The Inner Struggle of A Generation

The Inner Struggle of A Generation

Pastor Harry Jarrett opens this week with a confession. Sixty-two years into following Jesus, he still does not fully understand his own actions and thoughts. He tells us that on purpose, because this sermon is not about somebody else. It is about all of us. A recent Barna Group study asked 1,500 teenagers a piercing question: what do you feel pressure to figure out? The answers were not about lunch tables or crushes. Three out of four feel pressure to know how they will make a living and whether their future will even be stable. Seven in ten are carrying the question of who they really are. Two-thirds wonder whether anyone genuinely cares, and more than half are quietly asking whether God is real and whether God loves them. Here is the turn. These are not teenage questions. They are human questions. The teenage years are simply when they all arrive at once, loudly, before anyone learns to hide them. And the study found something we cannot afford to miss: the people who look the most settled are often carrying the heaviest loads. From there the sermon opens two texts. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul, one of the giants of the faith, says on the record, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Honesty about the struggle, Harry reminds us, is not the opposite of faith. It is where real faith actually lives. He speaks tenderly here about the recent death of his own father, and what refusing to perform his grief has taught him: honesty is the doorway that lets people love us instead of merely admire us. Then Matthew 11, where Jesus stands in a noisy marketplace of voices that no song can satisfy, thanks the Father for revealing deep things to the small and the searching, and offers the invitation some of us have carried since childhood: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens.” The yoke he offers is not a call to carry nothing. It is a call to stop carrying it alone. Whether the questions are arriving all at once for you or you are further down the road, there is a door standing open and a place at the table. You were never meant to pull this cart by yourself. Run of Show 00:00 - A Pastor’s Confession: Sixty-Two Years In and Still Learning01:16 - The Barna Study: What 1,500 Teens Feel Pressure to Figure Out03:04 - Not Teenage Questions, Human Questions04:31 - The Put-Together Ones May Carry the Heaviest Load05:59 - Romans 7: Paul’s Honest Confession07:57 - Honesty About the Struggle Is Where Faith Lives08:24 - Two Weeks Ago, My Father Died: Refusing to Perform Grief10:40 - Honesty Is the Doorway11:30 - Durable Faith Grows Where Doubt Is Welcomed13:55 - The Rescue Is a Relationship, Not a Technique14:42 - Matthew 11: Children Shouting in the Marketplace15:43 - Living Closest to the Loudspeaker16:26 - Generation Alpha, AI, and What It Means to Be Human17:36 - Hidden From the Wise, Revealed to Infants19:22 - Come to Me: The Shared Yoke20:32 - The Only Qualification Is Exhaustion21:23 - For the Young: Bring Your Questions Into the Light22:53 - For the Seasoned: Be a Steady, Trusted Presence23:37 - An Open Door: They Welcome Your Wisdom25:52 - The Rescue and the Rest Are the Same Gift Research referenced in this sermon: Barna Group, “The Big Questions on Teens’ Minds Today,” drawn from the report Reimagining Ministry for Gen Alpha, produced in partnership with Christ In Youth. The study surveyed 1,500 U.S. teens ages 13-18. It found that roughly three in four feel pressure over their future livelihood and stability, seven in ten feel pressure to answer who they really are, and more than two-thirds say they are comfortable receiving wisdom from Jesus and the Bible. Eight in ten say they would welcome advice about who they are from their mother.https://www.barna.com/research/questions-teens-are-asking/ [https://www.barna.com/research/questions-teens-are-asking/] If this episode spoke to you, we would love to hear about it. Please like this post, share it with someone who is carrying a heavy load right now, and leave a comment with the moment that stayed with you. Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

What Hagar Couldn't See in the Desert | The God Who Hears

Hagar lays her dying son under a bush in the desert, walks away so she will not have to watch, and weeps. The water is gone. The father is miles away. And then the story turns on a single line: God heard the voice of the boy. In this message from Genesis 21, we sit with the limits of even the fiercest parental love and discover the God who hears every child right where they are. Preached on a morning of child dedication, this sermon walks honestly into a hard story and lands on good news: your love for your child is fierce and good, and it was never meant to be enough on its own. Your job is not to be God for your child. It is to keep handing your child back to the God who hears. IN THIS MESSAGE We trace Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, the painful sending away of Hagar into the wilderness of Beersheba, and the moment God hears a forgotten boy and opens a mother’s eyes to a well that was there all along. The name Ishmael itself means God hears. From there we follow Paul’s stunning move in Galatians and Romans, where the true children of Abraham are defined not by bloodline but by belonging to Christ, and we are adopted as children of God who cry out to a Father who answers. SCRIPTURE AND REFERENCES Genesis 21 (Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness of Beersheba) Galatians 3:29 (heirs according to the promise) Romans 8:14 to 8:15 (the Spirit of adoption) 1 John 3:1 (called children of God) Walter Brueggemann, on the God of the dispossessed CHAPTERS 00:00 What Did These Families Promise at the Child Dedication? 00:44 What Happens When a Parent’s Love Reaches Its Limit? 02:32 Who Are Abraham’s Two Sons in Genesis 21? 03:16 Why Did Sarah Send Hagar and Ishmael Into the Desert? 04:43 What Happens When a Parent’s Protection Runs Out? 05:36 Why Did Hagar Walk Away From Her Son? 06:47 What Does It Mean That God Heard the Boy? 07:27 Why Does God Hear Us Right Where We Are? 08:04 What Was the Well Hagar Could Not See? 09:52 Are Parents Supposed to Be God for Their Children? 11:02 What Does the Name Ishmael Mean? 11:46 Who Are the True Children of Abraham? 13:34 What Does It Mean to Be Adopted as a Child of God? 15:21 Where Is God When You Are in the Wilderness? CONNECT WITH US Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional Substack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ #Genesis21 #HagarAndIshmael #GodHears #ChildDedication #ChristianParenting #ChurchOfTheBrethren #Sermon #BibleStudy #Faith #ChildrenOfGod Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Ministry in the Second Season of Life

What if your most fruitful years are still ahead of you? In this message from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia, Pastor Harry Jarrett explores what it means to be called by God in the second season of life. Drawing on two ancient stories, a tired rabbi walking among shepherdless crowds and a woman named Sarah who laughed at a promise she thought was impossible, this sermon challenges the cultural myth of retirement and invites us into something deeper: rewirement. Using current research from the 2025 Barna State of the Church study, the message reframes the common worry that younger generations are not stepping up, and asks the harder question of who God is actually calling, and to what. Whether you are nearing retirement, already there, or simply wondering whether your purpose has run its course, this is an invitation to discover that God may not be finished with you yet. SCRIPTURE REFERENCES Matthew 9:35-38, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few Genesis 18:11-14, is anything too hard for the Lord? Psalm 92, they will still bear fruit in old age Psalm 71, until I proclaim your might to another generation BOOKS AND SOURCES MENTIONED Falling Upward by Richard Rohr Barna Group, State of the Church 2025 Research and reflections from David Kinnaman, Carl Vaters, and Discipleship Ministries CHAPTERS 00:00 What Happens to the Dream of Retirement? 01:44 Two Ancient Stories About a Late-Life Calling 02:27 Why Did Jesus Say the Laborers Are Few? 03:58 What Did Sarah Learn When She Laughed at God? 05:16 Are Younger Generations Really Not Showing Up? 05:53 What Does the 2025 Barna Study Reveal About Who Attends Church? 08:09 Why Do Gen Z and Millennials Serve Differently? 11:00 What Burdens Are Younger Generations Carrying? 13:00 If the Next Generation Won’t Continue Our Ministries, Who Will? 13:21 Does the Ministry Model Itself Need to Change? 14:45 What If Their Calling Lies Somewhere Else? 16:22 What If God Is Calling Us Instead? 16:32 What Is the Second Season of Life? 17:30 Can We Still Bear Fruit in Old Age? 18:21 Is Deserved Rest the Whole Story? 20:01 What Is the Difference Between Retirement and Rewirement? 20:57 Whose Voice Really Tells Us to Step Back? 23:03 Why Does Personal Mentoring Matter More Than Programs? 24:45 What Does Psalm 71 Teach About Aging and Purpose? 26:47 What Does Rewirement Actually Look Like? 27:34 How Did God Rewire Pastor Harry’s Own Calling? 29:07 What Is God Inviting You Into Today? CONNECT AND GO DEEPER Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily Devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional] Substack newsletter: Podcast (Faith at Work): If this message encouraged you, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs to hear that God is not finished with them yet. We would love to have you join us in person in Weyers Cave, Virginia, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. #SecondSeasonOfLife #Rewirement #ChurchOfTheBrethren #FaithAndAging #PurposeAfterRetirement #Sermon #ChristianFaith #ShenandoahValley #PleasantValleyChurch #RichardRohr #FallingUpward #ChristianDiscipleship Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Would That All Were Prophets

What happens when the Holy Spirit refuses to follow the rules? In this Pentecost Sunday message, Pastor Harry Jarrett takes us on a journey through three passages that belong together — Numbers 11, Acts 2, and 1 Corinthians 12 — to explore one of the most surprising and liberating truths in all of Scripture: the Spirit of God has never been content to stay inside the lines we draw for Her. We begin in the wilderness, where Moses is worn thin by the weight of leading a grumbling people. God responds by distributing Moses’ Spirit among 70 elders — but two of them, Eldad and Medad, never make it to the tent. They stay in the camp. And the Spirit finds them right where they are. When Joshua demands that Moses shut them down, Moses responds with one of the most stunning lines in the entire Torah: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!” We then leap forward to the Day of Pentecost, where that ancient wish explodes into glorious fulfillment. Wind and fire. Unschooled Galileans speaking languages they never learned. Peter, standing before the bewildered crowd, reaches all the way back to the prophet Joel: “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” Not just the elders. Not just the leaders. Sons and daughters. Old and young. Slave and free. And then we arrive in Corinth, where the same Spirit that made Pentecost possible has somehow become ammunition for competition and status games. Paul has to remind a gifted, fractured church that no gift is for self-display — every gift is for building up the body, and the body needs every single one of its parts. Across all three texts, the same pattern repeats: the Spirit shows up where She wasn’t expected, in people who weren’t supposed to be the ones. And every time, the community has to decide how to respond. Will they be Joshua — anxious about the process, defensive of the system? Will they be the Jerusalem crowd — bewildered, dismissive, defaulting to “they must be drunk”? Will they be the Corinthians — ranking, competing, measuring worth by the flashiness of their gifts? Or will they grow into Moses — who looked at two men prophesying without permission in the middle of the camp and felt no threat at all, only joy? This Pentecost, that question is ours to answer. Enjoyed this episode? Like, share, and leave a comment — your engagement helps more people discover this message. You can also subscribe to the podcast and daily devotional at the links below. Subscribe & go deeper: pastorharryjarrett.substack.com [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/podcast] Visit Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren: pleasantvalleyalive.org [https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/] Daily Devotional: pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional] RUN OF SHOW - CHAPTERS 00:00:00 — Welcome & Opening Reflections — Harvest Season in the Valley 00:00:38 — Series Overview — Three Texts, One Spirit 00:01:06 — A Note from Your (Slightly Medicated) Pastor 00:01:55 — Opening Prayer — God of the Harvest 00:02:20 — TEXT 1: Numbers 11 — Moses, the 70 Elders, and a Shared Spirit 00:03:40 — Eldad and Medad — The Two Dads Who Stayed Behind 00:04:25 — What Does “Prophesy” Actually Mean? 00:05:28 — The Spirit Finds Them Where They Are 00:06:05 — Joshua Says “Stop Them” 00:07:27 — Moses’ Stunning Response — One of the Greatest Lines in the Torah 00:08:03 — What Kind of Leader Can Say “Would That All Were Prophets”? 00:08:59 — TEXT 2: Acts 2 — Pentecost and the Outpouring Without Measure 00:10:23 — Wind, Fire, Languages — The Crowd’s Bewildered Response 00:10:50 — Peter Preaches — Reaching Back to the Prophet Joel 00:11:13 — Moses’ Wish Coming True at Scale 00:11:48 — The People at the Bottom of the Social Order Are Included 00:12:18 — “In Our Own Language We Hear Them Speaking of God’s Deeds of Power” 00:12:59 — TEXT 3: 1 Corinthians 12 — When Gifts Become a Competition 00:13:35 — The Corinthian Problem — Ranking Gifts, Creating Winners and Losers 00:14:18 — Paul’s Answer — Reframing the Gifts for Building Up the Body 00:14:55 — No Hierarchy, Only Interdependence 00:15:31 — The Pattern Across All Three Texts 00:16:05 — Four Ways Communities Respond to the Spirit 00:16:42 — The Jerusalem Crowd Response 00:16:55 — The Corinthian Response 00:17:23 — The Moses Response — “More of This, Please” 00:17:59 — The Question for the Church Today 00:19:46 — Closing & Congregational Amens 00:20:16 — Resources — Weekly Devotional, Study Guide & Coffee with Pastor Harry Get full access to Harry Jarrett at pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe [https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

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]