“Give…to God the things that are God’s” A sermon for October 18, 2026

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A sermon for Laity Sunday preached on October 18, 2026 by Ray Trygstad, Lay Leader, Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville, Illinois.

The scripture reading before the sermon was Matthew 22:15-22, NRSVUE.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

Thanks you for the opportunity to share God’s word on Laity Sunday. First I have to tell you a Laity Sunday story. When our daughter Blair was attending Candler School of Theology at Emory University, she was offered her first pastoral appointment: to be the pastor of a small church in the Georgia mountain foothills, about two hours northwest of Atlanta. Georgia, like Illinois, is a very Methodist state, and there were two other Methodist Churches within five miles of hers. A professional society I have been a member of for many years was holding their annual conference on the north side of Atlanta, so I called Blair and told her since my conference ended on Saturday at noon, I could join her at Center Valley United Methodist and be there for her service on Sunday; she had a four-bedroom parsonage, so my showing up was no problem. (I’m sorry, doesn’t that church name sound made up? It’s like someone needed a church for a Hallmark movie and they said, “Oh, let’s just call it Center Valley Methodist!”) So anyway, what does Blair come back at me with? “Great! It’s Laity Sunday so you’re preaching!” So the first time I went to my daughter’s first church, I preached. The church was really small but they had a great choir…making up about 80% of the congregation. I was thinking I might be literally “preaching to the choir,” but much to my relief, they sang the anthem before the sermon and then all went and sat in the pews.

Our scripture today is short but challenging. It is wrapped up in history and as many of you know, I was a professor and probably the favorite course I ever taught was a history class, so please bear with me as we talk a little history here. (No quiz, I promise!) Around forty-five years before the birth of Jesus, Julius Caesar was assassinated. Many folks think he was the first Roman Emperor, but he was not. As he took power, Rome was a republic, with a Senate, and an Assembly, and two Consuls as the executive authority. In time of crisis, Rome would bestow the temporary title of Dictator to allow a supreme authority to restore order and the civil government. After a civil war, which he was basically responsible for, Julius Caesar was given the title Dictator for ten years and in 44 BCE, was named Dictator Perpetuo, or Dictator for Life. Shortly thereafter in the same year, as many of us know from Shakespeare, he was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate. More civil war followed, and the winner was Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted heir, Octavian. He became Rome’s first Emperor in about 27 BCE, and was awarded the title of Caesar Augustus. During his reign, the Senate deified, i.e. made into a God, Julius Caesar and when he died in the year 14, Augustus was deified as well. Both joined the pantheon of Roman gods, who were latinized versions of the Greek gods. Augustus’ stepson Tiberius succeeded him as the second Emperor of Rome. So there was a great deal of political upheaval surrounding the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus.

It made the image of Tiberius on the denarius more that just a picture. It represented foreign oppression, the collection of taxes—which was contracted out to subcontractors, seen in scripture as publicans—and the subjugation of Kings of nations to Imperial rule. It also represented, in some senses, a deity, because both of the Emperor’s immediate predecessors were made into gods, and his step-father Augustus was worshiped widely in the eastern provinces of the Empire. So there were both religious and political issues wrapped up in this simple coin.

Of course, the question as posed by the Pharisees was supposed to trip up Jesus. “…what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The assumption was that he would give them a yes or no answer. If he said yes, he would anger the people of Israel who hated Roman rule and the Roman pantheon of gods. If he said no, he could then be reported to Roman authorities for treason. When given the denarius, he asked them whose picture and name was on it, and of course they answered, Caesar’s. Because the coin bore the image and authority of the Emperor, in a sense it belonged to the Emperor. In his answer Jesus acknowledged that secular governments have a legitimate right to collect taxes and provide civic order. Paying taxes doesn’t compromise your faith. Jesus’s statement here does not, as may people claim, constitute an endorsement of government, not does it offer government untrammeled authority. It’s just an observation. Those who make these kind of arguments based on this Biblical passage are intentionally twisting the meaning of scripture, because this is not what Jesus meant. Of course, sadly we have seen that many who label themselves as Christians somehow see performative government cruelty as fitting with their faith, because they don’t want to actually hear what Jesus really said, but prefer a version brought to them by those who see cruelty as an answer to what they perceive as sin…rather than grace and God’s salvation, the real answer to real sin. Nowhere in the Bible does it say “If aliens live among you, cast them out, for they will take your jobs.” In fact, in Leviticus God says, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

But the image on the coin is important here, because he went on to say give to God the things that are God’s. What is is God’s? US. Just as the coin bore the image of Caesar, we bear the image of God, the Imago Dei, because we are created in the image of, and as a likeness of, God. This means just what we stand for here at Wesley. Because we are created in the image of God, every human being is endowed with inherent dignity, worth, and sacred status regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender preference, wealth, status, or ability. The people he created in his image aren’t just some people; they are all people. Jesus is telling us that God does not want our money (his church might need it but that’s a different sermon), rather God wants us, our lives, in our commitment to be his people. We are called to render unto him what his his, to care for his creation, and treat those created in his image with respect, justice, and dignity. In rendering unto God what is God’s, he is talking about human stewardship, which means his people must act as God’s representatives or caretakers to tend and rule over his creation. He is not here physically so we are his hands. The way we live our lives, care for his creation, and care for those he made in his image, is what we render unto God.

So Jesus takes the either/or question asked him, and he gives it a both/and answer. It’s not a dichotomy, it’s not a yes or no answer. His answer is simple on the surface. But the meaning behind it? That’s pretty deep. He pitched his answer to the perfect crowd, because the Pharisees spent their lives trying to ferret out every detail of what was meant by scripture. The depth of his answer was not lost on them. “When they heard this, they were amazed.” They expected a yes or no answer, not an answer worthy of the wisest of rabbis!

Yes it’s a tough passage of scripture. But the point is NOT what is Caesar’s. The point is what is God’s. He loves us, and he wants us to love others just as he loves us. So let’s all try to remember that Jesus is reminding us that just as we are formed in the image of God, we to need remember as we deal with other people day in and day out, that they too are images of God, and treat them as such.

Let’s close with prayer:
Dear Lord, please remind us daily of who we are and how we came to be, that we are made in your image. Help us also to remember to treat others as images of God as well, and to always accept the freedom and power that God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, in whatever forms they present themselves. Remind us to always confess Jesus Christ as our Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and serve him as our Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races. Amen.

Open Sermon as PDF / Watch the service on YouTube (Sermon starts at 28:25.)

Canntaireachd – bagpipe solfège
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PipingAtWhitingField-VT-6DiningIn1978cutoutMost vocal musicians are familiar with solfège. This is the do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-do scale brought to the awareness of the broader world by the “Doe, a Deer” song from the Sound of Music. The world of Scottish Highland bagpipes has its own sung version of the music, known as Canntaireachd.

Scottish highland bagpipe music is divided into two primary types, ceòl beag, “little music” or “light music” which are the bagpipe tunes played by pipe bands and for highland dancing, such as marches, strathspey, and reels; and ceòl mòr, “great music” called piobaireachd (pronounced pea-brach) which is the “classical” music of piping, which is very sonorous—and some say, boring. Canntaireachd was developed as a method for verbally notating piobaireachd. (It’s pronounced can-cher-ach or can-ter-ach with a rolled T, a very rolled R, and a German final CH.) I was fortunate when I was 17 to attend a two-week intensive piping school taught by the College of Piping from Glasgow, held at a YMCA camp in the California redwoods. There I learned about canntaireachd, although I can’t say I learned it. I did learn some piobaireachd, though—as well as a Goon Show episode called “The Macreekie Rising of ’74“, from one of my bunkhouse mates who had the whole episode memorized. (And yes, that is me in the picture, age 23.)

First, here’s an explanation of bagpipe music, written for fiddlers but comprehensible to most musicians, which explains doublings, throws, birls, grips, leumluaths, taorluaths, and crunluaths, as some of the explanations of canntaireachd won’t make sense without them. http://www.potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.org/public/the_pipers_corner/

(By the way, I think a key to Scottish Gaelic pronunciation is that you only say about half of the letters in a word. So piobaireachd is pibroch, taorluath is turlua, and crunluath is crunlua. The final CH is like a German ch, and Rs following hard vowels are very rolled.)

Here’s a simple canntaireachd explanation from Teach Yourself Bagpipes by Lindsay Davidson – Piobaireachd: http://www.teachyourselfbagpipes.co.uk/cant.html

And here’s a detailed canntaireachd explanation with charts for all of the vocalizations of the notes, grace notes, doublings, throws, birls, grips, leumluaths, taorluaths, and crunluaths: http://svenax.net/site/canntaireachd/

Here are some videos of folks doing canntaireachd.
Cantarrach – Gaelic tradition – YouTube - good intro.
Tim Britton: Scottish chanting with audience drone • Sondheim Center in Fairfield, Iowa – YouTube
Struan Robertson’s Salute Canntaireachd – YouTube
Visual Canntaireachd 3: Hihorodo hiharara – YouTube - this one has a visual system although not the same on I was exposed to by the College of Piping.

Thanks for a chance to share some of my odd musical knowledge.

Two bedtime stories for my son who wanted stories about penguins.

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A repost from December 22, 2008

The Tale of the Three Little Penguins

Once there were three little penguins who decided to leave home and make their way in the world. The first little penguin decided to build his house of icicles, so he built it and moved in. The second little penguin decided to build his house of snow, so he built it and moved in. The third little penguin wanted a much stronger house and he decided to build his house of great big blocks of solid ice, so he built it and moved in.

The first little penguin heard a knock on his door. “Who’s there?” he said. “It’s the big bad walrus!” came the answer; “Little penguin, little penguin, let me come enguin!” The first little penguin said “Enguin?” and then called in a louder voice “Not by the feathers on my chinny-chin-chin!” The big bad walrus then roared, “Then I’ll snort and I’ll blort and I’ll blow your house in!” And he snorted, and he blorted, and HE BLORTED, AND HE SNORTED and he blew the house in. As the icicles crashed down, the first little penguin waddled off as fast as his little feet could carry him to his brother’s house of snow. And the big bad walrus waddled after him in pursuit.

The second little penguin then heard a knock on his door. “Who’s there?” he said. “It’s the big bad walrus!” came the answer; “Little penguin, little penguin, let me come enguin!” The second little penguin said “Enguin?” and the first little penguin said “Enguin?!”. The second little penguin then called in a louder voice “Not by the feathers on my chinny-chin-chin!” The big bad walrus then roared, “Then I’ll snort and I’ll blort and I’ll blow your house in!” And he snorted, and he blorted, and HE BLORTED, AND HE SNORTED and he blew the house in. As the snow blew away, the two little penguins waddled off as fast as their little feet could carry them to their brother’s house of big blocks of ice. The big bad walrus waddled after them in pursuit.

The third little penguin then heard a knock on his door. “Who’s there?” he said. “It’s the big bad walrus!” came the answer; “Little penguin, little penguin, let me come enguin!” The third little penguin said “Enguin?” and the second little penguin said “Enguin?!”and the first little penguin said “Yeah, he said that at my house, too.”. The third little penguin then called in a louder voice “Not by the feathers on my chinny-chin-chin!” The big bad walrus then roared, “Then I’ll snort and I’ll blort and I’ll blow your house in!” And he snorted, and he blorted, and HE BLORTED, AND HE SNORTED AND HE SNORTED, AND HE BLORTED…and he suffered a pulmonary embolism and he died. The three little penguins waited in the house of big ice blocks but after a while they had not heard anything else, so they opened the door and peeked out. The first little penguin turned to his brother the third little penguin and said “Ewwww! There’s a huge rotting walrus on your doorstep!”
THE END.

The Tale of Penguin Little

Penguin Little came running up excitedly to the rest of the penguins and yelled, “THE SNOW IS FALLING, THE SNOW IS FALLING!” The other penguins just stared at him and said “So?”
THE END.

Remembering Greta Trygstad, 1930-2018

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A memory of my mom I delivered at her memorial service on August 26, 2018 at Faith Lutheran Church, Vista, California.

Let me start by saying I was pretty sure I could stand up here and talk about my mom without crying, but…I could be wrong.

Greta TrygstadGreta Trygstad was our mom. But she was much more that that. She was many things to many people. To her mom and dad, she was Peanut, the littlest kid, who needed a special boost now and then to grow up healthy and whole. She was a loyal and good friend; if Greta was your friend, you had a friend for life. She married a man who by nature was a gentle man, but it was her love that knocked off the rough edges and made him a gentleman. To that man—our Dad—she was the love of his life, and his #1 supporter in his careers. To her church, she was a pillar of LWML, and Vacation Bible School, the maker of Chrismons, and many other things. To Cub Scouts, she was a Den Mother. To PTA, she was a leader and a publicity chair. To her San Dieguito High classmates, she was one of the folks that held them together and brought them together. She was an artist, a craftsman, a wordsmith, and a chef. She worked tirelessly for children and adults with special needs, and for anyone who’s life she could make better.

She was not just mom to me and my brother and sister. She was mom to all our friends, who would come to her for help even when we were not around. She was mother to our neighborhood, for all the kids who needed a mother. She was the mother to stray young Marines, and young employees of our Dad’s, and grandmother to some of their children. She welcomed and fed anyone who crossed her threshhold. She let her whole family—parents, siblings, children, and adopted children—know that they were always welcome for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, along with any strays any of us wanted to bring. And we brought friends, neighbors, classmates, shipmates, convicted murderers, all kinds of folks. Mom believed as Jesus did that a table was to be shared with all.

Greta Trygstad 2Greta—our mom—wasn’t perfect. She let her politics be swayed by demagogues. She loved wine, and occasionally would imbibe to much. She smoked too much. But her flaws were minor, and the care she had for others far outweighed them. She lived her life selflessly, never failing to put others ahead of herself. We are so lucky to be her children, because she raised us to be selfless, to be unprejudiced, to put others ahead of ourselves, and to raise our children to be the same. In many ways, we all wish we could be her.

Mom had great sayings. When me and all the neighborhood kids starting getting on her nerves, she would look at us with a smile and say, “Why don’t you kids take a box of measles and go play on the freeway?” She used to want to go hunting naugas…you know, the animals that naugahide comes from. We had a car that used to audibly say “The door is ajar.” She would argue with it: “No, it’s not a jar; it’s a door.” If things were the same, it was always “six of one, half dozen of the other.” Once mom went to buy some underwear for our dad; the clerk asked if she wanted white or nude. She told him “Nude? No, white. My husband is so modest he goes into the next room to change his mind.” And puns. Greta NEVER missed an opportunity to make a pun. It’s rubbed off on us; if you look at me and my sons, you’ll see that in our family, family ties means family…ties. I really wanted to stand up here and remember her entirely in puns, but despite my genetic disposition to punning, I was never near as good as punning as mom–and I though it might be too much pun-ishment for all of you.

Greta was a woman of faith. Before we settled here at Faith Lutheran when I was eight, she used to take me to Sunday School at the Base Chapel wherever my dad was stationed. And her faith was a faith of action. She believed that when Jesus ascended to heaven, he left all of us to be his hands and feet, and she took that charge seriously. Mom’s belief in the Gospel of Jesus was never an intellectual or emotional exercise, but was was rather a call to her personally to act on His behalf.

I honestly have no way to wrap this up. I did write something out here, but I could stand up here and talk about Greta Trygstad—our mom—for hours. But I don’t think I’m saying anything to you about our mom that you don’t already know. We love her. We will all miss her. Thank you all for being with us today to remember her life.

Greta’s Obituary (San Diego Union-Tribune).
Slide show presentation of Greta’s life in pictures, as shown before her service and at the meal following.
Or you can download the video (582,826 KB).

Who? A sermon for Jun 17, 2018

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A sermon by Rev. Blair Trygstad Stowe and Ray Trygstad
Sunday, June 17, 2018 at First United Methodist Church, Ontario, California and at Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville, Illinois. Variations in delivery before each congregation are noted in the text.

The scripture reading before the sermon is 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13.

Who?

This must be one of the most commonly asked questions in history. Anytime something needs doing, a job needs filling, a vacuum of power arises, or you need someone, the same question always comes up: Who? Who will do it? Who can we send? Who will run? Who will save us? Who will be my friend?

Who?

The people of Israel said “Who?…Who will be our King?” They didn’t have a king, but all the folks around them did, so they decided they just had to have one too. And the Lord answered their prayers; He told his prophet Samuel to anoint Saul to govern his people. Saul looked the part of a king. He was a tall man, a full head taller than everyone else. By the time of our story today, he was a war hero as well. He seemed to be everything the people thought a king should be. (Based on height alone, he could have been a university president, who as a group are far taller than the general population.)  But he was as it turns out, disobedient. And disobedience in Israel’s history seems to be God’s biggest pet peeve. So, the scripture tells us, “…the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” Continue reading →

No Longer Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female
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A Sermon by Ray Trygstad
At Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville, Illinois, June 19, 2016.
Download as a PDF.

Promises. Everybody makes promises. We make promises to ourselves, often on New Years Day: “This year, I’m gonna lose 40 pounds.” “This year, I’m gonna not watch so much TV.” And some people get a little ridiculous: “I will not bore my boss by with the same excuse for taking days off. I will think of some more excuses.” or “I will find out why the correspondence course on “Mail Fraud” that I purchased never showed up.” Comedian Pete Holmes has the best formula for resolutions: “Forgot to make resolutions? Just write out everything you did last night and at the beginning add the word ‘stop.’” Simple, easy promises that all too often people do not take very seriously.

Fathers make promises. The promise of a parent is far more serious than a resolution. After church today, John and Lynn and I are heading up to the Warrenville Community Center to help present “Mary Poppins: The Broadway Musical.” Most folks probably think this show is about Mary Poppins, but actually it’s not. It’s about George Banks, the father of the family living at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. It’s about unfulfilled and even unexpressed promises of a father to his family, and Mary Poppins freeing George to be a full father to his children. Every Dad makes promises, and today on Father’s Day we thank our fathers for following through on those promises: the promise of love, a home, a family, and a launchpad to allow us to leave that home and family to make it in the world. Continue reading →

Hubris: Lenovo and Superfish
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From one of my favorite blogs, Techdirt, here’s a concise breakout of the Lenovo/Superfish/Komodia affair that came out in the media last week:

“Last week it came out that Lenovo was installing a bit of software called “Superfish” as a default bloatware on a bunch of its “consumer” laptops. The software tried to pop up useful alternative shopping results for images. But in order to work on HTTPS-encrypted sites, Superfish made use of a nasty (and horribly implemented) “SSL hijacker” from Komodia, which installed a self-signed root certificate that basically allowed anyone to issue totally fake security certificates for any encrypted connection, enabling very easy man-in-the-middle attacks. Among the many, many, many stupid things about the way Komodia worked, was that it used the same certificate on each installation of Superfish, and it had an easily cracked password: “komodia” which was true on apparently every product that used Komodia. And researchers have discovered that a whole bunch of products use Komodia, putting a ton of people at risk. People have discovered at least 12 products that make use of Komodia. (Read more…)”

This is sort of the perfect storm at the intersection of ethics and cyber security, as it is behavior that has compromised/breached the security of Lenovo’s systems, and the two other companies involved refuse to even acknowledge that what they are doing is nothing short of a cybersecurity disaster, but from an ethical perspective, is just plain WRONG. It is an amazing demonstration of the kind of hubris that we see in so many corporations today, complete with”ignore and deny” followed by “circle the wagons” and quickly descending to plain old fingerpointing. Only after being raked through the coals in the press did the lead player fess up and take responsibility, and the other players, the ones with the irredeemably broken business model, are still in the the deny everything and hope it will go away mode. Here’s how this went down in the trade AND popular press, in approximate chronological order…

Lenovo Joins the Malevolent Side of the Online Advertising Industry - Gizmodo
Lenovo’s Superfish nightmare is a sign that marketing tech has gone too far – Venturebeat VB News
Lenovo CTO Admits It ‘Messed Up’ Allowing Major Security Hole Onto PCs - re/code
The biggest takeaway from ‘Superfish’: We need to push for “No OS” buying option.- Reddit /r/technology
Superfish admits installing root certificate authority to show ads on secure sites – The Next Web
Lenovo backpedals on Superfish adware, says it’s working to ‘restore trust’ - Mashable
Here’s How to Remove the Ghastly Superfish Adware From Lenovo Laptops - Slate
How to remove the dangerous Superfish adware preinstalled on Lenovo PCs - PCWorld
Lenovo CTO admits company ‘messed up,’ publishes Superfish removal tool - PCWorld
Lenovo finally admits its sleazy adware ploy put its own customers at risk of being hacked – BGR
Lenovo’s Superfish security snafu blows up in its face – C|NET
Here’s How To Get Rid Of That Nasty Superfish Vulnerability On Your New Lenovo Laptop - Consumerist
Lenovo has just released an automatic Superfish removal tool - The Verge
Bravo! Windows Defender, McAfee updates fully remove Lenovo’s dangerous Superfish adware – PCWorld
Lenovo Releases Tool To Remove The Sketchy Exploitable “SuperFish” Garbage It Pre-Loaded On Laptops – TechCrunch
Microsoft has updated Windows Defender to root out the Superfish adware - The Verge
Windows Defender destroys Superfish – Slashgear
Department of Homeland Security urges Lenovo users to remove Superfish - Mashable
U.S. Government Urges Lenovo Customers to Remove ‘Superfish’ Software – Entrepreneur
US government urges Lenovo users to remove Superfish, but the software maker denies security risk – The Next Web
CEO says Superfish is safe as US issues alert to remove Superfish from Lenovo PCs – PCWorld
Lenovo CTO admits Superfish put users at risk, talks damage control – Mashable
Lenovo slapped with lawsuit over dangerous Superfish adware – PCWorld
Or, just read the Techdirt complete Superfish coverage

Sadducees, Pharisees and Love

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A Sermon by Ray Trygstad
At Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville, Illinois, October 26th, 2014.
Download as a PDF.

Twenty-two years ago this month, I became a professor. In all that time I have taught many courses in multiple subjects, in four different departments at my university. But of all of the courses I taught, the one I enjoyed the most was a history course. In our Gospel today Jesus engages in debate with the Pharisees, because they had heard that he’d bested the Sadducees. Before we examine the words of our Lord more closely, we’re going to have a little history lesson—because I like teaching history. But please, stay calm: there will NOT be a quiz.

Everybody has heard of “Pharisees” and “Sadducees,” and most Christians have a vague awareness that they were some sort of division within Judaism at the time of Jesus. These two groups represented philosophical, theological, liturgical, and cultural differences in Judaism during an era in Jewish history commonly referred to as the Second Temple period. This dates from the return of the nation of Israel from the Babylonian captivity when they re-built the temple, until the Romans destroyed the Temple in about 70 AD. So lets get some context here: who were these people? Continue reading →

It is Well with My Soul
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A Sermon by Ray Trygstad
At Center Valley United Methodist Church, Chatsworth, Georgia, October 19th, 2014.
Download as a PDF.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
Since I’m here from the Chicago area, I am going to tell you a story of Chicago. This is a tale of a Chicago businessman named Horatio Spafford. Horatio had a successful law practice, had invested wisely in downtown Chicago real estate, and was a leader in his church. He was a friend of Dwight Moody (the founder of Moody Bible Institute), and a man who truly lived his faith. In the wake of the great Chicago fire in 1871, despite the loss of great deal of his own investments and the recent death of their son, Spafford and his Norwegian-born wife, Anna, dedicated themselves to helping those who had been impoverished by the devastation of their city. After years of laboring in the Lord’s vineyards, they were exhausted and decided to join Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey in one of their crusades in Great Britain and to take a well-earned vacation in Europe. Continue reading →