Weekly Sermon: 09/21/2025 - Generosity with Purpose: Rejoicing in Impact

Many of you have seen the Facebook pictures of my daughter Leah's engagement

to her girlfriend, Jenna.

It happened on September 5th in St.

Louis, and my husband Dan and I were there along with Jenna's parents,

and we were watching like this, hiding from the side of a building.

And when we appeared after Jenna popped the question and Leah said yes,

Leah burst into tears again because she had no idea that we were there and we

were so excited to see that we all had successfully surprised her.

She has a pretty high, if I could say, BS meter but the beginning of the school

year and a cold and all these things had distracted her, so she didn't figure

out that we were pulling one over on her.

There is no greater joy as a parent than to see your child happy,

especially as an adult, and for them to find someone who is a match,

who they want to spend the rest of their life with, and also someone whom you

are excited to make a part of your own family.

That is a true, true blessing and an incredible gift.

Our growing family, however, is not welcome at many churches,

especially in Texas, also in Missouri, where they live.

So you can imagine what it means to me to simply be a member here at St. Luke's.

My whole family is welcome here. Leah and Jenna are welcome together.

I do not have words. I.

For the deep gratitude that I feel not only to be a part of this community, sorry.

But to be blessed enough to be your pastor,

and to have been a part of the process of becoming a welcoming church because

when we went through that,

I had no idea how this would impact my own family,

because this was a recent discovery for Leah.

Now, I wish they wanted to do their wedding here,

like our son Daniel and his wife Kasha did a year ago. But alas,

the wedding will be in St.

Louis, where they are both from.

And that's where it will be when they finally pick a date, which they have not yet.

But regardless, our joy is full.

And my joy is full, knowing that they are welcome here. And this is what our

gospel reading calls fruit that will last.

All people can experience love and welcome in this community.

And that is fruit that will last.

Both our readings today speak of faith with a planting and a growing image.

In Corinthians, of sowing seeds of God's righteousness bountifully.

And in John, of remaining connected to Christ's love in all that we do as a branch to the vine.

These images invite us to live inside the love and the abundance of God in how

we live our life, how we use our skills, how we order our time, how we serve,

how we give, how we pray.

Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.

When we stay rooted in Christ, connected to Jesus in union with the love of God, fruit happens.

Abundant harvest grows. Welcome is embraced. Love is experienced.

Growth starts. New life opens up. Impact happens.

Not because we are so great, although I do think you're pretty great,

but because Jesus is at work through us.

Second Corinthians reminds us, you will be enriched in every way for your great

generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.

Generosity is never ultimately about what we give.

It's about the joy. It's about the life.

It's about the hope and the life and the love that ripple out from our gifts.

It's about the impact and the changed lives and the fruit that will last.

It's people like Jenna learning that this church welcomes her when she least expected it.

People hear that Leah's parents are both ministers and they're like,

oh God, that must have been awful for you.

Right? But then she learns about fruit that will last when she hears about the welcome here.

When she least expected it. It's your generosity.

It's your faith. It's your love that produces this fruit through Christ.

This is why every gift matters, because every gift, every act of service,

every prayer sown into this ministry has produced fruit.

And it's not just numbers, it's people.

It's all people. So I would like to share a few stories of lives touched and

changed by what else God is doing through you.

A new member came to pizza with the pastor last winter after they had already

joined so they could share their experience with other new people who had started

to come and share their experience of being at St. Luke's.

And with tears in their eyes, they shared that this is the first church they

had been to where they actually experienced being loved.

And then after being here for a while they said well you know I live far away

and I pass at least six churches or more driving here so I'm going to see if

I can find a place closer to where I live so they did they disappeared for like

six or eight weeks I'm like what what happened,

and then I called them and they're like well I'm just trying some other churches

I'm like okay love with freedom right then they came back with tears in their

eyes and they said nobody loves like you love.

That is fruit, fruit that lasts because you're connected to Christ and people

experience Christ's love through you.

That's fruit. That is the impact of generosity.

That is thanksgiving to God overflowing.

I took a visitor to lunch earlier this year. She had experienced growing up in another tradition.

And before the end of our time together, before she had to race off to work,

she looked at me and she said, going to this church has changed my life.

And I looked at her and I'm like, really? How? And she said,

I've never experienced or heard of grace before.

It's life changing, she said. I'm still trying to understand it, but it's so freeing.

That is fruit. That is the impact of your generosity.

That's thanksgiving to God overflowing.

I was at a table with a group of members as we talked about our generosity with purpose.

Emphasis this month and every single person there talked about how much love

and support they have received from members of this congregation when they went through a hard time,

whether it was the passing of a family member, a health crisis, or something else.

And it was the kindness and the help of people here that made the difference

in being able to get through the hardest days.

Every person around the table said, oh yes, that's my experience.

That's fruit. That's the impact of your generosity.

That's thanksgiving to God overflowing.

We have an amazing breakfast team that makes 160 or more burritos twice a month

on the first and third Saturday, and they serve them with joy and patience and love and prayer.

And we have a family that used to live in the neighborhood, but then they moved out to Forney.

And this mom has six daughters.

And guess what she does? She drives back from Forney because her daughters will

say, Mom, it's the first Saturday of the month.

We have to go get burritos.

And of course, they're driving from Forney, and it's a long way,

and you know, they have a big family, and there's lots going on, so usually she's late.

So she'll text somebody from the team and say, I'm on my way,

save me some burritos, please.

So yesterday, that happened. She texted, she said, I'm coming,

but of course she was late. So the burrito team saved her burritos.

She set aside snack bags because they pack snack bags for kids to have something

to eat later if they're food insecure.

And then they got some juice and they set it all aside. She wasn't going to

make it. It's hot outside.

They put it all in a cooler and they left it outside the front door.

So that whenever she got here, she could pick up her burritos and now also Panera

bread, right? Because we get the leftovers from Panera.

So they gave her loads of Panera bread, the snack bags and the juice and left it in the cooler.

And then our custodian, John, before he left for the day, went out,

lifted the lid, they made it, they got all their food and And he brought the

cooler inside before he left for the day. That is fruit.

It is so emblematic of St. Luke's, of all of you who are willing to go the extra

mile to accommodate needs when we can.

Isn't that amazing? That is fruit. That is the impact of your generosity.

That's thanksgiving to God overflowing.

And that's what happens because we abide in Christ.

It is generosity. Generosity is joy.

The seeds of love that we scatter grow into a harvest that we could never imagine.

And sometimes you don't even know about how many of these stories did you know?

I mean, only the people who are involved in these stories know them.

I could stand up. I should stand up here every week and say,

here's our generosity of joy stories, right?

They happen every single week.

God can do more than we can even imagine with our mission and with our ministry

and with your generosity.

It's the laughter of children at Luke's Learners. Did you hear Ellie when she

saw her picture up here in the video? She's like, oh, it's the hope of someone

finding comfort in grief.

It's a trans person feeling embraced and loved by God, maybe for the first time.

It's meals being served to hungry neighbors. It's the welcome of a newcomer

who feels like they belong, like they're loved.

You are branches of the vine of Jesus, and through you, Christ bears fruit that

lasts, a bountiful harvest of abundance that changes lives, that has changed my life,

that has changed my family's life and experience of welcome.

And every gift you sow of time, talent or treasure is producing thanksgiving

to God and joy here and in heaven.

So today we rejoice. We rejoice in what God has already done.

And aren't you excited about what God is going to do next?

My gosh, I can't wait. Can you? What is God going to do next in the rest of this year?

What is God going to do in 2026? Who's excited?

Who's excited? Okay, I don't see all the hands in the air. I need two hands in the air right there.

Who is excited about what God is going to do in 2026 through St. Luke's? All right.

God can do amazing things. Whoops, I'm also knocking over the light.

God can do amazing things through this congregation, through your big,

generous hearts, full of love.

That's why this is the church where what? Where spirits come alive. Amen.

Go forth with vision, grounded in prayer, rejoicing in God's impact,

and growing in generosity.

Trust that your gifts matter, that every gift matters. Share God's grace with

purpose as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God, and we will.