Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on August 10, 2025
[sermon begins after two Bible readings]
Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Luke 12:32-40 [Jesus said to the thousands:] 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
[sermon begins]
What do the stars see when they look towards our pale blue dot swirling through the Milky Way? Maybe cloud spirals and lightning flashes stand out. Or city lights that coalesce into radiant diamonds across the land. Or creatures of all kinds across earth and sea who are foraging, frolicking, and fighting. What could the stars tell us about ourselves that we can’t see for ourselves because we’re too close to the action, building incomprehensible worlds that we can’t seem to shift from the habits built over millennia. I’m into world building stories like Lord of the Rings where events shape the characters as much as the characters shape events. I just recently finished The Liveship Traders trilogy complete with dragons, sea serpents, pirates, and liveships who spoke because they were carved from the wizardwood of dragon cocoons.[1] Division and hierarchy were entrenched from the kings to the enslaved people. Hope was shaped by sinner-saint characters, including the liveships themselves, who say things like, “…life is to be lived, rather than hoarded against an unseen tomorrow.”[2] Small wonder to be compelled by stories that build worlds. Isn’t that what the Bible is, after all? A story of a people in a relationship with the God of the cosmos whose word created life in which God took delight and forms us as people of faith to usher in God’s vision for the world.
In the Genesis story, [the Lord] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them—So shall your descendants be.” When Abram looked back at the stars’ gaze, he saw the promises of God. Not the worlds millions of miles away but a world of possibilities in his time through God’s reckless abundance given to him. Abram was a wayfarer on a journey from his homeland at God’s invitation to renew the earth by building a world in which God’s kingdom reigns for the good of everyone – the stranger, the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Unlimited goodness from a God of steadfast love and lovingkindness.[3]
You may have heard that the ELCA Churchwide Assembly just elected Presiding Bishop-elect Yehiel Curry to serve a six-year term beginning in October. Presiding Bishop-elect Curry was born on the South Side of Chicago, raised in the Catholic church, went to Catholic schools, and became a social worker, then a seventh-grade teacher.[4] One of his college friends invited him to a worship service at Shekinah (She-kine-uh) Chapel on the South Side that had a focus on mentoring young Black boys in a program called SIMBA – Safe in My Brother’s Arms. He went because he’d heard they’d also organized a SIMBA camp, and he wanted to take his students camping.[5] Bishop Curry went to this church not even knowing it was Lutheran. Started attending. Fell in love with the ministry. Two years later he learned it was Lutheran. Now he’s our ELCA Presiding Bishop-elect. Bishop Curry said, “I went into a church looking for ministry and found a Lutheran church – a church [centered] on grace, God’s word for all people, and loving each and every person.” Now that’s a good word about our church and the world God is building through it from our new Presiding Bishop to his ELCA flock.
Right after Jesus’ lovely speech to the flock about fearing not, Peter says, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”[6] It’s a classic question. Is Jesus’ speech a general kind of “all y’all” or is Jesus talking to me? As if I’ll fly under the radar if I don’t make eye contact with Jesus on this one. We don’t get to hear Peter’s reply to Jesus in the Bible reading today although it comes as the very next verse in Luke. He is still talking to the crowd of thousands. In the verses just before ours today, preached last Sunday by Pastor Karen, Jesus warns the crowds. “Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” He wraps up those verses telling them not to worry about their lives but to strive for the kingdom. A kingdom, we hear today, in which we need not worry about our treasure being taken by thieves or destroyed by moths because they are secured by God.[7]
Right away, though, Jesus says:
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
This is one of the challenges in the way we read the Bible Sunday-to-Sunday. If left with the striving of last week’s verses against greed, we could assume wrongly that striving is the whole plan. It’s too easy to leap from striving to earning. Earning God’s pleasure. Earning God’s salvation. On the heels of earning comes deserving. I deserve God’s pleasure. I deserve God’s salvation. Until, suddenly, I’m left wondering if I’ve strived enough, earned enough, and am deserving enough. I’ve left myself no room for grace.
Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God’s good pleasure to give the kingdom to Jesus’ followers is an antidote to their fear.[8] In scripture, “do not be afraid” is the clue that we’re going to hear about God’s power and promise; God’s mighty deeds.[9] We hear it multiple times in Luke’s gospel from angels and from Jesus. Abram hears it in the Genesis reading. These promises come from God to Abram, to Luke, and to us – unconditional promise and reckless grace.
This week, Jesus offers another way to be on guard against the greed he warns about in the earlier verses.
Jesus says:
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[10]
It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom! Through this kingdom promise, disciples can guard against all kinds of greed and resist the urge to worry 24/7. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and then directs us to be generous with money.[11] Telling us that where our treasure, our money, goes then our hearts will follow. People assume that you give to where your heart is already. But Jesus says the opposite here, you can direct where your heart goes by what you do with your money.[12]
Jesus is interested in our hearts because of God’s heart for the cosmos, for the nations, for the people. God’s heart is revealed through God’s kingdom come through Jesus whose humility and self-sacrifice lead us to live as he did. Jesus who calls us to build a world on the subversive economy of the kingdom where generosity of treasure moves our hearts towards people and places loved by God, too.[13] People foraging, frolicking, and fighting under the vast expanse of stars gazing our way. Have no fear little flock, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Today. Here. Now.
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[1] Robin Hobb. The Liveship Traders (Harper Voyager: 2010).
[2] Ibid., p. 2809.
[3] Psalm 33:18 and 22
[4] Bridgette Adu-Wadier interviews Presiding Bishop-elect Yehiel Curry. August 7, 2025. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Elects First Black Presiding Bishop, a Chicago Native | Chicago News | WTTW.
[5] Lutheran World Federation. May 19, 2023. USA: from summer camp leader to Chicago bishop | The Lutheran World Federation.
[6] Luke 12:41
[7] E. Trey Clark, Professor of Preaching and Spiritual Formation, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
[8] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave Podcast #1037: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19C) – August 10, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.
[9] David Lose, President of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Commentary on Luke 12:32-40 for WorkingPreacher.org, August 8, 2010. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=729
[10] Luke 12:33-34
[11] Luke 10:25-37 Parable of the Good Samaritan: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
[12] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave Podcast. #1037: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19C) – August 10, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
[13] Clark, ibid.