2026-03-09
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Most of you know that when I finish my time here on Easter, I plan to return to the semi-retirement I began for six months before I was asked to serve as your interim pastor, a role that I have cherished! But when I revert to being a retiree again, it will actually be for the third time.
I initially stepped back from working when I was 31 years old. My career in retail banking was advancing quickly and I was not doing a good job of balancing my roles as a mother, wife and employee so I chose to leave my job and stay at home, a decision I relished for eleven years. My kids were able to grow up with a mom who chaperoned their field trips, volunteered in their classrooms and was an active community volunteer.
But, even though I knew it was the right choice for my family and for me, it took a while to appreciate my new role. Initially, I grieved that I did not have a professional persona to define me. I would stare longingly at my briefcase sitting in the corner, knowing I no longer had need of it. I couldn’t figure out how to introduce myself when I didn’t have a business card to hand out when I met someone new. And, perhaps worst of all, I didn’t have a paycheck; I wasn’t producing. I struggled to determine what would define my worth beyond societal measures of success. It took some time, but I am so grateful that I learned to understand that my inherent worth as a child of God did not need the trappings of a career.
As I reflected this week on the parable of the fig tree, I recalled this time in my young adulthood. Just as I was initially uncertain about my worth as a stay-at-home mom, the landowner, not seeing the value of the tree that isn’t producing figs, wants to cut it down, determined that it is simply wasting space. But the gardener, wants to aerate the soil, add some fertilizer and give the fledgling tree another chance, so he successfully argues to delay a decision for another year.
As is often Jesus’ way, he tells this story to make his point: God will never give up on us; we always get another chance. And the amazing gift in this is that we don’t need to prove ourselves worthy of this second chance. God, who aches when things that are supposed to bear fruit fail to do so, advocates, nurtures, feeds us and gives us room to grow. And God will argue for another year next year . . . and every year after that because God never gives up on us!
One commentator writing about this text shared a wonderful definition of grace, justice and mercy. He says justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Then he adds that justice is having a chance, mercy is having second, third and fourth chances, and grace is not even having our chances counted. This is the powerful gift of our faith.
In fact, I would argue that our chances are only numbered by our willingness to take them because God always has another opportunity shimmering on the horizon that calls us to lead more expansive lives and trust God more completely. Friends, this is the God I believe we are called to share with people who have never been given another chance, those who have not experienced the blessings of justice, mercy and grace. And this is the gift of a church like Federated! Here is a place where people who have been hurt by the world can come and find acceptance exactly as they are. It is a place where we not only tell this story, but also live its message: that none of us need to produce to be loved and worthy of God’s unending grace.
I know this to be true because, at every inquirers’ class, we hear from person after person that they came looking for a church where everyone can be accepted, and where members are committed to doing justice, serving others and offering extravagant welcome. Almost to a person, they share that they came here and never looked anywhere else.
God calls us to fertilize our imaginations and seek new ways to be the church in this time. As we discussed yesterday at our energizing leadership retreat, measuring the “success” of church based on the number of people in worship on Sunday mornings is not the only way – not even the primary way – Jesus calls us to be disciples. Rather, we need to consider how we impact others, both in this faith community and in the wider world.
I hope you noticed the impact data that was included in the annual report because I think the numbers are stunning. During 2025, more than 14,000 people used our building for various kinds of ministry while at the Family Life Center, largely through the work of the Community Life Collaborative, 30,000 people were a part of the ministry there. This, my friends, shows all the ways that we are a part of God’s transformative work in the world!
Like the fig tree in the vineyard, there is much that is beyond our control: the tree can’t control how much rain falls or how rich the soil is. We don’t know how people will respond to the ministries we engage. In fact, we know some things will need to be tweaked or ended altogether. But like the fig tree, we are given countless chances to try again. What we can control is how much we trust God and how we care for one another when they are hurting or in need of help.
But doing this takes time and one of the gifts of Lent is that it offers us a chance to slow down a bit, to realize that it takes patience to be nurtured back to a full, productive life, and so we need to be gentle with ourselves and others. I pray that we will all make time in this season to aerate our soil with spiritual practices, add the fertilizer of prayer and take time each day to offer gratitude for our many blessings. Our Lenten prayer chains and blessing bowls are designed to aid us in these efforts.
Friends, my prayer – my strong belief – is that there is no limit for a congregation like this one that is so powerfully rooted in God’s love and grace. May it be so that we can expand our faith until it overflows its brim as we open ourselves to God’s fertile imagination and boundless grace. Amen!