Trust Issues
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For June 7, 2026:
Trust Issues
by Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 12:1-9, Romans 4:13-25
When we put our faith into something we ourselves have made, we’re bound to be disappointed.
“He/she has trust issues.” We hear it all the time.
In psychology, “trust issues” describes difficulty believing others will be reliable, honest, or safe. It is not a clinical diagnosis, but a pattern of thoughts and behaviors that makes secure relationships harder to build and sustain.
At some point, all of us struggle with trust. We may have been betrayed, bullied, treated unfairly, abused, manipulated, or let down by broken promises. Whatever caused it, mistrust leaves us afraid of being hurt, betrayed, or abandoned. We question motives, hesitate to rely on others, and stay alert for signs of danger or dishonesty.
These patterns can surface in friendships, romance, workplaces, and even faith communities.
With that in mind, imagine how Abraham felt when God said, “Pack up your whole clan, servants, and everything you own, and head west. I’ll tell you when to stop.” It would be altogether understandable if 75-year-old Abraham exhibited some “trust issues.”
In the Scriptures
But he doesn’t! He doesn’t seem to have any issues at all. He decides to trust God and do what God asks of him. He gathers his entire family, the whole clan of them, and everything they own, and he leads them, like a wagon train without the wagons, into the setting sun.
Now, of course, the story doesn’t end there. This is only the beginning. The story of Abraham and his journey to what would become the Holy Land takes up 14 chapters of the book of Genesis. It is the theological hinge of the Torah that introduces the themes of covenant, promise, land, blessing, and the identity of Israel. It is, quite literally, the foundation upon which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are built.
We are not at all surprised, then, when Paul, in his letter to the Roman Christians, reaches back to the story of Abraham to illustrate for them what true faith looks like.
Unfortunately, when we start translating from Hebrew (Genesis) to Greek (Romans) to English, we run into some lack of clarity about the words Faith, Belief, and Trust that we need to unpack. Let’s work through that lack of clarity step by step.
1. In Genesis 12, Abraham obeys God’s call, gathers his clan together, and heads west.
2. In Genesis 15, that obedient trust is interpreted theologically: “Abraham believed the Lord, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
3. Paul later returns to this in Romans 4, and the same passage is echoed in Galatians 3 and James 2 because it is central to understanding faith.
The challenge comes in translation, especially with the word believe. In the original Greek, Paul uses episteusen, a verb form related to faith. English has no natural verb form of faith, so translators often use believed. But in modern English, belief can sound thin, as though it means nothing more than agreement with an idea.
That is why the distinction matters. I can believe that two and two are four. I can believe that my wife loves me. I can even say I believe someone could push me across Niagara Falls in a wheelbarrow on a tightrope. But faith goes further than mental agreement.
Faith is when I actually get into the wheelbarrow.
Do you see the difference? Belief by itself may ask nothing of me. Faith, however, involves trust, and trust leads to action. To get into the wheelbarrow — literally or metaphorically — is to place myself in the hands of another. That is why faith is not merely believing something about God; it is trusting God enough to act.
In ancient Hebrew thought, faith and trust are deeply bound together. That helps us hear Paul’s point more clearly.
So, a clearer rendering of Paul’s message to the Romans might be this: “Abraham trusted the Lord, and the Lord reckoned his trust as righteousness.” In this sense, righteousness is not merely correct belief; it is a life of trust in God.
In the News
“If you tell any lie long enough, often enough, and loud enough, people will come to believe it.”
That anonymous quote is often associated with the concept of the “Big Lie,” which suggests that a gross distortion of the truth, if repeated often enough, will be accepted as reality. Although this idea didn’t originate with Adolf Hitler, he referenced it in Mein Kampf, noting that if you tell a big enough lie people would believe it because they would not believe that someone could distort the truth so audaciously.
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, also emphasized this technique, stating that a lie can be maintained as long as the state can shield the people from its consequences.
People have called the claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by the Democrats through nefarious means Trump’s Big Lie.
But the fact is, we modern Americans are onto the Big Lie. We know to look out for it. We know that huge, whopper lies are so obvious that they are immediately dismissed. If it sounds like a big lie, it probably is.
So now politicians have, for the most part, taken the Big Lie off the playing field and substituted the avalanche of little lies, often untruths that are just a fraction of millimeter from the truth but untrue just the same. They sound true and are often so small that no one bothers to check. Besides, we’ve heard it before somewhere else so it must be true, right?
Like, everyone knows that domestic abuse hotlines receive twice as many calls on Super Bowl Sunday as any other day of the year. (Wrong.) And everyone knows that you can reduce the crime rate by sprucing up the neighborhood. (Wrong.) And you lose half of your body heat through your head. (Wrong.) And it seems like a whole lot of stuff we learned as kids turned out to be wrong. So, someone was either lying or they were as ignorant as we were and didn’t know any better.
So, to protect ourselves from being taken in we just refuse to believe anything that any politician says. We assume that they all lie all the time and we just dismiss what they say with a wink and a nod, a twit of the wrist, and a knowing glance to our friends.
As long as the lies they tell benefit us and our kind we don’t care. Besides, the other side is telling their own lies, right?
Is it any wonder we are all burdened with political “trust issues?”
What’s the answer?
In the Sermon
Maybe the problem isn’t that we trust too much. Trust is not in and of itself a bad thing. It’s a very good thing. No, we have trust issues because we place our trust in things and people that are unworthy of it. When we put our faith in something that we, ourselves, have made, we are bound to be disappointed.
Or maybe the problem is that we have confused faith with blind belief. We call on people to believe this or that proposition without any evidence and then, when they have trouble doing so, we say they need more faith, as though faith is something you can cook up on the stove like a Mulligan stew or a pot of porridge.
We read of Abraham’s faith and trust in God as though it all started in Chapter 13 of Genesis when old Abraham hears God’s voice for the first time, telling him to move. But the ancient rabbis knew better. While the Torah mentions Abraham’s youth only in passing, the Talmud, one of the foundational bodies of Jewish interpretation, tells many stories of Abraham’s early years and how he grew into his faith.
When Abraham heard God say, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household…” it sounds, on the surface, like a sudden leap of faith. One day he’s home in Haran, the next he’s packing the tent and heading toward a land he’s never seen. But the rabbis tell us that this wasn’t sudden at all. Abraham had been preparing for this moment his entire life.
They say that when Abraham was just a child, hidden away in a cave to protect him from King Nimrod, he began to wonder about the world. He watched the sun rise and set, the moon wax and wane, and he asked the kind of questions only a child can ask with such honesty: “Who is really in charge here?” And when he realized that no created thing could be God, he began to trust the One who made them all.
Later, when he worked in his father’s idol shop, he saw people bowing to statues they themselves had carved. He smashed the idols — not out of anger, but out of clarity. He had already learned to trust what was true, even when it meant standing alone.
And when Nimrod threw him into the furnace for refusing to worship fire, Abraham discovered something deeper still: that the God he trusted was also the God who could be trusted. He walked out of those flames knowing that his life was held in hands stronger than any king’s hands.
So, when God finally said, “Go,” Abraham didn’t hear a stranger’s voice. He heard the same voice he had been listening to since childhood — the voice behind the stars, the voice that had carried him through danger, the voice that had proven faithful long before the journey ever began.
Whether we accept the stories of the Talmud as fact or as informative/ interpretive fiction, Abraham’s leaving home wasn’t a reckless leap. It was the next faithful step in a lifetime of learning to trust the One who had already been leading him.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Trusting the Promise in Everyday Life
by Nazish Naseem
Romans 4:13–25
No road map. No clear destination. Only a promise. Abraham’s story begins there — and so do many of our own journeys of faith.
Abraham’s story is often told as a story of faith. We hear that his faith was “counted to him as righteousness,” and rightly so. But if we look more closely, we begin to see that faith, in Abraham’s life, is not just something he has. It is something he lives. It is trust — growing, stretching, and sometimes struggling over time.
In Genesis, Abraham is seventy-five when God calls him. There is no map, no clear destination, only a promise: “Go… and I will show you.” And somehow, Abraham goes. That first step is remarkable. It is the beginning of trust — the willingness to move forward without certainty. But that is only the beginning.
Years pass. The promise does not come quickly. Abraham waits. He questions. He makes mistakes. His journey is not smooth or perfect. It is shaped by delay and uncertainty just as much as by obedience. As Walter Brueggemann observes, Abraham’s life is defined by living between promise and fulfillment — a space where trust must continually be renewed.
By the time Paul reflects on Abraham in Romans, everything has become even more unlikely. Abraham is now old, and Sarah is beyond the age of bearing children. If trust depended only on circumstances, this would be the moment to give up.
But this is precisely where Abraham’s trust becomes most visible.
Paul writes that Abraham “hoped against hope” (Romans 4:18). Abraham does not deny reality — he sees clearly how impossible the situation is. Yet he refuses to let impossibility have the final word. Instead, he leans into God’s promise. As James D. G. Dunn notes, Paul highlights this moment to show that true trust rests not in human ability, but in God’s faithfulness.
This is where Abraham’s story meets our own.
Most of us do not live in dramatic, world-changing moments. Our lives are made up of ordinary days — filled with routines, responsibilities, waiting, disappointment, and quiet courage. So how do we recognize God’s promise in the middle of everyday life?
For me, this question is not only theological; it is deeply personal. I have lived with the grief of not having children of my own because of medical reasons beyond my control. In many cultures, childlessness can be misunderstood, judged, or even quietly treated as a curse. That kind of pain touches the heart and spirit in ways that are hard to explain. I still carry the ache of what I did not have, and I do not always know how to name God’s will in that part of my life.
Yet, in my calling as a pediatric palliative care chaplain, I sometimes feel that God meets me in that tender place. I sit with children and families in sacred and painful moments. I offer presence, prayer, comfort, silence, and care. I do not see this as a replacement for motherhood, because nothing should minimize or erase that grief. But I do see it as a holy place where God has allowed my love to become a blessing.
Perhaps this is one way God’s promise appears in everyday life — not always by giving us the life we imagined, but by meeting us in the life we are living. Not by removing every ache, but by making even our wounded places capable of compassion. The promise of God is not only found in the extraordinary. It is woven into the ordinary rhythms of our lives.
We see it in small signs of grace — in the strength to keep going when we are tired, in the presence of people who walk beside us, in moments of hope that rise even after disappointment, and in the quiet ways God uses our lives to bless others. Often, promise does not come all at once. It comes in glimpses.
Like Abraham, we live between what God has said and what we can see. And in that space, trust becomes our way of holding onto promise. Sometimes we only recognize it in hindsight, looking back and seeing how God has been faithful. Other times, we hold onto it simply because we believe God is still at work.
As Karl Barth reminds us, faith is grounded not in what we can prove or predict, but in the character of God who makes the promise. That means trust is not about having everything figured out. It is about continuing to walk with God, even when the path is unclear.
Abraham does not just teach us what faith means. He shows us what trust looks like.
It looks like taking a step into the unknown, waiting when nothing seems to change. It looks like holding on when hope feels thin. It looks like carrying grief without letting grief become the whole story. And it looks like believing — quietly, persistently — that God is still faithful.
Because trust is not only how the journey begins.
It is how the journey continues.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Healing and Saving
In Matthew’s gospel, the woman desperate for healing knows that one touch of Jesus’ cloak will be enough for her. When Jesus notices her, he says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”
John Mark Comer writes, “Few people realize that the Greek word translated “saved” in the New Testament is sōzō — a word that is often translated “healed.”[41] So, in the Gospels, when you read that Jesus “saved” someone and then read that he “healed” someone, you’re often reading the exact same word. Jesus intentionally blurred the line between salvation and healing. Once, after healing a woman of a twelve-year chronic disease, Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Some translations say “healed you,” and others say “saved you.” Why? Because salvation is a kind of healing. Salvation is not just about getting back on the right side of God’s mercy through judicial acquittal; it’s about having your soul healed by God’s loving touch.” (from Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did)
Healing and salvation both restore us to our true selves, by God’s grace.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Does Location Matter?
Does it matter where we are, geographically? Apparently, it matters to God, who needs Abram to move so he can take his part in God’s story. The leadership of Starbucks also understands the importance of location.
Melody Warnick explains, “What began in 1971 as a café down the street from Pike Place Market in Seattle has grown into the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, a behemoth that operates over thirty thousand locations in more than seventy countries. How do they know where to put all those retail storefronts? They’ve devised a location strategy that tells them where a Starbucks is most likely to succeed, based on their analysis of factors like the following: Neighborhood income: Apparently $60,000 in median household income is the bottom rung for a new store…Visibility: Starbucks’ goal: twenty-five thousand passing cars on the adjacent street per day, the better to spur impromptu latte purchases. A store built on the side of the street with more morning commuters is preferable, since customers are more likely to pick up a coffee on the way to work than coming home. Proximity to businesses: No Starbucks is an island. The coffee giant wants to place its stores near other successful retailers that drive traffic to the area. And because people like to pop out for coffee during work breaks, locations near office parks, universities, or industrial areas do better.” (From If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World)
The right location can make a big difference, as God and Abram already know.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
A Whole New Life
Anyone who’s ever had a sea change in their life can relate to Abram, at this moment when God tells him to leave everything familiar. In Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home, Stephen Starring Grant writes about losing his fancy office job during the pandemic, and taking a job as a letter carrier out of desperation.
Reflecting on it, he says, “It had taken me three months to shed my old self, the self that had clung to this notion that my selfhood was something you could write up on LinkedIn and that I deserved to exist because I was good at something. It’s right there in the word we use — good. Being good at something somehow held equivalent to possessing goodness, possessing virtue. In America we are praised for it, from early on — kindergarten, even earlier. We call it the pursuit of excellence, “self-actualization,” becoming your best self. My best self.”
He adds, “Contingency had stripped me down to the chassis, bare metal. Dad, husband, vice president, strategist, pilot, English major, Eagle Scout, winner, loser, fuckup, superstar, disappointment. In that moment it was all gone. Being great hadn’t led me to my essential selfhood. Sucking did….The story I had told myself, of being really good at my job? That story was over. The new story, the one that was waiting for me if I would just let go of the old one, was the story of a man about whom there was nothing special at all. I was slow. I made mistakes. I needed help. That person was named Steve, and the main thing he had going for him was that there were people who loved him and the persistent audacity to exist. Just go from one mailbox to the next and deliver the mail. Then get up again and do it tomorrow.”
Genesis doesn’t say, and perhaps Abram had the same feeling of being stripped down to the bare essentials.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Traveling With Uncertainty
The courageous move, for Abram, is not so much leaving home as the leap into everything unfamiliar. Nothing on the road ahead will be known to him.
In This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley says that we can find God handily in seasons of uncertainty. She writes, “A life that is holy is a life that allows for all of your uncertainties, your curiosities, and unbelief. That doesn’t just allow for them but holds them as sacred. Spirituality that is not permitted these liberties is merely subjugation. It is not in protection of the divine; it is in protection of fragile people who are unable to allow spiritual freedoms without their own spirituality feeling threatened. It’s a spirituality that is terrified of meditation for fear of resembling another faith tradition. It’s a spirituality that spends more time on apologetics than conversation and telling stories.”
Cole Arthur Riley observes, “To be liberated spiritually is to commune with and seek God without fear of alienation if we do not reach the same conclusions as our neighbor. It is to become spiritual creatives. Who are we that we would demand certainty or clarity of mystery? In too many spaces, we’ve become suspicious of beliefs that leave room for the unknowable. If uncertainty is permitted, it is permitted around carefully defined points of interest. Like Communion. Or mortality. There is rarely room for new uncertainty. If one person is certain about a thing, it demands, either in agreement or disagreement, a certainty (or feigned certainty) from all others.”
Abram and everyone traveling with him are immersed in uncertainty, sharing it and supporting each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Genesis 12:1-9
Who’s going to load these camels, Abraham?
God’s instructions to Abraham are simple and concrete: “Get up, and go!” Yet for Abraham and Sarah, and many others who have followed them, leaving Haran is easier said than done. The command involves uprooting not only themselves, but many others, including “the persons they had acquired in Haran” (12:5). It meant leaving behind Abraham’s favorite hang outs, Sarah’s network of acquaintances, and all the sites and smells associated with home. Moving is hard at any age, but can become a real chore for septuagenarians.
According to the U.S. Census bureau, over three million Americans over the age of 65 move annually. People over age 85 report the largest percentage of moves. Older adults are more likely to move than younger persons. Studies indicate that longer life expectancy and better medical care contribute to the reasons why older adults are on the move. But even in the best of circumstances such moves can create something described as “Relocation Stress Syndrome.”
Added to these stresses is the experience of downsizing possessions, selling homes, and adjusting to new surroundings. More and more adults are enlisting the services of “moving managers” how can help load the camels, so to speak. Senior move managers perform a variety of services to assist older adults, ranging from donating household goods, unpacking, and listening to a lifetime of stories.
Depending on the needs of clients, move managers’ services include sorting and organizing belongings, working with a moving company and using a floor plan to determine what can fit where in the new residence. According to The New York Times, move managers do multiple tasks such as preparing the new home, setting up kitchens, and disposing of things left behind.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Older Adults Are More Trusting
We marvel at Abraham and Sarah’s trust in God. They leave behind everything they have known to embark faithfully on a new venture. Granted, they were certainly well-off economically, but it’s still astonishing to think of the amount of trust they displayed. But apparently trust is something that actually grows as we age—but that also leads to some unfortunate consequences. “Each year, older adults lose more than $28 billion to financial scams targeting the elderly,” reports The University of Florida. “Nearly three-quarters of that money is stolen by people the elderly adult knows – people they trust.” Researchers observe that many times, older adults make snap decisions, which sometimes places them at risk for fraud.
“We make these decisions about trustworthiness in a split second sometimes, and that is an unreliable way to make good decisions in the long term,” said Marilyn Horta, Ph.D., a University of Florida research scientist and first author of the new study. “All of us, especially older adults, we need to really pay attention to how a person behaves rather than our initial perceptions of whether they look trustworthy or not.”
We know this to be the experience of so many in our congregations and families who have contracted for expensive home repairs or fallen for computer scams. Trust is an article of faith—but discerning who to trust and how that trust develops may take more discernment than a quick, “Yep, let’s do it!”
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
What Gen Z trusts
We may think that social media influences the brands younger generations trust — but the reality is actually more complicated. A new survey shows that an overwhelming majority of Gen Z trust hard data and statistics more than influencers or TikTok. That may be as surprising as Abraham’s decision to leave his settled life behind. Where Abraham looked toward a logic that defined easy explanation in following God’s call, Gen Z is relying on hard facts and recommendations from friends rather than the social media videos they voraciously consume.
“The findings point to a generation reshaping how discovery and trust work in the digital age,” said Rick Maughan, Head of Content at Talker Research. “Gen Z may be spending more time than ever on social platforms, but what drives action is not the platform itself, it’s how credible the content is deemed.”
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Challenging expectations
Jesus is on the move in Matthew 9, calling, challenging, and healing those seeking the reign of God. His actions display the mercy he proclaimed during the Sermon on the Mount. Each step of the way feels like a lively documentary. The camera doesn’t stop rolling as he passes by Matthew’s tax collection franchise. It continues as he challenges the paradigm of righteousness by eating with a bunch of Matthew’s colleagues and others loosely defined as “sinners.”
“Don’t look for me to show up at the Chamber of Commerce luncheons,” he seems to say, “Try the soup kitchens instead.” The verses omitted from today’s reading help put this all in perspective as he describes kingdom work as putting new wine into fresh wineskins. That point is driven home in verses 18-26 as he immerses himself in the accounts of people desperately seeking mercy.
It’s a tone echoed by Pope Leo XIV in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (“magnificent humanity.”) The document is primarily aimed at challenging society’s seemingly unquestioned adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Pope challenges our technology-driven paradigms by upholding the dignity of human beings. His writing touches on Catholic social teachings on war, peace, economic rights and the concentration of power. Like Jesus, the pope moves deftly between human crises, keeping his focus on the the gospel’s call to provide mercy.
While the recitation of present struggles may sound hopeless, the Pope once more challenges expectations by sneaking in a quote by none other than J.R. Tolkien’s heroic character Gandalf:
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Genesis 12:1-9
During Pride Month and this particular anti-immigrant climate, it is rather amazing to think that God says, “Go leave that which is not working for you, and I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” As we enter an era where immigrants and LGBTQIA people are cursed and forced to make hard decisions about whether they stay or go away from places or beloved ones, I think about God’s promise to bless the good things and to curse the bad. We have a word for that in English — it is solidarity. God promises solidarity with Abram. Is it any wonder then, that Abram is then able to trust God enough to uproot his entire household?
* * *
Psalm 33
God frustrates the plans of people. I believe the phrase we have about this is that humans plan and then the Holy Spirit laughs. I know that personally. I grew up the child of two ministers, shuffled around the United States every three or four years. So, I told my husband we would probably need to move at least once or twice in my ministry. I was ready to be like Abram, and follow God when necessary. The plan was to be flexible, but not as footloose as my parents. Then God laughed, and placed us in a really good state and city for autism resources, with children with autism, so here we are 16 years later, waiting at least four more years before we even consider moving.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
When I was a chaplain in the psych ward of Trenton, a residential psych ward where patients stayed for 90 days, or yearsm we did spiritual assessments. We asked patients about their spiritual beliefs, their goals, and their state of mind. One of the questions was, did they have hope? A couple of my patients answered that they didn’t but they were hoping for it. Hoping for hope — it’s a bit like hoping against hope. It’s kind of what you do when you are in a community of faith — you yourself may not have hope, so you ask the community to have it for you. Abram might not have had hope, but perhaps his household did, or, I like to think that he and Sarai sometimes took turns having hope (as most couples do). Faith is, after all, a practice.
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Pretending that Jesus did not care about the health and healing of our bodies is pretty ridiculous. At some point in Western culture, we decided to divorce religion from our health, wellness, and bodies, and let go of all of the healing narratives of Jesus Christ. The power of caring for one’s body is fairly strong. The power of being listened to by someone who is taking care of your body is even stronger. Ask any hairdresser, massage therapist, or alternative medicine practitioner. Jesus knew this, and, in dark contrast to our modern doctors today, Jesus was all about giving out free healthcare and listening to people as he did it. Jesus practiced Shalom, full healing of body, soul, emotions, and spirit. What would it look like to understand Christianity as a practice of full health? How would that change what we do now?
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
One: Rejoice in the Lord for praise befits the upright.
All: Praise God with your voice and all that you have.
One: God loves righteousness and justice.
All: The earth is full of God’s steadfast love.
One: By the word of God all creation came into being.
All: Let all people stand in awe of our creating God.
OR
One: God in faithfulness comes to greet us this day.
All: We welcome our faithful God into our presence.
One: We gather together to encourage one another to faith.
All: May we support one another in our journey together.
One: By trusting and following God, we show others the way.
All: With God’s help, we will be faithful disciples of the Christ.
Hymns and Songs
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
GTG: 41
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
How Firm a Foundation
UMH: 529
H82: 636/637
PH: 361
GTG: 463
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
ELW: 796
W&P: 411
AMEC: 433
If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
GTG: 816
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELW: 769
W&P: 429
On Eagle’s Wings
UMH: 143
GTG: 43
CH: 77
ELW: 787
W&P: 438
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
GTG: 9
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
GTG: 697
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
GTG: 738
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
For the Bread Which You Have Broken
UMH: 614/615
H82: 340/341
PH: 508/509
GTG: 516
CH: 411
LBW: 200
ELW: 494
Bread of the World
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
GTG: 499
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is faithful to all of your creation:
Grant us the faith to fully trust in you
so that we can fully follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are faithful to all your creation. You have never left us but instead you dwell among and in us. Help us to trust you completely so that we may follow Jesus completely. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of trust in God’s providence.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another, that we have sinned. We profess our faith in you but our actions betray us. We claim to be followers of Jesus yet we ignore most of his teachings. We ignore his invitation to live in your realm and follow after the ways of the world. Forgive us and give us the faith to fully trust you so that we can follow Jesus into your everlasting realm. Amen.
One: God is trustworthy and true. God invites us and welcomes us. Return to God and share God’s realm with all.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, and rejoice in your presence. Out of the breath of your mouth you created us and by the breath of your Spirit you sustain us.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We profess our faith in you but our actions betray us. We claim to be followers of Jesus yet we ignore most of his teachings. We ignore his invitation to live in your realm and follow after the ways of the world. Forgive us and give us the faith to fully trust you so that we can follow Jesus into your everlasting realm.
We give you thanks for the ways in which creation reflects your faithfulness. We thank you for the laws of nature that we have discovered that help us live better lives. We thank you for Jesus who teaches us to live holy lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your children in their need. We pray for those who have been betrayed so many times by others that they feel they have lost the capacity for trust. We pray that we may be faithful to your leading so that in all the encounters we have, we are found trustworthy. May all we do and say reflect our trust in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service...)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Follow Me
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-16
After the little ones have gathered up front. Say to them, “Follow me.” Walk to a far part of the sanctuary. Do not look behind to see whether they’re following you.
Depending on whether they’ve followed you —
If they have followed you, ask them where they’re going. Do they know where you’re going? (Do you know where you’re going?) Since they won’t know where you’re going — though encourage them to guess — ask how they will know when they arrive?
If the set up of the room allows it, have the kids sit with you at the place you’ve stopped walking and tell them about Abram. Abram was a grown up, with a wife and a nephew, when God told him to leave his home, and go where God would tell him to go. This was a place he had never been before. This was a place no one he knew had ever been before. And he had to leave almost his whole family to go there.
Some of the kids have grandparents, maybe even a few have great-grandparents they know. Abram and Sarai and Lot left Abram’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather... etc. All the way to “eight greats grandfather!” How would you feel to leave so many people — the only people you’ve known all your life? Abram was very, very faithful. And probably kind of scared, too. You can be brave and afraid at the same time. Abram was brave and afraid. And he trusted God to be with him when he was afraid.
* * *
If they haven’t followed you, (You may need to have a plan in place for the kids to have a microphone if you’ve taken one with you and you’re far away.) ask why they didn’t follow you.
Maybe they wanted to know where you were going.
Maybe, like Lisa Simpson interacting with her brother Bart, they suspected treachery.
Maybe they were comfortable up front and didn’t feel like moving.
Get as many answers from them as possible. Maybe ask other worshipers whether they would have followed you. Would they just drop everything and follow you? The first people that Jesus called followed him after he just said, “Follow me.” (This is a good chance to point out to the church that you’re not Jesus!)
Point out that it’s always hard to follow the path that the Lord wants you to take. Point out that it is wise to think carefully and cautiously before following anyone. Point out that everyone has doubts. And that church is a place, and a group of people, who are committed to helping one another find the right way, to follow the right leader. Abram was extraordinarily brave. We should all try to be brave together.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 7, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Trust Issues by Dean Feldmeyer based on Genesis 12:1-9 and Romans 4:13-25.
- Second Thoughts: Trusting the Promise in Everyday Life by Nazish Naseem based on Romans 4:13-25.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Chris Keating, and Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Follow Me by Tom Willadsen based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
Trust Issuesby Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 12:1-9, Romans 4:13-25
When we put our faith into something we ourselves have made, we’re bound to be disappointed.
“He/she has trust issues.” We hear it all the time.
In psychology, “trust issues” describes difficulty believing others will be reliable, honest, or safe. It is not a clinical diagnosis, but a pattern of thoughts and behaviors that makes secure relationships harder to build and sustain.
At some point, all of us struggle with trust. We may have been betrayed, bullied, treated unfairly, abused, manipulated, or let down by broken promises. Whatever caused it, mistrust leaves us afraid of being hurt, betrayed, or abandoned. We question motives, hesitate to rely on others, and stay alert for signs of danger or dishonesty.
These patterns can surface in friendships, romance, workplaces, and even faith communities.
With that in mind, imagine how Abraham felt when God said, “Pack up your whole clan, servants, and everything you own, and head west. I’ll tell you when to stop.” It would be altogether understandable if 75-year-old Abraham exhibited some “trust issues.”
In the Scriptures
But he doesn’t! He doesn’t seem to have any issues at all. He decides to trust God and do what God asks of him. He gathers his entire family, the whole clan of them, and everything they own, and he leads them, like a wagon train without the wagons, into the setting sun.
Now, of course, the story doesn’t end there. This is only the beginning. The story of Abraham and his journey to what would become the Holy Land takes up 14 chapters of the book of Genesis. It is the theological hinge of the Torah that introduces the themes of covenant, promise, land, blessing, and the identity of Israel. It is, quite literally, the foundation upon which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are built.
We are not at all surprised, then, when Paul, in his letter to the Roman Christians, reaches back to the story of Abraham to illustrate for them what true faith looks like.
Unfortunately, when we start translating from Hebrew (Genesis) to Greek (Romans) to English, we run into some lack of clarity about the words Faith, Belief, and Trust that we need to unpack. Let’s work through that lack of clarity step by step.
1. In Genesis 12, Abraham obeys God’s call, gathers his clan together, and heads west.
2. In Genesis 15, that obedient trust is interpreted theologically: “Abraham believed the Lord, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
3. Paul later returns to this in Romans 4, and the same passage is echoed in Galatians 3 and James 2 because it is central to understanding faith.
The challenge comes in translation, especially with the word believe. In the original Greek, Paul uses episteusen, a verb form related to faith. English has no natural verb form of faith, so translators often use believed. But in modern English, belief can sound thin, as though it means nothing more than agreement with an idea.
That is why the distinction matters. I can believe that two and two are four. I can believe that my wife loves me. I can even say I believe someone could push me across Niagara Falls in a wheelbarrow on a tightrope. But faith goes further than mental agreement.
Faith is when I actually get into the wheelbarrow.
Do you see the difference? Belief by itself may ask nothing of me. Faith, however, involves trust, and trust leads to action. To get into the wheelbarrow — literally or metaphorically — is to place myself in the hands of another. That is why faith is not merely believing something about God; it is trusting God enough to act.
In ancient Hebrew thought, faith and trust are deeply bound together. That helps us hear Paul’s point more clearly.
So, a clearer rendering of Paul’s message to the Romans might be this: “Abraham trusted the Lord, and the Lord reckoned his trust as righteousness.” In this sense, righteousness is not merely correct belief; it is a life of trust in God.
In the News
“If you tell any lie long enough, often enough, and loud enough, people will come to believe it.”
That anonymous quote is often associated with the concept of the “Big Lie,” which suggests that a gross distortion of the truth, if repeated often enough, will be accepted as reality. Although this idea didn’t originate with Adolf Hitler, he referenced it in Mein Kampf, noting that if you tell a big enough lie people would believe it because they would not believe that someone could distort the truth so audaciously.
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, also emphasized this technique, stating that a lie can be maintained as long as the state can shield the people from its consequences.
People have called the claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by the Democrats through nefarious means Trump’s Big Lie.
But the fact is, we modern Americans are onto the Big Lie. We know to look out for it. We know that huge, whopper lies are so obvious that they are immediately dismissed. If it sounds like a big lie, it probably is.
So now politicians have, for the most part, taken the Big Lie off the playing field and substituted the avalanche of little lies, often untruths that are just a fraction of millimeter from the truth but untrue just the same. They sound true and are often so small that no one bothers to check. Besides, we’ve heard it before somewhere else so it must be true, right?
Like, everyone knows that domestic abuse hotlines receive twice as many calls on Super Bowl Sunday as any other day of the year. (Wrong.) And everyone knows that you can reduce the crime rate by sprucing up the neighborhood. (Wrong.) And you lose half of your body heat through your head. (Wrong.) And it seems like a whole lot of stuff we learned as kids turned out to be wrong. So, someone was either lying or they were as ignorant as we were and didn’t know any better.
So, to protect ourselves from being taken in we just refuse to believe anything that any politician says. We assume that they all lie all the time and we just dismiss what they say with a wink and a nod, a twit of the wrist, and a knowing glance to our friends.
As long as the lies they tell benefit us and our kind we don’t care. Besides, the other side is telling their own lies, right?
Is it any wonder we are all burdened with political “trust issues?”
What’s the answer?
In the Sermon
Maybe the problem isn’t that we trust too much. Trust is not in and of itself a bad thing. It’s a very good thing. No, we have trust issues because we place our trust in things and people that are unworthy of it. When we put our faith in something that we, ourselves, have made, we are bound to be disappointed.
Or maybe the problem is that we have confused faith with blind belief. We call on people to believe this or that proposition without any evidence and then, when they have trouble doing so, we say they need more faith, as though faith is something you can cook up on the stove like a Mulligan stew or a pot of porridge.
We read of Abraham’s faith and trust in God as though it all started in Chapter 13 of Genesis when old Abraham hears God’s voice for the first time, telling him to move. But the ancient rabbis knew better. While the Torah mentions Abraham’s youth only in passing, the Talmud, one of the foundational bodies of Jewish interpretation, tells many stories of Abraham’s early years and how he grew into his faith.
When Abraham heard God say, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household…” it sounds, on the surface, like a sudden leap of faith. One day he’s home in Haran, the next he’s packing the tent and heading toward a land he’s never seen. But the rabbis tell us that this wasn’t sudden at all. Abraham had been preparing for this moment his entire life.
They say that when Abraham was just a child, hidden away in a cave to protect him from King Nimrod, he began to wonder about the world. He watched the sun rise and set, the moon wax and wane, and he asked the kind of questions only a child can ask with such honesty: “Who is really in charge here?” And when he realized that no created thing could be God, he began to trust the One who made them all.
Later, when he worked in his father’s idol shop, he saw people bowing to statues they themselves had carved. He smashed the idols — not out of anger, but out of clarity. He had already learned to trust what was true, even when it meant standing alone.
And when Nimrod threw him into the furnace for refusing to worship fire, Abraham discovered something deeper still: that the God he trusted was also the God who could be trusted. He walked out of those flames knowing that his life was held in hands stronger than any king’s hands.
So, when God finally said, “Go,” Abraham didn’t hear a stranger’s voice. He heard the same voice he had been listening to since childhood — the voice behind the stars, the voice that had carried him through danger, the voice that had proven faithful long before the journey ever began.
Whether we accept the stories of the Talmud as fact or as informative/ interpretive fiction, Abraham’s leaving home wasn’t a reckless leap. It was the next faithful step in a lifetime of learning to trust the One who had already been leading him.
SECOND THOUGHTSTrusting the Promise in Everyday Life
by Nazish Naseem
Romans 4:13–25
No road map. No clear destination. Only a promise. Abraham’s story begins there — and so do many of our own journeys of faith.
Abraham’s story is often told as a story of faith. We hear that his faith was “counted to him as righteousness,” and rightly so. But if we look more closely, we begin to see that faith, in Abraham’s life, is not just something he has. It is something he lives. It is trust — growing, stretching, and sometimes struggling over time.
In Genesis, Abraham is seventy-five when God calls him. There is no map, no clear destination, only a promise: “Go… and I will show you.” And somehow, Abraham goes. That first step is remarkable. It is the beginning of trust — the willingness to move forward without certainty. But that is only the beginning.
Years pass. The promise does not come quickly. Abraham waits. He questions. He makes mistakes. His journey is not smooth or perfect. It is shaped by delay and uncertainty just as much as by obedience. As Walter Brueggemann observes, Abraham’s life is defined by living between promise and fulfillment — a space where trust must continually be renewed.
By the time Paul reflects on Abraham in Romans, everything has become even more unlikely. Abraham is now old, and Sarah is beyond the age of bearing children. If trust depended only on circumstances, this would be the moment to give up.
But this is precisely where Abraham’s trust becomes most visible.
Paul writes that Abraham “hoped against hope” (Romans 4:18). Abraham does not deny reality — he sees clearly how impossible the situation is. Yet he refuses to let impossibility have the final word. Instead, he leans into God’s promise. As James D. G. Dunn notes, Paul highlights this moment to show that true trust rests not in human ability, but in God’s faithfulness.
This is where Abraham’s story meets our own.
Most of us do not live in dramatic, world-changing moments. Our lives are made up of ordinary days — filled with routines, responsibilities, waiting, disappointment, and quiet courage. So how do we recognize God’s promise in the middle of everyday life?
For me, this question is not only theological; it is deeply personal. I have lived with the grief of not having children of my own because of medical reasons beyond my control. In many cultures, childlessness can be misunderstood, judged, or even quietly treated as a curse. That kind of pain touches the heart and spirit in ways that are hard to explain. I still carry the ache of what I did not have, and I do not always know how to name God’s will in that part of my life.
Yet, in my calling as a pediatric palliative care chaplain, I sometimes feel that God meets me in that tender place. I sit with children and families in sacred and painful moments. I offer presence, prayer, comfort, silence, and care. I do not see this as a replacement for motherhood, because nothing should minimize or erase that grief. But I do see it as a holy place where God has allowed my love to become a blessing.
Perhaps this is one way God’s promise appears in everyday life — not always by giving us the life we imagined, but by meeting us in the life we are living. Not by removing every ache, but by making even our wounded places capable of compassion. The promise of God is not only found in the extraordinary. It is woven into the ordinary rhythms of our lives.
We see it in small signs of grace — in the strength to keep going when we are tired, in the presence of people who walk beside us, in moments of hope that rise even after disappointment, and in the quiet ways God uses our lives to bless others. Often, promise does not come all at once. It comes in glimpses.
Like Abraham, we live between what God has said and what we can see. And in that space, trust becomes our way of holding onto promise. Sometimes we only recognize it in hindsight, looking back and seeing how God has been faithful. Other times, we hold onto it simply because we believe God is still at work.
As Karl Barth reminds us, faith is grounded not in what we can prove or predict, but in the character of God who makes the promise. That means trust is not about having everything figured out. It is about continuing to walk with God, even when the path is unclear.
Abraham does not just teach us what faith means. He shows us what trust looks like.
It looks like taking a step into the unknown, waiting when nothing seems to change. It looks like holding on when hope feels thin. It looks like carrying grief without letting grief become the whole story. And it looks like believing — quietly, persistently — that God is still faithful.
Because trust is not only how the journey begins.
It is how the journey continues.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Healing and Saving
In Matthew’s gospel, the woman desperate for healing knows that one touch of Jesus’ cloak will be enough for her. When Jesus notices her, he says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”
John Mark Comer writes, “Few people realize that the Greek word translated “saved” in the New Testament is sōzō — a word that is often translated “healed.”[41] So, in the Gospels, when you read that Jesus “saved” someone and then read that he “healed” someone, you’re often reading the exact same word. Jesus intentionally blurred the line between salvation and healing. Once, after healing a woman of a twelve-year chronic disease, Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Some translations say “healed you,” and others say “saved you.” Why? Because salvation is a kind of healing. Salvation is not just about getting back on the right side of God’s mercy through judicial acquittal; it’s about having your soul healed by God’s loving touch.” (from Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did)
Healing and salvation both restore us to our true selves, by God’s grace.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Does Location Matter?
Does it matter where we are, geographically? Apparently, it matters to God, who needs Abram to move so he can take his part in God’s story. The leadership of Starbucks also understands the importance of location.
Melody Warnick explains, “What began in 1971 as a café down the street from Pike Place Market in Seattle has grown into the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, a behemoth that operates over thirty thousand locations in more than seventy countries. How do they know where to put all those retail storefronts? They’ve devised a location strategy that tells them where a Starbucks is most likely to succeed, based on their analysis of factors like the following: Neighborhood income: Apparently $60,000 in median household income is the bottom rung for a new store…Visibility: Starbucks’ goal: twenty-five thousand passing cars on the adjacent street per day, the better to spur impromptu latte purchases. A store built on the side of the street with more morning commuters is preferable, since customers are more likely to pick up a coffee on the way to work than coming home. Proximity to businesses: No Starbucks is an island. The coffee giant wants to place its stores near other successful retailers that drive traffic to the area. And because people like to pop out for coffee during work breaks, locations near office parks, universities, or industrial areas do better.” (From If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World)
The right location can make a big difference, as God and Abram already know.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
A Whole New Life
Anyone who’s ever had a sea change in their life can relate to Abram, at this moment when God tells him to leave everything familiar. In Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home, Stephen Starring Grant writes about losing his fancy office job during the pandemic, and taking a job as a letter carrier out of desperation.
Reflecting on it, he says, “It had taken me three months to shed my old self, the self that had clung to this notion that my selfhood was something you could write up on LinkedIn and that I deserved to exist because I was good at something. It’s right there in the word we use — good. Being good at something somehow held equivalent to possessing goodness, possessing virtue. In America we are praised for it, from early on — kindergarten, even earlier. We call it the pursuit of excellence, “self-actualization,” becoming your best self. My best self.”
He adds, “Contingency had stripped me down to the chassis, bare metal. Dad, husband, vice president, strategist, pilot, English major, Eagle Scout, winner, loser, fuckup, superstar, disappointment. In that moment it was all gone. Being great hadn’t led me to my essential selfhood. Sucking did….The story I had told myself, of being really good at my job? That story was over. The new story, the one that was waiting for me if I would just let go of the old one, was the story of a man about whom there was nothing special at all. I was slow. I made mistakes. I needed help. That person was named Steve, and the main thing he had going for him was that there were people who loved him and the persistent audacity to exist. Just go from one mailbox to the next and deliver the mail. Then get up again and do it tomorrow.”
Genesis doesn’t say, and perhaps Abram had the same feeling of being stripped down to the bare essentials.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Traveling With Uncertainty
The courageous move, for Abram, is not so much leaving home as the leap into everything unfamiliar. Nothing on the road ahead will be known to him.
In This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley says that we can find God handily in seasons of uncertainty. She writes, “A life that is holy is a life that allows for all of your uncertainties, your curiosities, and unbelief. That doesn’t just allow for them but holds them as sacred. Spirituality that is not permitted these liberties is merely subjugation. It is not in protection of the divine; it is in protection of fragile people who are unable to allow spiritual freedoms without their own spirituality feeling threatened. It’s a spirituality that is terrified of meditation for fear of resembling another faith tradition. It’s a spirituality that spends more time on apologetics than conversation and telling stories.”
Cole Arthur Riley observes, “To be liberated spiritually is to commune with and seek God without fear of alienation if we do not reach the same conclusions as our neighbor. It is to become spiritual creatives. Who are we that we would demand certainty or clarity of mystery? In too many spaces, we’ve become suspicious of beliefs that leave room for the unknowable. If uncertainty is permitted, it is permitted around carefully defined points of interest. Like Communion. Or mortality. There is rarely room for new uncertainty. If one person is certain about a thing, it demands, either in agreement or disagreement, a certainty (or feigned certainty) from all others.”
Abram and everyone traveling with him are immersed in uncertainty, sharing it and supporting each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Genesis 12:1-9
Who’s going to load these camels, Abraham?
God’s instructions to Abraham are simple and concrete: “Get up, and go!” Yet for Abraham and Sarah, and many others who have followed them, leaving Haran is easier said than done. The command involves uprooting not only themselves, but many others, including “the persons they had acquired in Haran” (12:5). It meant leaving behind Abraham’s favorite hang outs, Sarah’s network of acquaintances, and all the sites and smells associated with home. Moving is hard at any age, but can become a real chore for septuagenarians.
According to the U.S. Census bureau, over three million Americans over the age of 65 move annually. People over age 85 report the largest percentage of moves. Older adults are more likely to move than younger persons. Studies indicate that longer life expectancy and better medical care contribute to the reasons why older adults are on the move. But even in the best of circumstances such moves can create something described as “Relocation Stress Syndrome.”
Added to these stresses is the experience of downsizing possessions, selling homes, and adjusting to new surroundings. More and more adults are enlisting the services of “moving managers” how can help load the camels, so to speak. Senior move managers perform a variety of services to assist older adults, ranging from donating household goods, unpacking, and listening to a lifetime of stories.
Depending on the needs of clients, move managers’ services include sorting and organizing belongings, working with a moving company and using a floor plan to determine what can fit where in the new residence. According to The New York Times, move managers do multiple tasks such as preparing the new home, setting up kitchens, and disposing of things left behind.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Older Adults Are More Trusting
We marvel at Abraham and Sarah’s trust in God. They leave behind everything they have known to embark faithfully on a new venture. Granted, they were certainly well-off economically, but it’s still astonishing to think of the amount of trust they displayed. But apparently trust is something that actually grows as we age—but that also leads to some unfortunate consequences. “Each year, older adults lose more than $28 billion to financial scams targeting the elderly,” reports The University of Florida. “Nearly three-quarters of that money is stolen by people the elderly adult knows – people they trust.” Researchers observe that many times, older adults make snap decisions, which sometimes places them at risk for fraud.
“We make these decisions about trustworthiness in a split second sometimes, and that is an unreliable way to make good decisions in the long term,” said Marilyn Horta, Ph.D., a University of Florida research scientist and first author of the new study. “All of us, especially older adults, we need to really pay attention to how a person behaves rather than our initial perceptions of whether they look trustworthy or not.”
We know this to be the experience of so many in our congregations and families who have contracted for expensive home repairs or fallen for computer scams. Trust is an article of faith—but discerning who to trust and how that trust develops may take more discernment than a quick, “Yep, let’s do it!”
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
What Gen Z trusts
We may think that social media influences the brands younger generations trust — but the reality is actually more complicated. A new survey shows that an overwhelming majority of Gen Z trust hard data and statistics more than influencers or TikTok. That may be as surprising as Abraham’s decision to leave his settled life behind. Where Abraham looked toward a logic that defined easy explanation in following God’s call, Gen Z is relying on hard facts and recommendations from friends rather than the social media videos they voraciously consume.
“The findings point to a generation reshaping how discovery and trust work in the digital age,” said Rick Maughan, Head of Content at Talker Research. “Gen Z may be spending more time than ever on social platforms, but what drives action is not the platform itself, it’s how credible the content is deemed.”
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Challenging expectations
Jesus is on the move in Matthew 9, calling, challenging, and healing those seeking the reign of God. His actions display the mercy he proclaimed during the Sermon on the Mount. Each step of the way feels like a lively documentary. The camera doesn’t stop rolling as he passes by Matthew’s tax collection franchise. It continues as he challenges the paradigm of righteousness by eating with a bunch of Matthew’s colleagues and others loosely defined as “sinners.”
“Don’t look for me to show up at the Chamber of Commerce luncheons,” he seems to say, “Try the soup kitchens instead.” The verses omitted from today’s reading help put this all in perspective as he describes kingdom work as putting new wine into fresh wineskins. That point is driven home in verses 18-26 as he immerses himself in the accounts of people desperately seeking mercy.
It’s a tone echoed by Pope Leo XIV in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (“magnificent humanity.”) The document is primarily aimed at challenging society’s seemingly unquestioned adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Pope challenges our technology-driven paradigms by upholding the dignity of human beings. His writing touches on Catholic social teachings on war, peace, economic rights and the concentration of power. Like Jesus, the pope moves deftly between human crises, keeping his focus on the the gospel’s call to provide mercy.
While the recitation of present struggles may sound hopeless, the Pope once more challenges expectations by sneaking in a quote by none other than J.R. Tolkien’s heroic character Gandalf:
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Genesis 12:1-9
During Pride Month and this particular anti-immigrant climate, it is rather amazing to think that God says, “Go leave that which is not working for you, and I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” As we enter an era where immigrants and LGBTQIA people are cursed and forced to make hard decisions about whether they stay or go away from places or beloved ones, I think about God’s promise to bless the good things and to curse the bad. We have a word for that in English — it is solidarity. God promises solidarity with Abram. Is it any wonder then, that Abram is then able to trust God enough to uproot his entire household?
* * *
Psalm 33
God frustrates the plans of people. I believe the phrase we have about this is that humans plan and then the Holy Spirit laughs. I know that personally. I grew up the child of two ministers, shuffled around the United States every three or four years. So, I told my husband we would probably need to move at least once or twice in my ministry. I was ready to be like Abram, and follow God when necessary. The plan was to be flexible, but not as footloose as my parents. Then God laughed, and placed us in a really good state and city for autism resources, with children with autism, so here we are 16 years later, waiting at least four more years before we even consider moving.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
When I was a chaplain in the psych ward of Trenton, a residential psych ward where patients stayed for 90 days, or yearsm we did spiritual assessments. We asked patients about their spiritual beliefs, their goals, and their state of mind. One of the questions was, did they have hope? A couple of my patients answered that they didn’t but they were hoping for it. Hoping for hope — it’s a bit like hoping against hope. It’s kind of what you do when you are in a community of faith — you yourself may not have hope, so you ask the community to have it for you. Abram might not have had hope, but perhaps his household did, or, I like to think that he and Sarai sometimes took turns having hope (as most couples do). Faith is, after all, a practice.
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Pretending that Jesus did not care about the health and healing of our bodies is pretty ridiculous. At some point in Western culture, we decided to divorce religion from our health, wellness, and bodies, and let go of all of the healing narratives of Jesus Christ. The power of caring for one’s body is fairly strong. The power of being listened to by someone who is taking care of your body is even stronger. Ask any hairdresser, massage therapist, or alternative medicine practitioner. Jesus knew this, and, in dark contrast to our modern doctors today, Jesus was all about giving out free healthcare and listening to people as he did it. Jesus practiced Shalom, full healing of body, soul, emotions, and spirit. What would it look like to understand Christianity as a practice of full health? How would that change what we do now?
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
One: Rejoice in the Lord for praise befits the upright.
All: Praise God with your voice and all that you have.
One: God loves righteousness and justice.
All: The earth is full of God’s steadfast love.
One: By the word of God all creation came into being.
All: Let all people stand in awe of our creating God.
OR
One: God in faithfulness comes to greet us this day.
All: We welcome our faithful God into our presence.
One: We gather together to encourage one another to faith.
All: May we support one another in our journey together.
One: By trusting and following God, we show others the way.
All: With God’s help, we will be faithful disciples of the Christ.
Hymns and Songs
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
GTG: 41
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
How Firm a Foundation
UMH: 529
H82: 636/637
PH: 361
GTG: 463
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
ELW: 796
W&P: 411
AMEC: 433
If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
GTG: 816
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELW: 769
W&P: 429
On Eagle’s Wings
UMH: 143
GTG: 43
CH: 77
ELW: 787
W&P: 438
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
GTG: 9
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
GTG: 697
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
GTG: 738
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
For the Bread Which You Have Broken
UMH: 614/615
H82: 340/341
PH: 508/509
GTG: 516
CH: 411
LBW: 200
ELW: 494
Bread of the World
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
GTG: 499
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is faithful to all of your creation:
Grant us the faith to fully trust in you
so that we can fully follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are faithful to all your creation. You have never left us but instead you dwell among and in us. Help us to trust you completely so that we may follow Jesus completely. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of trust in God’s providence.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another, that we have sinned. We profess our faith in you but our actions betray us. We claim to be followers of Jesus yet we ignore most of his teachings. We ignore his invitation to live in your realm and follow after the ways of the world. Forgive us and give us the faith to fully trust you so that we can follow Jesus into your everlasting realm. Amen.
One: God is trustworthy and true. God invites us and welcomes us. Return to God and share God’s realm with all.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, and rejoice in your presence. Out of the breath of your mouth you created us and by the breath of your Spirit you sustain us.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We profess our faith in you but our actions betray us. We claim to be followers of Jesus yet we ignore most of his teachings. We ignore his invitation to live in your realm and follow after the ways of the world. Forgive us and give us the faith to fully trust you so that we can follow Jesus into your everlasting realm.
We give you thanks for the ways in which creation reflects your faithfulness. We thank you for the laws of nature that we have discovered that help us live better lives. We thank you for Jesus who teaches us to live holy lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your children in their need. We pray for those who have been betrayed so many times by others that they feel they have lost the capacity for trust. We pray that we may be faithful to your leading so that in all the encounters we have, we are found trustworthy. May all we do and say reflect our trust in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service...)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN’S SERMONFollow Me
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-16
After the little ones have gathered up front. Say to them, “Follow me.” Walk to a far part of the sanctuary. Do not look behind to see whether they’re following you.
Depending on whether they’ve followed you —
If they have followed you, ask them where they’re going. Do they know where you’re going? (Do you know where you’re going?) Since they won’t know where you’re going — though encourage them to guess — ask how they will know when they arrive?
If the set up of the room allows it, have the kids sit with you at the place you’ve stopped walking and tell them about Abram. Abram was a grown up, with a wife and a nephew, when God told him to leave his home, and go where God would tell him to go. This was a place he had never been before. This was a place no one he knew had ever been before. And he had to leave almost his whole family to go there.
Some of the kids have grandparents, maybe even a few have great-grandparents they know. Abram and Sarai and Lot left Abram’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather... etc. All the way to “eight greats grandfather!” How would you feel to leave so many people — the only people you’ve known all your life? Abram was very, very faithful. And probably kind of scared, too. You can be brave and afraid at the same time. Abram was brave and afraid. And he trusted God to be with him when he was afraid.
* * *
If they haven’t followed you, (You may need to have a plan in place for the kids to have a microphone if you’ve taken one with you and you’re far away.) ask why they didn’t follow you.
Maybe they wanted to know where you were going.
Maybe, like Lisa Simpson interacting with her brother Bart, they suspected treachery.
Maybe they were comfortable up front and didn’t feel like moving.
Get as many answers from them as possible. Maybe ask other worshipers whether they would have followed you. Would they just drop everything and follow you? The first people that Jesus called followed him after he just said, “Follow me.” (This is a good chance to point out to the church that you’re not Jesus!)
Point out that it’s always hard to follow the path that the Lord wants you to take. Point out that it is wise to think carefully and cautiously before following anyone. Point out that everyone has doubts. And that church is a place, and a group of people, who are committed to helping one another find the right way, to follow the right leader. Abram was extraordinarily brave. We should all try to be brave together.
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The Immediate Word, June 7, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
