Just Faith (Luke 17 • HAB. 1)

“Yellow Mustard” © Astrid Dao

This was the final sermon I preached at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Hopkins, MN, on October 5 2025. As my last service with Gethsemane, this service also included my release from call. The full livestream of the service may be viewed here.  
Scripture texts:  
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 
​Luke 17:1-5

---

Good morning. I have spent much of this week with one question in mind which is this: how the heck do you preach one last sermon? Do I try to encapsulate every word of counsel or encouragement I’ve ever offered, or summarize all that I hope and pray for you as you continue to bloom and become long after I’m gone. I considered doing one more deep-dive word nerd study just for funsies. I also considered trying out a Greatest Hits type sermon where I lay out one more time all the things you’ve heard me preach during our two years together. That would be fun, right!?! Rattling off sermon points like one of those hit mash-up songs from a decade ago — a decade ago!?! — a decade ago. I’m aging myself, I know. 

But I ended up doing what I always try to do, which was to listen for Spirit’s whisper through the cacophony of All the Things happening in and around me and let me tell you what a cacophony it has been and remains: from prepping a house for sale to donating bags and bags of our life to thrift stores, to attending one last Bishop’s Theological Conference with pastors John and Lydia and other clergy from our Synod, to attending a vigil in Appleton in solidarity with and for the protection of our immigrant siblings, to my last rehearsal ever with my beloved Simple Gifts family (one of whom is playing violin today — thank you so much, Nate), to commending our beloved Wes Lindstrom’s life to God’s eternal rest and Bishop Yeheil Curry to his new call as our Churchwide presiding bishop, this week has been loud.

And Spirit is often too quiet to hear until I hunker down and feel for Her breath, but as I did, the Word She gave me to give to you, to us, on this brutiful day, is as simple and obvious as it is profound. Faith. Just: Faith. 

Of course, there is no “just” to Faith. That word alone feels at once full to overflowing with infinite meaning and possibility, and conversely, emptied, drained, utterly flattened by overuse, misuse, and abuse. Which is unfortunate for us Lutherans who confess as our most fundamental identity that We are God’s Alone by Faith Alone through Grace Alone, by nothing but the power of Christ Alone, lest any of us should boast.

And what a bold and brave proclamation that is, especially at a time when Faith is being weaponized as both shield and sword against our most vulnerable neighbors — immigrants, Trans folks, the poor, homeless, the sick, the starved, occupied, exploited, bombed, and slaughtered, all across the world —with so-called faith underpinning it all. 

And so, given that today’s Gospel revolves around this messy word Faith and its unmatched power in the lives of the beloved, I want us to dwell not on what Faith is but what Jesus tells us true Faith Does. Because it’s not any of that.

Read More