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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 26, 2026
One of our families’ favorite things to do during these summer months is to head to one of our coastal beaches and search the shoreline for beautiful shells, fossilized shark teeth, and lost trinkets hidden in the sand. When my dad was living, he even brought along his handy dandy metal detector in hopes of discovering some historic artifact or precious jewelry left behind from a tourist.
In a moment of frivolity not long before my dad got sick, we played a wonderful, but horrible trick on my mother. We hid my sister-in law’s beautiful diamond ring in the sand ahead and gave the treasure-finding wand to my mom. In about fifty feet, the screech of that metal detector began blaring, and mom was so excited. What had she found she wondered – maybe a bottle cap, a nickel, or maybe something really valuable. As she dug with her shovel, she screamed to highest heaven… “Look, look what I found!” My dad was the one who broke the news that the ring was actually my sister-in-law’s. (I am sure they didn’t talk the entire way home.)
This Sunday we will discover the priceless joy of the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus describes in Matthew 13. But this time it won’t be a cruel practical joke. It will be the real deal – treasure beyond our greatest imagination.
Hope to see you Sunday… and you can leave the metal detector at home! :)
- Steven
Rev. Steven Baines is a Charleston native who currently serves as our church administer after 25 years in our nation’s capital. He served as executive minister at National City Christian Church, the “national cathedral” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has also held senior leadership positions at national civil rights organizations including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and People for the American Way.