Weekly Sermon: 07-19-2026 - Grounded in Creation - Flora and Fauna

The Holy Gospel according to Luke. Glory.

Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap.

They have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

How much more value are you than the birds?

And which of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to the span of life?

If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?

Consider the lilies and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin,

yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the fields, which is alive today and tomorrow,

is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of low faith?

And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink,

and do not keep worrying, for it is the nations of the world that seek all these

things, and your Father knows that you need them.

And said, Seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

You may be seated.

So years ago, I was working as a tour bus driver, and on a particular day,

I was assigned a really typical trip.

I picked up a youth group from a camp in Arkansas, and then drove them back

to their home church in Oklahoma.

This wasn't anything I have not done before, and so I just set about the day

doing everything I would have done.

I did all the inspections on my bus that morning, making sure all the tires,

the engine, everything was ready to go.

And I picked up the group and I checked the weather.

And on this particular day, it looked like it was about to rain.

But again, that was nothing that I hadn't dealt with before.

And so we were on our way. I was driving as safely as I could through the hills

in Arkansas, and speeding drivers were flying by us while torrential rain was falling all around us.

And I increased my distance between myself and a vehicle in front of me.

I slowed down to the safest speed I could, and I did all this while keeping

an eye on all my gauges and anything that could put me and the group in danger.

And then it happened.

Right after a semi-truck came barreling past us, all my electrical components

on this bus just shut down.

And all of a sudden, I had no gauges. They all went to zero.

All the lights in the bus were gone. And I turned on my emergency lights and they were working.

The air conditioner was gone as well.

And my windshield wipers just ceased all function.

And my acceleration pedal just stopped working as well and for that moment my heart just sank,

and my mind quickly went from getting through the storm to getting my bus to

the safest location I could find and so,

trying my best I kept the bus rolling until I found a place that had great visibility and it,

felt safe and I pulled off to the side of the road and we were stranded there

in that spot freaking out group and all,

for about an hour and a half before the closest mechanic could come and make his way out to us,

and while I was doing my best in that moment to exude confidence to my group

inside I was questioning everything that I did wrong.

And did I miss finding any damage in the engine compartment that could have caused this?

Was it possible that even though I was going slow, was I driving too fast?

And more questions and more questions. I was questioning every decision I could

have made and should have made.

And so when a mechanic finally arrived, I asked him, what could I have possibly

have done to keep this from happening?

And he said, you could have done nothing.

And I was just like, what? Okay, what's going on?

He told me that there was this tiny little box in the engine compartment of the bus.

I don't know what it does. I'm not an expert mechanic or anything,

but this particular box was terribly placed, and what likely happened was when

one of the vehicles drove by, they kicked up some water, and some of that water

got into this fickle component, and shut everything down.

And so his solution was to take out a hairdryer and use that hairdryer to dry that component off.

And also with help from God and a storm moving away, he was able to get the

bus to turn back on and we were finally able to go home.

And I didn't realize this at the time, but looking back, he was right.

There really was nothing that I could have done to change that situation.

And I think even more experienced drivers than myself could have experienced

that same situation that I did.

And despite all my best planning, all my best training, nothing could have changed that situation.

But that's life, right?

We make plans and we make very good plans, right? We work hard towards seeing

those plans come to fruition because we want a better life for ourselves and those around us.

And this isn't a bad thing.

But sometimes there are moments and events that happen in our life that create

havoc around us, and even the best laid plans can fall apart.

There are moments that force us to reconsider, and moments that send us down

paths that we didn't choose to begin with.

And those moments remind us that as much as we try, we are not in control.

We invest in our retirement plans, we invest in our homes, And these are all

great and amazing things to do, smart things.

But as life goes by, things outside our control throw havoc in those situations.

And even on top of that, we can buy clothes and other materials and things to

give us social status, planning to move up the social ladder.

And even those things go out of style and eventually lose their value.

But like I said, it's smart to invest in our future, it's smart to care for

our things, and it's smart to plan.

But the problem begins when those things stop being tools and start becoming our saviors.

When retirement count is not just a retirement count, but it's the thing that

is going to make us feel safe. When the home isn't just a home,

but it's the thing that we feel like can be the only thing to make us feel secure.

But plans are good, but the plans are not God.

And I think this is the part of what Jesus is getting at in today's passage.

If you look into the scripture, you see that right before our passage today,

Jesus tells a story about a rich man whose land produces so much that he decides

to build and build barns and bigger barns and that.

And on the surface, it sounds practical and smart, but the problem is not that

he planned, but he believed his plans could secure his soul.

And it looked like, and he looked at everything that he stored up and thinks

that I am safe, I am secure, and nothing can touch me.

But Jesus knows that what we know, and that is that even the best barns cannot

keep chaos away forever.

And it is in this conversation that we immediately see Jesus turning to his

disciples and saying, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you'll eat, or about your body,

or what you'll wear.

Now i think sometimes we have a tendency to oversimplify this scripture has

a call for us to just calm down and trust in jesus more but i want to be careful here as well,

because there are moments in

life that can cause us to worry bills need to be paid loved ones get sick,

diagnoses we're waiting on and to say in those moments to just chill and don't

worry Phil dismisses at times, and can turn that worry into a kind of spiritual failure,

but that is not what Jesus is getting at here.

Because I don't think that Jesus is telling us not to care about our livelihoods.

Instead, Jesus is telling us not to turn our worry into the things that run our life.

He's telling his disciples not to build the foundations of our lives upon the

fears that we have of the things around us.

And to make every plan around those fears.

Like freaking out and checking every component of the bus beforehand.

And thinking that will keep the bus from breaking down.

Or checking everything in our 401ks or Instagram and TikTok to make sure that

we are up to date with the latest styles.

What Jesus is saying in this passage is not that our needs are nothing,

it's that our life is more than our needs.

And continues and says, Consider the ravens and consider the lilies,

because they do not have storehouses or barn, yet God feeds them.

Lilies do not control the rains, the soil, the weather, and yet God clothes them.

It means that faith is not doing, does not mean that faith is doing nothing,

because when things break down, we still need to respond appropriately.

It does not mean that faith is passivity, but rather faith is doing what is

ours to do without believing that everything has to depend on us.

Jesus.

Does not promise that chaos gets to be our God. Fear does not get to be our shepherd.

And even in the storm and everything going on around us,

and when the best things that we can do is just pray and breathe and act faithfully, we,

are still held by a God who knows and cares for us and walks with us even when

everything is barreling down around us.

And so our call today is very simple. It's to take inventory of our lives this week.

And to ask ourselves, where have we put too much faith in something that was

never meant to hold the full weight of our life?

Whether it's our schedules, our money, our jobs, our plans, or our ability to stay in control.

When you find that thing, ask yourself, has this thing become the thing that

I believe that I cannot live without?

Because the problem is not that these things are bad.

Plans are good. Savings are good. All these things are good,

but they are not God. They cannot be our foundation.

So name the thing, pray over it, and tell God truth about your fear.

And listen again to Jesus when he says, Do not be afraid, for it is the Father's

good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

And then do what is yours to do. Make that plan. Go to the appointment.

But remember, that is God who is the foundation for your life.

And another thing that we can do from the scripture today is to think about

our solar panel campaign that we're doing.

This is an exciting time for the church, and I'm so grateful for everybody who's

already donated so much and everybody who's put in so much time and effort into it.

But let's remember that these solar panels are the means to the end.

These solar panels are not the mission of the church.

They're a way that we can see our mission become more realized at St. Luke's.

And that mission is to be good stewards of our resources and to use our resources

to continue to share God's love with everybody in our community.

So let's agree with everything that's going on around the solar panels,

whether it causes stress or something were to happen,

that we respond appropriately together, that we respond to the solar panels

with prayer and continue to bring these in front of God and remember that it

is God who is our foundation,

and it is God who leads us and helps us through,

all the issues, even through building of solar panels.

So with this in mind, let us always seek to be better and not confusing faithfulness with control,

because when we know with our whole hearts that we are not held by our plans but by God,

and when we know this we are more free to love and become more generous and

more patient and we can see everyone around us and every situation around us

as not as threats to our security, but rather.

As things that God has set around us and placed in our care.

And when we can do this, this is when the kingdom of God begins to be realized,

and we can begin to build a world where chaos, not where chaos never comes or

where storms always miss us.

But a world where fear does not get to be the final word.

And we can build a world where people can breathe and pray and act faithfully

and receive help and trust that even in storms, God is still holding us and taking care of us.

And that is the promise Jesus gives to us today, because we are God's little

flock, and it is God's good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

And so with those words held in our hearts today, let us stand for the song of the day.

Nat, go now, grounded in the goodness of God's creation.

Earth beneath you, air around you, water within you, fire to guide you,

plants and creatures beside you and galaxies above you declaring God's wonder.

Honor creation, share her gifts.

Walk gently for the sake of your neighbors and generations to come.

Go in peace as you love, serve, and welcome all. Thanks to God and we will.