Hi everyone,

Welcome to worship for this 7th Sunday after Pentecost, which lands on July 27th, 2025!

The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service, or just follow with the words on your screen. The bulletin also includes the full sermon manuscript that is available on this page as well, below the video.

To enhance your online worship experience, if feasible you may have a lit candle in your space for the duration of the service and can be extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable by having something small to eat and drink prepared for consumption. Further instruction will be given at the appropriate time.

May the hope in God’s character of grace and love fill you with joy and peace, this day and always!

Holy God, we are grateful for the gift of your Word, that feeds us, leads us, and gives us hope in your grace and mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

So I know what you’re thinking, “Hey, didn’t the new Fantastic Four movie came out this past week?  This no life loser probably already saw it and is going to tell us all about it in this sermon.”

Well, let me tell you something… I just happen to have a life.  Sure, it consists mostly of working, parenting my kids, and watching comic book movies… so I guess you’re not entirely wrong.  In that, I did see this movie and I do want to talk about it.  But not about the movie’s thrilling plot, it’s stellar acting, or mind-blowing plot twists, rather, I want to talk about the sentiment around what this movie represents and how it fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its legacy on the whole. 

I know, even after all this time I realise that some of you might not know what I’m talking about when I say the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Or you might not know the difference between an MCU movie, a Sony movie, or even a DC movie.  You might not even know what the heck a Fantastic Four is.  But all that really isn’t the point.  The point is that this movie that I just saw was one that needed to be made to prove that this whole franchise isn’t dead, because let me tell you, as big of a fan as I am, the last 5 or so years was iffy at best.  So this particular movie was one that people have been looking forward to since the rights were paid for to even be legally allowed to make it (long story).  This Fantastic Four movie was one that the fans have been asking for, demanding, and even deserve.

So this movie was made under a lot of pressure on its producers, it had a lot of expectation on how well it was done and how it could turn the entire franchise around, and they probably knew that it would be under a lot of fanboy scrutiny.

And you know what?  They delivered.

I mean it was a thoroughly enjoyable watch, a very entertaining movie, and they finally listened to the fans.  Or at least, that’s what the loudest fans would like you to believe.  That their incessant and unending cries and pleas for a quality superhero movie finally got the Marvel powers that be to actually up their game.  So they’d say that we have them, the fans, to thank for this quality movie.

Yeah right.

While all those involved with putting this movie together might have heard what the fans were saying, I’m pretty sure that their efforts were what they were regardless.  Sure, they may have missed the mark over the past 5 years or so, but that’s according to a certain perspective.  A widely shared perspective, sure, but still there are people out there who actually enjoyed them, some more than others.  So these movie producers were doing their best in spite of what people thought, what people said, and how their efforts were received.  They do their best not because the fans asked them to, but because it’s their job.  And while people might say it’s part of their job to please the masses, I don’t think it is ever in their job description to cater only to the masses.  They do what they’re trained to do, whether the fans like it or not.  It’s just lucky for us that we sometimes do like it.

And that’s indicative of society today, isn’t it, not just with movies and comic books?  I mean like everyone thinks that they know best and that gives them the right to tell others what to do.  Or at very least, they will complain about how things aren’t how they should be, you know, how they want them to be.  And if things actually work out?  Then the “I told you so’s” come out of the woodwork and perhaps attempt to take credit for it: credit for other people’s work, credit for ideas that aren’t theirs, credit even for what God is doing in the world.

That brings us to today’s readings.  I mean it’s not hard to see what I’m getting at here.  Our first reading has Abraham seemingly changing God’s mind about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.  In very meek and humble way, Abraham pleads with God to spare the twin cities for the sake of a handful of righteous people, likely his nephew Lot and his family.  So, thanks for looking out, Abraham, because he succeeds.  Well, succeeds at least in changing God’s mind on when to spare the cities, buuut they were destroyed anyway.

And the gospel lesson is of course about prayer, about asking God for stuff, and even being persistent in our asking even when the answer has already been definitively given.  I mean Jesus gives that example of the guy asking his neighbour for bread in the middle of the night.  The neighbour says no, of course, but Jesus says to just keep asking.  Be loud and obnoxious.  And then out of exasperation they’ll give you what you want.

So these scriptures seem to reinforce what the world tells us about the squeaky wheel getting the grease, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and you don’t get what you don’t ask for.  I mean that is almost literally what we’re told today, “seek and you’ll find, ask and you’ll receive, knock and the door will be opened.” 

Then that settles it, I guess?  Everything you good you get is on you, it’s because you looked for it, you asked for it, you didn’t take no for an answer.  Which also means that everything you don’t get is on you as well, that you didn’t look hard enough, you didn’t ask hard enough, or maybe your faith wasn’t strong enough.

I mean, isn’t that what they tell us?  Isn’t that what we learn in the bible?  Isn’t that what Jesus is saying in this exact passage?

It really seems like it, doesn’t it?  But deep down, it just doesn’t feel right.  In our heart of hearts, we know that we can’t control God with our whims as much as we want to or subconsciously believe.  I think Jesus’ actually lesson here is that God doesn’t give us good because we’re good.

Rather, God gives us good, because God is good.

And in there lies our hope.  That our being welcomed, included, and redeemed has really nothing to do with how we act, how we think things should be run, or even how we pray.  Rather it is by God’s grace that we are loved, forgiven, and saved.

So then if that’s the case, what is the point of prayer?  If God is going to do what God is going to do, why do we even need to bother praying at all?  What does Jesus even mean here about being persistent if it isn’t asking over and over for what we want? 

Well, I think that prayer isn’t so much for God’s mind to change to give us what we want, but it’s more for our mind to change and learn to accept what God gives and to see the good in it.  This isn’t to say that there is good in everything we get, but rather it is to help us in our mindset, our paradigms, our views of God’s work in the world.  While I don’t think we should attribute everything to God, good or bad, I do think we can learn to see how God is present in every situation.  We can better trust and recognise how God is with us through thick and thin.  Our faith can be increased to believe that God does work all things together for the good and we can learn to be on board with how God is moving, what God is doing, and who God is redeeming through Jesus Christ.  And it is through and by prayer that we can be strengthened for this in us and in our communities.

I know life can be full of ups and downs, full of good and bad, full of things we like and don’t like.  But I firmly believe that God continues to be with us whether we see it or not.  God continues to love us and forgive us whether we feel or acknowledge it or not.  God continues to give us good things whether we agree they are good or not.  And prayer is our way of discerning all of that.  Prayer is a gift that allows and strengthens us to name the character of God acting and working in our lives.  Prayer empowers us to better know God, see God, and feel God’s love in and through us and those around us, joining us all together as the one body of Christ: welcomed, forgiven, and saved.

So in this season after Pentecost, may we continue looking for God’s hand at work, hearing God’s voice calling and leading us, and centering our lives in prayer.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.