Faith at Work

Sent Forth Whole

What are we really trying to do when we raise up a child in faith? In this week’s sermon, Pastor Harry Jarrett offers a beautiful and challenging answer to that question — one that speaks not just to graduates and their families, but to every person who has ever been part of a faith community: we are trying to send people forth whole. Not perfect. Not finished. But whole. Drawing from three rich biblical texts — Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Proverbs 3:13-18, and Luke 2:41-52 — Pastor Harry weaves together a vision of what wholeness looks like and how it actually happens among us. The ancient Hebrew word shanan, translated as “teach diligently,” literally means to sharpen — the way a blade is sharpened on a stone: deliberately, repeatedly, intentionally, with an end in mind. That is what teachers, parents, and communities do when they show up faithfully in the ordinary moments of a child’s life. The wisdom of Solomon promises graduates something remarkable for the uncertain road ahead: wisdom is not waiting passively for those who seek her — she is already moving toward them. The formation they’ve received has been preparing them to be the kind of people who recognize wisdom when she shows up. And in the only story we have of Jesus as a young person on the edge of adulthood — staying behind in the temple at twelve, causing his parents three days of desperate searching — Luke closes the scene with four words that point to the whole purpose of Christian formation: wisdom, stature, favor with God, and favor with people. Intellectual growth. Physical growth. Spiritual depth. Relational wholeness. An integrated, sharpened life. This sermon is a gift for graduates, a charge to communities, and a comfort to parents who must do the hardest thing love requires — let go. Go and grow wise. Go and grow whole. Go knowing that wisdom is already on the road ahead of you. If this episode moved or challenged you, we’d love to hear from you! Please like, share, and leave a comment below — your thoughts help this message travel further than any one sanctuary can reach. 🎙 Subscribe to the Faith at Work Podcast on Substack: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/podcast 🌿 Visit Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ 📖 Read Pastor Harry’s Daily Devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional RUN OF SHOW 00:00 — Opening: What Are We Trying to Do When We Raise a Child in Faith? 00:40 — The Goal Stated: Sending People Forth Whole — Not Perfect, but Growing 01:34 — Text 1: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — The Shema and the Hebrew Word Shanan (To Sharpen) 02:39 — Honoring Teachers and Leaders: Faithfulness in the Ordinary Moments 03:46 — The Charge Belongs to the Whole Community, Not Just Parents and Clergy 04:42 — Text 2: Proverbs 3:13-18 — Wisdom as a Tree of Life 05:30 — A Word for Graduates: You Will Feel Profoundly Lost — But Wisdom Is Moving Toward You 06:10 — An Active Posture: Wisdom Requires Those Who Take Hold of Her 07:28 — What the Teachers Gave: Not a Set of Rules, but a Set of Eyes to See With 07:50 — Text 3: Luke 2:41-52 — The Boy Jesus in the Temple 09:07 — The Wonder and Anxiety of Letting Go: Parents, Children, and the Moment of Becoming 10:23 — Four Words That Sum It All Up: Wisdom, Stature, Favor with God, Favor with People 11:11 — Growing Whole Is the Goal — Not Perfection, but Integration 11:42 — The Challenge: Growing Whole Takes Work, Courage, and Community 12:27 — The Hard Truth for Parents and Communities: We Raise Them to Send Them 13:42 — A Word of Thanks to Teachers and Leaders 14:22 — The Charge to Graduates: Go. Grow Wise. Grow Whole. RESOURCE GUIDE SCRIPTURE TEXTS Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — The Shema The foundational Hebrew prayer and charge to teach the faith diligently across generations. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9 at BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+6%3A4-9&version=NIV Explore the Shema’s history and meaning at My Jewish Learning: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/deuteronomy-64-the-shema/ Theological commentary on Deuteronomy 6:1-9 at Enter the Bible: https://enterthebible.org/passage/deuteronomy-61-9-the-shema/ Proverbs 3:13-18 — Blessed Are Those Who Find Wisdom Solomon’s poem on wisdom as the most precious treasure, a tree of life for all who take hold of her. Read Proverbs 3:13-18 at BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+3%3A13-18&version=NIV Verse-by-verse commentary on wisdom as “tree of life” at BibleRef.com: https://www.bibleref.com/Proverbs/3/Proverbs-3-18.html The Blessings of Wisdom — deeper exploration at Enter the Bible: https://enterthebible.org/passage/proverbs-313-18-the-blessings-of-wisdom/ Luke 2:41-52 — The Boy Jesus in the Temple The only biblical window into Jesus’ childhood, ending with Luke’s summary: wisdom, stature, favor with God and man. Read Luke 2:41-52 at BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A41-52&version=NIV Scholarly preaching commentary from Luther Seminary’s Working Preacher: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/boy-in-the-temple/49277 What does it mean that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature? — GotQuestions.org: https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-increased-in-wisdom-and-stature.html Jesus in the Temple at 12 — accessible overview of the story’s meaning: https://justjesustime.com/jesus-in-the-temple-at-12/ KEY WORD STUDY Shanan (שָׁנַן) — “Teach Diligently” / “To Sharpen” The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 6:7 appears 9 times in the Old Testament, and 8 of those times it is translated with words related to sharpening, whetting, or piercing. The idea: to engrave the faith into children through deliberate, repeated, intentional teaching — not just programmed instruction, but the whole texture of daily life. A Hebrew study of shanan, including the connection to the letter shin and teaching through repetition: https://syknox.org/rr-6-14-20-shema-lesson-6-and-all-about-jeremiah-31/ Detailed word study on shanan in its Old Testament context: https://alittleperspective.com/deuteronomy-64-9-the-commandment/ ABOUT PLEASANT VALLEY CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren has been ministering in the Shenandoah Valley since 1824 and is part of the Church of the Brethren’s Shenandoah District. The congregation proclaims God as Loving Father, Jesus Christ as model and Savior, and the Holy Spirit as constant guide. Website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Address: 91 Valley Church Road, Weyers Cave, Virginia 24486 Sunday Schedule: 9:30 AM Sunday School (Sept–May) | 10:30 AM Worship Plan a Visit: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/plan-a-visit/ About Us & Church History: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/about-us/ Faith at Work is produced weekly from the Sunday Morning Worship service at Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia. New episodes release each week. Subscribe, share, and join the conversation. Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Revealing What Binds Us

In this episode of Faith at Work, Pastor Harry Jarrett reflects on Paul’s visit to Athens in Acts 17 and the altar dedicated “to an unknown God.” Rather than beginning with condemnation, Paul begins with attention. He walks, observes, listens, and notices that the people of Athens are already reaching toward something holy, even if they cannot yet name it. Pastor Harry connects that story to our own lives in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond. Many of us know the feeling that something is missing, something worth our devotion, our creativity, and our love. This sermon invites us to see that longing not as failure, but as a doorway. God is not far away. As Paul says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” The sermon centers on the claim that our lives are already held inside the life of God. Drawing on Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ [https://amzn.to/3Rq067n], Pastor Harry explores the idea that Christ reveals what has always been true: God is present to creation, with creation, and within creation. The incarnation is not God’s sudden arrival after a long absence. It is the clearest revelation of God’s eternal nearness, love, and presence. This episode also reflects on the Trinity as a vision of divine relationship. At the center of the universe, Pastor Harry says, there is no lonely God. There is relationship, conversation, mutual love, and self-giving. If we are made in the image of this God, then we are made for “we,” not for an us-versus-them world. Faith at Work is the weekly sermon podcast from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia. Listen, like, share, and join the conversation. Subscribe on Substack at https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/podcast [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/podcast], learn more about Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren at https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ [https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/], and find online discussion and study guides at https://discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org] . Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

A Safety that Lasts

In this week’s Faith at Work sermon, Pastor Harry Jarrett reflects on John 14 and Acts 7 to ask one of the questions many of us carry quietly into worship: Am I going to be okay? Jesus does not answer that question by promising that nothing painful will happen. Stephen’s story makes that clear. As the stones are coming toward him, Stephen is not temporally safe. Yet he sees heaven opened, sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and finds a kind of freedom that even violence cannot touch. This episode explores the difference between temporal safety and timeless safety. Temporal safety is what we usually mean when we pray for protection: keep danger away, keep illness away, keep conflict away, keep the people we love safe. Those are honest prayers. But the gospel offers something deeper than temporary protection. It offers the abiding presence of Christ at every waypoint in the journey. Drawing on John 14, Acts 7, Richard Rohr’s contemplative wisdom, and the prayer traditionally known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate, Pastor Harry invites us to trust that God’s safety is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of the One who has gone through suffering, death, and resurrection and remains with us still. Listen, subscribe, and join the conversation. Like, share, and comment wherever you listen. You can also follow along at Pastor Harry’s Substack [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/], learn more about Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren at pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/], and find online discussion and study guides at discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org/]. Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

I am the Gate

In this week’s Faith at Work sermon from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, Pastor Harry Jarrett reflects on John 10:1–10 and Jesus’ surprising words, “I am the gate.” Rather than treating the image of the gate mainly as a boundary marker for who is in and who is out, this sermon returns to the physical world behind Jesus’ metaphor: a sheepfold with stone walls, thorn-covered edges, and no hinged door. The shepherd himself became the gate by lying across the opening, placing his own body between the sheep and whatever threatened them. From there, Pastor Harry invites us to hear Jesus’ claim as a promise of protection, freedom, and abundant life. The gate is not a theological toll booth. The gate is a person. Jesus stands in the vulnerable place, resisting thieves, bandits, false shepherds, abusive religious power, and everything that steals, kills, and destroys. In light of Easter, the cross becomes the ultimate expression of Jesus as the gate, the one who places himself between the flock and death, and the resurrection becomes the promise that the gate still holds. This episode is for anyone who has ever felt penned in by religion, wounded by spiritual authority, or unsure whether Jesus came to control us or set us free. The good news of John 10 is that Jesus is not here to lock the sheep away. He is here to keep them safe, lead them into pasture, and bring them into the fullness of life. Listen, like, share, and join the conversation. Subscribe at Pastor Harry’s Substack [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/podcast], learn more about Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren at pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/], and continue the conversation with online discussion and study guides at discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org]. Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

More Than Words

In this episode of Faith at Work, Pastor Harry Jarrett of Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia reflects on John 20 and the powerful truth that the life of Jesus cannot be contained by words alone. While the recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels can be read in just a few hours, the works of Jesus overflow the pages of scripture and continue into the life of the church today. This sermon explores the difference between admiring what Jesus said and actually doing what Jesus did. From the locked room where the risen Christ breathes peace on frightened disciples, to the ongoing call to continue the work of Jesus peacefully, simply, and together, this message invites listeners to see faith not as mere belief or correct doctrine, but as embodied action. What if the story of Jesus is not a closed archive, but a living account still being written through acts of mercy, welcome, healing, forgiveness, and love? This episode calls the church to move beyond talk and into practice, carrying forward the work of Christ in everyday life. Listen, reflect, and join the conversation at: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ https://discipleship.pleasantvalleyalive.org/ If this episode encourages you, please like, share, and comment. Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]