August 23, 2026 – Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Secrets are a mixed bag. Some secrets are childhood fun, like jumping on a bed until the ankle gives out. Some secrets protect joy, like a surprise party. Other secrets become dangerous when they hide harm, shame, or fear. The careful tension is honesty and transparency on one hand, and compassion on the other, because “not every truth needs to be told,” or not right now, in order for it to remain true.

Secrets are not only about mess ups. Secrets can also hide gifts, callings, and the deep truth of who a person really is. The burden of secret keeping can be huge, especially when a hidden truth would actually help the one carrying it and help others too. The question of being a Christian can even become a secret, especially in places where open faith gets collapsed into rigidity, self-righteousness, or trying to sell something.

Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” presses right into that hidden place. The messianic secret matters because Jesus did not want to be crunched into other people’s fantasies for him and eaten alive. Jesus knew the popular imagination wanted a military deliverer from Rome, but God called him into the upside down rule of love and justice where the lowly and the last are raised up. Jesus kept his identity somewhat hidden, not because he lacked truth, but because the wrong labels could distort the truth before it had room to breathe.

Moses carries the same pattern. Moses begins in secrecy because Pharaoh’s violence threatens Hebrew boys. Moses is hidden, set adrift, rescued, and raised in privilege, yet he still tries to back out when God calls him. God has ways around obfuscating and secret keeping, especially when God’s purposes are at stake. The burning bush brings Moses into awareness, just as baptism brings Jesus into the belovedness of his call.

Audre Lorde’s life names the courage of lifting veils. Her poetry, teaching, and activism blast away the secrecy that covers oppression and injustice. Marianne Williamson’s words sharpen the same call: “playing small does not serve the world.” Danville Congregational Church is called not to be the best kept secret in town, but a spiritual community for all people, living out loud because survival is not silent. It is spoken, and more importantly, it is lived.

##

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Hidden gifts can become heavy [25:35] Secrets often get treated as shameful things, but hidden giftedness can weigh just as much. A buried calling can become a private burden when it was meant to serve real people. God’s purposes often press through the very places a person is tempted to conceal. [25:35]
• 2. Jesus refused false projections [32:16] The messianic secret was not evasiveness for its own sake. Jesus resisted being turned into the kind of deliverer people already wanted, because that fantasy would crush the truth of his mission. God’s reign comes through love, justice, and the raising of the lowly, not through borrowed expectations of power. [32:16]
• 3. God works around hidden reluctance [34:46] Moses tried to back away from the call by naming his weakness. God did not mock the weakness, but neither did God let it cancel the calling. Divine purpose can make room for Aaron, for slow speech, and for fear, while still moving toward liberation. [34:46]
• 4. Playing small serves no one [38:35] Shrinking can look humble, but it can also protect fear more than it serves love. The light within a person or a church is not private property when others need its warmth. Living out loud gives others permission to come out of hiding too. [38:35]
• 5. Survival is spoken and lived [39:55] Silence can sometimes protect, but it can also become the shape of captivity. Audre Lorde’s witness insists that survival needs voice, embodiment, and public courage. Faith becomes visible when identity is not merely claimed, but lived in ways that liberate others.
  
  ## [39:55]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [21:53] - A Joyous Homecoming
• [22:17] - Opening Prayer
• [22:36] - Childhood Secrets and Consequences
• [24:11] - Truth, Timing, and Compassion
• [25:15] - Shame, Gifts, and Hidden Selves
• [27:01] - Keeping Christianity a Secret
• [28:45] - God Calls Full True Selves
• [29:38] - Jesus as the New Moses
• [31:18] - Why the Messianic Secret Matters
• [33:17] - Moses Hidden, Rescued, and Called
• [35:21] - Burning Bush and Baptism
• [36:20] - A Church Living Out Loud
• [37:58] - Playing Small Does Not Serve
• [39:39] - Survival Is Spoken and Lived

Bible Reading

Matthew 16:15
“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’” [19:06]

Exodus 3:1-4
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” [35:29]

Exodus 2:1-10
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, ‘Because,’ she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’” [33:35]

Matthew 3:16-17
“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” [35:43]

Observation questions

1. In Exodus 2, what actions are taken to hide Moses, and who helps preserve his life?
2. In Exodus 3:1-4, what does Moses notice about the bush, and what happens when he turns aside to look?
3. In Matthew 3:16-17, what signs accompany Jesus’ baptism, and what words are spoken over him? [35:43]
4. What kinds of secrets are named here besides wrongdoing or shame, and what examples are given of truths people often keep hidden? [25:15]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Why does that question reach beyond information and press toward identity, trust, and witness? [28:41]
2. Jesus resists being named according to other people’s expectations. How can a true identity be distorted by the wrong label, even when the label sounds honorable or religious? [32:16]
3. Moses tries to pull back from his calling by pointing to his weakness. What does it show about God’s character that God makes room for Moses’ fear and still moves him toward liberation? [34:46]
4. Moses at the burning bush and Jesus at baptism both receive a deeper sense of call. What do these moments suggest about how people come to recognize who they are before God? [35:21]

Application questions

1. What is easier to hide right now: a wound, a fear, a gift, or a calling? What makes that part of life hard to bring into the light? [26:38]
2. “Not every truth needs to be told” can be wise and compassionate, but silence can also become a trap. How can a person tell the difference between healthy privacy and harmful secrecy in a real situation? [24:37]
3. Some people keep even their faith quiet because they do not want to be mistaken for rigidity, self-righteousness, or pressure. Where is there hesitation to be publicly identified with Jesus, and what kind of faithful presence would feel honest rather than pushy? [27:30]
4. Jesus refused to be “crunched into other people’s fantasies.” Where is there pressure to live by someone else’s script instead of the calling God is actually giving? [32:48]
5. Moses named his limitation and wanted out, yet God still called him. What weakness or insecurity is most often used as a reason to stay small, and what might it look like to let God work around it? [35:03]
6. “Playing small does not serve the world.” Where might shrinking look humble on the outside but really be fear on the inside? What would one faithful step of shining a little more openly look like this week? [38:46]
7. Survival is not only spoken but lived. What would “living out loud” as a follower of Jesus look like in ordinary places like work, neighborhood, family, or friendship? [39:55]