It was a joy to be with God’s people gathered as Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in McCook, Nebraska on Sunday November 9, 2025. Thank you to Nebraska Synod Council member Sharon Bohling for the invitation, and to the whole congregation for the warm welcome. I was invited to come and lead worship, preach on the appointed lessons for the day, stewardship, share a word about innovation without abandonment, bring greetings and gratitude from Bishop Johnson and the whole Nebraska Synod, and join the congregation for wonderful conversation over a delicious potluck following worship. What follows is the majority of the manuscript that I preached from, based on the appointed lessons for the day for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost- Year C (Lectionary 32C): Luke 20:27-38; Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17.

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

People of God, it’s so good to be with you today! It’s good to be with you, because I have been looking forward to being with you for the better part of a year. It’s good to be with you, to be present with you for conversation and ministry together, because I know there has been concerns, wonderings, questions, and a mix of all the emotions given the detention center that has officially opened this week. It’s good to be with you, because I have heard so much about you as God’s beloved people here in McCook, and I have long wanted to come and visit you and see what God is up to in, among, through, and with you. And yes, God is very much at work in and around you. I see it. I sense it. I know it. I believe it. God is up to something here!

What Might God be up to?
This God is the God whom Jesus responds to the Sadducees about. In responding to questions and concerns, disagreements and wonderings about the resurrection, Jesus concludes, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”[1] All of them are alive. It’s a fitting word for us today to hear, just a week after we remembered and gave thanks for all the saints. It’s a fitting word for us too, as we might wonder what God might be up to amid such a time as this. What is God inviting? What is God calling forth?

These questions might have been questions that the Sadducees, disciples and all those gathered in Jerusalem that world changing week might have been wondering too. To set the stage, since we celebrated Reformation and All Saints the past couple of weeks, we’re back towards the end of the Gospel of Luke now. And we find ourselves amid the events of Holy Week. Jesus has already entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. Jesus has also already cleared the temple, driving out those who had been selling things there. Along the way, Jesus has been responding to questions of authority and telling parables. He’s been holding the authorities, powerful, and scribes accountable. Jesus has kept on doing what he’s done throughout his whole earthly journey towards the cross. But now the minutes and stories feel even more earnest. Within the gospel story, Jesus is mere hours and days from the events of his passion.

This is where we are at in the story. Jesus finds himself responding to “Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection…”[2] From there, we hear questions about marriage and relationships. About end times and what is to come. Sometimes, like the Sadducees, we can become preoccupied with questions like when will God come again? When will God’s kingdom be fulfilled? When? How? What? In asking these questions we might miss the bigger lesson though, and that seems to be what Jesus is getting at. That God will do God’s thing, and the why behind it, is because God’s love is real. And God’s love and grace is for you, and with you, always. When we remember this, we can lean into the truth that the resurrection is real and then commit to live in response to that good news through all that we do as disciples and stewards.

Jesus turns the Sadducees’ questions around. He invites those who might listen to ponder and imagine more God-centered questions about what the idea of the resurrection might actually mean, and lead to. Jesus says of those “who are considered worthy of a place in that age…they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”[3] Jesus is pointing to a new identity. The identity of being a Child of God. The identity we know on this side of the resurrection in baptism. Where through Christ’s death and resurrection, through the Spirit’s presence, and through the water and the word, we are claimed by God once and for all and named as Child of God forever. This new identity means change. It means a new reality. It means that we are not alone, and it’s not all up to us. It’s up to God. God loves you. God is for you. And God is with you.

What Might God be Inviting?
This is good news which begs questions. What might God be inviting? How might we respond? As the hymn says, “I know that my redeemer lives!” Just like Job proclaims in our first lesson, “For I know that my vindicator lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth… and I shall see God.”[4] God is indeed with us and for us. We trust and believe with the psalmist who sings, “I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.”[5] God will do God’s thing. God will heal. God will reconcile. God will turn our mourning into dancing and bring life out of death. God does this for you and for me, for one and for all. God does this, because God loves you and will not abandon you. Even going to the point of resurrecting the dead to life anew with God.

This is a new reality. God’s kingdom is breaking in, and Jesus is pointing to it now as strongly and directly as ever. He’s proclaiming the good news of the Resurrection. He’s preparing the disciples and those who were witnesses for the events to come in a mere few days. He’s telling all who might hear, to listen and pay attention. To wonder. To imagine. To hope.

The Apostle Paul gives us encouragement too. In writing to his siblings in Christ in Thessaloniki, Paul writes, “But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”[6] We give thanks as God’s people for all that God has done, will do, and promises to do. We give thanks too for all of the saints, and for all of the Children of God of all times and places. We give thanks for you, people of God here in McCook. God is up to something and inviting us to be a part of it. And part of that invitation is to respond with joy and gratitude, as well as to take hold of the abundant life that God provides. Paul writes, “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”[7] We do this by committing to follow as disciples, to learn and grow. And by committing to respond generously as stewards of God’s abundant love.

Promises and Commitments that lead to Response
We respond by living out our baptisms. The baptism in which we each are given a new identity that is part of a promise. It’s part of God’s promises to us that we are beloved, named, and claimed Child of God. In baptism, this isn’t just a one-time thing, though where we just go merrily on our way without being changed. For through baptism we are changed and called to grow into deeper relationship with God and neighbor. Through baptism, together we as God’s people make promises to God and one another. We promise “to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”[8] We commit to do this. And this commitment and these promises lead us into daily lives. They guide us and lead us as disciples and stewards. They ground you too as a congregation here in McCook. You can hear them clearly through your own mission statement which is right at the top of your bulletin, “We the congregations of St. Alban’s and Our Savior’s, come together as the people of God to receive God’s grace, to share God’s love, and to reflect the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do.”

These promises shape your mission statement as a congregation, and they also shape and inform your response. Which is where stewardship comes in. Stewardship is 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. 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. This life as stewards is a joy and a gift, but it won’t always be easy. It’s costly and will have its fill of challenges. We know this. There’s a cross at the center of our lives as followers of Jesus. But we also know, because of this, that this life we share as disciples and stewards is deeply meaningful. It’s a life of service grounded in love and lived out in response to the promises of our God who comes near and who is with us and loves us, always.

Living in Response to the Good News through our Stewardship
In thinking about stewardship, I always turn to Psalm 24. The psalmist sings, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[9] 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 own. I am God’s own. And all that we have, and all that we are, is God’s also. Everything that makes you the unique person and beloved Child of God that you are, is God’s. Your time, talent, treasure, assets, possessions, and finances of all kinds. Your life, health, body, heart, soul, and mind. 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 and the earth itself 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. 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. Knowing that when we do this, we don’t do it alone. We do it with our God with whom there is always enough, and really more than 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 shows that abundance is real, and scarcity is not. With our God who brings life out of death and shows that the resurrection is real.

You Live in Response!
Our Saviors Lutheran, you live in response to the good news. You respond daily to all that God has done for you. And you respond to the needs of your neighbors too! So I have probably been preaching to the choir today. And you know what, that’s okay. Sometimes we need to be reminded that what we do matters and is seen and known. Friends, your stewardship is your joyful response as individuals and a congregation of God’s beloved people. And God is indeed showing up, bringing resurrection and new life through you! God does this through the way you have discerned your congregation’s mission boldly and you live it out through your congregation’s stated values of forgiveness and reconciliation; dignity, compassion, and justice; being faithful stewards of God’s creation; working towards inclusion and diversity; striving to live with courage and an openness to change.[10]

Not every congregation is so bold to say that they strive to live with courage and an openness to change. But you do this. You do this through being a lay led, clergy supported congregation. Through pivoting, and adapting, and through innovating and trying new things. As you experiment and try new approaches you do so without abandoning who you are and whose you are. You try new things, as you live in response to God’s call and invitation. All the while proclaiming the good news and meeting your neighbors’ needs just as you have always done as the faithful disciples and generous stewards of God’s love that you are here in McCook.

You do this by showing up as God’s faithful people here living in response to the resurrection and the promises made in baptism. You do this by finding ways to do ministry together as God’s beloved people through partnering with St. Alban’s Episcopal here in McCook. And you do this daily through small groups, all of the ministry that happens because of your strong Women of the ELCA ministry here, and through Lunch Bunch. You do this too beyond these church walls through feeding the hungry through the McCook Food Pantry and the weekly Thursday community meal at Memorial Methodist Church. You do this through supporting the local Share the Heat Program and Hooded for Life, through serving as a polling place for your community, and through all that you do by being part of the larger church through the Nebraska Synod and the ELCA. You do this as you discern and will continue to discern and respond to neighbors in need, even amid questions about what a detention center here in town might mean. There is so much you do and make possible which shares God’s love through word and deed. Thank you for all that you do!

As Paul gave thanks for the believers in Thessaloniki, I and your siblings in Christ across Nebraska and around the world, give thanks for you! For through you, I know that what Jesus says is true, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”[11] People of God, keep responding to the Good News. Keep growing as disciples. Keep serving and sharing God’s love as stewards. Because as you do so, you live out the new life of the resurrection. As you do so, you do so never alone for God is with you. And you proclaim the good news through word and deed for one and for all, that God is indeed for you, with you, and loves you. Always. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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Citations and References:
[1] Luke 20:38, NRSVue.
[2] Luke 20:27, NRSVue.
[3] Luke 20:35-36, NRSVue.
[4] Job 19:25-26, NRSVue.
[5] Psalm 17:6-7, NRSVue.
[6] 2 Thessalonians 2:13, NRSVue.
[7] 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17, NRSVue.
[8] As found in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 236.
[9] Psalm 24:1, NRSVue.
[10] According to the congregation’s website: https://www.oslcmccook.org/about#OurMIssion
[11] Luke 20:38, NRSVue.