Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 16th Sunday after Pentecost, landing on September 28, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. In it you can find the order and words of worship, as well as the full sermon manuscript. You can use the bulletin to follow along with the service, or the words you need to know will show up on your screen. And the sermon is also on this page under the video.
To enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space for most of the service, and it 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 the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.
May God’s impartial love shower you with joy and peace, this day and always!
God of love, send your Spirit to us this day, that we might see you, hear you, and feel you present in our lives and hearts, through your Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A couple months ago there was this trend going around social media that you might have seen or heard about, but had two parents sitting with their toddler child, each behind their own individual plate that was covered with something so you can’t see its contents. One of the parents would first uncover their plate to reveal whatever surprise was hidden underneath, usually a treat that the kid liked, like a cookie or piece of candy or whatever. Just no rice cakes, cough medicine, or copies of my sermons anything. Then it would be the kid’s turn to uncover their plate, and lo and behold they would have two of that same treat that the first parent got. And then the last parent would go and discover that their plate was very empty. Wah wah waaah.
Of course, all of it was a set up. The point was to see how the toddler would react to the unfair treat distribution. Most of the videos I saw had the kid instantly giving their extra treat to the parent that was without, often happily, sometimes reluctantly, and a few times with tears of injustice. But as you might imagine, there were some who were just like, “oof, sucks to be you” while munching on their newfound wealth, and there was even this one kid who took the treat away from the first parent and gave to the other. Truth be told, it wasn’t too difficult to get caught up in the hilarity of it all. I guess that’s why the idea for parents to even try this went viral, even at the risk of being disappointed in their own parenting.
Because throughout those two weeks or so that this trend was trending, the “right” answer was always clear: the kid is supposed to share out of their abundance, especially with their own parents. That’s what the viewer hopes they would do at least, it’s just the obvious good and ethical thing that anyone should do.
And so while not every parent I know recorded and posted this trend or even tried it, and again maybe for the best for some, I do think that they all at least talked to their kids about generosity and being helpful and gracious because of it. I mean, it’s not a bad lesson. It’s one that many if not all of us have learned at one point as well, whether intentionally by our parents and/or guardians, or just from life experience. It’s just what good people do, right? It’s just what we are called to do as humans, right? It’s of course what we’d do if ever presented with that situation, right?
Right?
If we’re honest, any of us who saw or are now hearing about for the first time these videos and shorts and their slightly varied outcomes, we probably would have related more to the generous kids. We might see our own morals of generosity and grace in them and think that they chose wisely, just as we would. We may have even had our faith in humanity slightly renewed, maybe proud that our legacy of decency actually is being passed down and will continue, because I tell ya I sometimes wonder about this upcoming generation…
At the same time, I’m not sure if any of us would openly admit that we’d relate more to the few kids who decided not to share, those that hoarded what was given to them seemingly by random, or even that one kid who took from the parent who had a treat to give to the other who didn’t. Ok, maybe the last one as a joke, because honestly it was pretty hilarious.
But you know what I mean, don’t you? We more often than not will see ourselves as right, more moral, and maybe even the example of what is good and bad. It’s just in our nature to see ourselves mostly as the protagonist of our stories. We’re on the winning team against what is wrong and evil in the world, we’re the generous kid who happily gives over the not as generous kid who keeps and hoards, we’re the humble and faithful Lazarus who will be found at the bosom of Abraham and for sure not the greedy and heartless rich man who will spend eternity getting what was coming to him.
But… is it actually that cut and dry? Really black and white? Could it be so clear cut and placed neatly in such a defined box?
While this parable has been used many times to serve as a roadmap for the afterlife, I wonder if its lesson is a bit more nuanced than that. I wonder if it goes deeper than just rich = bad and poor = good. I wonder if the point isn’t for us to relate to one or the other, but see how we embody both personalities, both positions, both paradigms of the world that is sometimes separated with the deep chasm of our stubbornness, our closed-mindedness, our inability to see, recognise, and admit that we could… maybe… possibly… perhaps be… wrong?
Maybe not wrong about giving a cookie to one of our parents, but could we be wrong about how our wealth should be distributed, about who “deserves” or doesn’t, about how God is telling us to act, what God is telling us to do, and even who God is telling us to love… or not love?
Well, this got pretty dark pretty fast.
The thing is, I see the world divided by this deep chasm of our own manufacturing. I see sides more defined than ever behind our gates, borders, and political or religious allegiances. I see our differing opinions becoming more divisive and destructive as they have been internally moralized and justified within these echo chambers that have been curated with AI-driven algorithmic precision. It’s become so hard for us to get over ourselves and see the other.
I mean, even with the rich man, in his torment and “finding out” stage, he cannot stop feeling superior to Lazarus as he tells him indirectly through Abraham how things should be, how he wants them to be, and what he deserves. Even after learning how the first is last and the last is first, the rich man continues to strive to be first.
And don’t we do that too? Don’t we work hard to be first in our morals, first in our faith, first in calling out those who need to shape up to be more like us? Whatever side we might think we’re on, that side has been more defined as just “not them.” So we’ve dug these chasms between the sides that puts them squarely over there and away from us, so far that we could never see them as the equals God created them to be.
Yes, equals. Equally human. Equally sinner but forgiven. Equally loved and saved by our God.
See, God takes this false hierarchy of our self-importance and self-righteousness and nails it to the cross. God enters into the deep chasm of our “othering” of others and builds a bridge to join us together. God sees our moralized opinions, polarized paradigms, and diverse divisiveness and abolishes them with forgiveness, mercy, and love. This is the promise given to us. This is the good news that we proclaim. This is who we are as sinners saved by an unending and steadfast grace.
In a couple of days we will be observing Truth and Reconciliation Day here in Canada. This day wasn’t intended for us to point fingers at who did what, who should be held liable and accountable, and who we can blame for this broken and messed up world. But this is a day that teaches us the truth of our human condition and the universal capacity for selfishness, greed, and internalizing the lies that we are told about ourselves and each other. This is a day that helps us to reconcile that with all people, within our own complexities, and with God, that we might be able to put down our weapons, our harsh accusations and insults, and our inability to admit our wrong, in order to be humbled to see how we are all welcomed, all cherished, and all carried across the chasm that separates and segregates us all.
My friends, we are more than just this or that, good or bad, equated to Lazarus or the rich man. Rather, we are a mixed bag of feelings, opinions, and worldviews. And there is joy in that diversity. There is hope in knowing that our differences can fill in our weaknesses and shortcomings. There is peace in the promise that we are restored, made whole, and saved by the power of the Resurrection.
So may we stop stepping over the people or parts of us at our gates that we don’t want to see or acknowledge. May we put down our raised backs of aggression disguised as defense. May recognise and dismiss the lies that we’re told about ourselves, others, and God. And may we be humbled by God’s grace, lifted up by God’s love, and healed by God’s truth and made whole by God’s reconciliation. All thanks and praise be to God. Amen.
