Weekly Sermon: 09/14/2025 - Generosity with Purpose: Being Grounded in Prayer

This has been a heavy week. We've witnessed yet another act of political violence in our country.

And as people of faith, our hearts grieve.

Not only the death of Charlie Kirk, but also the way that some people rejoice

in violence or seize upon it as fuel for their own political agenda.

Political violence is nothing new, so let's not be naive.

Our nation was born in a revolution.

We endured a bloody civil war, the trail of tears, Jim Crow, segregation,

the assassinations of leaders, January 6th, and multiple attempts on the lives

of presidents, including two on President Trump.

But what does feel different in

our time is the prevalence of guns and the frequency of school shootings.

And another one occurred this week in Colorado.

Another dynamic is that with increasing technology and social media,

we have segmented groups of people creating fractured community.

And we lack these unifying experiences and stories that once held us together

when there were three TV channels and everybody watched the same thing and there was one unifying story.

There isn't that anymore.

So let us pray together. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Forgive us our trespasses. I mean this, right?

Let's say it together. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

So we're going to pray throughout my sermon.

In these divisive times, it's important to be clear about who we are as the

church, as followers of Jesus.

When we gather, we do not worship a political leader, an ideology,

nor a national agenda. We worship Jesus Christ.

He is our Lord and Savior, plain and simple.

Now, Jesus himself was executed by an empire that valued violence and domination.

Some would call it political violence.

Theologian Brian McLaren describes it this way.

Jesus was an oppressed brown Palestinian Jew living in a Middle Eastern nation

that was occupied by a European empire centered in Rome.

Jesus challenged the empire of Rome by proclaiming an alternative empire, the empire of God.

Rome's empire was violent. God's

empire was nonviolent. Rome's empire was characterized by domination.

God's empire was characterized by service and liberation.

Rome's empire was preoccupied with money.

God's empire was preoccupied with generosity.

Rome's empire was fueled by the love of power.

God's empire was preoccupied and fueled by the power of love.

Rome's empire created a domination pyramid that put a powerful and violent leader

at the top with chains of command and everyone else in their place beneath.

God's empire created a network of solidarity and mutuality and turned the pyramid

upside down, giving the last and the least and the lost the honored place at the table.

Not surprisingly, the Roman Empire saw Jesus and his non-violent movement as

a threat to their violent regime.

So they had him tortured and publicly executed.

But the empire's violence could not end the reign of God.

Let us pray together. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Apostle Paul describes this new reality we live in because of Jesus'

resurrection from the dead, which overturns the power of violence and death, which tried to stop him.

For in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith.

As many of you were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ.

There is no longer Jew or Greek. There is no longer slave or free.

There is no longer male and female for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3, 26 to 28.

This is the alternative empire of God.

Nonviolent, powered by love, characterized by generosity.

What does all this mean? God wins in the end.

God wins in the end. nothing can stop God's dominion.

They may kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.

They cannot conquer love and life itself, nor the God of the universe whose

dominion shall not be overcome.

So we can serve, we can love, we can even fight for our country.

But our Christian community and our identity is not merged with any ideology

or politics. And so what is it grounded in?

Prayer. Our life as followers of Jesus in the empire of God is grounded in prayer, in love.

How do we live in the empire of God?

It is grounded in prayer. And this was true for the early church under the empire

of Rome. And it is true for us now, today.

In the issues with which we live.

Paul's words to the Philippians in our passage today are striking,

especially in times like ours.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.

Do not worry about anything, but

in everything, by prayer, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Notice that Paul doesn't say, rejoice when things are going well.

Rejoice when life is easy.

Pray when life is on easy street.

He says, rejoice always, pray always.

Why? Why does Paul say that?

Because when we pray, we are reminded of who we belong to and what kind of kingdom

we live in. Not over here.

Not Rome's kingdom. Not the empire of violence.

We live over here in God's empire of love, of salvation, and of power in Jesus Christ,

characterized by forgiveness and generosity and love.

And you know what? It's not just that we choose to live over here in this Jesus kingdom.

It's that it's already here. It's already started. It started the moment Jesus

rose from the dead and he appeared to the women and he said, what?

He said, what? Go and tell. Go and tell them that I am alive and death has been conquered.

That's when the empire of love began.

We've been living in the empire of love for 2000 years.

We already live in God's new empire.

It's already going on. You don't have to wake up and say, well,

I'm choosing to live in God's empire.

You're already in it. Isn't that great?

You can just put your feet on the ground and say, I'm living in God's empire of love. Good for me.

I love that, right? I don't have to muster anything. I just need to get up and say, thank you, Jesus.

You conquered death on the cross, and I'm stepping into the empire of love.

I get up that way every morning.

Yes, I do. I'm going to start doing that now.

I have stuff taped to my mirror in the bathroom just to remind me what I'm doing,

right? I'm going to put that little jig up there.

So we're already living in God's new empire. And guess what?

People are like, well, then why do we have a crappy week like this?

Because God wants our participation to build this empire of hope and of love

and of shared power and generosity.

God didn't create robots.

He created human beings. So what does that mean?

We can't do this without God, and God won't do this without us.

So you're a participant in creating God's empire of love.

So how do we do that? Pray always.

Pray always. Be grounded in prayer.

So let us pray together. Do not worry about, I'm going to do this in phrases

like we do vows at a wedding. Do not worry about anything.

Do not worry about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication,

but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Let your requests be made known to God.

Yes, we are grieved by what's happening in the world. But this is not the dominion

that owns our hearts and our lives.

So the question is, what do you need in your prayers to be in the world, but not of the world?

To be living in this dominion, but not of this empire, because you are of God's

empire of love and resurrection.

You know, I talked with a member of this church this week about this very question,

because life just felt so overwhelming,

especially as a parent, by the floods that took children's lives this summer,

by school and campus shootings, and by people rejoicing in violence.

And so we prayed and we talked together about raising such children,

about raising children in such a world.

And out of that conversation came hope to gather a small circle of friends and

moms, maybe in a park, maybe in a living room,

to build a village of support and generosity and Jesus love that includes the church,

that includes family, that includes a life group of friends. Thank you.

So that we can help the kingdom grow.

And that's how it does grow, through prayer, through community.

Through generosity, through conversation, through us as a community reaching

out and building more and more pockets of God's empire of love.

And living inside this kind of mission gives us a peace that surpasses all understanding,

trusting that none of us are doing this alone.

This is why God creates the body of Christ, right?

So let us pray together. As Paul says in Philippians, the Lord is near.

The Lord is near.

Jesus gave us the Lord's prayer to ground us daily in his way of being and living in the empire of God.

You know, it matters that it's a daily prayer. Have you ever noticed that?

Give us this day our daily bread. Not weekly bread. Not monthly bread.

Not yearly bread. What kind of bread?

Daily bread. Each day we return to God.

Each day we receive what we need.

Bread, forgiveness, courage patience

love let's pray that

together give us this day our daily bread give us this day our daily bread you

know bill w of alcoholics anonymous used it well but he didn't invent one day

at a time jesus did you see that it's right there in the lord's prayer.

Okay, so God's plan has always been a daily relationship with you,

daily conversation, daily asking, daily receiving.

So what do you need this day to live generously in God's empire of love?

Tomorrow is another conversation.

So that's why the scripture says, I only have this memorized in the NRSV or

the King James, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Today's troubles are sufficient for today.

Give us today our daily bread, not tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll talk about tomorrow.

What do you need to live generously today in this empire of love?

This month, we are celebrating all that God gives us, our time,

our treasure, our talents.

And living in God's dominion of love is to live generously with purpose,

God's purpose, Jesus' purpose.

The world is always going to tell us what? That we never have enough.

We never have enough money. We never have enough guns. We never have enough power.

We never have enough influence. Just look at TikTok. They got a lot of influencers

who would tell you, you don't have enough of anything, everything.

We don't have enough stuff. but Jesus shows us what God is always enough, right?

Jesus had none of the stuff. Jesus had nothing.

He had none of the stuff that people value then or what we value today, but what did he have?

Everything, right? He had everything that he needed.

God is always enough. That's not in the scripture, but that's a prayer. Let's say that.

God is always enough.

So what does Paul tell us to do? We're going to pray that too.

I'm going to be here all morning doing this.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.

Why? Because God is always enough.

When our world is upside down, God is an endless source of peace.

When we are in despair, God is an endless source of hope. When we are hungry,

God is an endless source of bread.

When all we can muster is anger, God is an endless supply of love.

Grounded in prayer, we become generous. Not just with money.

It's not about the money.

But we become generous with time, with listening, with relationships,

with forgiveness, with our skills, with our talents, and with our hope.

So our world desperately needs an alternative way of living.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Doesn't our world need an alternative way of living? That is why the church matters.

That is why St. Luke's mission is so important.

And it's why weeks like this make me want to give more, to share more,

to donate more, to dig deep into my pockets and find something to give up so

I can give it more to this mission.

Because God calls us to embody God's empire, God's welcome, God's love,

to embody dialogue and nonviolence and transformation that is possible through Jesus Christ.

So that whatever is happening in the world, it's time for us to lean in.

And to step deeper, lean in and step deeper into prayer, lean in and step deeper into generosity,

lean in and step deeper into living as citizens of God's alternative empire

of hope and peace and love.

And remember, you're going to step out of bed and say, I'm already living in

God's empire of love. And I want that little shimmy to go with it.

When you get out of bed, I'm doing it. I know you know that,

right? Because I'm just that.

I'm just that kind of person who's going to get out of bed and say,

I'm already living in God's empire of love.

I think we have to write a song about this, Dale. I'm sure you're thinking of the tune already.

Why? Because when we are grounded in prayer, the peace of God guards our hearts

and our minds in Christ Jesus.

And that is where we experience the peace that surpasses all understanding.

And so how do we end all this?

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Let's pray that.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. For how long?

Forever and ever. For how long? Forever and ever. This world cannot conquer

God's dominion because it will last for how long?

Forever and ever. 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 if you're inspired by this week's.