"The Good News Is...Protection and Care for the Vulnerable" (March 15, 2026 Sermon)

The simplest commands can be the hardest to hear: make room, share what you have, protect the overlooked, welcome the ones society treats as interruptions. We start with a prayer for open space in our hearts, then let Deuteronomy 24 and Matthew 19 press on the places where we still want to ask “How?” “When?” and “Where?” instead of simply listening and obeying.

We talk about what it means that Scripture ties faith to concrete practices of justice and generosity. Deuteronomy doesn’t offer vague kindness; it commands provisions for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, right inside the harvest system. Then Jesus does something just as disruptive: when children are brought to him, the disciples try to manage the moment, and Jesus refuses. The kingdom of heaven, we argue, shows up first around the vulnerable, not the invulnerable.

Along the way we lean on unexpected guides: Mr. Rogers’s gentle line, “You were a child once too,” a journalist’s encounter with Rogers that cracks open toughness, and even The Sound of Music as a warning about “neutrality” when we have privilege. We also name a present-day reality close to home: child hunger and food insecurity in Guilford County, food deserts, and the small systems that make it harder for families to get what they need. The question we keep returning to is simple and searching: what happens when remembering softens us enough to leave grain in the field, make room at the table, and refuse to look away?

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Transcript

Opening Prayer For Open Hearts

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Please pray with me. Holy One, sometimes the simplest of your commands are the hardest for us to hear. You say, love your enemy, turn the other cheek, care for the widow and the orphan. And we want to know how. When? Where? Today, as we turn to your word, open up space in us to simply hear your truth for what it is. Open up space in our hearts to dream new dreams, to imagine new realities, to draw closer to you and closer to love. With hope for a better tomorrow, we listen. We pray. Amen.

Scripture On Justice And Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:49

The first lesson today is from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 24, verses 17 through 22. You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice. You shall not take a widow's garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you should not go back to get it. It shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you and all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left. It shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left. It shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I am commanding you to do this. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

All right, friends, let's listen again for what God is saying to God's church using the words of Matthew chapter 19, verses 13 through 15. Then the children were being brought to Jesus in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them. But Jesus said, Let the children come to me, and do not stop them. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Mr. Rogers And A Hard Lesson

SPEAKER_01 3:18

You were a child once too. That's what Mr. Rogers said. That's what he wrote down once upon a time for the doctors. The doctors were ophthalmologists. An ophthalmologist is a doctor who takes care of the eyes. Sometimes ophthalmologists have to take care of the eyes of children. And some children get very scared because children know that their world disappears when their eyes close. And they can be afraid that the ophthalmologists will make their eyes close forever. The ophthalmologists did not want to scare children, so they asked Mr. Rogers for help. And Mr. Rogers agreed to write a chapter for a book the ophthalmologists were putting together, a chapter about what other ophthalmologists could do to calm the children who came into their offices. Because Mr. Rogers is such a busy man, however, he could not write the chapter himself. And he asked a woman who worked for him to write it instead. She worked very hard at writing the chapter until one day she showed what she had written to Mr. Rogers, who read it and crossed it all out, and wrote a sentence addressed directly to the doctors who would be reading it. You were a child once, too. And that's how the chapter began. My friend Tom wrote those words about his friend Fred back in 1998 for Esquire Magazine. You see, Tom had made a mistake, a mistake that he would later regret. He wrote an article about a very famous person, and in that article, he insinuated something very hurtful, something that wasn't his story to tell, and had got him into some trouble. Tom had developed a reputation for being a ruthless journalist. Ruthlessness is something someone does when they care more about themselves than others. And so, as he feared that his career had stalled because of his ruthlessness, his editor gave him a new assignment. He called him into his office and told him he wanted him to interview Fred Rogers. You mean Mr. Rogers? The kids show guy? Tom scoffed. Yes, his editor replied. We're doing an issue on heroes, and I want you to write a profile on him. And so the invulnerable journalist called up the Cardigan-Waring Presbyterian minister. Invulnerable is a word that means you feel like nothing can touch you, challenge you, or change you. And magical things happen when the invulnerable meet a person like Fred Rogers.

Jesus Centers The Vulnerable

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I wonder if the disciples felt invulnerable. Disciples is a word for people who want to follow Jesus. If I were his disciple, I would be tempted to feel invulnerable. How does one not feel that way when your teacher is a person who feeds thousands with table scraps, or resists Satan's seduction, or calms a tempest, or summons the very dead from their slumber? Hang around with stuff like that long enough and it goes to your head. Which is why, of course, when the children came to Jesus, they shooed them away. This is grown-up business, they tell them, with the sort of condescension little ones are all too familiar with. Condescension is a word for when grown-ups think that they know better. But Jesus bristles. He bristles because the disciples haven't been listening. Just a few days earlier, he had placed a child on his knee and reminded them that whoever welcomes such a child in his name welcomes him. And now they are telling children that this is grown-up business. This is, of course, a silly notion, because the kingdom of heaven is neither for grown-ups nor a business. The kingdom of heaven is first and foremost for the vulnerable. The kingdom is open to all, of course, but again and again and again, Jesus insists that it is the vulnerable, the overlooked, the little ones who are nearest its center. And this is good news for kids, especially those whom Jesus welcomed in today's passage. Being a kid back then was no easy thing. According to Michael Joseph Brown in his book, True to Our Native Land, 50% of children died before the age of five. They were the weakest members of society. They were fed last and received the smallest and least desirable portions of food. They were the first to suffer from famine, war, disease, and natural disasters. Many, some would say more than 70% would have lost one or more parents before reaching puberty. A minor, he goes on to say, had the same status as an enslaved person. It was not until adulthood that they would be considered a free person. End quote.

Child Hunger Close To Home

SPEAKER_01 9:26

And being a child here and now for many is a similar kind of struggle. My work with a simple gesture has made me more aware of the scandal of child hunger right here in Guildford County. Did you know that close to one in four children here is food insecure? In many parts of our county, families live in food deserts, far from a grocery store, dependent on public transportation just to buy food. And if you ride the bus in Greensboro, did you know that you're only allowed two bags? And if you carry a purse, that counts as one of the bags. Should not be this hard to feed a child. Let the little children come to me, Jesus said. You were a child once too, Fred Rogers said. Too often our nation's policies and priorities tell children and their families your hunger is not important. It is not urgent.

Neutrality, Privilege, And Softened Hearts

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I began this sermon with an anecdote from Mr. Rogers for a few reasons. First of all, this upcoming Friday, March 20th, would have been Mr. Rogers' 98th birthday, and as such, our denomination has designated this day in his honor, celebrating both his memory and his message of neighborliness, a word you've heard said in this room once or twice. Second, Fred Rogers was someone who had an innate gift for seeing the world through children's eyes, to remember what it was like to be a little kid navigating a very big world, to remember what it's like to be a kid who thinks that the preacher needs a flower today. And that's a spiritual gift we could all do more with these days. Last night, Trisha and I went to Tanger to go see the sound of music. It had been quite a while since I last saw the show or the movie, so I had forgotten much of it. And one of those parts that I had forgotten was just how funny Uncle Max is. He's Captain Von Trapp's friend and also a music agent and producer who is trying to get the Von Trapp family to perform at an upcoming music festival. But beneath Uncle Max's character's comic relief is a much more dangerous motive or dangerous thing. Time and time again throughout both the first and second act, Uncle Max tries to convince the captain to adopt a stance of neutrality at best, or tacit support at worst, of the German annexation of Austria. What's going to happen is going to happen, he tells Georg von Trapp at one point. Just make sure it doesn't happen to you. In other words, he implies that von Trapp has the power and the privilege to stay out of the mess and let the worst happen to others. Now I'm guessing you know how the rest of the story goes. His heart is hardened for a good reason. He is still devastated by the death of his wife, his children's mother, and the sound of music has been verboten from his home. But Maria and the children soften the captain's hardened heart. Together they bring melody and joy back to his life, and he learns again to see the world as his children do, and indeed perhaps even see himself the way his children do. And it is this softening that leads the invulnerable captain to open his eyes to how the fascists are preying on the vulnerability of those around him. And he refuses to be complicit. With the help of the nuns, he defies Berlin's invitation, i.e. command, to join the Navy of the Third Reich. You were once a slave in Egypt too, God says to the Israelites. You were a child once too, Fred Rogers says, to each of us, not just the ophthalmologists.

Remembering That Changes How We Live

SPEAKER_01 13:57

You see, the gospel is asking us to remember. Remember you were once a slave in Egypt. Remember that you were once a child too. Remember what fear feels like. Remember what hunger feels like. Remember what it is to need gentleness from a world that can be so hard. And then let that remembering soften you. Soften you enough to leave grain in the field, as Deuteronomy says. Soften you enough to make room for children, as Matthew says. Soften you enough to resist every voice that says, what's going to happen is going to happen. Just make sure it doesn't happen to you. No, not for those who follow Jesus. For those who follow Jesus, the vulnerable are not interruptions. They are where the kingdom shows up first. So let the little children come, let the stranger come, let the hungry come, and may they find in us not a closed hand or a hardened heart, but the welcome of Christ Himself. The name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us, God's children, say. Amen.