Don't Shut Up About Jesus
A word for preachers carrying the load, plus this week’s lectionary angles, archive resources, and links for leaders.
Most Mondays carry a quiet weight nobody in the pews can see. If you’ve stepped up to preach while attendance was thin, volunteers were short, or your own faith felt a sentence away from empty, this week’s readings are for you.
Jeremiah admits he feels overpowered and mocked, and still can’t keep the word shut up in his bones. Then, in Matthew 10, Jesus looks straight at that fear and says it three times: do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
A few summers back I wrote a letter to pastors who feel alone, and I keep coming back to it. So before we get to this week’s preaching angles, a word for the one carrying the load: you’re never as alone as you feel.
Featured: Dear Pastor, You Are Never as Alone as You Feel Like You Are
You’re not alone. You never were and you never will be. Jesus stands beside you. Thousands of other shepherds join arms with you. Your brokenness over the spiritual condition of humanity matters to God, and your response in continuing to love and serve people makes a difference, whether you can see it from one week to the next or not.
For This Sunday’s Text: What Costs Us Our Voice
Matthew 10:24-39
Jesus does not prepare his disciples for a frictionless life. He tells them there will be resistance, accusation, family division, and moments when faithfulness feels more costly than they expected.
And then, right in the middle of all of that, he says it again and again: do not be afraid.
That phrase can sound almost impossible when a leader is tired. Fear is rarely theoretical for pastors. It shows up in the sermon you are nervous to preach, the conversation you keep delaying, the criticism you can already imagine, the attendance trend you cannot control, the decision that will disappoint someone no matter what you choose.
But Jesus does not ground courage in confidence, strategy, charisma, or control. He grounds it in the Father’s care. Sparrows are noticed. Hairs are numbered. Hidden things are seen. Small lives are not small to God.
That means courage is not the absence of cost. It is the settled freedom to speak and live faithfully because our lives are held by One who sees more than the crowd sees and values more than the critics value.
For preaching, the angle may be this: discipleship is costly and disruptive, yet fear never gets the last word. The preacher’s task is not to make the cost disappear. It is to help people hear Jesus say, in the face of the cost, that they are known, seen, and deeply valued.
Preaching question: What fear is trying to take the place of the Father’s voice?
Other Angles in the Lectionary
Genesis 21:8-21: God hears the cry of Hagar and Ishmael, the ones a powerful household cast off, and opens a well in the wilderness where they were left to die. A word for anyone who has been written out of someone else’s story: the God who sees does not lose track of the discarded.
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17: The psalmist prays “for I am poor and needy” not as an apology but as the basis for being heard. There is freedom in leading with our need instead of our competence.
Jeremiah 20:7-13: Jeremiah tells God the truth about feeling overpowered by his calling, and still confesses that the word is like fire shut up in his bones. This is permission for honest, even furious prayer from people worn down by a calling they did not ask for.
Romans 6:1b-11: Baptism is not a fresh coat of paint over the old self. It is death and burial, so grace does not excuse the old life but ends it. The question shifts from “What can I get away with?” to “How do I walk in newness of life?”
From the Archive: Choosing Joy
This week, the Choosing Joy series feels like a fitting companion. Joy, courage, and rootedness belong together. Joy is not denial, and it is not an attempt to decorate pain with religious language. It is a resilient practice of seeing life from within the presence and promises of God.
If you are preaching through a season where people are tired, anxious, or trying to recover their sense of hope, this series may give you language for joy as something deeper than mood and stronger than circumstances.
Links for Leaders
Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child
“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God.” Manning’s language about belovedness fits this week’s Matthew 10 theme beautifully. Before we are useful, competent, visible, or brave, we are beloved. That is not sentimental. It is the identity from which courage grows.
Brené Brown, Dare to Lead
Brown writes, “There are a million cheap seats in the world today...” That image is especially helpful for leaders trying to stay brave without becoming defensive. Courage requires putting something real on the line, and leadership usually means leaving the safety of the spectator section.
Beyond the Divide / The Line on Nine
This Little Rock project tells the story of a historic Black business district damaged by urban renewal and the construction of I-630, and it imagines repair through memory, design, public art, and Black-owned businesses. It is a local story with a much wider word about what communities choose to remember, restore, and reconnect.
Note: Some recommendations may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Brandon earns from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Coaching Moment
One quiet sign of leadership fatigue is the pressure to always have the answer. When every question feels like a test, curiosity starts to disappear. But some of the healthiest leadership moments begin with a slower sentence: “Help me understand what you are seeing.”
You do not lose authority by becoming more curious. Often, you regain wisdom.
If you need a little room to think through leadership, communication, or what this season is asking of you, coaching can help create that space.
Keep your courage rooted. Panic makes noise; faithfulness bears fruit.