St. John’s Episcopal Church
Tallahassee, FL
Genesis 15:1–6
Hebrews 11:8–12
This sermon was preached during the summer of 2025, when worship at St. John’s was held in the parish hall, Alfriend Hall, while the sanctuary ceiling was being cleaned.
Good morning, St. John’s.
All summer,
we’ve been talking about
finding the sacred in the ordinary,
and each week I’ve brought
an ordinary object to serve as a focus.
Today,
I brought this—
just a book—
because sometimes,
the sacred shows up in something as simple
as reading with a child.
This summer,
a small but mighty team from St. John’s
went on a youth mission trip
to serve at a literacy camp in Nashville, TN.
One of those team members—
my daughter Kendall—
felt strongly about going
and even more strongly
about sharing what she experienced.
So today,
on our Back-to-School Sunday,
you get to hear from one of
your very own high school students.
Please welcome Kendall Lacy.
Hi, I’m Kendall. I was very nervous about going on this trip. I had all the questions: What if I’m not good with kids? What if I’m too quiet? What if I’m not helpful at all, and I’m a bad example? Basically, I was like Abraham in the reading today from Hebrews: “By faith, Abraham set out… not knowing where he was going.” That was the exact same with me. Even with all those what-ifs, I still felt drawn to go, even when I was anxious and had no clue why. Now I know why.
We went to Nashville to work with East Nashville Hope Exchange, a nonprofit that focuses on literacy and empowerment for kids in under-resourced communities. Their summer program helps kids keep growing in reading, especially in neighborhoods where opportunities are limited. More than that, they’re about relationships. They don’t just teach reading; they build confidence and connection.
There were just five of us from St. John’s: me, Samantha Richartz, my friend Ashley, Mr. Tyree, and Ms. Pat Garner. The minute we walked into Hope Exchange, we became part of something way bigger. It was a whole team of adults, interns, and volunteers all working together to make sure these kids feel seen, supported, and smart.
One thing we learned is that there’s a strong connection between reading struggles at a young age and long-term outcomes, including school drop-out rates and even incarceration. It’s heartbreaking, yet it’s also hopeful because Hope Exchange, which was started by an Episcopal Church in Nashville, is doing something about it. Their motto is: “Literacy is Justice,” and they mean it.
Each of us was assigned to a different age group. I worked with the 4- and 5-year-olds, which was hilarious. The kids were amazing. It felt more like Vacation Bible School than school-school, because they were happy, smiling, and having fun. They learned through songs, games, and movement, not just sitting at desks all day doing worksheets.
My favorite part of each day was Reading Buddies. We each sat one-on-one with a child, reading a book together, playing a game, just getting to know them. When we started, I wanted to make sure they were comfortable. If the kid could fly through the cover, I let them read the whole thing. If they struggled a little, we took turns. (I read a page, they read a page.) If they struggled a lot, I read it to them, and they read the highlighted words like three a page.
I used to start by asking their name and about their day, but it turns out if you ask a 5-year-old how their day is, they’ll just keep talking and talking. For example, one girl, I don’t even know what she was saying, told me, “Yeah, I’m good, but my dad got bit by a lizard.” I said, “Oh, uh, is he okay?” and she said, “Yeah, it was on his finger though, and he didn’t even cry! But I don’t think I would cry either if I got bit by a lizard because I’m not 4 years old anymore, I’m 5 now.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, uh… can we read this book now!!?”
Samantha, also known as Sam, was in a different group with older kids. She said one of her highlights was working with them on literacy games and seeing their confidence grow. Something really special happened for her: she got to see her godmother for the first time in ten years. It was a huge moment for her and her family, and I think it’s awesome that God made that part of the trip too.
Every day after camp, we’d just talk over lunch, and it was wild how different our days were even though we were in the same building. At night, we’d pray Compline together (which is a kind of evening prayer) and also talk for, like, forever about our days, about tomorrow, and a lot of random stuff.
We also had fun outside of camp. We kayaked. We visited museums. We went to a sound bath, which sounds weird, but it was actually amazing. I highly recommend it. One day we went to Sewanee and got to go in the big cathedral while choir rehearsal was happening. It was beautiful.
And okay, this library. The bookshelves, the whole entire bookshelf all the way across the room, moved when you pressed a button. We did that for like 10 minutes! Then we went on a hike that was supposed to be “calm and contemplative,” but instead we got lost. We still had fun, though.
But I’m just gonna warn you, if Tyree is driving your youth trip, you better buckle up. Y’all, I mean, we love the guy, but he missed the same exit three times in a row. He also pulled into the house next door to ours. Twice.
Speaking of that house, it had, like, ten TVs. There was a TV in every bedroom. Pat had two TVs just sitting in her closet. Guess how many bathrooms it had?
One.
Five people. One bathroom. Sell some TVs and do a little remodeling, come on.
When I first heard about this trip, I had no idea what I was signing up for, but I knew I was supposed to go. God told Abraham to “go,” and promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. I think we are those stars in a real, spiritual way because through Jesus and through baptism, we’ve been adopted into God’s family. We are part of the promise.
That means we’re not just people who go to church or members of St. John’s. We’re brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, siblings in Christ. The kids we met in Nashville are part of the family too, not because we did something heroic, not because we fixed anything, but because we showed up and built relationships with siblings we didn’t even know we had.
That’s what being siblings in Christ does. It turns strangers into family. It reminds us that every kid, every neighbor, every person we meet already belongs to God, and therefore, belongs to us. Once you know that, once you really see that, you can’t un-see it.
God is calling you. Maybe not to Nashville. Maybe not to Ecuador or Cuba. Maybe not even out of town. God is calling you to serve, to love, to be family to people who don’t even know your name yet. If you say yes, even if you’re scared and don’t know what you’re doing, God will do something amazing.
Trust me. I’ve seen it.
Amen.