Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 12, 2025
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Things keep going from bad to worse. No, I do not mean current events; no, I do not mean things at church; no, I do not mean the state of deteriorating building. See, two thousand six hundred years ago, in ancient Jerusalem, in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, things keep going from bad to worse. The people have stopped worshiping the Lord God. And then things get worse. The Babylonian army invades, and lays siege to the city. And then things get worse. The Babylonians burn Jerusalem to the ground, and they take all the gold, the riches, the treasures out of God’s Temple. And then things get worse. The Babylonians take with them, back to Babylon, all the leaders of Jerusalem. It was a way to crush Jerusalem. The Babylonians carried off into the exile the philosophers, the lawyers, the military leaders. Jerusalem, and the surrounding country, was left leaderless, penniless, and hopeless. Things had gone from bad to worse.

And it’s in the middle of that horror, that pain, that worry, that Jeremiah writes this letter; a letter of hope to the exiles in Babylon. By the Word of God, Jeremiah writes: “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:4-8).” Imagine how shocking this letter would have been. Those exiles in Babylon, the leaders of the Jewish people had been carried away, to the very people who had hurt them; they had experienced tragedy after tragedy, trauma upon trauma. Whenever they had hit rock bottom, things kept getting worse. 

But then, and then the Lord God gives them a new task, a new hope, a new purpose. In exile, away from their home, they are to build houses. Build families. Seek the welfare of this strange and foreign land. Rather than isolating themselves in exile, they are to recommit to God, they are to bless. They are to make the place in which they live better, holier.

And it’s here, deep in the prophet Jeremiah, that I read the mission of the Church and God’s people. Even when the world has become disorienting and confusing; even when things seem to keep going from bad to worse; and especially in those times, the Lord God has a mission, a purpose, a vision for what we are to do. To build. To restore. To seek the welfare of the place in which we live. I believe that we, as disciples of Jesus, as the people of Trinity Church, are called to bless the city in which we live; to bless the people in our community; to stand in the breach, and empowered by God, to make things better, to go upward from strength to strength. That is the mission of the church; not to resign ourselves, but to recommit ourselves to the work of holiness, of grace, of compassion.

And that, that is why we are asking all of us to do this year in our annual pledge campaign. To see, to hear about, to remember and to witness all the ways that you, the people of Trinity Church, are a blessing to this world. Like the exiles of ancient times, I see you building, growing, blessing this community in the name of God.

This year, we have sixteen middle and high school students in our confirmation class. With your financial support, we can provide them with books and materials as they learn about their faith; to make sure they have plenty of donuts to eat during youth group. And they eat a lot of donuts. You have blessed them. But more importantly, they are learning about a God of grace, of mercy, a God who made them as they are. Or, think about some of the groups that use our spaces. The exercise class for the Houston Area Parkinson Society meets every Tuesday; the ADA women’s center has used Eaton Hall for leadership meetings; theater groups practice here; without charge. Girl Scouts meet here and I know you couldn’t do without their cookies. Because you bless Trinity with your financial support, together we are a blessing to even more people. Or, as the prophet Jeremiah might say, you are seeking the welfare of the city in which you live. We are blessed to be a blessing. 

That’s for all you story people. But I know lots of you are numbers people.

So, our Sunday attendance is up by seven percent over last year, and twenty eight percent over the last two years. For the first time ever, Trinity Church’s budget exceeded one million dollars. And that’s a good thing, too. Like you see in your own finances, insurance costs keep rising; show me an electricity plan in which rates go down every year. And with more people, we need more staff to keep things going. You, the people of Trinity Church, are the ones that make all of that happen. Only eight percent, only eight percent of our annual budget comes from the endowment. That doesn’t even cover the annual maintenance on this place. Your financial support is critical, and I do mean critical, to keep this place going. You bless us with your support; so we can keep doing what we’re doing. And what we’re doing is making a difference in the lives of the people in this church and community.

And I want to share with you why my family gives to Trinity. This place blesses me with the opportunity to learn from some amazingly faithful people. This place blesses me with a place to call home, a place in which to pray, a place to give thanks to God for this life I have been given. The music and choir programs are blessing to my whole family; and so is Vacation Bible School, and confirmation class, and youth group. This is where we pray, where we sing, where we make friends. This place teaches me how to follow Jesus. We give, because this place blesses us. That’s for you story people. For you numbers people, for 2026, with our annual pledge and our gift to the building fund, we are giving 10% of my income back to Trinity. We also support other non-profits that are important to us. Jesus said to give everything to follow him. The Church asks us to aim for ten percent. The way I look at it, I’m getting a ninety percent discount. You have blessed me with that grace, and I return that blessing back to God, so that we may continue to bless the people around us. So here is my pledge card. Filled out and signed for 2026. The three of us talked about it, and we offer it now. We are blessed to be a blessing. And whatever you decide to give or not give, that is between you and God. However you wish to participate in the life of Trinity Church, that is up to you. But what I do know, from what I see in you, is that this place is a blessing.

As it happens now, so it happened then. For the people of God, all those thousands of years ago, hope remained. Things were bad, certainly, but through their faithfulness, God continued to bless them. In many ways, it’s in Babylon, it’s in their exile that they become molded into a new people. And when they do go back to Jerusalem, when their exile is ended, they go back with renewed vigor to rebuild, to restore, to keep alive the faith and hope that is in them. Right after this passage in Jeremiah, that’s exactly what the Lord God says. “Then when you call upon me and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find, says the Lord (Jeremiah 29:12-13).” I do not believe that things have to go from bad to worse. I believe, as the people of God have trusted for thousands of years, that God yearns to rebuild, to restore, to bless.

And most of all, that’s what I want to do today. To give you a word of hope. That God sees, that God knows, and that God cares. God sees, God knows, and God cares about all the hard things in this world. And that it is through you, the people of God and the Church of Jesus Christ, that God will bless, God will heal, God will restore, to lead this world from strength to strength.