[Sermon] The Power that Turns Us
Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo & Ruth Lee
September 27, 2026 + Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
In this installment of "Conversations on the Road," Pastor Hector sits down with Ruth Lee to reflect on Ezekiel 18. Ruth talks about growing up with an image of God as a stern judge. She describes how she came to read Ezekiel's warnings less as divine vengeance and more as the real consequences of the choices communities and individuals make. She connects the passage to history that still shapes lives today, from colonial violence in Namibia to redlining in the United States. Then she turns to her own life and asks what she needs to turn away from and what she is turning toward. Pastor Hector closes with a word of good news: God's reckless, never-ending love isn't waiting for us to turn. It is the power that turns us.
Sermon Transcript
From YouTube's automatic captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.
Pastor Hector: Good morning. Grace to you and peace from God, Abba, Father, Mother, Creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord. And we say amen. Amen.
As you can see, today Ruth and I are sitting here because we are going to continue with one of those conversations on the road. For those of you who are not familiar with this format of reflecting on the scripture, this is an opportunity to practice some out of the story of the two disciples walking to Emmaus and having an encounter with Jesus, and how Jesus helped them to discover and understand the message that Jesus has been praying.
So Ruth, thank you for continue this journey, because we started a few weeks ago actually, and we have been journeying, reflecting, and trying to figure out things in our faith journey, and it has been a wonderful opportunity. Today we have the two texts, one in Ezekiel chapter 18 and Matthew 21, and Ruth accepted to continue to do this together. And I was, as we started our conversation, when you told me, "I'm willing to do this," I was thinking of the time, I mean, when we met, because you were one of the first leaders, practitioners I would say, because you were leading a workshop on active listening, compassionate listening. Compassionate listening. And I think that some of those words that I learned from you are some of the things that I've continued to practice. So, it's a joy.
Ruth is a member, active member of the congregation, involving several member ministries here of the congregation. So, it's glad to have you here. So, let's continue with our conversation and to see how the Spirit leads us. But first, can you share a little bit, Ruth, of you, and also what aspects of the passages that we have for today really caught your attention?
Ruth Lee: Okay. So I come from a background of some very small towns back in South Dakota and northern Minnesota. Some of those towns were not much bigger than what this group of people is here. So, keep that in perspective. And we moved out... My dad was a Lutheran pastor in those small towns. So, you can imagine, as the preacher's kid, the amount of scrutiny and what I felt I had to live up to. And then we moved out here, and instead of going to the giant public school, I went to a Christian reformed school that my cousins went to. But again, that was very different, and it got into, you know, everything from predestination and kind of a very much a God that was judgment, and it's taken me a while to come around from that.
And when you offered me the two texts, I chose Ezekiel because I knew almost nothing about Ezekiel.
Pastor Hector: Mhm.
Ruth Lee: And as I looked at it, what was standing out to me was looking at both systemic choices of communities and then the long-term consequences that come from that, along with individual choices. Some of those messages that I heard in my younger years, you know, God being, "I will visit, you know, punishment unto the third generation," and the children and the grandchildren and whatever will bear that. And that's some of what I was hearing in the text, that the people were saying, "Well, it's not our fault, you know, it was my great-grandfather's," or whatever. And I think instead of looking at it as being a vengeful God, who I really did not want to be interacting with, I started seeing it more as looking at consequences. You know, so whether it's the parent with the tear on their face seeing their child making a decision that is going to impact them for years down the road, or whether it is a society making those same kind of choices.
Some of you know I've done a lot of traveling lately. Not as much as some people, but when I travel, I don't just go to look at, you know, the pretty sites and check off, "Oh yeah, I saw this." I do a lot of reading beforehand on history. I want to understand the culture and what shaped that country. And on a recent trip to Africa, southern Africa, we learned about a genocide that happened in Namibia that was initiated by the Germans at that time. And Germany is really good on acknowledging some of their cultural mistakes. I mean, they're very open. If you go and visit in Berlin and see impacts from Nazi Germany... They have not accepted that they did anything in Namibia. So people there are still trying to at least just get an acknowledgement. So you can look at examples all over the world on it. You can look at our own country.
So one example that came to mind for me is redlining. How many of us here know the concept of redlining? Okay. So for those of you that don't, it literally meant a red line was drawn on a map, and within that area no loans were made. So imagine if that line was drawn around Lynnwood, and what happens if from tomorrow on there are no loans made. There will not be a neighborhood center built. There will not be new houses built. Houses that are here are going to fall apart. Our schools depend on taxes. All of that stuff. So everything keeps trickling down, and we've created this whole other separate class.
Well, and it turns out, you know, when I first... I have a degree in urban planning. When I went through my training, I think there were about two paragraphs on redlining. And it's kind of like, well, you know, there must be, you know, a few bad bankers or something that did it.
Pastor Hector: Yeah.
Ruth Lee: Well, I did a class last year online, and it was a federal law. So, our federal government dictated and said, "No, you cannot loan money there." So, I know it impacted Black communities. I don't know if it impacted other ethnic groups. I believe so. But it's, you know, I think we're still feeling those impacts. And I look at what's going on in our country right now, and what impacts are we going to be feeling as a society two or three generations from now? Whether we look at the people that are being ripped and deported, whether we look at what we're doing in our creation, and I... Tech team, I forgot. I would like that first slide up, because it just shows the text.
You know, the people are complaining that, well, it wasn't their fault, and it's like, well, okay, I can't control what happened a long time ago. But then if we go on to the second slide, then it gets into more individuals. What do I need to do? And what I was hearing within it was, what do I need to turn away from?
Pastor Hector: Mhm.
Ruth Lee: And if I'm turning away, what am I turning to?
Pastor Hector: Okay.
Ruth Lee: So then for me that became turning, personally turning away from isolationism. It was so easy to get into that with COVID, and coming out of it, kind of withdrawing and doom scrolling and just kind of hunkering down. So, thank you. So if I'm going to turn away from that, what do I turn to? And what I came to was turning towards community.
So for me, I will start often with creation. If I'm really down, I need to get out of my house and go look at God's creation. That realizing there is still good, and that there's more relationships. So... Yep. Thank you. So those were the mountains on a trip down to Patagonia. They had been totally hidden from view until our very last morning, when we were going to be leaving. And suddenly they were out, and that sense of awe on, look what God created, and look at the beauty, and look at the depth and the colors and the shapes and all of that.
And then next slide. Also in Africa, we were blessed to see the desert elephants, and talk about community, you know, seeing how they protect the young ones, how they not only survive in a very arid climate, but they thrive. There were new ones. There was this big herd. So it's starting with being in creation, and then I turn a lot of times to art, and how do I respond to it? How do I express it? How do I share it with someone else?
And then if we can do the next slide. So looking at, what does community mean, and what does it require from me? I have certainly found community here at Trinity. I suspect many of you have. So that may mean support. It may mean the people that I asked last week to pray for me because I was going to be up here this week, going like, "Please, it's a little different being here than being out there." You know, it may mean encouragement. It may mean challenging on, you know, "I really think you should try this. I really think you've got something to say." It may mean accountability on, okay, I had a recent friend that said, "Okay, I hear that you're taking care of mental and spiritual and emotional. What are you doing for taking care of your physical self?" And I'm like, "Okay, yeah, I need to be back at the gym more often."
So, as I'm looking at community and looking at how I turn from being isolated, again, that may mean making more time for conversations, you know, intentionally nurturing longtime friendships. It may mean making space for new friendships. It may mean I need to be a little vulnerable. I need to be up here instead of sitting comfortably there. It may mean I need to listen really deeply sometimes, when it's like, okay, I've heard this story before, but it means I need to really listen. All right, I did a lot of talking.
Pastor Hector: I ask you a question, and you are sharing what is in your heart, and I think that this is one of the purposes. But I remember one of the things that you were saying that caught my attention was when you were saying that we live in the tension, in the tension between what has happened and the tension on how to live the present into the future that God is calling us. And I remember that your conclusion was, with the passages in Ezekiel, you talk about hope, that in the end, this list of things that you just read leads us to live hope.
Ruth Lee: I guess a couple comments just before that, because then kind of my last art piece kind of wraps that up. I also started looking at other communities. So if I could have the next slide up. One of the places that I have found a very faithful community is through the LiVE project, through the synod. It's a place where people have met me where I was. They have supported me. They have challenged me, saying, "Hey, let's... What does this passage really mean? What is this person saying? What is it really like to address our own racism? What does it mean to address..." you name it. So, that has been another community for me, and it's one that I kind of stepped away from a little last year, and I'm going to... It's like, okay, I'm going to move back into it. And then it's looking at other communities that may be short-term, and there's a couple artist communities I'm in, but it's like, okay, I need to be a little more intentional on that.
But what I did take away, that you were drawing attention to, that last verse, is really talking about God longs for all of us to be in community. God is not looking to punish, going, "Okay, you screwed up, so you're out." Very much that sense of walking with us, and wanting us to find safety and community and growth.
And to that, and the last slide, which is this painting, which is one of my earlier abstract ones. Sometimes when I paint I have a very intentional plan, like those first two. Abstract, I just started with color and texture and kind of saw what was coming out from it. I titled it Passages. People see all different types of things in this. I was talking with someone before church about what was behind it. For me, I almost see two figures there, and I see God walking with us, walking with me, walking with our community. Don't know exactly where we're going. Don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but there is that togetherness, that walking together, and that leaves me hopeful. And that is not a place where I was at a year or two ago. I was very, very turned inward and very not feeling hopeful. So that is a big change, and that is a big reason why I'm up here, and why I'm kind of lifting up that whole idea of community.
Pastor Hector: Yeah, I almost can hear you in this specific piece of art. I mean, is that liminal space where the possibilities are, where transformation happens, where we are living in that tension of knowing that God is with us, and sometimes we do not know exactly where we are going, but we have the trust.
I was talking with our young worshippers earlier... You made me think. I wrote some thoughts that you really helped me to think. I don't know if this is just... I'll figure it out, but I think it's something that helps me to think and to experience these passages, stories, in a different way.
So, as I was saying, we live in a tension between what was and the new possibilities of God's new order, and that tension is real in our lives. It is the place where faith happens, not in resolving the tension, but in living in it, trusting that God's verdict over us is life, even when our experience screams otherwise.
Ruth Lee: Mhm.
Pastor Hector: God's reckless, never-ending love is not waiting for us to turn. It is the power that turns us. And finally, that's the message that breaks the despair. Not "try harder to change," but the verdict is already in: that you and I, every one of us, belong to God, and God delights in our life, not for our death. Now we live in it, not to earn it, but because it is true.
Ruth Lee: Amen.
And that's what I got from our conversations on the road with you. I pray and I hope that this conversation will continue, that you, and with others and community, will continue to see the expansive presence of God among us. And I hope that you and I will continue discerning together how God is in the present, even when we don't have clarity exactly where God is taking us. Thank you, Ruth, for being with us, for sharing your heart, and for helping us to hear a new and different perspective from these passages. Thank you.
Ruth Lee: Thank you.
Pastor Hector: Thanks be to God. Thank you.