What if the empty place in a church pew belongs to someone we simply haven't met yet? Our guest preacher begins with the image of God's generous banquet and the difficult wedding feast parable in Matthew 22. The invitation is open to everyone, but accepting it asks more of us than showing up. It asks how we live, how we make room for others, and whether we take God's call seriously without mistaking righteousness for perfection.

A childhood memory of being called home for supper brings that invitation into familiar territory. So does the reality of being busy, exhausted, or discouraged. Reflecting on Trinity's newly launched food outreach, which reached about 92 families the day before, the preacher reminds us that hospitality is not about numbers. It is about the people who need food, friendship, hope, or simply someone willing to invite them in. Nearly 50 years ago, an invitation brought him into church. Who might be waiting for one now?

Season of Pentecost

When we come to the altar, what are we actually expecting to happen? James begins with an unforgettable Christmas Communion experience with his new family in Texas, when not knowing the system led to a mistake that was equal parts mortifying and memorable. But beneath the humor is a serious question about what Communion means to us. Are we simply doing what we see everyone else doing, or do we come expecting to encounter something holy?

For James, the answer is a glimpse of the heavenly banquet, with heaven and earth joined anew as we receive the bread and wine and are sent back into the world with renewed strength. We are standing on holy ground, and we have been called here for something. In Matthew’s Gospel, some answer the call to the vineyard immediately and others take longer, but the invitation remains.

That invitation reaches beyond the altar and into the mission of the Church: restoring people to unity with God and one another in Christ. Drawing on Philippians 2, James reminds us why we continue proclaiming Christ and why worship matters. Whether someone comes early, comes late, or is still waiting for the invitation, our calling is to remain open to the Spirit and faithful in answering God’s call at Trinity Van Buren.

Season of Pentecost

What does cinnamon toast have to do with the Kingdom of God? In this sermon, James begins with a childhood memory of mornings at his grandmother’s house, where four boys raced to the table for cinnamon and sugar toast, and uses that familiar story to open up Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard.

The Gospel challenges our ideas about justice, equality, reward, and what we believe we deserve. The workers who labored all day struggle with the fact that those who came later receive the same daily wage, but James invites us to see the vineyard not simply as a place of labor, but as a gift and a call from God. The work we are given is itself a gift, and what we bring to that work was God’s before it was ever ours.

The sermon connects that teaching with the Lord’s Prayer, the offering at the altar, and the response that reminds us that all things come from God. It also asks whether we sometimes pray for God to do something while forgetting that we have a place in the work ourselves. The closing invitation is simple: trust that God hears our prayers, but be ready to head into the fields and use the gifts God has given us, for that is where we receive our daily bread.

Season of Pentecost