Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost (also: All Saints Sunday) · Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Stepping Into the Water

Joshua 3:7-17 shows God promising to be with Joshua as with Moses, then calling priests to carry the ark into the Jordan. The water does not part until their feet touch it. Preach on the courage of first steps: leaders and congregations often must act before seeing the outcome. God's presence is not a guarantee of dry paths in advance, but a promise that faithful movement opens the way. Invite hearers to name one 'Jordan' they are called to enter, trusting God to make crossing possible.

From Wandering to Wonder

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 moves between two landscapes: a wilderness of hunger and thirst, and a watered land of harvest. God gathers the scattered, answers cries for help, and transforms deserts into springs. This reversal is not one isolated miracle but a pattern of redemption. Preach thanksgiving as attentive seeing: naming where God has turned scarcity into abundance in ordinary days. In a season where creation itself winds down, the psalm invites worship that recognizes God's ongoing power to make fruitful what was barren.

The Servant's True Honor

Matthew 23:1-12 exposes the gap between religious talk and faithful action. Jesus does not reject teaching authority, but he warns against being called rabbi, father, or instructor when those titles serve ego rather than God. The greatest among you will be a servant, and the humble will be exalted. Preach on the All Saints theme: holiness is not celebrity or status but hidden faithfulness. Contrast the craving for public prestige with the quiet work of those who practice what they preach and lighten burdens rather than add to them.

Humility

“All their deeds they do to make a shew before men... He that is great among you shall be unto you a minister.”

— Ante-Nicene Fathers, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9

Hypocrisy

“We sometimes find this, a vine planted over sedge, how it has there a thorny hedge, and throws out its branches, and entangles them in the thorny hedge, and the grape hangs among the thorns; and he that sees it plucks the grape, yet not…”

— Augustine of Hippo, Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6

Christ our shepherd

“The Lord's fold has pastors, some faithful, some hirelings. Those who are faithful are true shepherds; yet hear how the hirelings also are necessary.”

— John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2