Seeing Jesus
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Luke 19:1-10
Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson General Minister and President United Church of Christ
St. John’s UCC - Greeley, CO
2 November 2025
Good morning, St. Johns UCC. Thank you for the invitation to be present with you as you celebrate the ministry, mission, and presence of this congregation in this community since 1916. 109 years of ministry and mission are to be celebrated, and we are here this morning to do just that.
I bring you greetings from your siblings across the United Church of Christ and on behalf of the United Church of Christ Board and the staff of the National Ministries in Cleveland, we wish you a happy anniversary. God is doing great things here in Greeley. Please join me in prayer.
Let us pray…
Last month, I headed the United Church of Christ delegation to the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The WCRC is comprised of over 100 million Christians from more than 230 member churches in 109 countries across the globe. Over 500 delegates and visitors from the global reformed family gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the 27th General Council. The General Council was a time for worship and for the business of the communion. And we found time for fellowship too, and for celebrating 150 years of the WCRC.
The scripture and theme were “Persevere in Your Witness” Hebrews 12:1. I wrote a poem for that occasion which I would like to share with you. The poem is titled press on.
press on
by Karen Georgia A. Thompson
a history lies behind us
winding memories of a distant past where Ancestors wept for just living where Mothers made sacrifices
their determination created new meaning changes now experienced as facts
this past evident of steadfast faith telling tales of battles won
will to live uninterrupted holding fast to the course
persistence fueling the willingness
to surmount obstacles impeding justice
we hold the vision of a future
we have seen what they have done who are we to grumble?
why do we despair?
we are witness to their efforts
we are products of them who persevered
call the names of those gone on before us overturning tables as they went
doors kicked open repeatedly hammers tearing down walls
rewriting pages of oppression and injustice feet pounding out new rhythms in the streets
they did not grow weary as they ran the race
their commitment to new realities their daily bread
new paths forged with blood
new options for living emerging from their tears
we lift our voices in faith witnessing what they have done agitators labeled troublemakers stirring new theologies formulating new wisdom
crying for mercy where there is none
declaring truth for all to hear we are not afraid
we are witnesses of new hope we are crafters of a new future endurance riding on every breath
a new generation called to witness
1 May 2023
6:42
Chiang Mai, Thailand KGAT
Mission and ministry are sacred. These elements of the church include ministry in the community, ministry with each other, and makes room for the ways in which we nurture our spirits as we connect more deeply with God. The attention to ministry and mission is the way we live out our faith, and it is also the way we see God present and at work in the world.
Birthdays and anniversaries are as good a time as any to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. Did we accomplish the goals and intentions we set for ourselves? What did we learn? What should we relinquish? What to celebrate? What to release? What to take on next?
Seems easy enough, except many of us start with self-identified deficits when it comes to living into our purpose. Before we get to the celebration and the planning, we have to struggle with our perceptions of ourselves, of the organizations we are a part of, and sadly too the church. Unfortunately, how we see ourselves is not always of our own creation. Sometimes, how we feel about ourselves and the limitations we place on ourselves is facilitated by well-meaning people who would suggest that we are unable to live into more than we are, people who discourage our entrepreneurial inclinations, and our creativity.
Early in my ministry in the United Church of Christ, I was called to lead a new church start. I was asked to serve the congregation as their pastor. I was told the congregation had a core group of 15, that was 15 on paper, 3-5 on Sunday mornings after I called through the list I was given. People had moved on. Some were no longer interested. And there were a few that felt the new church was going nowhere. Well, those 3-5 people and I believed that congregation had a place in the community, and we kept going with the plan to see a church with an inclusive message of the gospel in that town.
Months later the church started to grow. Worship took place on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM at the local synagogue. We added Bible study during the week from a member’s house. And on Thursday evenings, we restaurant hopped around town for dinner, introducing our church to the town one meal at a time. We met every Sunday after church, to talk about what was coming up during the week. One hour in which the offering was accounted for and decisions were made.
One Sunday morning, there was a suggestion that we find ways to be involved in the community. There was a local ecumenical food program. Congregations in the community took turns making a hot meal every Monday. We sent a representative to the meeting of the organizers to express our interest. The following week, the report came back: they said no. We were told that our congregation was too small. They felt we did not have enough people to fix the meal, serve the people, clean up, and attend to all that was required. Folks were not happy. After conversation about it, we sent our representative back to say: yes, we could, would they give us a try. On second try, they said yes. We knew we could and we did.
Members of the congregation invited friends and family. We planned and we cooked. We prayed and we swept. We believed and we fed the people, providing for them the meal that they needed, and some evens took home leftovers. We saw Jesus. We saw God present and at work through the miracle of 15 people who understood God to be bigger than the limitations placed upon us. As you ponder the years of this congregation, how have you seen Jesus? How has the community seen Jesus through you? What is yet to come for St. John’s UCC here in Greeley, Colorado?
This morning, we listened to the readings from Habakkuk and Luke. In Luke, we have a man who started with limitations. As children growing up in Sunday school, we heard the story of Zacchaeus. There was even a song that we sang in Sunday school about him. He was in the crowd and wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus was a man on the edges of the community. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors were despised. He was height challenged and perhaps often overlooked because he was shorter than those around him. He wanted to see Jesus. In his desperation to see who Jesus was, he ran ahead and climbed a tree. His wealth was no good, he had to persist to receive the transformation from his encounter with Jesus.
The people let us know what they thought about Zacchaeus. They were disturbed that Jesus would go eat with him. Of this decision they noted: “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” People can and will level judgement. Jesus is unconcerned with the opinions of the people, Zacchaeus’ wrongs, or his wealth. Instead, Jesus extends salvation to a man who is on the outskirts of society because he stole people’s money and he had physical challenges.
There are those around us who need to see Jesus as much as we do. Our souls ache with the need to be more and to do more, yet we are confronted with the challenges of the day. Perhaps we are like that new church start, trying to see Jesus, trying to serve the needs of the community, yet we are told we cannot because we are not what is expected of church. What church should be and who we are seem to be at odds, so we hide our gifts and hope the next opportunity presents itself. In the meantime, the unhoused, the hungry, the poor, the uneducated, the migrant, the stranger - they wait for us to get it together, they wait for someone to see them. They wait to experience God’s love because of our reticence.
Zacchaeus’ tenacity pays off. Not only does he see Jesus, Jesus sees him. Jesus does not pass him by. Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house. How are you seeing the possibilities for yourself this morning? Are the limitations staring you in the face, causing you to rethink the possibilities for ministry in this place? The words of the prophet are for you this morning: Write the vision!
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:2-3).
Those who came before you had a vision for this church in 1916. They saw the need for a place where you could be present. They wrote the vision and lived into it. You are recipients of the risk they took, the vision they had, and their belief in God who is far greater than the challenges of our lives.
The prophet spoke these words to a people who needed hope. A people who needed to understand God was present with them through the adversity they were experiencing. The cry of the prophet was the cries of the people. This morning the cry of the prophet is our cry:
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted” (Habakkuk 1:1-4).
The cries of the people can be heard near and far. They come on the 24/7 news cycle, and they are whispered in the testimonies of survivors. Genocide in Gaza and Sudan. War in Ukraine with armed conflicts on every continent. This week we saw the pictures of destruction in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba as one of the most intense hurricanes passed through the Caribbean as a category 5 hurricane, its intensity amplified by the warmer waters of the Atlantic. The poor are losing the social safety nets that provide food and shelter. The escalating price of housing is increasing the number of unhoused. And we are seeing the largest migration crisis with more than 120 million people identified as refugees and asylum seekers. People are on the move because they are displaced from their homes for a variety of reasons. The list of challenges is too many for this moment.
As you reflect on the accomplishments of this congregation, what will be your course for ministry and mission? What do you plan for addressing the myriads of needs here in Greeley, in Colorado, across the United States, and around the world. You have work to do, challenges to overcome, and you should be busy finding ways to see Jesus, to encounter the Divine in ways that change and sustain you, your community, and the world. We can change the world.
In Psalm 42, the psalmist wrote: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God (Psalm 42:1-2)?
All the good we want for ourselves and for the world we live in rests on our willingness to see Jesus. Seeing Jesus emanates from the spiritual disciplines we exercise. Our transformation comes because we run after God and find ways to draw closer. The justice we seek in the world is built on our discipleship, our desire to follow Jesus and emulate his ministry healing the sick, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and taking care of the poor.
His was also ministry that challenged the religious elite and the powers of Empire. His was a ministry that was prophetic - calling truth to power. This too is your ministry in the world today. Write the vision! Make that vision plan. Allow God to use you as you are today - a living witness to the greatness of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Go! Find ways to see Jesus. Find ways to see God. The love of God is powerful and knows no bounds.
May it be so. Thanks be to God. Amen.