It’s Not Fair

“It’s Not Fair” – “Connecting with Jesus, One Another, and Others in the Unconditional Love of Our God (Together, in a Variety of Ways) – Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The gospel, the good news of liberation and freedom in Jesus, confronts our misunderstanding of Scripture, Christ, grace, and faith. If Christians more fully demonstrated the good news of the gospel that Scripture illumines, Christ exposes, grace captures, and faith embraces, might we know in mind, soul, and spirit God’s unconditional love and thus experience personal liberation and freedom in Jesus?

By placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, one knows they are loved by our God of unconditional love. God begins to make you a brand-new person, from the inside out. Listen to the words of Robert Farrar Capon,

You’re worried about permissiveness–about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it’s okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God’s forgiveness. …

While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn’t. He wasn’t afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He’s angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue–that music, dancing, and a fattened calf are, in effect, just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: “Cut that out! We’re not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he’s alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping.”[1]

Our misunderstanding of Scripture, Christ, grace, and faith is functionally demonstrated by saying “it’s not fair” and “it’s always and ever about her”.  We need to lean into God’s unconditional love which is about equality not the circumstance. Hope is the anticipation of the future as the fulfillment of God’s purposes.[2] The future is not yet, but hope requires that we believe it to be. The gospel confronts the absence of hope.

Scripture. Scripture tells the story of salvation and what salvation looks like.

Christ. Christians know that their salvation from despair, loneliness, and eternal separation from God is not accomplished through “stuff,” financial security, or merit. Only belief in Jesus Christ, the One who knows us the best and loves us the most, can save us from ourselves and all the false saviors. This is Luke’s message with the prodigal son: the Father’s love for the brokenness of the younger son is scandalous.

Grace. Christians know that they cannot take any credit for their salvation. Because of the scandalous grace of God, we are in God’s grasp and God will not let go. The gospel confronts our merit-based thinking. Belonging to God, our salvation, is based on the unmerited favor we receive from the One who created us, redeems us, and sustains us. Only belief in Jesus Christ, the One who knows us the best and loves us the most, can save us from ourselves and all the false saviors. We cannot take any credit for our salvation.

Faith. Christians know that there is never enough evidence to prove that Scripture tells the story of salvation; that only belief in Jesus Christ, the One who knows us the best and loves us the most, can save us from ourselves and all the false saviors. Our calling to God is not just one more thing on our “to do list.” You were created to become like Jesus and made to participate in God’s mission.[3]  The gospel confronts our disbelief. And we cannot take any credit for our salvation. Each of us must recognize the full sufficiency of faith.

The gospel confronts our misunderstanding of scripture, Christ, grace, and faith. Our conscience tells us these things. Peter J. Gomes former Plummer Professor of Christian Morality at Harvard Divinity School writes, “Conscience is that little bit of God implanted in us, that part of ourselves made in the image of God that tells us what we know to be true and good, to which, in our better moments, we aspire.”[4] In Christian terms, conscience is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.[5]

Let the gospel confront your brokenness, merit-based thinking, disbelief, and self-centeredness. Begin to experience the fullness of God’s love for you and your reconciliation with God in whom your identity is rooted. Be overtaken by prodigal loving.[6] Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, 30 March 2025 by

the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary at

Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

Copyright © 2025

Steven M. Marsh

All Rights Reserved.

[1]Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon and Three, Christianity Today, Vol. 30, No. 7.

[2]Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 133.

[3]Adapted from Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 320-322.

[4]Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 134.

[5]In the six paragraphs above, I was challenged by the thinking of Patricia K. Tull, David A. Davis, Leigh Campbell-Taylor, William Greenway, Richard F. Ward, D. Cameron Murchison, and Adam J. Copeland in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 76-78, 78-79, 80-82, 83-85, 85-86, 87-90, and 90-92.

[6]Adam J. Copeland in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume2, 92.

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Americans Love Big

“Americans Love Big“; Isaiah 55:1-9, Luke 13:1-9

“Connecting with Jesus, One Another, and Others in the Unconditional Love of Our God (Together, in a variety of ways)”

Robert Frost writes, “There’s nothing I’m afraid of like scared people.”[1] Will fear of “the other” escalate irrational behavior? The writer of Isaiah asks us to hold …two realities in paradoxical tension: “‘Come, thirsty one,’ and ‘My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts not your thoughts.’”[2] Isaiah 55:6 exhorts people to return to God, listen to and seek the Lord, while God still can be found. Let’s heed Isaiah’s word and address our striving after things that don’t matter and our wasteful use of resources.

Jesus was teaching the crowd on how to read the signs of the times. Pilate had no regard for human life. Jesus states that the Galileans killed by Pilate were no worse than other Galileans. He also notes that when the tower of Siloam fell on eighteen people and killed them, they were no guiltier than those who survived the tower’s crash. Death comes upon anyone at any time and for any reason. It behooves people to get right with God.

Jesus says in Luke 13:3, “…unless you repent, you will all perish…” Fear is often at the core of our deepest thoughts and aches of the human heart.[3] Repenting of our “fear” and trusting God’s promises are in order. The fig tree was a mature tree given the owner’s expectation that it should bear fruit. But for three years the tree regularly disappointed the owner. The vineyard worker is ordered to cut the tree down, but asks for one more year to nurture it. Judgment is held back. In our case, the repentant will survive, the unrepentant will not. Decisions have consequences.[4]

Love, not fear must lead. Martin Luther feared the peasants might rise up and take power from those who had it, because they could read the Bible he translated into German. White Christians in the American south feared the black slaves, because they had constructed a society based on it even though they knew slavery was incompatible with the Bible’s teaching. Those who supported national socialism in Germany lived in fear that they might never again control the destiny of their country if they didn’t persecute “the other.” For more than fifty years, Americans lived in fear of communism, because it appealed to the disaffected in American society and argued for the redistribution of wealth. The current fear gripping Americans is whether we see a new golden age forming or the demise of democracy. This fear is rooted in the notion of truth or untruth being the plumbline. Loving others in words and deeds will expose untruth.[5]

Fear does not generate good policy or good behavior. Love generates good policy and good behavior. I agree with Peter Gomes, former Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School when he writes, “Fear represents the absence of courage and a poverty of imagination.”[6] Receive God’s grace. Reconnect God’s history of loving with both the past and future. Be thankful. Embrace the giving presence of our loving, compassionate, and gracious God. Condemn hateful rhetoric. Participate in the saving work of our powerful God. Repent and bear fruit worthy of repentance. Live Grace’s mission: “…to make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” Perfect love casts out fear and we love Jesus. Let’s love big, friends. Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Third Sunday in Lent, 23 March 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary at

Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.

 

Copyright Ó 2025

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]From A Hundred Collars by Robert Frost.

[2]Kenyatta R. Gilbert in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 75.

[3]Idea gleaned from Michael B. Curry in in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, 93.

[4]In the three paragraphs above, I was challenged by the thinking of Patricia K. Tull, David A. Davis, J. Clinton McCann Jr., William Greenway, Richard F. Ward, Dennis E. Smith, and Adam J. Copeland in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 61-63, 63-65, 66-67, 68-70, 70-71, 72-74, and 74-75.

[5]The cited “fears” gleaned from Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 105-106.

[6]Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus,106.

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03-16-2025 Rev Steven Marsh – Disappointing Love Never!

“Connecting with Jesus, One Another, and Others in the Unconditional Love of Our God (Together, in a variety of ways)”

“Disappointing Love? Never!” – Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1 , Luke 13:31-35

Adolf Sannwald was a German national. He also graduated from Harvard Divinity School. Sannwald was killed while serving in the German army on the eastern front, in the campaign against Russia. Adolf Sannwald’s name appears on the wall of honor at Harvard. There is an asterisk by his name which reads “enemy casualty.” When Sannwald was a minister in the German Lutheran Church in the 1930’s, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sannwald preached against national socialism, which was the Nazi Party. He was arrested, drafted into the German army, and sent to the eastern front. Adolf Sannwald was not an “enemy casualty.” He was a follower of Jesus who was “sentenced to death” by the Nazi party for preaching the gospel of what Jesus would do. Sannwald asked himself the question, what would Jesus have me do?[1]

Abram believed God. Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17 are the core of the Abrahamic Promise. In chapter 15, God makes two of the four promises to Abram: to give him an heir from his own body and a land. They were added to Abram’s name being made great and Abram being a blessing to all people. Abram was old. He and Sarai were beyond the child bearing years. Yet, Abram believed God, because he asked the question, like Adolf Sannwald, “What would God have me do?”

Like Abram, we are called to believe against all odds. God made a covenant with Abram; a binding promise that would be and remain true, regardless of Abram’s behavior. The covenant God made with Abram was unilateral; a covenant between a stronger and weaker partner. A unilateral covenant was based on the idea that there was something the stronger could gain from the weaker partner. In Abram’s day, the stronger partner in a covenant was usually after water rights, land to graze his herds on, or something else that would benefit the stronger. In fact, the very end of the reading in Genesis 15 depicts God as the “fire pot” and “flaming torch.” God is “the one undertaking the obligation of the ritual”[2] on Abram’s behalf.

What is God going to get out of the covenant with Abram? God gets someone to bless. The borderlands between belief and unbelief are clear. God said in Genesis 15:1, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” The reward is not a prize that is earned. It is given to those who are willing to receive.

Abram’s faith mattered. Who is the object of Abram’s faith? It is God; the One who created the heavens and the earth. Abram was not called to believe in faith itself. Faith in faith is not faith. The only true object for faith is God.

We live in the borderlands of belief and unbelief. In order to ask the question Adolf Sannwald asked, “What would Jesus have me do?” our faith, like Abram’s, must rest upon the reliability of God, not upon the changing feelings of the human heart.

The text in Philippians reiterates the point that God is reliable. Paul urges the Philippians to live as if heaven is shaping their lives now. God’s love for us and God’s promise to us grounds our faith in God.

The text in Luke also drives the point home that God is reliable. In the text, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told him to leave Jerusalem since Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, wanted to kill him. Jesus replied quite directly, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish my work.” In Hellenistic thought, “the fox is regarded as clever, but sly and unprincipled.”[3] Jesus needed to suffer for the sake of human redemption. Jesus’ love for those whom he came to serve is clearly evident in these verses. Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is a call to repentance, not a statement of final judgment.[4]

What would Jesus have you do? Love God and others. You were created to become like Jesus and made to participate in God’s mission.[5]

We are not to be passive as we await God’s salvation.[6] There are enough resources in the world to take care of all 8.4 billion of the earth’s inhabitants. No one needs to be homeless. No one needs to be hungry. No one needs to be without clean water. Remember, when all appears to be coming unglued, God’s persevering love reconnects the pieces and you with God and others. Like Adolf Sannwald ask the question, “What would Jesus have me do?” Amen!

This sermon was preached on the Second Sunday in Lent, 16 March 2025 by the

Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary at

Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas 

Copyright Ó 2025

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 72.

[2]Adapted from Richard A. Puckett in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 55.

[3]Leslie J. Hoppe in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, 71.

[4]In the six paragraphs above, I was influenced by the writing of Rick Warren. In addition, I was challenged by the thinking of Carolyn J. Sharp, William Greenway, Barbara K. Lundblad, Anna B. Olson, Shively T. J. Smith, and James C. Howell in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 40-42, 42-44, 48-50, 50-51, 52-54, and 54-56.

[5]Adapted from Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 320-322.

[6]Idea gleaned from Leslie J. Hoppe in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, 73.

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03-09-2025 Rev Steven Marsh – Security and Refuge in God’s Love

“Security and Refuge in God’s Love” -“Connecting with Jesus, One Another, and Others in the Unconditional Love of Our God (Together, in a variety of ways)” Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13 

The liturgical season of Lent raises awareness of the role of sin in our lives as well as society and culture. Followers of Jesus must balance the awareness of sin with our God who is loving, compassionate, and our ultimate hope.[1] This balancing act is disturbing, since it beckons us to resist conforming to the living Word (Jesus) and the written Word (the Bible). However, the gospel calls us to a lifestyle of nonconformity. It begs us to “…persist in the disturbance until [we] get face to face with the Lord himself.”[2]

Janet and I have been supporting Plant with Purpose, a ministry committed to the reforesting of the Dominican Republic, for the past thirty-eight years. Another problem in the Dominican Republic is the high mortality rate of children. Hundreds of children die everyday due to malnutrition. Scott Sabin, the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose tells this story about a friend of his on a recent trip to the Dominican Republic:

She visited a slum and in a small, dirty cardboard and aluminum shack, she met a girl her own age, with a tiny baby. After an initial introduction, through an interpreter, the girl began to talk excitedly and begged my friend to take her baby.  “Please,” she said. “He is so small you could fit him in your purse, and no one would ever know. You could take him and give him a better life.” My friend, of course, said no. The young girl began to sob. “If he stays here, he will die. There is no hope for him here.”

Temptation. Temptation is the tool the devil used against Jesus and uses against us to motivate us to conform to society and culture’s definitions of moral and ethical…right and wrong and to end the disturbance. Temptation is the enticement to go against the teachings of the Word of God, living (Jesus) and written (the Bible). Whether it is the temptation to gossip, smuggle a baby out of the Dominican Republic, or rationalize away the Truth, the enticements to sin are many.

In order for Jesus’ humanity to have significance, he had to face the same temptations we do. Jesus has lived our lives in that he has experienced our temptations and not conformed to their enticement. Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights. The devil came to Jesus three times with temptation. The first temptation came in the form of making Jesus think he would only be able to survive by the sustenance of bread as opposed to the Father’s faithfulness. The second temptation bated Jesus to violate the first commandment by replacing the Father with the devil for his loyalty and affection. Finally, the third temptation asked Jesus to manipulate the Father and to use his power in a self-serving way.

Temptation is punctiliar and progressive. That is a specific moment and progressive moments. Temptation is the mechanism used by God to guide us into obedience and true freedom.

Life is an ongoing series of choices. Your choices matter. The fulfillment of God’s plans for humanity requires our cooperation with God. Anytime we are enticed to sin, we are tempted to test God’s faithfulness. Listen to the words of Anne Lamott on conforming to temptation which ends the very important “disturbance.” Anne writes,

I was scared much of the time. Life was utterly schizophrenic. I was loved and often seemed cheerful, but fear pulsed inside me. I was broke, clearly a drunk, and also bulimic. I was cracking up. But a feather of truth floated inside the door of my mind-the truth that I was crossing over to the dark side.[3]

Anne was tempted with sexual infidelity, cocaine, alcohol, and religious syncretism. She gave in and was confused until she gave it all up and accepted Jesus Christ into her life. The pressures and temptations to return to her old manner of living were ongoing and many. When we believe that a particular temptation is impossible to overcome, we conform to cheap grace and costly relativism. Oswald Chambers, the author of the daily Devotional My Utmost for His Highest writes, “If the temptation is possible to overcome in our own strength, then it is not a real temptation. If the temptation is impossible to overcome, then it is the thing we have to ask God to do for us.”[4] And Jesus has already overcome every temptation we encounter.

The temptation to conform to the cultural values of materialism, entertainment, the coarsening of discourse now offered by many churches as the gospel, must be resisted. Moreover, let us not retreat to a form of religious absolutism rooted in cultural nostalgia or a “tinny patriotism.”[5] Peter Gomes writes,

If there is any good news that is truly good news for everybody, and not just for a few somebodies, it is this: God is greater and more generous than the best of those who profess to know and serve him. This is the radical nonconformity with the conventional wisdom that Jesus both proclaimed and exemplified, and alas, it cost him his life. Will we hope to fare any better, as disciples of his nonconformity?[6]

 

The Deuteronomist challenges us to confess that God’s faithfulness is the basis of life.[7] It is resting in God’s faithfulness that we’ll know our greatest security and refuge. And Paul, in his letter to the Roman Christians, tells us to call on the Lord, at all times and in all ways, and we’ll be saved.

With what temptation are you preoccupied? Lent is no time for heroic resilience. Lent is the time Christians purposely give our faith permission to work on us. Lent invites you to turn to the cross as an act of freedom to love fearlessly and to live beyond the boundaries you and the world around you impose. Lent beckons you to affirm God’s promise and generosity to you and all people. Lent convicts you to ensure there is a basic standard of living for all, regardless of religious, racial, or ethnic identity. Lent insists that you work for the basic needs of all—education, health care, food, clothing, and personal/family security are met. Lent reminds you that God is good and will use you to care for those in need.[8]

A posture of gospel nonconformity requires a rejection of the “good news” promoted by the prevailing cultural consensus. Conforming to the gospel manifests itself when followers of Jesus challenge the prevailing cultural consensus; the status quo. And that is the gift of Lent, my friends. Amen.

This sermon was preached on Sunday, 09 March 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

in the Great Room and Sanctuary at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 Copyright Ó 2025

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2(Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 32.

[2]Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1935), 60.

[3]Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies (New York: Pantheon Books, 1999), 39-41.

[4]Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 60.

[5]These ideas gleaned from Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperOne, 2007), 60.

[6]Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, 63.

[7]Gleaned from Thomas W. Currie in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, 26.

[8]In the six paragraphs above, I was influenced by the writing of Anne Lemott, Peter Gomes, and Oswald Chambers. In addition, I was challenged by the thinking of Carolyn J. Sharp, William Greenway, Barbara K. Lundblad, Anna B. Olson, Shively T. J. Smith, and James C. Howell in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 24-26, 26-28, 31-32, 33-34, 35-37, and 37-39.

 

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03-02-2025 Rev Steven Marsh – Being Clear About Our Love Identity

“Connecting with Jesus, One Another, and Others in the Unconditional Love of Our God (Together, in a variety of ways)” “Being Clear About Our Love Identity” – Exodus 34:29-35, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-36

On the campus of Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, there is a statue of Booker T. Washington standing over a slave and lifting a veil “…so that the light of education can strike his face.” The slave has a book in one hand and uses the other to help lift the veil. In the eyes of the slave, one sees hope. The caption under the statue reads, “He [Booker T. Washington] lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.”[1] Yes, connecting with Jesus, one another, and others in the unconditional love of God lifts the veils that blind humanity from displaying the glory of God in word and deed. Yes, the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 25 come alive in human lives.

Like Booker T. Washington, followers of Jesus are to lift veils and live with unveiled boldness. Michael Horton in his book A Better Way writes, “Today people want to see God. Not content with hearing God’s Word, they want to see God’s glory.”[2] Today is Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday. The glory of God was shown to Peter, James, and John that day twenty centuries ago. Like then, but today even more so, people want to see the glory of the Lord.

In Luke 9:28-36, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than any amount of bleach could produce. Elijah and Moses were talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” But a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”[3] The disciples looked and only Jesus remained.

In 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Paul utilizes the Old Testament story about the veil of Moses as an analogy to talk about the Christian life. He focuses our religious memory back to the scene where Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone on which were chiseled the Ten Commandments. You recall this story in Exodus 34:29-35. The people focused not on the tablets, but on the face of Moses. Moses’ appearance had been shaped by his experience with God. Just as the Hebrews looked at Moses and knew he had been talking with God, so people should be able to see in the face of Christians evidence that we have been with Jesus.

Unfortunately, that has not always been the case. Many of our doctrines have become veils which systematize the faith and often hide the love of God. Christians must not hide behind the veils of doctrine and practice. In a country where the disparity between rich and poor is growing and children die of the effects of poverty, a veiled faith will not work. We must do more than discuss hunger, deliberate on the crises facing immigrants and refugees, debate the ethical demands of being homeless, explore the reasons presented for why members of the LGBTQ+ community are the way they are, and pay lip service to racism, sexism, and ageism.

The lesson of the Transfiguration is this: if we have experienced salvation in and through Jesus Christ, then we are to live with veils removed, engaging the needs of society, and partnering with others to make systemic change. The Transfiguration teaches us that when captivated by the very presence of God we are not to veil that experience and hide it from others. To the contrary, we are to go into Wichita with the good news that in Jesus Christ life is inclusive of people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, the rich, the poor, the mentally and physically challenged, the hungry, the immigrant, the refugee, and the homeless.

Look at the Table. See the body and blood of Jesus given and poured out for you. Look at the Table and see unconditional love not held back, but freely shared. Live with boldness characterized by love for God and others because you have been changed and continue to be changed by the Word, living, and written. Veils come off, one by one. The poor, LGBTQ+ community, wealthy, immigrant, refugee, hungry, homeless, racist, sexist, and ageist are encountered by God. Live out your love identity. Yes, you are the best Jesus someone sees. Amen!

This sermon was preached on Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday,

2 March 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2025

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Robert Warden Prim in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 1(Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 451.

[2]Michael Horton, A Better Way (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2002), 36.

[3]Luke 9:33 and 35

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