No traditional sermon this morning. Instead, we’re hearing from Caleb Carlson about his mission trip this summer.
Caleb and a team traveled to the Caribbean to serve — and when you see the photos, you’ll get a feel for what that looked like. Group shots in front of vans and school buildings. Kids in uniforms crowding around the team. Walls getting painted. A mural that says “Progress Over Perfection.” Benches being built. Classrooms full of little faces.
It’s the kind of trip that’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there. You go expecting to give something, and you come back realizing you received more than you brought.
Caleb is anchoring his presentation in 1 Peter 4:8-11:
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”
That passage does a lot of work in four verses. Love deeply. Don’t grumble about it. Use what you’ve got. Serve with God’s strength, not your own. And make sure the praise goes to the right place.
What stands out in the photos is how young this team is. These aren’t seasoned missionaries with decades of experience. They’re young people who said yes to something uncomfortable and showed up anyway. They painted walls they’ll probably never see again. They sat in classrooms with kids whose names they’ll carry with them longer than they expect. They did the work — not for a résumé or an Instagram post, but because someone needed help and they had hands.
That’s what being called to serve looks like. Not a title. Not a program. Just showing up where you’re needed and using whatever you’ve been given.
Peter says “as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Various forms. That means your gift doesn’t have to look like someone else’s. Maybe you teach. Maybe you paint. Maybe you just sit with a kid who needs to know someone sees them. It all counts.
This morning Caleb gets to stand in front of our church family and say “I went, and here’s what God did.” That’s a sermon all by itself.
Scripture References:
1 Peter 4:8-11
