God.

Because you look at the creation story, and was that a big creation story? You know, I was talking to – that’s a lot of scripture. You know, that’s a big hunk there. And, well, you know, he created the entire universe, you know, give him a chapter. You know, come on. So you look at that, and we’re so familiar with it that we just blow it on by; you know? The first creation story, you know, there’s a – every now and then, God created the Heavens and the Earth, and it was so. You know, that “and” is doing a heck of a lot of work. You look all the way through it, he says something, and it was so. Says something, and God said it was good. Said something, and God said it was good.

You know, that “and” is like a billion years of time and space in that “and.” I mean, we’re just skipping over a whole lot of stuff that we would like to understand in that “and.” I’m telling you, all of our scientific endeavor is trying to figure out that “and” bit, between God says it’s going to happen and then he said it was good. We want to know between the “and.” We don’t have to. We don’t have to be confused by complications. And that’s why we had the whole big, you know, some people say, well, you have the Trinity in there because, you know, in the story of Genesis, God is referred to as “we,” in the plural. So that’s the Trinity there.

Okay, that’s kind of a reach. I mean, you know, when the King of England or Queen of England says “We are not amused,” they’re not talking that they’re the Trinity, you know, there’s a “royal we” kind of thing. But I like to think they picked that out, the little lectionary elves picked that up because here’s another thing we don’t understand. You’ve got the Trinity. Everybody’s confused. Let’s throw in the creation story, too, just so long as we’re doing a confusion Sunday. But it doesn’t have to be confusion. It could be wonder. Saying, look at all those wonderful things God’s done.

You know, God just didn’t do it. I think it’s very important in our times. God said it was good. So when people tell you other people are bad or these people aren’t good enough or these people are below us or beneath us or don’t have the right to be here, or don’t have the right to exist, or should pull themselves up by their own – remember what God said. God said it was good. It was good. People are good. God doesn’t make trash is what they used to say. But not only that, God makes people good. That’s complex. That’s wondering. That’s confusing. We want to understand it, want to dissect it, want to have the PowerPoints. But nope. Just got to go with God is good. God made the world good. God made people good.

So if something’s bad in the world, guess what? Guess whose that is? That’s us. Enough of that. Let’s go on to the psalm. Psalm’s great; isn’t it? Psalms? Psalm is great for wonder. Because, you know, you go out there, and you don’t hear the quantum mechanics and the astrophysics of how all the stars are made and move and go and come and red shift and dopplers and all this other stuff. Psalm just goes out there and says, why is God caring about me? In all this, God cares about us. In its infinite vastness of the universe, God cares about us.

That’s wonder. Not confusion. It’s living in the joy and in the wonder. It’s a wonderful time. Not a confusing time. I’m angry because God didn’t check it out with me before God went on and did God things. God did explain everything to God. And that goes right on. We’re running now. Keep up with me. That goes right on to the epistle where Paul says – gives it grace, and says, “Grace of the father,” and “Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” the love and fellowship. And you say, how do we get together on that? Does one come, and then they do like a costume change or put on a different mask or get on a collar? Instead of an open-collar shift they put on a collar with a thing. And then they come out and do the other thing, but it’s the same person.

You know, Christy’s sitting in the pew saying Christy up in the collar. No, that’s all heresy. You’ve got to approach that with wonder and say, wow. Look at all that. The love, the grace, the fellowship. It’s all there. I don’t know how it all works, but I’m sure glad it does. Kind of like the way I treat my car. I don’t know how it works. I’m sure glad it moves and goes places.

And then the last one, the gospel. In the gospel, don’t you love the disciples? You’ve got to really look at the disciples because they’re a bunch of bumbling fools; you know? And I feel better about myself the more I read about the disciples because I said, if those guys can make it, I’ve got a shot; you know. I’ve got at least a shot. Because they’re in there, you know, here they are, they’re in the end of the ministry, been hanging out with Jesus. I mean, you and me think, oh, if we had met Jesus, we would be onboard. We would be 100% Jesus; you know? But, you know, the disciples, they were there the whole time. And they said, hey, we’re worshiping him. But some doubted. I go, what’s with these guys? You know?

And I said, “I feel better about myself because sometimes, you know, maybe I have a doubt or two; you know? Things happen.” But it wasn’t like, okay, Jesus didn’t say, oh, let me explain it all to you and answer all your doubts. We’ll have a town hall. You can all yell at me about how you’re upset about the way I’m running the church, and I’ll explain it to you. We’ll all come into a wonderful happy agreement, and I’ll tell you all the things.

No, he said, he knows he had doubt. He says, “Go therefore and go out and do good things. Go out there and make disciples of all the nations. Tell everybody to love one another. Tell them to love their enemies. Tell them to love the stranger.” Oh, no, you’re getting political. “Tell them to love the stranger. Tell them to love the soldier in your land. Tell them that God loves everyone. Tell them that God made everything good. Even countries that aren’t ours are still good.” [Gasp] Political again.

He didn’t wait. He didn’t explain it. He didn’t give them the why. He didn’t answer their doubts. He just took them. He just expected them. Show up, doubts and all. Come on in. Come as you are. And these people were disciples. I mean, you know, they’ve got logos and stained glass and people praying to them and stuff. Still doubts. There’s hope for us. We don’t have to be sure and understand everything and remember our good old friend, Fat Man Augustine, that says, “If you think you understand, you don’t understand.” Huh. Huh. I feel better about that.

 And remember about our favorite science fiction with Neal there, Stephenson, said, “We like to think of ourselves as intelligent people. We don’t expect to understand stuff. We’re okay if things are contradictory.” You know a contradictory thing is, it’s when a teenager – anyone had experience with teenagers? Been a teenager? I was talking to someone, there’s a church that’s misbehaving. They called me in. Ah, there’s a wonder. I’ve got to tell you. Saying come in. And he said, “What are we going to do about this person?” And I go, well, you know, they’re doing everything we asked. Everything we told them to do, they’re doing. They’re just yelling and screaming about it and writing letters about how horrible it is.

And that’s kind of like the teenager that you tell them to go up to their room, and they’re going up to their room yelling and screaming at you the whole way. You know? “Why is it so unfair?” They’re going to their room, you know, so you they’re kind of sort of getting it. You know, moving toward obedience, even though they’re yelling about it. And we can handle that as intelligent people. As adult people we can say, “Yeah, that’s kind of messed up, mixed up, crazy there. But, yeah, pretty good mostly. We’re all right. We can handle the creation story.” How did all that happen in one day? That “and” thing is just really blowing my mind between the I’m going to do this, now it’s done.

Wait a minute. What’s the middle? We’re okay with that. Mostly. We’re okay with I have some doubts and don’t know everything. Well, that’s okay, go out and tell everybody to love everybody, and that God loves them. Even with the doubts? Yeah, even with the doubts. Do ahead and do that. We so much want to understand stuff. It’s why we keep making heresies out of the Trinity because we try to understand it, we can’t understand it because it’s the basis of God, and we get all upset and try to make it simple. Try to make it into a shamrock, or try to make it into a, you know, the ice cube tray in the refrigerator, you know, the automatic ice cube stuff. How does that work? It’s not what we should do. We’re not supposed to understand it, and that is kind of a little scary for people that aren’t intelligent.

I’m complimenting you here now. I’m believing you’re all intelligent people, and you expect to not know everything and be okay with that and be in wonder. Well, how does that work out in a romcom from the 1990s, Christy? I know that is a question everybody asks. Everybody asks. Sure, he’s a good preacher, but what about a romcom from the ‘90s? I need that romcom. I want you to take a look at “Groundhog Day.” This is Rita. Rita is going somewhere between confusion and wonder here. She has questions of she thought she knew this guy, Bill Murray, who’s playing Phil Connors. Thought she knew this guy. And then things happen. And then she has a choice about whether she’s going to get the long or short version of what everything is. Or whether she’s going to commit herself and all that she has to the wonder that is Phil Connors.

Rita didn’t need all her questions answered, either the short or the long version, to commit $339.88, her total net worth, I imagine, to be into the wonder of Phil Connors. We do not need the long or short version of the Trinity to know when something good has been created, and that we are invited into relationship with. Take that as your Trinity Sunday sermon. Amen.

Wondering and Wonder

Locked Room

Locked Room

Locked Room

a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey

DOWNLOAD A LIVE RECORDING

Audio from worship at the 10:00 AM Worship Service April 12, 2026
at St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Carson City, Nevada

edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine.

  John 20:19-31

 Sermons also available free on iTunes

The disciples were in a locked closet for fear of the government authorities that come and take non-citizens, torture them, and then kill them. Now, the scripture said Jews; but we know better, don’t we. We know it was Romans, not rabbis, that came and took Jesus away. We know it was Romans, not rabbis, that put him on the cross. The government killed Jesus. Like to smooth that over and blame the Jews. Or maybe the religious authorities.

Where was Thomas? Did you ever wonder? What in the heck was he doing? I mean, it’s going to be like 2,000 years before they have kids’ soccer on Sunday morning, and I don’t know what else. I’m thinking maybe, maybe he was like a closeted Presbyterian, and he was off at some Presbyterian church somewhere. They go, “Where is he? Oh, he’s doing Presbyterian.” I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe he didn’t want anything to do with what the disciples were doing, hiding from the government in a locked room, in a closet, if you will. I don’t do politics. I don’t want to meet with those politics. Doesn’t affect me. I’m good. I’m fine. I’m wonderful. Doesn’t affect me. Nothing to fear. Long as you do right, don’t cause trouble, you’ll be fine. You don’t have to lock the door for fear. Wasn’t in the room.

How many rooms do we stay out of? How many places do we not go because we’re afraid of what we will find there? Worried that it’s going to challenge our biases, our expectations, our beliefs. You know, it’s really easy to do, stay away from people that are suffering, that are oppressed, that are under the heel, and say it doesn’t exist because I didn’t see it. Doesn’t affect me. They must be doing something wrong because I’m fine. And I’m not talking politics. I’m not talking about rules and regulations, laws and elections. I’m not talking about political party. I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m not talking to you about any of that stuff. I am talking morality.

And if you say any talk of morality is subject to politics, well, then, we disagree on that, too, because I believe there is more things to life than politics. I believe there are more important things in life and faith than politics. I believe that politics does not feed to what we get to talk about or what we believe or who we love or what we support or what we say is not allowed. I believe in going into locked rooms that politicians say stay out of there. Don’t talk to those people. You can’t trust them. So stay out of them locked doors and don’t listen to the people that are imprisoned. Don’t talk to the people.

America has 5% of the world’s population. Five, 5%. But of the total population of the people in prison, we have 25%. Are we that much worse than every other country in the world? Are we five times worse than every other country in the world? I do not believe that. I saw that’s a moral issue, not a political issue. We lock up people and then say, well, I didn’t see it. Must not be happening. There was a saying about doing your own research, you know. But does doing your own research often just mean watching some – going down some rabbit hole on YouTube and as the algorithm takes you more and more to what you like more and more, and you don’t hear anything else, you don’t go in a locked room.

Or it might be just your limited bias, your limited experience as a person growing up, and you don’t see anybody else. It might be that social media echo chamber where you just like the people that say what you like, and then suddenly all you hear is yourself echoed back through influencers and posters and content providers. But you don’t see any of that. Heck, now we’ve got AI. AI will tell you anything you want. AI will hallucinate if it needs to, to tell you what you want to know, how you want to know it. We’ll never get to that room where Jesus is. We’ll never be in that room where people are scared for their lives. We’ll never be in that room where people are suffering. And I tell you what, we’ll never see scars. And we say there is no pain. I haven’t seen any scars. Unless I see them, they’re not there. They don’t exist.

I can drive through town and not get shot dead, so it didn’t happen. Renee Good, Alex Pretti must have been doing something wrong. Because I don’t want to go in there where I think that people are shot dead in the streets. I don’t want to go that route. Might be scars in there. Heck fire. I might get some scars. Oh, no. You know, church has always been about experiential, where we’re all about the experience and the belief and the overwhelming and the feelings and all that. That’s great. But, you know, the church never stopped there. The church has always been experience plus.

You know, like Alexa+. You get the extra AI on your little talking thing? Oh, my god, it’s just annoying. And then, or Amazon+ or whatever plus. Where religions, where experience plus. And that plus is testimony. Which is a limited subset of what a plus really is. Testimony to people talking about their experience, what they believe, where they’ve been, how they’re doing. Sure, that’s a plus. But the real plus includes the testimony, but it’s actually something called empathy. Empathy. Where we feel the other people. Where we’ve gone into that locked room and found out what other people do to those that preach peace and love and acceptance of others.

Thomas almost got it. I don’t know, maybe he did. But Thomas seems to think that the scars and the holes and the wounds are some kind of ID, you know, like a passport or the CLEAR ID or some kind of TSA program where you have to have biometrics in order to figure out who Jesus is. But that’s not what Jesus showed him, I think. I think what Jesus was saying goes, yeah, you’re not hurt. Yeah, you don’t have scars. Yeah, they didn’t crucify you. But they do it to other people. And you should recognize that. You should feel that. You should know, feel, be empathetic with those that are suffering and are full of scars.

Not to say that Jesus exists, but to say that suffering exists. Other people exist. Other people matter. Oh, my gosh, you’re saying that’s so close to black lives matter. Other people matter. Not just what I feel and think and experience and know. ICE isn’t coming to Carson City. We’re fine. Been told that. Really? We’re all out there with Thomas. There’s places I don’t want to go. Oh, my gosh. I can’t think of any. One thing I think about right now is telling my daughter how to parent. Oh, man. Don’t want to go in there. That’s awful. That’s a dangerous place. But, you know, I know about her pain and her suffering. I see it. Trying to navigate a 10-year-old that, not really, that she suddenly got. Not from her significant others.

I remember talking to a really gifted and competent church leader. And I asked him why he hadn’t been moderator in a presbytery, you know, a leader in the church. I forgot he was gay. At that time, gay people couldn’t have leadership in the church. I was kind of embarrassed. I was running around in my white cis male privilege everywhere, unaware of who was hiding in locked closets, looking at each other’s scars, telling tales of oppression and heartache that I just skip on by.

Thomas, you know, something, you know, he started out kind of denying and doubting, and we kind of make a little fun of him. But you know what? That guy went into the locked door. He went into the locked room. He risked his bias, he risked his belief, he risked that everything’s okay, and I’ve just got to live my good life and think good things will happen. He risked all that and went into that locked room because he believed the testimony of others. He did not just research, but a real search. He went to find the people that were hurting and were telling him things he didn’t believe and went where they were and checked it out and experienced it and found some scars.

So when people say, well, I’ve done your research, I’ve done my research, how about doing a real search? How about talking to some real people? I bet you whatever research you did you didn’t talk to one single real person that was affected by whatever you’re talking about. How about doing that? Next time someone says they’ve done their research or you do your research. Harder to do.

Just did a schedule for – I’m in the 12-Step group, and I did a schedule for our region, and I noticed how over the last five years we’ve pretty much moved to Zoom. I’m how thinking how much we lost that, you know, the time before, the time after. I think those are the times that we show each other our scars and our wounds. And we can touch them and say, yeah, you really got hurt. It’s real.

Apple TV series “Shrinking,” love it. It’s almost worth buying. You can get like a month free or something, you can just do them all, three seasons. It’s about some psychiatrists and counselors working away. The finale was there, I’m not going to spoil it all, but there was one. Harrison Ford’s in it. Harrison Ford’s fans, okay, cool, he’s very much so. So Harrison’s in there, and he’s the lead psychologist. And he’s talking to Jimmy, the other main character.

And Jimmy’s had some rough times through the series, really rough times with his wife dying, his father issues, his daughter, all sorts of relations. And Harrison Ford as Paul comes and tells him, meets him where he’s at and says,

Letting go of the past just means you don’t allow your scars to hold you back anymore

I’m covered in them Paul. 

Good. What a shame to be 42 years of age and not completely covered in scars. They are the evidence of a life fully lived.

That means you’ve been with people, that means you’ve reached out and you’ve loved people. That means you’ve been in relationships. 

And he had arranged that the relationship he was scared to continue was sitting right over there. And he says, “Your breakfast isn’t with me.” Okay. It’s a spoiler. “Your breakfast isn’t with me. It’s with her.” And he says, “Go make some more scars.”

Gee, Christy, that was really good. But it was kind of a downer. I mean, really, we usually have some ‘90s romcom, you know, to bring us a little up, you know. Well, guess what? Warning. The word “gay” is seen a lot in this clip. So much gay. So buckle up.

This would be a room without doubt. Be gay.

Clip from In & Out 
© 1997 Paramount Pictures Corporation

Locked Room

Mission In Advance

Mission in Advance

Mission in Advance

a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey & ChatGPT

From worship via Zoom for Lee Vining Presbyterian Church March 22, 2026

written with the help of ChatGPT

Luke 13:31-35

 Should Jesus Be More Careful? You know, sometimes I wonder if Jesus would last very long in a modern pulpit. I mean, really, what would happen if a pastor stood up on a Sunday morning and said something like, “Go tell that fox Herod…”? What would the emails look like on Monday morning? Would Jesus be accused of being too political? Would he be asked to “stick to the gospel” and leave the government out of it? Would he be told, “We come to church to feel uplifted, not to be reminded of what’s wrong with the world”? And yet here he is, in full view of his listeners, calling out a political leader, not behind closed doors, not with vague innuendo, but with metaphor and clarity: “Go and tell that fox…”

Jesue doesn’t flatter Herod. He doesn’t fear him. He names him. And in doing so, Jesus reminds us that the gospel is not an escape from public life, it’s a commitment to its transformation.

In Greek culture, the worst thing you could be called wasn’t a fool or a coward, it was an idiotes.That’s where we get our word idiot. But it didn’t mean unintelligent. It meant private, a person who withdrew from the concerns of the city, someone who refused to take part in the common good.

A user on Reddit, athstas, which is a modern day community helping others says:

During the Athenian Democracy, there were two major factions in the city, the democratic faction and the aristocratic faction. The aristocratic faction wanted to restore the previous aristocratic system of government so wanted to discourage participation of poor Athenians in the assemblies. The democratic faction wanted to encourage all citizens to take part in the government of the city. So the members of the democratic faction despised those citizens who only cared about their private (idiotic) affairs, and not about the public affairs. They considered those people stupid and dangerous for the democratic system of government because they were willingly giving up their political rights. So they word idiot (private citizen) took a bad meaning and through the Romans it spread to all of Europe.

But in modern Greek we use the word idiot with its original meaning, ie private An idiotes thought only of themselves, not the community.

So when Jesus speaks out, when he names Herod and keeps moving toward Jerusalem, he is not being rude, he is being faithful. He refuses to be an “idiot”, someone who checks out of public responsibility. Instead, he lives out the mission of the kingdom of God, a kingdom that reaches into every corner of human life: the sickbed, the street, the heart, and yes, the palace.

“Fear, Flattery… or Focus?”

When Jesus hears that Herod wants him dead, he doesn’t respond with fear, though who could blame him if he did? He doesn’t cave to flattery either, trying to win favor, smooth things over, or stay in the palace’s good graces.

Jesus chooses a third path. Let’s call it focus. Focus on the mission. Focus on the calling. Focus on the work of healing, freeing, gathering, and loving. “Tell that fox I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow…” In other words: I’m doing exactly what I came to do, and I’m not stopping now.

We live in a time where the threats may look different, but the temptation is the same. When power acts unjustly, when truth is twisted, when the vulnerable are mocked or scapegoated, we may be tempted to do one of two things: We might give up, turn inward, numb ourselves, walk away. Or we might give in, go along to get along, say nothing, let fear or comfort rule.

But what if we chose something better? What if, like Jesus, we chose to give them heaven? Not as a threat. Not as a weapon. But as a promise. Give the world a taste of the reign of God where mercy is stronger than cruelty, where truth is braver than silence, where hope walks forward, even toward Jerusalem. We don’t fight fire with fire. We don’t meet foxes with fang and claw. We meet them with focus, and faith, and the fierce love of Christ.

There’s a scene in the film Gandhi that speaks directly into this gospel moment.

It takes place not in Jerusalem but in India, under the shadow of colonial rule. Gandhi is walking with a Christian minister down a street, where danger is thick in the air. The minister begs him to turn back. “This is madness,” he says.

But Gandhi, calm and clear, keeps walking. He replies: “I’m not so helpless as you think. I have friends and the whole world is watching.” And then, quietly, bravely, he walks forward.

That moment mirrors Jesus in Luke 13. He, too, receives a warning: “Get away! Herod wants to kill you!” But Jesus doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t flee. He says: “Go tell that fox I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow… and on the third day I finish my work.”

He chooses neither fear nor flattery. He chooses focus. Focus on the mission. On the healing. On the truth. On the love that drives him forward.

This is not just a model for courage; it’s a model for discipleship. Because Herods are still with us. In every generation, there are those who use fear to cling to power, in government, in business, even in faith communities. You don’t have to name names for people to know who you’re talking about.

And when fear starts to rise in us, when the threats grow louder or the pressure to flatter becomes stronger, our instincts may urge us to either give up(fear) or give in(flattery). But the gospel gives us another way.

The gospel does not teach us to cower. It teaches us to walk forward. To stay focused. To give the world not what it demands, but what it needs. Not more outrage. Not more retreat. But heaven. The reign of God, step by step.

Even the urgent advice of well-meaning people, “Run away, Jesus! Herod wants to kill you!”, is gently turned on its head. Jesus doesn’t run from danger. He runs toward the heart of it. Toward Jerusalem, the very place where Herod holds power.

But Jesus doesn’t go to fight. He goes to love. He goes because the mission compels him. Because the people, even the ones unwilling to receive him, are still his to bless. Like a mother hen gathering her chicks, he longs to draw them in, even if they scatter. This is not recklessness. This is divine compassion with a spine.

So we walk, too, not away from the world’s brokenness, but toward it. With open hands. With brave hearts. With heaven in our stride. For there is Room for all of us.

Let us not give up or give in. Let us give them heaven. Let us move with focus, with love, and with the fierce tenderness of the Christ who still walks toward every Jerusalem, longing to gather us all in.

Lee Vining Presbyterian Zoom Worship March 22, 2026

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Welcome

Helpers to read 1) responses in Call to Worship, 2) Prayer of Confession

Call to Worship 

Christy and an unmuted person on Zoom will alternate reading.

Christy: The Lord is our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear?
Person: The Lord is the stronghold of our lives; of whom shall we be afraid?
 

Christy: Christ calls us forward, even when the path leads through risk and sorrow.
Person: We will follow, not in fear, but in faith.  

Christy: Come, People of God—gather beneath the wings of mercy.
Person: We come to worship the One who goes before us in love.

 SONG  O Lord Hear My Prayer

Prayer of Confession:

Person – Merciful God, We confess that we often obey in fear rather than walk in faith. We let threats turn us inward, and we let worry silence your calling. We flee from risk instead of moving toward your mission of justice and peace. Forgive us for the ways we resist your grace. Gather us again under your wings, and teach us to mission in advance—to heal, to speak, to follow—even when the path is hard. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon:

Hear the good news: God does not abandon us to fear, nor condemn us for faltering. Christ gathers us in love, forgives us in mercy, and sets us again on the path of peace. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God! Amen.

Sharing Joys and Concerns with Prayer
and The Lord’s Prayer (together while on mute)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Offering – Doxology  For phone giving, use the QR code.

or go to https://77da2f07.churchtrac.com/give

A Reading From The Greek Scriptures:  Luke 13:31-35

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁵See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Message: Mission in Advance

Give them Heaven There is Room for All of Us

SONG  Here I Am

Charge

Go out into the world with love for the mission of God.

Do not be ruled by fear, but be led by faith.

Speak the truth, offer healing, seek justice—

and walk toward God’s vision, even when the path leads through challenge.

For Christ goes before you, and the Spirit goes with you.

Benediction

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you now and always. Amen.

 

- Liturgy made with ChatGPT

Service Orginally planned for March 2025

Christmas 2025

Carey Christmas and Happy Neat YearClick for PDF

May your life be full of the care of others and your 2026 be neat—without ICE.

We are grateful for diverse gifts, undeserved grace, and open hearts of all people. 

Photos in our PDF of our Christmas Letter.