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SERMONS:
Pastor Peg posts her two most recent sermons on this page. If you are interested in reading more of her sermons you can go to pastorpeg.wordpress.com. For the next three weeks we are preaching about The Rested Soul. How do we stay rested and with God during the hectic times in our lives? Enjoy.
On Eagles’ Wings
November 23, 2025 Christ the King Sunday
Isaiah 40:27-31 Philippians 4:4-7;12-13
This is the last day of our sermon series on the rested soul. So far I’ve talked about giving our stress to God, and Jesus, when we feel overwhelmed, and that on our journey, God Jesus and the Holy Spirit are going to be walking with us and giving us nudges of direction so that we don’t get lost. This week we’ll go one step further and talk about harnessing the power that God gives us to do wonderful things. After all, wouldn't you like to receive some of that power so that you could do wonderful things on this earth?
In my first year in ministry the district lay leader came to our church charge conference. Everyone in the church was really happy to see him and they were all asking him how he was doing, and saying, Oh, you look so good. I was a bit confused and then one of my people explained to me that he had just recovered from a very nasty bout of cancer.
I can’t remember the name of the cancer, but apparently only about 15% of the people that get this cancer survive. I said that it must have been hard to get that diagnosis. He looked me straight in the eye and said: I told the doctor that my God can run a truck through that percentage.
It was very humbling for me to see how this man was so strong in his faith and that his faith gave him unlimited strength during a really bad illness. I actually thought to myself: Do I have that kind of faith? Do I have the ability to believe so completely in God’s power that I can claim that kind of healing?
And I know that I will never get the answer to that question until I get to a place that's similar to where his was.
We all have doubt. It's sometimes very hard for us living in this very physical world; to believe sometimes that there is something beyond this; that's greater than this. And yet I really do think that we want to believe it. I think it is why the idea of the force in Star Wars is so appealing to people. Who wouldn't want to be a Jedi and be able to tap into the universe’s force and be able to move things around with their mind? But throughout the centuries people have believed that there is this force of God that can connect with us, and that we can connect with. A force and power that can give us strength during the difficult times in our lives.
Isaiah challenges people to believe in this power of God, and to believe that they can connect with it. Why do you say, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Isaiah asks: Do you really think that your problems are hidden from God? Do you really think that you’re not worthy enough for your problems to be heard by God?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard: God has so many other problems that are so much bigger and are so much more important than mine, that I don't think I should bother God with my problems. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary;his understanding is unsearchable. Aren't all of us taught that God is all knowing; that God is all wise; that God can reach anywhere and do anything? Don’t we say that God is omnipotent?
God has no limits. We have limits. I only have 16 hours in the day to work on things. I cannot do everything, or be everywhere, all at once, so I have to prioritize my life. I have to look at my schedule and when things are due to be done, and then I have to create a game plan of where and when to focus my attention. That's me as a human. That's not God. So why do I catch myself putting my limits on God?
Isaiah goes on to say: He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength That is an invitation to tap into the unlimited power of God. We all receive that invitation; God actually wants to give us strength for what we need to do in life. God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are looking for a relationship with us.
We can't have that power without the foundation of a good connection with our souls, which is where we find our God connection. If I can continue the Star Wars analogy, apparently some people are more gifted with the force, but all people can connect with the force at one level or another. But it takes practice.
And we practice by consciously connecting to God. We connect through prayer. We connect through music and worship. We connect through journaling. We connect through crafting. We connect through fishing. We connect when we visit friends; when we sit with people who are lonely and give them some of our time. We connect when we help people. You know, I've mentioned that our mission until the end of the year is to support our local food banks. I really believe that every time you go to the store, and you say I should get some soup for the food bank you are also connecting to God.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. We all get physically tired, we’re built that way, but I don’t think that Isaiah is talking so much about physical tiredness as he is mental and emotional tiredness. Even in daily-minimum-stress life we get tired of the same old routine. We get weary in our hearts and minds if we’re not being fed love and encouragement. Also, we can sometimes be so embedded in our routines that we can’t see what our actions do for others or where they’re leading us. Don’t you ever get that feeling that you’re in the middle of a really thick forest and you don’t know if what you’re doing is working or that you’re making any progress?
But one of the things that happens when you start to connect with God is that God and Jesus ask you to examine your life. We are asked to examine our motivations; to look at how our actions affect others; to consider how we are making the world a better place. Faith is not blind. Yes, sometimes we take a leap of faith, like Peter did when he jumped out of the boat and started to walk on the water. (Peter’s problem was that he started to doubt his faith. His small amount of faith enabled him to walk on water.)
But for the most part, Jesus tried to get his disciples to think about how they were in relationship with God and everyone they met. He asked them to think about where the justice, mercy and compassion was in their actions. He challenged them to see everyone as a child of God who was worthy of respect and dignity. He was trying to expand their minds and hearts to see a bigger picture.
What does the eagle see when it flies? It doesn’t see the inside of the forest. It sees the whole world spread out before it. It sees how the forest connects to the mountains, which connect to a river, which flows out into the pains and then to the sea. The power of God not only gives us heart-and-mind strength but also a greater perspective that keeps us on track along our journey.
Paul takes this idea and says: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. What happens when we are rejoicing? We are giving thanks for the wonderful things our lives. HMM – Isn’t there a holiday centered around that? I’m going to give you a challenge for this Thanksgiving. Every hour-on-the-hour, give thanks for something. That means that every hour-on-the-hour you’re going to be connecting with God.
Paul said: I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
The Lord is near; connect with God. Live in thankfulness and open your heart to Christ’s compassion and love. Let your requests be known to God so that he can give you strength and help you. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The Good Shepherd
November 16, 2025 23rd Sunday of Pentecost
Psalm 23 John 10:11-15
Over the years I’ve preached on Jesus as the good shepherd more times than I can remember. And I’m sure that over the years you’ve heard sermons about the good shepherd more times than you can remember. So, what can I add to this image that I haven’t said or that you haven’t heard?
Well, right now we’re doing our sermon series on the Rested Soul. That led me to think of the image that you often find in some classical paintings of beautiful rolling hills; adorned with fat, fuzzy sheep, who are grazing over lush green meadows; and being watched over by kindly shepherds under a blue summer sky. Now if I had one of those paintings in my home it would be a relaxing thing to look at after a stressful day. Humans have only recently had television to zone out with at the end of a tough day. Before that you had to rely on sitting on your porch and looking at nature, or looking at a nice painting that you could imagine yourself in.
But life isn’t really like that pretty picture of a calm day with sheep and shepherds lazing around. Being a shepherd was actually a really difficult job. In Israel, if you were a shepherd, you would be gone for long lengths of time from your home. Unlike our northern area here where we have an abundance of green stuff that sheep can graze on, in the Middle East the ground cover is sparser, and shepherds had to keep moving the sheep’s grazing so the ecosystem wouldn’t get destroyed. You couldn't stay more than a few days in one area. And when you stopped in an area you would probably stay in shepherd’s cots, which were little buildings along the grazing route, like a temporary lean-to that might keep out some of the weather. You were out in the wind, rain, sun, snow, heat and cold.
Shepherds would be supplied by their families occasionally, but they had to live off the land and know how to hunt their meat and cook their basic fireside bread. Plus, there were some very nasty wild animals that were still in the area during Jesus’ time. Shepherds had to protect the sheep, and themselves, from lions, bears, cheetahs, plus wolves and jackals, which hunted in packs. And did you know that crocodiles could still be found in some of the rivers? They were still being reported in Israel in the 1800’s! Even crossing a stream, you could lose a sheep or your own life.
Psalm 23 takes on new meaning when you consider all that. THE LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. The first lines kind of sound like that painting, don’t they? But that’s where the shepherd ends up with the sheep at the end of the journey. And the journey can be dangerous and scary.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me. All of us walk through dark valleys and dark times in our lives and sometimes we encounter bad situations or people who could really hurt us. But part of our relationship with God is that we trust Him to show them the way. And the rod and the staff aren’t there to hurt us – they’re there to guide us: to give us little nudges in directions that they need to go. The psalmist reminds us that God is guiding us, and that we need to listen for those nudges in our lives that will tell us the right way to go. That God is leading us through those dark times to a better place.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You know my father used to teach the first grade Sunday school in my home church, and they studied this psalm. My father put down some big pieces of paper and asked the kids to draw pictures of the “enemies.” It was really cute, because all the kids drew pictures of these big monsters like you might see in a fantasy story. They were green and purple, with fangs and big sticky up hair. But if you think about that’s how you do feel about people who are dangerous or threatening to you; they’re kind of monster like. But we’re assured that, even around the monsters that we encounter, that God is giving us strength and wisdom: you anoint my head with oil. That even during the bad times we do have blessings in our lives: my cup overflows.
So even though life isn’t going to be perfect. Even through the journey is going to go through some rough areas, and we’ll probably encounter some people who aren’t very good to us, we will still get to that place of still waters. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
That is a beautiful testimony, which was given at least 1,000 years before Jesus. But then Jesus came and told his disciples that he is the good shepherd. They would have gotten that image right away and understood that Jesus is the one who is going to lead them through difficult times. He is going to show them the way to those green fields and still waters. He loves his disciples so much that he is willing to protect them with his life. And he does fulfill that promise when he gives his life as the final sacrifice for our sins.
We don’t have sacrifice ourselves for our sins, or those we love for our sins. Think about it – when you do something wrong don’t you talk yourself down and say to yourself that you are a horrible person? And don’t we sometimes lash out at people around us when we are trying to avoid admitting that we’ve done something wrong? That’s called deflection. Jesus’ assurance is that we don’t have to live there in our guilt and shame. We can ask God for forgiveness and He’s going to help us work on getting our lives back on the right path.
Sometimes we are going to have to walk some difficult routes to get back on the path, but God and Jesus are going to be with us and guiding us every step of the way.
God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit are our shepherds. They walk with us, guide us, love us and sacrifice for us. But do we believe in that Blessed Assurance? When we’re struggling with a decision, do we turn to them? When we need rest, do we let them guide you to quiet places? Do we allow them to be our shepherds?
Life is really crazy – especially around this time of the year. And in the midst of all the doing everything we can work ourselves up into a franticness that doesn’t help our stress levels. We are supposed to be decorating; we’re supposed to be buying the right gift; we’re supposed to send our yearly greetings; we’re supposed to be planning the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. And we’re supposed to feel merry and bright during all of that!
How many of you are exhausted after Christmas? It’s understandable.
How do we turn over to God all those things that burdened us? How to we remember that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are walking with us this time of the year, and at any other stressful times? Well, Christianity is a practice, and when things get crazy, we should practice slowing down and getting in contact with God. Let’s take some time, close our eyes, take a breath and pray what stresses us; give it to God. You’re not asking God to do it for you. You’re asking God to be with you and to give you the strength, or the time, or the wisdom, to do the job.
So right now, we’re going to do an exercise. I want everyone to think of one thing that you want to do this afternoon, or sometime during the week. We’re going to close our eyes and hold that in our thought. Then we’re going to take a deep breath and let it out but while we do that, we’re going to ask God to help us with whatever our project is. Maybe you’re going finish putting away your Halloween decorations; maybe you’re going to send a birthday card to someone; it doesn’t matter. We’re simply going to ask God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us get the job done.
Are you ready? Close your eyes; hold your project in your thoughts: Breath in and breath our with your prayer.
How did that feel? When life gets hectic, we need to connect with God, remember that He’s with us and just ask for His help. Why not? God can handle it! He wants to be in contact with you. He wants to lead you through the valleys to the calm meadow and still water. He wants you to be in connection with Him in love and to be with him in a state of peace.
When we take that step and invite Him into those hectic and stressful moments in our lives, we will know that our cup runs over with blessings and that we are dwelling with our Divine Parent, our Brother Jesus, and our beloved sister the Holy Spirit, in their house now and always.