Faith at Work

Harry Jarrett
  • 5.0 (14)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Harry Jarrett—pastor, former missionary in Italy, wedding-venue founder, ex-Marriott GM—speaks on weaving faith, hospitality, and business into everyday life from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren. pastorharryjarrett.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    When People Decided Who You Were Before They Met You

    Two stories in Luke say Jesus kept overturning verdicts like that, and a closer look at the words on the page changes how we read both of them. In this sermon from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia, Pastor Harry Jarrett takes a second look at two stories he has preached more times than he can count: the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears at Simon the Pharisee’s table, and Zacchaeus the tax collector up in the sycamore tree. Read closely, the Greek tells a different story than the one most of us learned. The woman’s sins had already been forgiven before she ever crossed Simon’s threshold; her tears were the thank you, not the payment. Zacchaeus speaks in the present tense: I give, I pay back. He is not turning over a new leaf. He is describing how he already lives, while the crowd below has convicted him on the strength of his uniform alone. Along the way: the Balm of Gilead trade that made Jericho rich, why Severus Snape fits this story almost exactly, the difference between welcoming someone and including them, and a word for four kinds of people sitting in every church. This message opens our fall series, The Empty Chair. Scriptures Referenced Luke 7:36-50 (the woman at Simon the Pharisee’s table) Luke 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree) Luke 7:1-10 (the centurion’s servant) Luke 7:29-30 (even the tax collectors acknowledged God’s way was right) Books Worth Exploring Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey. Bailey spent decades in the Middle East and reads both Simon’s banquet and the Zacchaeus story through the customs of honor, shame, and hospitality that first hearers would have caught immediately. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine D. Pohl. The best book I know on the gap between welcoming strangers and truly making room for them, which is where this whole series is headed. The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV by Joseph A. Fitzmyer (Anchor Yale Bible). The standard scholarly commentary cited in this sermon, including Fitzmyer’s reading of Zacchaeus’ verbs as present tense. Chapters 00:00 Have we been reading these two stories wrong? 01:17 Why would a Pharisee invite Jesus to dinner? 02:13 Who was the woman at Simon’s table? 03:23 Was she forgiven because she wept? 04:32 What does the parable of the two debtors mean? 05:40 Is forgiveness earned or received? 06:30 Who was Zacchaeus, really? 07:23 Why were Jericho’s tax collectors so hated? 08:27 Why did a rich man climb a tree? 09:28 Was Zacchaeus promising to change? 10:59 What do scholars say about Zacchaeus’ words? 12:17 Why was the crowd really grumbling? 13:05 How is Zacchaeus like Severus Snape? 14:28 Why does Luke put these stories side by side? 15:44 What is the difference between welcoming and including? 17:13 Have you been judged by your reputation? 18:02 Have you been the crowd under the tree? 19:50 What is The Empty Chair series about? Stay Connected Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/devotional/ Substack newsletter: Faith at Work podcast: If this helped you see someone (or yourself) a little more clearly, subscribe and stay with us. The Empty Chair runs through the middle of November, with a new message every week. #Zacchaeus #BibleStories #Sermon #ChurchOfTheBrethren #TheEmptyChair This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 15

    What Crucifixion Actually Meant in the Roman Empire

    Cicero once tried to describe crucifixion at a Roman trial and stopped mid-sentence, because no word ugly enough existed to finish it. That is the device Paul says holds the power and wisdom of God. Pastor Harry Jarrett preaches “Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God” from 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 at Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia. Corinth was a city rebuilt around visibility: Jews demanded signs, Greeks sought wisdom, and Paul offered neither, only a man executed by the state. This message traces what crucifixion actually meant in the ancient world, N.T. Wright’s diagnosis that “the trouble is the instrument,” and new research on where Christian trust actually lives today, before landing on a very practical question: what are you still waiting to look strong enough, or sound wise enough, before you will trust it? SCRIPTURES REFERENCED 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 Deuteronomy 21:23 BOOKS WORTH EXPLORING N.T. Wright, “The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion” Martin Hengel, “Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross” Gordon Fee, “The First Epistle to the Corinthians” (NICNT) CHAPTERS 00:00 Why Would God Use Someone Like Me? 00:55 What Did My Son Teach Me About Balaam’s Donkey? 01:31 Why Was Corinth Built Around Being Noticed? 02:19 What Were Jews and Greeks Really Shopping For? 02:50 Why Didn’t Paul Give Corinth What It Wanted? 03:25 What Did Crucifixion Actually Mean in the Roman World? 03:57 What Did Cicero Say Was Too Ugly to Describe? 04:26 Why Was the Cross the Empire’s Most Shameful Punishment? 05:11 Who Was Alexamenos and Why Was He Mocked? 05:54 Why Does Paul Call the Cross a Scandal and Foolishness? 07:04 Why Did the Cross Fail the Greek Test for Divinity? 07:40 Why Does Paul Agree the Cross Looks Foolish? 08:24 What Does the Barna Research Reveal About Church Trust? 09:04 What Did N.T. Wright Say the Real Problem Was? 10:14 What Actually Changes in Verse Twenty-Four? 10:59 Have You Ever Trusted Something Strong That Wasn’t? 12:00 Why Invite Someone to an Unfinished Worship in the Grove? 14:21 What Bar Was the Cross Never Trying to Clear? Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/devotional/ Substack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ If this is your first time here, subscribe for a new message from Pleasant Valley most weeks, and check out the daily devotional for something shorter to carry through your week. #Sermon #ChurchOfTheBrethren #BibleTeaching #1Corinthians #ChristianFaith #PleasantValleyChurch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 10

    The Real Reason Your Prayers Feel Empty

    Episode description: A boat lift stuck out of the water in a drought. A cornfield getting more rain than it can use, one week later. Same summer, two desperate prayers, and only one of them was really about the weather. Pastor Harry Jarrett walks through Psalm 119:33-40, eight verses built almost entirely out of desperate verbs: teach me, lead me, turn me, give me life. Working word by word through the Hebrew behind them (derek, nativ, binah, natah, tsedaqah, ta’avah), Harry asks the question underneath every desperate prayer: are we asking God to fix a circumstance, or are we actually desperate for God himself? He also gets personal about how fast his own prayers changed this week, desperate for rain, then desperate for it to stop, and what it cost him to notice he was praying to a God he mostly needed for outcomes. Along the way: Henri Nouwen on the spiritual life as movement rather than a destination, and a callback to Moses at the burning bush and the curiosity that put him in the one place God was ready to speak. If your prayers have started to feel like phone calls to a utility company, this one might ask a harder question first: what are you actually desperate for? Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/devotional/ Substack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, Weyers Cave, Virginia Want more from this teaching? Subscribe to the daily devotional or catch the full sermon on YouTube at @PastorHarryJarrett. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

    The Real Reason Your Prayers Feel Empty

  4. Sep 2

    Do Not Go and Do Not Tell

    Standing in front of a cave the ancient world called the gate to hell, Jesus asked his disciples a question no one else could answer for them. Their answer was right and still not finished. At Caesarea Philippi, a place stacked with the shrines of dead gods and one very alive emperor, Peter calls Jesus the Son of the living God. Jesus blesses him for it, then tells him to keep his mouth shut. This sermon walks through why a half formed answer about Jesus can do more damage than a slow, true one, and what the Barna Group’s own numbers say about why people still like Jesus but not Christianity. Pastor Harry Jarrett preaches from Matthew 16 at Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia, tracing Caesarea Philippi’s history as a pagan worship site through Rome’s occupation to Peter’s confession, and asking what it costs when we speak about Jesus before we have let him finish forming us. SCRIPTURES REFERENCED Matthew 16:13-20 Isaiah and Job (the gate of Hades as an idiom for death) Genesis 6 (background reference via First Enoch and Mount Hermon tradition) BOOKS WORTH EXPLORING Jesus and the Powers by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons CHAPTERS 00:00 What actual place shaped how this pastor reads scripture 00:19 What did a two week study tour of Israel change 01:22 Where is Caesarea Philippi and what happened there 02:01 Why does Jesus ask his biggest question at this exact spot 03:34 What god was this cave originally built to worship 04:09 Who was Pan and why was he worshiped here 04:38 What did ancient worshipers throw into the cave 05:16 How did Rome and Herod claim this same ground 06:34 What was Jesus really walking his disciples into 07:13 Why do the crowd’s guesses about Jesus fall short 08:22 What does Peter say when Jesus asks him directly 09:50 Why does Peter’s answer matter more than it sounds 11:26 What is the wordplay hiding in Peter’s new name 12:31 What do the gates of Hades actually mean 14:41 What does Jesus mean by giving Peter the keys 16:01 Why does Jesus tell his own disciples to stay quiet 19:09 What does the Barna Group say about why people avoid Christianity 23:33 What three things does this sermon ask you to do this week LINKS Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily Devotional: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/devotional/ Substack Newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ If this sermon named something you have felt but never quite said out loud, subscribe and come sit with us again next week. We would love to have you. #PastorHarryJarrett #ChurchOfTheBrethren #CaesareaPhilippi #WhoDoYouSayThatIAm #Matthew16 #ChristianFaith #ChurchHistory #AnabaptistFaith #PleasantValleyChurch #WeyersCaveVirginia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Aug 31

    Why Your Name Doesn't Mean Anything (But God's Does)

    Episode description Moses wants to know God’s name. Not a title, not a family tree, an actual name. What he gets back is not what he expects, and it changes what it even means to talk about God at all. Pastor Harry Jarrett walks through Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3 and asks a question we don’t sit with often enough: why isn’t “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” a good enough answer? In the ancient world, a name wasn’t a label, it was a description of character. Jacob’s name meant “heel grabber,” and it described exactly the man he became. Nabal’s name meant “folly,” and folly is exactly what he was. So when Moses asks God’s name, he’s really asking, “what are you actually like? What can I count on you to do?” Harry also gets personal about a season when his own name carried no weight at all, and what it took for that to change. He closes with three practical things to carry into this week, and a story about a boy whose name meant “God hears,” long before anyone heard him. If you’ve been telling people you don’t believe in God, this one might ask you a harder question first: which God don’t you believe in? Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/Daily devotional: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/devotional/Substack newsletter: Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, Weyers Cave, Virginia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Aug 6

    You don’t need a handout. You need a household.

    Jesus fed 5,000 people not by handing bread down from a throne, but by putting it in ordinary hands—hands like yours. And in a culture obsessed with efficiency and independence, his ancient table still offers something we’ve almost forgotten: the healing that comes from eating together, admitting we’re hungry, and building real community. This sermon explores Matthew 14 alongside the loneliness epidemic gripping America—one in four adults ate every meal alone last year—and traces the thread from Caesar’s grain dole through Dan West’s revelation in Spain (which became Heifer International) to the Love Feast tradition of the Church of the Brethren. It’s about the difference between being fed by an empire and belonging to a household. At Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia, we believe that the gospel moves through ordinary hands into the hands of neighbors sitting next to us on the grass. Not from a distance. Not from a ledger. From one companion to another. SCRIPTURES REFERENCED Matthew 14:13–21 | John the Baptist’s death | The twelve baskets | Love thy neighbor as thyself | One body in Christ BOOKS WORTH EXPLORING - “Matthew” by Warren Carter – reads Matthew as a protest against empire - “The Social World of the New Testament” by Bruce Malina – on kinship and the household - “Heifer International: Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty” – the story that changed everything CHAPTERS 00:00 What happens when feeding becomes an act of power? 01:28 The difference between hosting and needing—a personal confession 02:17 Two banquets: Herod’s palace vs. Jesus on the grass 03:34 Compassion that hits you in the gut 04:32 The disciples’ reasonable proposal—and Jesus’ eight-word answer 05:32 Why feeding crowds was never neutral in the empire 06:24 Caesar’s grain dole and the story Rome told itself 07:43 Every coin a small metal argument about who keeps you alive 08:34 Three tables: Herod’s display, Caesar’s ledger, Jesus’ kinship 09:16 The real miracle: 5,000 people became a household 10:40 What Matthew never explains about the mechanism 11:12 Small groups on grass, not bread lines—companions sharing bread 12:22 Only two institutions stood on their own: government and kinship 13:04 A kingdom asks who’s in charge; kinship asks who you’re responsible for 14:28 The greatest challenge: enacting actual together life 15:27 One in four Americans ate every meal alone yesterday 16:09 How often you share meals predicts life satisfaction as much as income 16:46 Loneliness is epidemic—and it’s not your personal failure 17:26 We chose efficiency and didn’t notice the trade-off 17:48 The host’s secret: as long as I carry the bread, I never admit I’m hungry 18:33 Dan West’s revelation in Spain: give a cow, not a cup 19:08 Heifer International and the Brethren way of answering hunger 19:45 M.R. Ziegler and the Brethren Service Commission 20:06 The difference between a handout and a household 20:28 Why Love Feast runs long—and why that’s the whole point 21:34 Jesus didn’t hand bread from a throne; he put it in ordinary hands 22:18 You walked in with nothing? You’re a guest today—sit down and receive CONNECT WITH US Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional Substack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ Thanks for watching. Subscribe to stay in the conversation about faith, community, and what it means to live as a household of Jesus. #BrethrenFaith #Hospitality #CommunityLove #Jesus #Household #LongformSermon This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Jul 21

    The Ancient Farming Trick Behind One of Jesus' Strangest Parables

    Why are there weeds mixed in with the flowers? Every visitor to our sunflower field asks the same question. Jesus asked it too, and for centuries the church has answered it by pulling up people it was never meant to sort. ABOUT THIS SERMON In this sermon from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia, Pastor Harry Jarrett walks through Jesus’s parable of the wheat and the weeds using two years of hands-on lessons from an actual sunflower field. Along the way, he traces the parable’s real cost through Anabaptist history, the persecution of the Radical Reformation, and the execution of Michael Sattler, before landing on a harder, more personal question: what happens when we stop trying to weed the grief out of our own lives. SCRIPTURES REFERENCED * Matthew 13:24-30 — The Parable of the Weeds * Matthew 13:36-43 — Jesus explains the parable BOOKS WORTH EXPLORING * The Patient Ferment of the Early Church — Alan Kreider * The Wounded Healer — Henri Nouwen * Martyrs Mirror — Thieleman J. van Braght CHAPTERS 00:00 What can a messy sunflower field teach us about faith? 00:58 Why did Pastor Harry let the weeds grow with the flowers? 02:09 What is Jesus really saying in the parable of the weeds? 02:45 What is the parable of the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13? 03:39 Why couldn’t anyone tell wheat and darnel apart? 04:50 Why did this parable terrify a persecuted early church? 05:42 Who was Michael Sattler, and why was he executed? 06:23 What happened during the Munster Rebellion of 1534? 07:56 Why did the landowner refuse to let the weeds be pulled? 09:09 Do we secretly wonder if the person next to us is wheat or darnel? 09:44 What has every purification campaign in church history actually done? 10:52 What did Alan Kreider mean by “fervent patience”? 12:23 Does “the end of the age” really mean judgment day? 13:42 What does the word “kindom” mean, and where did it come from? 15:32 How did a sunflower field prepare Pastor Harry for grief? 16:49 What did Henri Nouwen mean by a “wounded healer”? 18:06 Good news: Pastor Harry’s fourth grandson was born 18:34 What are we actually asked to do with what we can’t sort out? LINKS Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional Substack newsletter: Faith at Work podcast: If this sermon was useful to you, the most helpful thing you can do is hit subscribe, and share it with one person who needs to hear that it isn’t time to sort things out yet. #ParableOfTheWeeds #Matthew13 #AnabaptistHistory #ChurchOfTheBrethren #Grief #BibleStudy #WheatAndTares #RadicalReformation #PastorHarryJarrett #WeyersCaveVirginia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jul 15

    A Light for All Our Paths

    For years I preached like I was holding a floodlight, certain I could see the whole road ahead. Then my father died, and I learned what this psalm actually promises: enough light for the next step, and maybe one more. This is a sit-down message from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia. Pastor Harry Jarrett walks through the middle of Psalm 119, where the word of God is called a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and asks an honest question: what if God never intended to show you the whole journey at once? Through the grief of losing his father, thirty years of old sermons pulled off dusty hard drives, a handwritten notebook from a decade in Italy, and the quiet courage of a woman named Martha writing cards from her chair, this message trades the false certainty of the floodlight for the honest, walkable faith of the next step. SCRIPTURES REFERENCED Psalm 119:105-112 Matthew 5:14-16 Matthew 4:19 BOOKS WORTH EXPLORING A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer CHAPTERS 00:00 What is a sit-down message and why does today feel different? 00:56 Why is Psalm 119 the longest chapter in the whole Bible? 02:11 What does a lamp to my feet and a light to my path actually mean? 03:25 What is the Hebrew word devar and why does it matter? 04:09 What did an oil lamp really look like in the psalmist’s world? 05:12 What does grief do to the path you thought you were walking? 06:02 If the lamp is only imagery, what part of it is still real? 07:13 Why does this psalm sound like it was written by someone older? 07:42 What did going back through thirty years of old messages reveal? 08:59 Did I preach with more certainty than I actually had? 09:39 Why did I expect God to be a floodlight instead of a small lamp? 11:06 What does sempre dritto teach about the path God gives? 12:07 What is the one promise this psalm actually makes? 12:42 Did the disciples ever know where following Jesus would lead? 13:57 What did Martha’s cards show about taking the next step? 15:03 Is I don’t know how this turns out a more honest kind of faith? 15:39 What are young people really asking about the future? 16:41 What does A Light Within Us mean for those being sent out? STAY CONNECTED Church website: https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/ Daily devotional: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/daily-devotional Substack newsletter: https://pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/ If this gave you room to breathe today, subscribe and walk with us. We publish a new message every week, one honest step at a time. #Psalm119 #ChurchOfTheBrethren #Grief #FaithOverFear #TrustingGod #NextStep #ChristianSermon This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/subscribe

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About

Harry Jarrett—pastor, former missionary in Italy, wedding-venue founder, ex-Marriott GM—speaks on weaving faith, hospitality, and business into everyday life from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren. pastorharryjarrett.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Harry Jarrett
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Harry Jarrett
  • Show Website
    Faith at Work