Do you ever wonder if God really cares about the details of your everyday life?
Everyday Faith: Seeing God in the Small Stuff ~ February Theme
Message for Feb. 2, 2025 on John 15:9-13; 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 given at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas
Sometimes at the end of my prayers or even when I am putting on my makeup in the morning, I listen to an online meditation.
One of them concludes by asking me to call to mind time when I felt loved. The meditation says not just to remember the moment mentally, but to feel and experience that love again, feeling the happy, happy, joy, joy that being loved by another person evokes. What a great way to start the day!
Many of us think of February as the month of love. As soon as the Christmas decorations came down, the hearts went up. Valentine’s Day is less than 2 weeks away, and I have been seeing the “best gifts lists” for a couple weeks now–even for “galentines” “palentines” “puppytines” “parentines” “gran & gramptines” as well as, you know, your Valentine if you have one.
We have barely recovered from Christmas and the consumer culture is happy to make up relationships it never occurred to you, to buy a Valentine for. And TikTok and Reels will show you how to wrap it to perfection. And I hope your manicure or your man-hands look as good as theirs, too.
At this time of year we think love requires a grand gesture–the nicest jewelry, the biggest flower bouquet, the best restaurant–expressions of love need to be loud and proud and instagram-worthy. Now, I have nothing against grand gestures once in a while. I love a bouquet of flowers as much as the next person. But I also think that we can put so much emphasis on the big stuff, that we miss how much love shows up in the small stuff, in the daily details of life—so much so that we wonder if God even cares about the daily details of our life–or is even present in them. Does God really care or even show up in the struggle and details of our daily life?
In our Gospel reading, Jesus says, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Abide in my love. What a great word, abide. We don’t really use it in everyday language much, which makes it even better.
Jesus means remaining, staying in, continuing in a stable, fixed, constant, on-going state of love. It describes what Jesus means when he says, I am the vine and you are the branches. The branches remain eternally, always, continually connected to the vine from which it receives all it needs.
So, we are eternally, always, continually connected to God’s love through Jesus: Jesus abides in God, God abides in Jesus, Jesus abides in us, we abide in Jesus, God abides in us––it's a big, happy circle; a never ending, continuous, constant sharing of God’s love!
Does God care about the details of our life? How can God not? He’s perpetually in the circle of them–with love! Of course–God is naturally, necessarily, constitutionally, bodily, spiritually, part and parcel of our everyday lives–God’ love is abiding in them right down to the details with us. This is why First Corinthians says, Love never ends…
God doesn’t think–whoa, hold on, Linda’s shifting from prayer to email to calendar-checking, so, uh that’s nothing to do with with ME or with Love, so I’m out. I’ll check in later if she starts consciously praying again.
No! It’s abiding, constant love, a fixed stable, continuous state of being. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these, is love.
The question is not is God’s love present, is Jesus interested, do we matter, is there hope and help for the daily stuff of life? The question is, are we noticing? Are we paying attention?
Are we asking for help when it’s needed trusting love is there? Are we seeing love when it shows up, trusting it’s always available? Are we naming love and help as sacred, and as signs of God’s presence when we receive it– ?
Or do we say, “that was lucky, that was nice, what a coincidence…” and move on as if God’s love does not abide with us, in us, and in all things through Christ?
We like to get mad at God when things don’t go our way, when life is hard in this fallen world, but do we notice God, thank God, recognize Jesus in all the small ways God’s love shows up for us everyday?
Of course God is in the details–it’s the very reason Jesus became human to begin with.
At the end of that guided meditation I mentioned at the beginning, I often think of my wedding day because so many people came together. Many relatives, who I can still see sitting in the church and in the little parsonage where we lived, are no longer with us, and it’s good to feel their love again. And then my memory goes to a Christmas Day in St. Louis when I opened gifts from all three kids. Dan had taken Daniel to frame a piece of art he made; Dan helped Leah put together a booklet of poems she wrote that year in 5th grade, and he had Jacob write his own poetic masterpiece describing his mom.
I felt so very loved by these personal, homemade gifts and the effort Dan put in. With tears streaming down my face, my whole chest was full of warmth and light, and then it just filled my whole being.
I wonder what moment your mind wanders to, when asking this question. When was a time when you felt loved? When you felt noticed, valued, appreciated, deeply loved?
Let’s not just remember that moment, but feel and experience that love again, not just in your mind, but throughout your whole being, experiencing the happy, happy, joy, joy that love made you feel….
Maybe you thought of a big event or holiday like I did. And you might think that these moments were not the small moments–they were days of grand gestures—a wedding and Christmas. But the moments I felt loved were still the small ones–relatives and friends showing up, homemade bread for Holy Communion from Dan’s grandmother who couldn’t come to the wedding, brunch at the house on Sunday morning, homemade gifts with our kids reading poems and sharing art. And maybe recognizing love in the big events helps train our eyes to see Jesus’ love abiding in us and for us in the small stuff, too.
Feeling deeply loved and the happy, happy, joy, joy from a special memory may help open your eyes to other moments recently. Maybe now you see God’s love in plain sight:
- showing up in your child or grandchild’s teacher, or another parent;
In the person who called just to see how you were
In a card you received in the mail
In the cheer of the service you received at a restaurant,
the energy of a barista,
all the drivers who did NOT cut you off this week
in a tidbit of wisdom from a kid
How many instances of kindness and patience have you experienced lately? Have you experienced someone forgiving your foibles, bearing your shortcomings, believing in you, hoping for you?
All of this is sacred love as Corinthians describes it. Can you see the shimmering of God’s love in, with, and underneath all of these kinds of moments?
Yesterday, I thanked my best friend for being a sign of God’s love for me over the phone, and also my sister, Julie, as we talked about the 13th Anniversary of our Mom’s death.
Last Thursday night I drove to the Dallas Area Interfaith Meeting south of downtown, almost near the Zoo. I was tired, it was dark, traffic was still heavy, and I was going somewhere I had never been. When I arrived, members of the Golden Gate Missionary Baptist church directed us to parking, showed us where to sign in, and when I finally got inside the sanctuary, I saw a friendly face–Pr. Cathy Sweeny from Arapaho United Methodist. When I left a few minutes early, one of the parking attendants walked me to my car, and I got home safely. Every moment of the evening, I felt God’s love taking care of me.
We often think of love as something we do for others, and certainly, you all do this so very well. This month of love, I invite you to notice, and therefore to receive and experience the love of God that is abiding with you, and is continually showing up for you in plain sight—–in the small stuff–--in strangers, in children and what they say and do, in other people who spend their life and work serving, in arriving at your destination safely, in a loved one who offers a small gesture, whether a hug, a hot meal, a kind word.
Keep track, write it down at the end of the day–make a Love Abides List or God in the Small Stuff Jar, or better yet, use the God in the Small Stuff Bingo Card this month! Get 2 Bingos and turn it in by the end of the month and I’ll take you to lunch to hear your stories (if we have bunches of them we’ll do a drawing!).
We are always abiding in God’s love–Jesus says it is so his joy might be in us and our joy might be made complete. He wants us to experience happy happy joy joy!—
Jesus abides in us to experience this joy not just in big events and gestures, but every day–in small ways that shimmer and show God’s love.
So be on the lookout for signs of love, trusting that God’s abiding presence is definitely in the details of our every day.
Newsletter Message on Luke 4: 16-21 for January 30, 2025, St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas
In the Luke's Gospel reading last Sunday (we had a guest preacher), Jesus began his mission with these words, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor....Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'
It is from this inaugural sermon that St. Luke's gets it tagline: where spirits come alive! Jesus fulfills his prophetic mission of liberation through the power of the Spirit upon him; the same is true for us. Jesus and we who follow him, have a clear mission of freedom, compassion, and mercy for those at the margins. Regardless of one's political persuasion, as an inclusive, Reconciling-in-Christ congregation, this includes our LGBTQIA+ siblings, who have experienced fear and rejection since our new President announced they would recognize "only two genders," banned transgender persons from serving in the military, removed LGBTQIA+ resources from government websites, among other actions.
We stand with Episcopal Bishop Budde who practiced the biblical prophetic tradition of calling our leaders to exercise mercy and compassion for those who are vulnerable and at the margins, including LGBTQIA+ children and immigrants. Our country is stronger when all diverse citizens are recognized and empowered. This also underscores the importance of the separation of church and state defined in the First Amendment: we do not look to the government to establish or promote religious views or practice, and all people are free to exercise their right to religious expression.
At St. Luke's, this free religious expression necessarily includes the prophetic mission of diversity, inclusion, justice, racial equity, and working against oppression in all its forms. This is love in action and according to Scripture, it is the way of Jesus.
Message for Epiphany 3 on John 2:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 on January 19, 2025 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas
Sometimes it’s hard not to “buy-in” to a scarcity mentality—this idea that there’s never enough, and there’s never going to be enough. Enough of what you might ask? Well, whatever you’re worrying about at this moment! What are you afraid of not having enough of? Maybe it’s that you don’t have enough health; or that there’s never enough time to do what really matters. Perhaps you’re concerned about having enough rights and freedoms in the future; maybe you’re afraid of not having enough money, especially after the holidays.
I was bumming about the money anxiety recently—not from Christmas shopping or even inflation, but more from big expenses. After paying for our part of Daniel’s wedding in October, we bought our daughter, Leah, a new car (she’s still a new teacher with no money yet); only to find out a week or two later, that my car also needs to be replaced. Why do two family cars have to break down within a couple months of a wedding?
Anxiety about not having enough is nothing new. We hear it even in the Bible at the celebration of joy and love at a wedding. Did you know that the biggest underlying anxiety at weddings is not about having enough food and drink or fun? It’s about not having enough love! Is there enough love for me when my son or daughter marries? Will my best friend still love me and need me? Will the guys still have poker night?
Everyone hopes there won’t be a blow-up, but can’t figure out why. All the anxiety about is there enough love for me floats right under the surface, just waiting for Aunt Edna, or Uncle Ernie to say wrong thing. Which is why Mary, Jesus’ mother, knows things will all go much better if there is not a real scarcity of wine—keep the social conversations and relationships running smoothly, so people feel good, so everyone remains connected, so family members understand that in building community and networks with one another, everyone will all somehow get what they need.
This is Jesus’ first miracle in John’s story—revealing that at this point, his Mom is still smarter than he is! Jesus tries to shirk off that wine running out at a community wedding celebration has anything to do with him. But something in the urgency of his mother’s voice catches his attention. Jesus knows that the fear of not having enough and the anxiety it brings, drains trust and hinders faith, it breaks down relationships and community. Bringing in God’s abundance absolutely does have something to do with him.
So, Jesus takes up the cause, and enlists the help of the servants and the wine steward—it really is a communal miracle. Jesus can’t do it by himself. The servants fill the stone jars with water. Jesus turns the water into wine. A servant brings a taste to the wine steward who then speaks to the bridegroom. Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.
They not only have a great wine—they have 6 stone jars of it, filled with about 30 gallons each –that’s 900 more glasses of wine! Talk about abundance! It’s an embarrassment of riches! That’s an abundance of joy, an overflowing of goodness, an extravagance of on-going blessing, that will last for weeks! If Jesus can do this with water, how much more can Jesus multiply love,
• expand faith,
• grow our resources,
• how much more can Jesus offer healing,
• help us with our finances,
• how much more can Jesus use what we have to offer, which may as simple as water, or a willingness to serve, and multiply it for good.
Jesus he lived a very simple, owning few possessions, but everything he produced was abundant— 900 glasses of wine, thousands of loaves and fish from one lunch box, abundant forgiveness for those who were unforgiveable, like prostitutes, overflowing relationships with those who were not supposed to learn and lead, like women, an extravagant welcome for those who were enemies, like Samaritans, joyful community for the ostracized, like those possessed with demons, abundant opportunities for those who were traitors, like tax collectors.
All they had when they ran out of wine at the wedding at Cana was water. Somehow it was enough. All the servants had to offer was themselves and their willingness to work, their obedience to directions, their desire to serve. They offered what they had, and from these small gifts Jesus created a communal miracle of abundance—all out of a mother noticing, servants gathering water, stewards tasting, more servants pouring, and a community rejoicing in overflowing love!
As we commemorate The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we recall in one of his early speeches in 1957 in Montgomery, AL, Dr. King said this: Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others? This was a call to action, urging individuals to commit to the cause of justice and equality when the Civil Rights movement was transitioning from local protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott to a larger, coordinated national struggle that needed individual commitment.
Last night, Dan and I were at an event with Project Unity and we heard Martin Luther King, Jr. III speak, and he reminded us that his father believed that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. Serve your family, your neighbor, your block, serve one person. Life is not about winning awards or earning accolades, King wanted to be remembered and to impress upon us that life’s purpose and meaning is about serving others with whatever we have. That is where greatness lies.
Today, Jesus invites us not to look at what we lack, or what seems scarce, but instead, to focus on what we DO have. So, wherever you are feeling scarcity, I invite you to instead ask what you do have, to look at your assets, your abilities, your gifts, your resources. There are some suggestions in your Sermon Notes under the Invitation.
What health and abilities can you use, how can we be grateful for every day we are given, what can we do with the rights and freedoms we are privileged to have in this country that many around the world only dream about, what resources do we have that we can share or put on a gratitude list today? Sometimes we forget that we have all the time there is. Can we free some of it up by shifting our priorities to what gives us joy? Sometimes just changing the question moves us out of scarcity, into an abundance mindset that frees to serve in ways we had not seen before!
First Corinthians reminds us that we all have gifts and different ways of serving. God’ needs all of us, serving in some small way, for the good of all.
On Friday, Dan and I started looking for a car at Kia place and met with a salesman named Michael. Over our conversation, Michael found out we were both pastors and we found out he went to a Baptist church. He told us about his sister, Cassandra, who was always helping homeless people up in McKinney, so she finally set up a non-profit, His Unique Blessings Ministries.
Then Michael shared that recently on Next Door, he saw a post from a woman in Anna with 10 kids who lost her job, and needed food. He called up Cassandra, and they went to Costco after church, and loaded up on food. Cassandra called some of her other volunteers with her non-profit, and they all showed up at this mom’s house with other household supplies. Then the mom shared that her utilities were about to be cut off. And here is where water turned into wine. One of Cassandra’s volunteers that day works for the utility company. She got all the mom’s info and made sure her utility service continued!
Michael had some resources—a little extra money and a Costco card, but God showed up with so much more! I asked Michael’s permission to share this story today, and I was also able to talk with Cassandra over the phone. She has a FT job, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays, she cooks food for about 65 homeless people and takes it around McKinney—the library, certain underpasses, where the homeless gather. Here’s what she said, and I quote, we give them food and share the living Gospel with them—not by shoving it down their throat, but by sitting in the well with them. We listen, learn their story, and don’t judge them. We provide blankets, socks, toiletries, and meals. We don’t solve all their problems, but we try to meet some of their needs.
So, guess who’s not worried about buying another car? Guess who we’re buying a car from? We’ve got to buy it from Michael! He and his family respond to Dr. King’s question of what are you doing to serve others? by sharing what they have. Jesus uses their gifts and combines them with others into a communal miracle, making all of them great servants of Christ.
Jesus makes us all great by turning what ever we have to offer into gifts of overflowing love. This is why we are church together. Because Jesus takes our simple offerings and brings them together for a communal miracle of abundance that serves our community—with food ministries, with a radical welcome, with hope, with a place where God loves everybody.
Today we make our welcome even more visible and real by dedicating our All Are Welcome and You Are Loved murals that even light up at night. We pray these community messages multiply into many great miracles of love in the lives of people we haven’t even met, as we continue our mission to love, serve, and welcome all!
Message for Epiphany 2 on Isaiah 43:1-4a and Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 given on Sunday, January 12, 2025 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Richardson, Texas
No one knew in 1992 when they finalized the schedule of bible readings for every Sunday of of a 3-year cycle, that passages about fire would come up the same week devastating fires in Los Angeles would destroy lives and homes.
The passages about fire today are hard to hear. They are made more difficult if you have heard our more fundamentalist Christian siblings go so far as to say that the fires are God’s judgment on Californians—either for their politics, lifestyles, or lack of morality, and these fires are a call to repentance. I would paraphrase John 8:7 and say, Let the one who is without sin walk into the fire and brimstone first.
I have never met this angry God, and preaching it doesn’t recommend to seekers our life-saving faith in Jesus Christ.
That doesn’t mean that faith is always easy—I have been disciplined, corrected, even scolded by the Holy Spirit in prayer, but God does not traumatize us into relationship or repentance. It may be that traumatic experience moves us to seek spiritual renewal, but God is not sending fires to LA or snow and ice to Dallas to get us there.
Even without the intensifying effects of climate change, humans have always experienced earthquakes, drought, fires, severe storms, floods. The natural world has its own life and processes and the sooner we learn to live in harmony with it rather than dominating and exploiting all its resources, the less angry and judgmental God will seem.
So, why does John the Baptist seem to revel in this prophetic notion that when Jesus arrives on the scene, his Baptism will usher in a fiery ordeal—one of threshing, separating and burning with unquenchable fire?
John articulates the Old Testament tradition of fire as purification. Jesus’ very presence and his Baptism by the Holy Spirit will remove that which is not of God—but John is not referring to burning sinners who are worse than others.
Jesus comes to release impurities from each of us, like refining silver or gold. John wants us cleansed of those things that hinder, block, hide, or damage the image of God in us, so we can live in relationship with God, and therefore fulfill our purpose. John’s vision is fulfillment, healing, not destruction.
So, for all the fiery ordeal that John preaches, what really happens when Jesus does arrive?
After Jesus had been baptized and while he was praying….the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.
Wait a minute—John predicted fire—but there isn’t any—the Holy Spirit could have come as a fiery Phoenix—or tongues of fire as it did later at Pentecost—
but no, how does this Holy Spirit come? A dove. A bird of peace, a bird of new life.
Then God’s voice also comes from heaven—but is it a voice of judgment as John predicts? No again. God’s voice instead announces, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.
There’s no threshing floor. There’s no burning chaff. There’s no vision of hell or eternal punishment. There’s not even any judgment—coming from God or Jeus. There’s only God’s voice of affirmation: You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.
Even with no fire, God’s words melt away isolation, self-hatred, pride—all the chaff that gets in the way of our deepening our relationship with God.
I wonder, as you hear this, what is one of the things that gets in the way you deepening your relationship with God? What can ask Jesus to release from you, right now, so you can be closer to him? Is it that you don’t think you are worthy, or important enough, or you feel guilty about something? Is it the demands in your life? Or that you do not know how? If Jesus took away one barrier for you, what do want it to be?
God says, You are my son, you are my daughter, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. There is no barrier for God, so in this moment, we ask Jesus to take away the barrier, the chaff that you feel, so you can hear that you are God’s child, beloved, claimed and called to a purpose.
Christian author, Dr. Diana Butler Bass, writes that with this baptism three things are revealed and given to us that deepen our relationship with God:
• our true self,
• the central meaning of our existence, and
• a holy welcome.
• That is, we are given: Identity, love, and acceptance.
There is no fire here, only the warmth of a God who is burning with love to embrace us in Jesus Christ who came to be sure we receive all these gifts of God.
You are my Daughter, You are my Son, You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.
Far from judgement, in our Baptism and in our life God gives us the three most basic emotional needs we all share—which one do you need to hear the most today? Which one, when you accept it into your heart, will deepen your relationship with God and therefore enable you to live in your purpose?
• The gift of your true self—rooting your identity in being a child of God. God says, You are my daughter, you are my son.
• The central meaning of your existence and purpose—to love, and be loved –to be loved by God and to love others. God says, You are Beloved. I love you, I made you for love.
• A holy welcome—to experience full and complete acceptance by God and belonging to God. God says, with you I am well-pleased.
Identity, love, acceptance—there is no greater, fuller blessing of you and your divine purpose—with this blessing, you can do anything, be anything, succeed at anything, and God can use you in any circumstance for good. When our identity, love and acceptance are all rooted in God, held in trust eternally through Jesus Christ, there is no fear. Fear is an illusion!
As long as you know who you are and Whose you are, that our ultimate, only and primary mission is to be loved and to love, and that you are fully accepted and belong to God, anything is possible—extraordinary things are possible!
In fact, it is in the trials, fires, and storms of this fallen world that we discover who we really are. There are stories in every calamity of those who run toward disaster to help and to save. This is where we see God, where we witness the beloved children of God. In Los Angeles, perhaps you heard the God-sightings:
• The story of the man who attempted to save his block with his garden hose. He felt worse about his neighbor’s losses than his own, because of his great love for them.
• There were other neighbors who rescued pets.
• There were some who watered down their houses not just to protect their property, but the neighborhood behind their homes.
• There were still others who were evacuated from their own homes, but spent time feeding, serving, and comforting other evacuees.
• Yes, they eventually fled. But not before helping, and trying to do something for others whether friends, neighbors, and even strangers.
Children of God, beloved and accepted, who know our ultimate purpose is to love, run toward the fire first, to help, to serve, to save. We are God-bearers who are loving friends, self-sacrificing neighbors, courageous human beings. We are God’s children, all worthy of saving. We are beloved, cherished, accepted. And with us, God is pleased.
Trusting who we are in God is what blesses and shapes our mission and purpose as individuals and as a congregation in 2025. In our mission, we run toward those in need. We run toward the hungry, the homeless, the unknown future, because Christ is already there, saving us all!
We do this because our true self is deeply safe, loved, and accepted in the God who made us. Isaiah’s promise is eternally true—nothing can take us away or harm us in the heart of God in this life, or in the life to come.
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Because you are precious in my sight
and honored and I love you.
Amen.
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Linda Anderson-Little