May 24, 2026
• Rev. Mindie Moore
Yes In God’s Back Yard Week 3: Making a Difference Every Day
Acts 9:36-42
Today we’re continuing our series Yes, In God’s Back Yard. Through the month of May, we’ve been looking at really specific ways that we can engage in the work God is doing in the world. So far we’ve explored how you can connect to Freedom School and Teen Responders and it’s not too late to be part of either of those things! But today, our focus is just a little different. Because today we’re not going to drive towards one specific thing, but instead we’re going to explore what it can look like to live out service every single day, wherever we are.
I’m talking about 10am on a Tuesday. I’m talking about when you’re walking through your office, or at the store. I’m talking about when you’ve just dropped the kids off at school or when they finally go to bed and you have a minute to breathe. I’m talking about Saturday mornings, a walk around your neighborhood.
Think about any of those times or just think about the most normal, least spectacular part of your life...because THAT’S the place that I want us to believe that God can use us to do good.
And believing this and then trying to live it can be a bit tricky. Because I think the big thing that gets in the way of many of us living out our faith in an everyday type of way is that we honestly believe that if we can’t do “enough” (and that definition tends to be exceptionally fluid and hard to pin down) that we just can’t do anything. We think if we’re not out there with a five year plan on how to make the world a better place, then maybe we should just sit back and let someone else do it. We start to believe that our lives are too simple, that the problems are too big, and that we don’t really matter.
So that’s why I want to tell you about a woman named Tabitha. Because Tabitha, through simply living her life in a faithful, compassionate way...was someone who made a remarkable difference.
We find Tabitha’s story in the book of Acts, which is a particularly great book to be preaching out of today, on Pentecost Sunday, because this is the book that really tells us about the start of the church and how it grew over time. Tabitha is an everyday person IN the Church, and when we meet Tabitha, it’s actually after she dies.
And WHEN Tabitha dies, we get an immediate clue to how much she meant to her people, because her community goes right into action mode. It turns out that Peter is just a town over from where Tabitha lives, and a couple of disciples come to find him with this urgent request—is there any way he can come to Joppa, right now, and perform a healing miracle? The community isn’t ready to lose this person and they’ll do whatever they can to keep her with them.
And so Peter goes and does just that. He travels the few miles to Joppa, he prays and tells Tabitha to “get up” and the mourning turns to celebrating. This beloved person is back with her community, and we see that this miracle not only saves her, but as word spreads about what has happened, the church continues to grow and flourish.
As I think what happens here, and all the people involved, and the way so many are impacted by this moment...the very first thing I notice in this story is how (SLIDE) everyday service creates relationships.
There are a lot of people involved in Tabitha’s resurrection. You’ve got the frantic disciples bringing Peter in to perform the miracle. You’ve got this huge group of widows. You’ve got the way that faith spreads so quickly throughout the city after she comes back to life. This isn’t just a story of one woman getting a second chance to live, but it’s a story of a community that is deeply connected through this woman’s life and faith.
And I don’t know if Tabitha would have described herself as someone who was integral to the relationships in her community, but it seems to me like she was pretty important. Her presence and her gifts made a difference. People knew her and I’m guessing felt known, just by how she lived her life.
There’s a man in my work out class who is just this ultimate connector of people. He makes a point, every single time he’s there, to sort of make a round and check in. He knows EVERYONE’S name, I think. Like if you’ve been multiple times, he will know your name and remember. I don’t know how he does it. AND he remembers things about everyone. He’ll ask me for updates on how it’s going at church, he wants to know how all the parents are hanging in there with school wrapping up.
And this might not seem like a big deal, like ok this person likes to chat, but my friends, I need you to understand that this is all happening at 6am. I am a different person at that hour of the day! And it’s not a friendly person! But the fact that this man in my class makes a point to be SO present with people in this really simple, everyday way...I think it takes that room from being full of people who are tired and being forced to run on a treadmill, to a room of people who are more connected with each other.
There’s a power in just showing up and seeing the person in front of us. And that’s something I think every single one of us can make a point to do, even today. Even before you walk out of this room, or if you’re worshipping with us online, before the day is over. Who could you connect with in a way that says—I see you. And you matter.
Another thing that this story teaches us is that acts of (SLIDE) everyday service lets us use our gifts in practical way.
Tabitha’s gift was to sew. And we see evidence of the way she used this gift by the widows who show up at her bedside. The text says:
(SLIDE) All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas (Tabitha) had made while she was with them. (Acts 9:39)
I just love what the widows represent in this story. You’ve got this group of women, the Bible says they are ALL there, hands full of fabric, hearts full of gratitude, and these women were literally walking around as living representations of the practical way that Tabitha had used her gifts. And they want to make her impact known! They don’t keep it to themselves. Peter has to make them leave so he can do what he came there to do!
Tabitha knew her community, she was aware of the needs, and she had used her gifts to help some of the most vulnerable people in her midst. Being a widow in their time meant you had no income, no legal rights, and it would have been incredibly difficult just to survive. The fact that Tabitha would sew a garment meant just a little bit more stability for someone who needed it. So that’s what she did. And the impact was so tangible, and meant so much to the people who received the results of her gift.
I thought about my friend and St. Luke’s member Margaret Wood when I was reading about this part of Tabitha’s life. I remember one day I went over to Margaret’s house and her dining room table was covered in fabric. Now, I have NO crafting or sewing skills, so I am always really interested in the people in my life who do! So I asked Margaret about what she was sewing, and she told me she was making dresses to send to an organization called Dress a Girl Around the World. They’ve provided over 4 million dresses from people like Margaret using their skills to sew.
And Margaret shared with me that this is just one way she uses this gift to serve. She also works with the Projects With a Purpose group that’s part of our United Women of Faith, there are many women in our church would I could celebrate today and the work they do. Since she's been with them the last couple of years, they've done things like (SLIDES):
· Make burp clothes, bibs, blankets for the Diaper Pantry.
· Duffle bags and snack/toiletries bags for Isaiah House 117
· Putting zippers in the sleeves of sweatshirts for folks who go through dialysis or other longer treatments via IV's, to help keep their arms warm.
· Purses for Sew Powerful, which provides girls with hygiene supplies to stay in school all month.
And here’s what I love about this story—the way Margaret started using her gifts to make a practical difference like this...is she just literally googled “sewing for charity”. It was that simple! It didn’t start with a grand plan to change the world...she just knew she had something she could do, and she wanted to do something good with that gift.
As I told you, sewing isn’t the gift that the Lord has blessed me with. But God has absolutely given me, and you, things we can do specifically. So what are those things for you? And how can you use them? What impact could you make, just by doing the thing that God has already equipped you to do?
Now, the final thing I want us to glean from reading this story today is that acts of (SLIDE) everyday service is ongoing.
None of this was a one time sort of thing for Tabitha. She’s described as being a person who was “full of good works and acts of charity” which I think gives us a clue that serving for her was probably a regular rhythm of her life. It wasn’t an extracurricular to her faith, but it was a key expression of her faith. All of those mundane sort of moments we talked about at the beginning of the sermon, THAT’S when this was taking place. I don’t think she had any kind of title or degree or official leadership role. We never hear her described as a “disciple” or a “minister” or anything like that.
And she didn’t need it. All she had to do to live out the ministry of Jesus was to do these faithful things every single day. Every day, by showing up in a way that looked out for others, in a way that cared about the people in her midst, she was creating a story of who she was, but maybe more importantly, of who Jesus is and how Jesus loves.
When we were planning this message, Pastor Rob shared a story from the Upper Room with me. It’s called Small Things Matter—Upper Room Apr. 4,25 Carol Westerlund, Finland Zech 4:10 CEB)
My brother Tommy was intellectually disabled and lived in a group home. Because I lived in another country, I did not visit him in person. One day I decided to start sending him postcards so he would remember that he had a sister who loved him. I wrote to him regularly. I would choose a nice picture, write out my greeting, and send it across the sea.
Tommy passed away some time ago. After his death, the personnel at his group home gave the postcards to my mother. Tommy had saved them. The staff told my mother that Tommy had slept with the postcards under his pillow every night and that he wouldn’t let anyone else touch them because they were so precious to him. It moved my heart deeply to know that an action of mine that was so small had meant so much to my brother.
Our lives are full of things that seem inconsequential. While a kind gesture or an encouraging word may not seem noteworthy, they can mean much. God’s word encourages us to love, even in little ways. In doing so, we spread the joy of God’s kingdom, and lives can be changed.
We never know how the little ways we love will make a big difference. And that’s what’s so compelling to live our lives like this. We don’t know...but what can know is that God is at work and God’s going to use whatever we have to offer.
Now, I have to tell you that this message feels timely for me, sometimes we preachers do that. We pick a topic that we actually need to hear and you just get to come along with us. So thank you for doing this with me today! You may or may not know that as of...noon TODAY, so about two hours from now, I am starting a 6 week Sabbatical. And I have spent the better part of this year planning and praying to get ready for this time, and now it’s here and it’s both very exciting and also very much pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Because for this next six weeks, I’m going to be living my faith in a very different way. My rhythms will be different, my physical location will be different, I will not write a sermon for six weeks or go to a hospital or teach a class. All of those really concrete ways I have gotten used to living out my faith will take a little pause.
But what I know is that even in that pause...God’s Spirit will keep showing up. And it’s going to happen in the most everyday moments. I don’t know what that will look like, but I’m really excited to watch God move. I’m really excited to encounter Jesus in some new and unexpected ways. I’m excited to take the things we talked about this morning and put them into practice.
And so as I prepare to do that, and as I invite you to do that too, wherever this summer takes you, I want to give you just a little resource. (SLIDE) On the tables outside of this space, and in the chat online, there’s a card that has 5 ways you can make a difference wherever you are. These are NOT earth-shattering things. Like nothing on this list is going to upend your life or probably even change your schedule that much. BUT. I do believe that every single thing on this simple list can make a difference.
And. When I look at our world...and I could make you a list of my laments that is a mile long. You probably could too. But when I think about all of those things, what is broken, what needs Jesus so desperately to intervene, when I think about the things that feel so overwhelming...I come back to simple things like this. To just start here. And I just wonder if more of US could do more of THIS...if that might just start to move the needle towards something that feels more healed and whole. We need the big acts of change, absolutely. But we also need the small, micro moments where we show up for the people around us. Where we let the everyday pieces of our lives lend themselves towards loving the people who God has put in front of us.
Every single one of us comes face to face with a person. Every single one of us comes face to face with a need. Every single one of us has a gift and life that can be used to do the work of Jesus in this world. So what if every single one of us could be open to how the Spirit leads us and let our lives be living acts of service every day?
Let’s pray.