10 Pentecost/Year C – August 17, 2025
Track 2 Scriptures: Jeremiah 23:23-29; Psalm 82; Luke 12:49-56
Rev Julie Platson
Opening Prayer: (Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion)
God of Wisdom, we eagerly seek your presence in our lives and in the world. By your Spirit, speak your word to us, and give us your grace to recognize abundant signs of your care for us, so that we might be freed to act in the world with courage and abandon. Amen.
It's that time of year, when we are on the cusp of a new season…a time of year marked by the ending of summer, the beginning of school, the days have started to grow shorter, and hints of changes in the weather can be noticed all around us. We are on the cusp of moving from the flow of summer activities, in the community and in the church…that signal the season of Autumn (or fall) is just around the corner…
I talk about seasons quite often during my sermons throughout the year…the liturgical seasons we mark on the church calendar; the seasons of the year we mark as fall, winter, spring, and summer; the season of creation which we will observe in September; the seasons we all go through, throughout the various stages of our lives – seasons of joy and sorrow, seasons of uncertainty and seasons of times in our lives when we feel confident and assured of all that seems to be going according to our plans…
If there is one word I would use to capture the theme associated with all of these different seasons I’ve mentioned today…(which really doesn’t capture all of the them)…I would choose the word “CHANGE”.
And that word “change” can stir up a lot for us…it makes us squirm in our seats, it makes us uncomfortable, it makes us angry, it makes us fearful, it makes us long for what we’ve always known, and makes us worry about what’s to come.
But change can also makes us hopeful…in knowing that no matter all the changes we face throughout the different seasons of our lives, we are perpetually and eternally grounded in one season throughout the ages…and that is the “God-season”… as noted in the Message paraphrase…or in our insert version today…that calls it simply, the “present time”.
That’s part of the ending verses in today’s gospel when Jesus is pointing out to the disciples that they are really good at interpreting the signs of the weather changes, some of the obvious signs of things happening around them which aren’t hard to miss…. but they seem to have such difficulty paying attention to the present time, in which God is there, in the midst of all the changes, equipping them with all that they need to help each other to see and hear and sense God’s presence and care and guidance right now, in this place, in this uncertain season…
Why all this attention to changing seasons from me in today’s sermon?
Because most of you know, we are on the cusp of some pretty big changes later this fall, with the news that Loyd and I will be leaving St Peter’s and Sitka.
There will be changes for all of us…changes that will have to be made, that we would rather not make…There’s the potential for disagreements about what to change, and not to change…There will be worries about how or if certain things will continue…worries that distract us from the present time and the present gifts of the people among you…There will be differences of opinions and suggestions for the timeline in which you will be embarking on the unknown journey ahead.
Any changes that we are faced with, ones we know that are coming or those which inevitably come unexpectedly, have the potential to stir up our spirits and tongues in healthy and unhealthy ways…leading us to not always treat our neighbor with love and patience.
My hope and prayer, is that we recognize these moments right away, and turn to our neighbors quickly to forgive one another, and commit once again to supporting one another through all the changes.
Here's another thing: there is nothing we can do to speed up all the emotions that will come up for us when we are having to endure in the slow, slow work of discerning what all these changes in this “God-Season” are asking of us, at this time, and in this place.
But, what we can do is hold fast to the good news of God’s love and care for all of us, as made known to us in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, that proclaims this truth for us: no matter all the changes we face throughout the different seasons of our lives, we are perpetually and eternally grounded in one season throughout the ages…and that is the “God-season”…
God is with us…God has always been with us…God will be with us throughout the ages to come…
And know this: We at St Peter's are not alone in having to do the important and slow work of re-imagining and re-visioning what it means to be the church, here and now. Changes have been happening across the church wide body for generations…
We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…
(Hebrews 12:2)
Let us pray: (LEVS II) 71 – vs 3
In times like these we have a Savior,
In times like these we have an anchor;
I'm very sure, I'm very sure
Our anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
This Rock is Jesus, Yes He's the One,
This Rock is Jesus, the only One;
Be very sure, be very sure,
Our anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!