My children’s message from the 17th Sunday after Pentecost (October 5, 2025)
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So it’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And I’d like you to help me come up with a list. How do we – or what does it look like – to care for someone? Accept answers.
Let’s imagine we have a cold and we have to stay home from school. How do our parents or guardians care for us? Medicine. Taking us to the doctor. Making us sleep and rest.
Let’s say a friend of ours fell down on the play ground and scrapped their knee. How do we take care of them? Tell a teacher. Get a bandaid. Help them wash. Let them cry but also comfort them by telling them jokes. It’s going to be okay.
Let’s say we’re at school and we notice that a friend forgot their lunch and they’re too nervous/anxious to go get a lunch (if it’s an option) from the lunch staff? We can share what we have. We might not have everything we want – and we might be a little hungry later. But we can share as a way of showing we care.
And what if we’re playing with siblings or a friend and they want to play a board game with us. We just want to keep playing on our iPad or tablet. But our sibling/friend has been feeling a little lonely and like they’re invisible. How do we care for them? We play the game.
So much of how we care for people is noticing them, seeing them, and taking the time to help them. And we do this not just because it feels good or so that people will care for us when we’re in need or because we assume that’s just what good people do. We care because Jesus calls us to do exactly that. Care. Help. Show up. Because God’s love won’t do anything less.
Today is a day when we recognize a committee in this church who care. The Care Committee does a lot of things. They help manage our prayer team – so the folks who pray for us and for our loved ones and friends. They also support those who have been in prison – and while no one connected to CLC is currently in prison, there was someone who was in there for a long time who just recently got out. And the Care committee cared for them even though it wasn’t always easy to do so. The Care Committee brings meals to folks who maybe had a surgery or are going through a hard time and could use a little help. The Care Committee also cares for people in our community – providing Christmas gifts for adults living in a group home nearby, food drives during Advent and Lent, sending cards to thoughts who need to know they’re not alone, and more. The members of the Care Committee are not the only ones who care – and, in fact, there’s a lot of people here who either help the care committee or who care for those in need. They Care because God invites us to Care. And caring is something all of us could do.
Sometimes that Care also shows up in surprising way. So one of the groups within the Care Committee is the Knit 1, Crochet Too group. They meet every Tuesday at 10 am and spend time all day crafting, talking, knitting, and working on a variety of projects. A lot of the projects are personal but also they do a lot of different things to help others. Not that long ago, someone came up to them with a bit of an emergency. Their nephew had put together a project to provide crochet hats for kids receiving cancer treatment but needed more. The team, very quickly, looked at what they had made and then made a bunch more for kids they didn’t know. 44 were made and delivered. And I want to show you pictures I received just a few days ago – ones they hadn’t seen yet – with these hats (and more) being delivered. The Knit 1 Crochet Too didn’t know personally the kids who could use these hats. They didn’t even know the kid who made this project. But they were asked to use the gifts God gave them – their time and their ability to knit – and they did exactly that.
God invites us to care. And God knows you can care too. I invite you – even if you don’t join the Care Committee – to partner with them or come up to them with different ways we can care. And if you ever need help, let them and me know. Because caring is something we can give and receive.