Nicole’s e-Pistle

August 20, 2025

Greetings, friends!

I have had several people comment about my sermon on Sunday (so far, all positive). I admit, it was not an easy sermon to write or to give, apart from the story about my stainless-steel skillet catching fire. I have since learned that the livestream did not work, so if you were not physically in church on Sunday, only about half of this e-Pistle will make much sense. (Feel free to keep reading, anyway!)

I took a chance, based on information I keep seeing in the news, and mentioned Palestine by name. I specifically stated at one point that “starving children is not an acceptable war strategy.” While I will never dare to tell anyone how they should vote or which politically party is more Christian (I truly believe there are God-fearing on all sides of the political divide), it is getting harder and harder NOT to sound political from the pulpit.

The connection this week came from a passage in Isaiah that spoke of God’s disappointment with “the house of Israel, and the people of Judah,” saying that God “expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!” I first tried to make it clear that anything in scripture referring to Israel or Judah cannot – and absolutely should not – be used to speak in favor of or against the modern Israeli state or of modern Jewish people. I also made the point that speaking up for those suffering in Palestine – especially the children – is NOT antisemitic. In fact, I have heard many prominent Jews, even Orthodox Jewish Rabbis and Holocaust survivors (or their immediate families), speak openly against the atrocities being carried out against people in the Gaza strip. Unfortunately, the political rhetoric would have us believe that to be on Israel’s “side” is both Republican and Christian, whereas to speak in favor of Palestine is Democratic and antisemitic.

Here’s the problem. Jesus consistently spoke out in favor of the poor and the marginalized of society – no matter if they were Jewish (most of the people he encountered and healed and preached to were Jewish, as were he and his disciples) or of a different culture or religion to himself. He held up the lowly and outcast to shame the mighty and proud… over and over again. Therefore, I cannot – I will not – be silent when I become aware of human suffering. People are dying, not just in Gaza, but in places all over the world. I will not try to focus on that every Sunday in worship (you hear it enough in the news and are just as bombarded as I am with the pictures of hospitals being bombed, parents trying to feed their starving babies, etc.). However, the Bible is full of both praise and lament, of joy and desperate pain, of God’s love for us as well as his deep sorrow over the ways in which his children hurt one another.

This past Sunday, if you were worshipping with us or whether you are just now reading this message, I hope your biggest take-away is that no matter how disappointed God becomes with the mess that we continue to make of this world, there is nothing… NOTHING… we could ever do to make him stop loving us. That’s a message worth hearing over and over again.

Blessings and Peace,

PS – Call me any time to hear my skillet fire story! It’s a good one!