The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - August 10, 2025

Summary

Mother Suzanne preaches on Jesus's words "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," emphasizing that God desires to shower us with good things and the kingdom itself. She calls the congregation to live in readiness and awareness for God's presence, finding ourselves through giving ourselves away in service and community. Through the example of Grace church's community impact, she demonstrates how kingdom work transforms both those who serve and those who are served.

THE GOSPEL                                                                                                                                              Luke 12:32-40

Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

Artwork: The Light of the World, by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910)

Transcript

Mother Suzanne:

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, on those who wait upon his love. In the name of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Well, this first sentence in this morning's gospel, this is when Jesus tells his disciples and reminds us of something that I think we all need to hear more of. Which I think the poet, Mary Oliver, says succinctly and well. Pay attention. Be astonished and believe and then tell others.

God wants to give you the kingdom. God wants to give you all good things. God just doesn't want to give us a few measly little things. God doesn't just hope we do all right. God isn't just sitting around waiting for us to earn his favor. Rather, God wants to give us the kingdom and all good things. In fact, Jesus says, "It's your Father's good pleasure." Meaning God receives pleasure? Yes. God really, really wants to give us the kingdom and all the good things that come with that. And he does so with pleasure, joy, and love. And who does he do this for? For you, for me, and for the entire world.

And as for being on the lookout for the coming kingdom, what exactly does that mean? Well, this in some measure, I think, is what he's talking about and that Jesus doesn't want us to miss when God comes in ways that might surprise us. In generosity, instead of always accumulating, in community, instead of looking only out for ourselves, in vulnerarability and relationship rather than always doing it on our own. My friends, it is so easy to miss the God who comes in love and in grace when all we expect is law and punishment. And then there are the beautiful ways where God's presence is so very clear, where there's no surprise per se, when it's really obvious because the spirit is moving and it's palpable, where it is so clearly evident that God is among us. What our gospel teaches us this morning is to be ready.

Living our lives in such a way as to whether or not God surprises or where God is clearly present, we are ready.

Making better the space we occupy by doing what God has asked of us, which I tell you guys, and I tell myself over and over, which is loving him and loving our neighbors. Jesus teaches this so much, this idea of what it means to be ready. And in this passage this morning, I love the phrasing he uses. He addresses us as his little flock. So tender, so sweet, almost like a parent talking to their own children. It seems as though Jesus in his tender and parental way, he wants to underscore this notion of being prepared, not twiddling our thumbs in a state of limbo or putting off till tomorrow what can be done today, but to live in a state of awareness and intention because his desire is for all of us to enter in and be part of his kingdom on earth, creating, sustaining, healing, reconciling to one another and to him.

We live in a world where there are so many things clamoring for our attention that it's so, so easy to lose focus. It is in this text from Luke. Jesus is calling us to priororitize what we do to be more eternal life centered. It is a call to center or recenter our lives on God, to look up every once in a while, to pause and look up. Such a call might seem really hard most days, but y'all, I am telling you it is essential to what it means to be a Christian. We have to do it.

And if we don't, as Jesus goes on to suggest, we will be caught unprepared. And truthfully, we will miss out on opportunities and or blessings which God wants nothing more than to shower upon us. Some of them so basic, we just take them for granted. I know I do. Our very breath, rua, which is God breathing in and us breathing him out into this world that desperately needs it. Because we have Jesus' promise that it is God's good pleasure and heart's desire to give us all good things. What this does is that it frees us up.

It frees us up to give away things, thoughts, and possessions that we don't need. It frees us up to care for others. It frees us up to lose ourselves in service to another, and it frees us up to find our security and confidence, not in what we own or have or possess, or those accomplishments we love to talk about, but it frees us up for a relationship with our creator. I've said this before, and I have found it to be true in my life and experience. It's paradoxical. It's not intuitive, but it is true. And it is this. As we give ourselves away in relationship and in service, we find ourselves.

We find a deeper sense of who we are or imagined. And when we do, we experience healing. And instead of wanting someone to make our lives better, make me feel better, please. That's your job. We look for ways to make others better. We gravitate to those places that promote this kind of healing and reconciliation, maybe this sacred space. We find ourselves coming to again and again. And in these sweet spaces, like our beloved grace, we find that we are better because we're a part of it. And when we're not here, we miss it. And suddenly, we find that when we are a part of this, we are no longer a part of the problem. If that makes any sense at all.

We are born for community. It's God given. And when in community, we find a sense of ourselves. We find meaning, we find purpose, and we trust God's promises, and we give ourselves away in love. And ultimately, we are healed. We are better because we have accepted those good things, little flock. God truly wants to give us. This week, I was talking with a grace parishioner, and she was speaking about what this one block in Alvin, Texas, with grace at the center meant to her. And she said one word, which surprised me. She said, "Community, Mother Suzanne." And then she went on to say, how yes, we are a church. We are a church, but we are so much more.

We are community because we have chosen one another and in this space, we meet our creator through shared ministry, worship, and fellowship, and we are healed, and we are made healthier for God's kingdom work. And she mentioned how so many in our community step onto our campus who never darken the inside of this church, but in some mysterious way, they are still receiving healing. I asked her why, and she simply said, "Because they are seen, they are acknowledged, their names are spoken, and then as Jesus did, they are given the help they need." The ripple effect of saying yes rather than no, and believing God will use us for his kingdom work, y'all has transformed this community and has made grace a beacon for this city.

This is what it means when Jesus says, "Do not be afraid, little flock." To bravely do for others to see a need and then find a way to meet it. It's kingdom work on earth. It's here. It's when that veil is parted just a bit where we catch a glimpse of heaven and this, my friends, is what God is inviting us into. In fact, as our scripture says this morning, it is pure pleasure for God to offer it to us. And this, my friends, is what we have been invited into, what we can then go into the world and do never believing we could, including living into the abundance of God, trusting that there will be enough because when we do, this is when the church is at her best. This is what it means to experience eternal life here on earth. And this is why Jesus tells us, "Do not be afraid, little flock.

Do not be afraid." Amen.