"Hold Fast to What Endures" - Sermon for 15 Pentecost, 9-21-25

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you † and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. (Proper 20, BCP 234)

It is common enough these days for people to be anxious about earthly things, about things which are passing away right before our eyes. Our nation and the freedoms we enjoy. A shared understanding of what is right and what is wrong; of what is truth and what is falsehood; of which public figures we are to respect and which we are to dismiss. We are a people deeply divided.

And the same time, deeply divided people, who are people of faith, want to hold fast to the promise of heavenly things, things which endure. Eternal life, where there is no pain or grief; the Beatific Vision, where we see God, loving and merciful, face-to-face. And, if it’s not too much to hope for, too much to ask, a glimpse, a foretaste, a hint of such goodness and decency in this life.

Jesus’s parable of the dishonest manager, and the prophet Amos’s injunction against the rampant tramplers of the poor and needy, resonate today. We do not have to look too far or too hard to find the shrewd children of this age, who practice deceit with false balances, false accusations, and false equivalencies, all in the service a false master who commends their dishonesty.

And we may well wonder if God hears the supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings Saint Paul urges of us, since those who are in these high positions have not delivered us the lives of peace and quiet and godly dignity we long for. The common life of our body-politic is not peaceful, but perilous.

I find it hard to hold faith in our civic institutions. And, if I am honest, I could say nearly the same about my faith in God. Perhaps you feel this way as well. I find it helpful when I separate state and church; when I keep clear in my mind and in my prayer the contrast between the kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God.

I cannot yet be hopeful for our country. I fear that an undeclared civil war has begun – and I do not see an Abraham Lincoln and a Frederick Douglass among any of today’s leaders. I do not believe that I am an alarmist; I am a capable-enough student of the histories of the political and social movements in our nation, and of civil wars elsewhere, to fear for our present time.

But our present time is not God’s time. To be sure, God is present in our time, but God’s clock and calendar do not align with our own. The limitations of our human nature mean that we do not always see when and where and how God is at work except in hindsight, or, when we are more intentionally attuned to the present, through deep discernment and prayer.

Where has God been at work? Where is God at work right now? These are the questions that preachers and disciples, that spiritual directors and seekers ask of each other and of themselves. These must be the questions we ask in this anxious age.

Nations and peoples come and go. Our ancient ancestors in faith, the Hebrews, saw their fortunes rise and fall, often as the consequence of their faithfulness or unfaithfulness to God’s covenant with them. Today’s passage from Amos is but one example of the result of one such failure: the economic exploitation of the poor. God remembered their deeds, and the Kingdom of Israel fell. Sooner or later the same will be true for our American empire. Are we any more exceptional than the Chosen People?

Where I hold faith in God is in God’s enduring presence, seen and unseen. God’s enduring presence in God’s Word, read and studied and preached and lived. God’s enduring presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. God’s enduring presence in the lives of the Communion of the Saints, living and dead.  And in God’s promise to be with us in each of these enduring ways, and many more, even to the end of the ages.

Pray. Discern. Hold fast to what shall endure. And keep the faith. You will need it.

Father Daniel S.J. Scheid, SCP

15^th after Pent. C: Proper 20 – Sep. 21, 2025

All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco

“Hold Fast to What Endures”