Sunday August 9th, 2026 Worship

Now, I know it may not come as a surprise to many people that I spent the formative years of my life playing soccer. From my early years as a forward and midfielder, to my final years as a goalie, I have always loved everything about soccer. Watching it, playing it, studying it. So, naturally, when one of my pastors growing up started a Bible Study for kids called “Kicks for Christ,” I was all in! It was a Bible study that contained teachings about the body, as well as working together as a community, with a time to practice our soccer skills and have some fun at church. I had such fond memories of this program that Rev. Kev, as he was lovingly known, and I brought it back when I was in high school. I should have known then, as we were planning and leading this together, that I would end up as a pastor, but I was still in denial at that point. (It would still be several years because every started calling me “Future Pastor Sara,” at church, even though this was when I got my first Concordance of the Bible)!
As a part of the program, the kids would make outlines of their bodies on large pieces of paper, and as we would spend time stretching and preparing to go run soccer drills in the church gym, we would study different Scripture verses related to our bodies and write the verses on the corresponding body part. And, for some reason, besides Paul’s teachings about the body having many members, today’s reading from Romans is the one that sticks out most in my memory. I can still see it now “Romans 10: 15,” written in blue marker on the right foot of my outline. As I read the texts for this week, I could still so clearly see Rev. Kev and hear his passion for sharing the good news with us as he recited: ‘As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ (Romans 10: 15b). In the way that Rev. Kev delivered these words, there was just so much awe and reverence, as he was helping the kids and myself, come to appreciate all that our bodies are capable of doing, and all the ways that we would get to steward the Good News of God in everything we did, even kicking around a soccer ball. It was so much more than just saying “God made me good at soccer,” but a deeper recognition of the way that playing on a team united us and helped create relationships of care. It helped put our activities into the language of vocation, without us even realizing that was what he was doing.
Now, I know that not many people would agree with Paul’s sentiment about feet being beautiful, but I do love the imagery that invokes the reality of how God’s goodness is shared in the world, as we are entrusted to be bearers and stewards of that Good News, not just in the words that we say, but in our very existence! If you get nothing else out of this sermon today, I want you to hear the reminder that God is intertwined with all of creation; that God’s relationship with and to creation didn’t just end with the creation story, but God’s presence is always here. As Jesus reminds the disciples today, when they think he is a ghost walking on the water towards them, ‘Take heart, here I am; do not be afraid’ (Matthew 14: 27b). Similar words that are spoken when God is doing something big and is inviting us to be a part of that too.
Yes, obviously the disciples get Jesus’ physical presence in their troubling time, but his declaration also proclaims the fullness of God’s presence with creation throughout all of history…even if it does take the disciples a little bit longer to get there today, like usual. His words and his calming of the winds harken back to the way that God is moving through creation, and the silence, in God’s conversation with Elijah today, which goes back to Genesis and God speaking over the waters. It is God, the Creator, who is so intimately connected with nature as to be able to control creation. What I appreciate most in this story today is the way that Elijah recognizes that God wasn’t speaking to him through the wind, earthquake, or fire, but also understood that God hadn’t abandoned him through those disasters either. God remains rooted with Elijah, even as Elijah is afraid and terrified about what comes next (1 Kings 19: 9-18); God stays present and gives him some instruction for how to move forward, albeit in a way Elijah wasn’t necessarily anticipating.
And, our Psalmist gives us some beautiful imagery too when they talk about the relationship between God’s faithfulness and righteousness; “Faithfulness shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalm 85: 11), giving us the image of the entire world being encompassed in God’s steadfast love. The love of God then remains present in each of us, flowing freely in and through us, drawing us closer to one another and the rest of creation. Paul is talking about the importance of proclaiming the Gospel, but our proclamation is so much more than just the words that we say. After all, even he notes that ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (Romans 10:8b). This proclamation of our faith is embodied in our very beings when we turn toward God and one another in love, when we trust in the promises of God and see the goodness of God in all that surrounds us. God’s love is with us in our hearts, and it emboldens us to share that love through word and deed. It isn’t something that we share in order to coerce others into faith, but because that it the only way we know how to respond to this incredible gift of life and love that we have been given.
That was something Rev. Kev helped to teach me and the other kids in our Kicks for Christ group from a young age, this reality that our very existence proclaims God’s praise because of the awesomeness of our being. When we think about the vastness of history, our lives are but a small speck, yet we were created to exist here and now, to impact the world around us, and to love those whom we encounter. Even just the very idea that our body is made up of these physical and chemical components that came together in just the right way to make us who we are, uniquely and wonderfully made, is a testament to the astounding nature of God.
While I was on vacation, I read the book My Friends by Fredrik Backman, and I took so many notes that Emily said I might as well have written down the whole book. But one of the quotes that really stuck with me this week as I was thinking through this sermon is when the teenager, Louisa, in a definitely teenage fashion says, ‘It’s cool that we even happened at all.’ But, seriously! How cool is it that we even happened at all? That God has gathered us together, people of so many different backgrounds and experiences, to know and love one another, as we go back out into our world and our various circles to keep sharing that love in the world. This is what I mean when I talk about God being intertwined with all of creation because when I look at the world around us, I cannot help but stand in awe sometimes and take a moment to celebrate the fact that we even get to be here at all and that our very existence gets to help proclaim the abiding love of God. Whether we do so at work, in our families, in our recreational activities, or with our friends, our callings are so vast and so simple at the same time: love God and love the world God created, reveling in the awesomeness that we even happened at all.