It was a gift to be with God’s people in Bertrand, Nebraska on Saturday May 17 and Sunday May 18, 2025. Thank you Pastor John Strackbein and retired pastor and current church council member, Sylvia Karlsson, for the invitation and to both congregations for the warm welcome. I was overjoyed to be with Adullam Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bertrand, two of the three congregations with Grace Lutheran Church in Lexington, who together make Holy Trinity Parish. I was invited to meet with congregational council members over dinner for good and deep conversation on Saturday evening, and then to preach on stewardship and observations from the parish’s participation in the Vitality Initiative in worship at both Adullam Lutheran and Immanuel Lutheran on Sunday morning, as well as to bring greetings from the Bishop and many other friends across the synod (including to Dr. Nathan Peterson, a member of Immanuel who also currently serves on the Nebraska Synod Council, and especially Pastor Bob and Shirley Kocher and their family) and words of gratitude for all that the congregations make possible by being part of the larger church together. What follows is the majority of the manuscript that I preached from, based on the appointed readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; and John 13:31-35. If you would like to listen to or watch worship and/or the sermon, you can do so here from Immanuel Lutheran’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1ZFTvte3vs.

Grace and peace from God in Christ, who is with you, for you, and who loves you. Amen.

“See, I am making all things new.”[1] So says the one sitting on the throne in the book of Revelation. So says our God who has done what God alone can do, to bring life out of death. To turn mourning into dancing. To wipe every tear from our eyes. We know this is true. For we know that Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!

The joy and peace of this Easter season be with all of you! And thank you again for having me join you today. It’s a gift to be with you, Holy Trinity Parish. Over the past two years I have had the joy of journeying with you as your parish has participated in the Nebraska Synod’s Vitality Initiative for Congregations. Through that journey with your siblings in Christ across the synod, you have pondered big questions. Questions like: Who are we? Who are our neighbors? What might God be up to? And what might God be inviting us to be a part of next? In pondering these questions, you have been taking to heart this promise from Revelation that God is indeed active and up to something and making all things new. And these vitality questions are Easter questions! On this side of the Resurrection, we are wondering and imagining what God has done for us, and what that might mean for what God is calling us to be a part of next. They are questions which help us to remember that God is God, and we are not. But also questions that help us each follow Jesus and share God’s love as Jesus calls and commands. All things are made new through God’s love, presence and promise, and that is quite clear in our stories we hear today.

God’s Story for Us- promise, praise, and love
In the book of Acts, we hear that people are coming to believe. The kingdom of God is breaking in, bit by bit. God is active and up to something. We hear Peter’s report to the Church at Jerusalem, which leads to questions about eating what has previously been understood as unclean, and questions about associating with those who are uncircumcised. It’s almost like Peter is being questioned for having the audacity to meet his neighbors where they are at. But Peter’s message points to something. God is doing a new thing. Peter testifies, that “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.”[2] God’s saving work and life-giving work is offered in detail. And Peter ponders, “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”[3] That’s a huge question. Who are we, that we might hinder or seemingly get in the way of God doing God’s thing? Who are we, that we might try and create lines in the sand or barriers between God’s beloved people?

That question stops those criticizing Peter in their tracks and turns to praise. What began as criticism became a recognition that “God has given even to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”[4] God’s life-giving and life-saving love is not limited. Peter sees this, and the faithful in the community are beginning to recognize this. Jesus didn’t just come for some. God in Christ’s love, gift, promise, and grace is for all. As God’s people, we join with those people who heard from Peter that day. We join in and respond for what God has done, will do, and promises to do, for us through our thanks and praise. With the psalmist, we too sing, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise God in the heights.”[5] How could we do any less? God is indeed making all things new.

In Revelation, we hear again about a vision of  “a new heaven and a new earth.”[6] We hear words of promise that, “Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more,”[7] and “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”[8] This is Good News. But what we also hear is this, “See, I am making all things new.”[9] All things are made new through God’s deep, abundant, and abiding love. This is Good News. But I do wonder, in hearing such language of promise, it’s also language of change. We like change, except when it means we have to change. Right? So if all things are being made new, that means that I am being made new, you are being made new, we are being made new. What might that look and feel like for you? As a congregation? As Holy Trinity Parish?

That brings us to the gospel. We find ourselves back in the upper room, before Jesus is betrayed and handed over. It’s Maundy Thursday, again. And Jesus is with his closest friends. He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[10] This is a commissioning for the disciples. It’s a blessing and a sending. They are sent out to love. And we are too. We return to this story during the Easter season, because as we are on this side of the Resurrection, we know that God’s love is real. God’s promises are true. God will do a new thing and what God alone can do. God will heal, restore, reconcile, and save. All of this and more, God does because of God’s abundant, abiding, and steadfast love. A love given for you. A love shed for you. A love you are claimed in, through baptism and the waters of the river of life. A love which transforms and changes. And we too are sent out with it. To love one another as Jesus loves us.

This loving one another, isn’t a call to love some. We aren’t just called to love the clean and circumcised, and those who eat like us, like Peter is confronted about. We’re called to love. Period. There is no qualifier. There are no exceptions. We are to love as Jesus loves. That means one and all, everyone. Because God’s love is not limited. God’s love is not scarce. It’s abundant. And that’s where you and I come in.

Our Story- our response as stewards and disciples
As God is doing a new thing, God calls us to witness, follow, and do likewise. We’re called to be disciples, to love one another as Jesus loves us. We’re also called to be stewards of the mysteries and promise of God’s love- the love Jesus lives, provides, and gives to you and me for one and for all. But what might this mean? Stewardship may seem like an “old, churchy word,” but at its heart is a response. Stewardship is our response. It’s our response to God’s love and gifts for us. It’s our response to our neighbor in need. God does, what God alone can do, for you and for me. We cannot earn God’s gifts of life and love. God does that work through the events of the cross, of Holy Week and Easter. God does that work over and over again through the water and word of baptism. But we are invited to joyfully and gratefully respond for what God has done, will do and promises to do, and this is a gift and opportunity. Think of it as taking hold of the abundant life that God alone provides. We have the gift, call, and command to live out the life and identity we all share as a disciple and steward. But rest assured, this won’t always be easy. It will have its fill of challenges, and it’s costly. There’s a cross at its center after all. We also know, because of this, that this life as disciples and stewards is deeply meaningful and full of purpose. It’s a life of service grounded in love and lived out in response to the promises of our God who comes near.

This is what stewardship looks like. Where we recall the words of the psalmist at the beginning of Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[11] The earth is God’s. And all who are part of the earth, are God’s too. Everything is God’s. You are God’s. I am God’s. And all that we have, and all that we are, is God’s. Everything that makes you the unique person and Child of God that you are, is God’s. Your time, talent, treasure, assets, possessions, and finances of all kinds. Your lives, health, bodies, hearts, souls, and minds. Your passions, strengths, vocations, gifts, relationships, ideas, dreams, stories, imaginations, and even your questions. All that is yours, is really God’s. And all of creation that surrounds us, and which God entrusts into our care in the beginning of Genesis, is God’s too. All of this and more, is God’s. And God chooses to entrust some of it into our care.

God does this because God loves you and God wants life to go well for you. God does this, because God does new things, and invites us each to be part of it. God does this too because God wants life to be meaningful and filled with purpose. So God invites you to follow and to use what God entrusts to meet your neighbor’s needs in some ways in daily life- here, now, today as stewards who are called to serve and share. Knowing that when we do this, we don’t do it alone. We do it with our God with whom there is always enough. With our God who can take a few fish and a couple loaves of bread, and feed thousands. With our God who can share a simple commandment to “love one another,” and in so doing, change the world forever. With our God who daily promises to do a new thing. With our God who shows that abundance is real, and scarcity is not- that abundance is the way of following Jesus, and scarcity is the product of lies and sins the world and powers that be, might have us perpetuate and believe.

Your Story and What might God be Inviting?
Friends, you are living signs of the truth of God’s abundant love, and promise of doing a new thing. Though this is the first time I have ever been with you in person, I have heard about you for years. Shirley and Pastor Bob Kocher are the most amazing story tellers I know, and to see the love and joy on their face when talking about God’s beloved people in Bertrand has made me want to meet you for myself for years. Just last fall, Shirley’s face lit up when she told me that after they joined many ministry colleagues in Kearney, they were going to be joining many of you for coffee and conversation the following day. I am thinking a lot about her these days while she is in hospice care. I have learned so much from her, especially about being a pastor’s spouse. So to finally be able to be with you all seems like a homecoming of sorts.

But wait there is more. Pastor Sylvia Karlsson was the longtime synod stewardship table chair, and she too has told me stories of your love and joy. I have seen it and heard it in the way her voice and face lights up talking about you. I have heard about it through example after example of your stewardship in action from backpacks to quilts, and scholarships to cream corn and potlucks. I have seen and heard it through the way your parish continues to journey as part of the Vitality Initiative. I am convinced that God’s abundant love and life is real with, for, through, and in you. Thank you all for your deep faith, discipleship, and generous stewardship of God’s love.

Jesus gives us a new commandment, “that you love one another.”[12] And so we do, through all that we say and do. Which brings us back to the Vitality Initiative. The last questions that congregations ponder as part of their vitality journey, are what might God be up to? And what might God be inviting us to be a part of next? As Jesus commands the disciples in the upper room, and has commanded all disciples since, we love. We love with abandon. We love without limits. We love. Period. We do so even though we might not always know where we’re going, but we trust and know that God is doing a new thing. We do so knowing that Jesus is with us and leading us every step of the way. As we journey together, we learn, wonder, ask questions, and meet our neighbors. We engage in conversations and explore. Together we take our next most faithful step, and then a next one, and a next most faithful step after that. Together we respond as stewards and meet our neighbors. This is what life together as part of God’s work and mission looks and feels like.

Sometimes we’ll be clear on who we are, what we are doing, why we’re doing it, and what God might be up to and inviting us to be a part of next. Sometimes we’ll be walking in circles like Israel wandering in the wilderness. Sometimes we’ll be completely caught by surprise at God doing a new thing. Sometimes we might be running. Sometimes we might feel like we’re hitting our heads against a wall (like a dad like me at times). And other times we might be singing praise joyfully, crying mournfully, or using all that God entrusts us with as signs of love for our neighbors. I don’t know what might be next. I have ideas, much like you might too. But I do know that we’re not alone. We’re in this together as God’s people, and even more so, we’re in this with our God in Christ who does new things daily, and who is with us, for us, and who loves us. Always. Keep on following. Keep on serving. Keep on loving. Because that is what Jesus calls and commands us to do. And if we’re being honest, we can’t do anything else, because we know that Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia! Thanks be to God. Amen.

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Citations and References:
[1] Revelation 21:5, NRSV.
[2] Acts 11:12, NRSVue.
[3] Acts 11:17, NRSVue.
[4] Acts 11:18, NRSVue.
[5] Psalm 148:1, NRSVue.
[6] Revelation 21:1, NRSVue.
[7] Revelation 21:4, NRSVue.
[8] Revelation 21:6, NRSVue.
[9] Revelation 21:5, NRSVue.
[10] John 13:34-35, NRSVue.
[11] Psalm 24:1, NRSV.
[12] John 13:34, NRSVue.