Do Not Be Weary In Doing What Is Right

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and an Excerpt from Lumbricus Terrestris (The

Earthworm) by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

November 16, 2025

Thank you again for being here for each other, for yourself and the world we want together. Spirit of God, Creator and Sustainer, thank you for all who have come. Let each person receive whatever is needed. And may we open ourselves to welcome whatever that may be. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

No matter how desperate the situation,

     the worm does not tunnel faster

       nor burrow more…       

To whatever is compacted,

   the worm offers its good worm work…

These words that we heard from the poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer went right to my core when a colleague in my clergy community of practice group shared them with us this fall.

No matter…

     the worm does not tunnel faster…

Our culture communicates in a variety of ways a message to us humans that is very different from this. We are told and sold the idea that the way to get where we want to go, is to grind, to keep doing, to push, to tunnel faster and more, to work harder for our way forward, progress is always more. Existing well feels like never stopping. And sometimes we do have to just keep tunneling in order to survive, in order to find our way to the light, or to others, or to hope. As I think of certain seasons of my life that’s been true, when all I could do was just burrow.

But it turns out: The answer isn’t always to keep doing this. And as people of faith, we know that our worth doesn’t come from producing, creating, having or doing more. In short, our worth isn’t about how much we work or whether we work or how much we make from our work. But that’s often the message we hear.

This feels important to say out loud here for a couple of reasons. The first one is that I saw a video on social media that went viral last week as part of the government shutdown. It was a young white man using this very text from Thessalonians. Anyone unwilling to work should not eat he said. 

“That’s in the Bible” he said. So I wanted to make sure to say that this is an example of taking the Bible out of its context and weaponizing it to cause harm. So I wanted to start out by speaking to what this meant to the Early Church, the newly forming community, the diverse group of humans sharing life and their spiritual journeys, grounded in Jesus teachings and doing what he did.

Work, ergo, in Greek is toiling and in this context it’s about toiling for the whole, for the human herd, for the church as a group. As scholar Barbara Blodgett wrote, “To early Christians, work and prosperity were not signs of individual grace” or about the individual, “but rather evidence of supporting (oneself) and thereby the whole community,” supporting oneself is about doing that so you can support the whole. In other words, the admonition in this letter is about those taking advantage of others and this was the problem, not (mere) idleness, not a failure to produce or create something valued in an economic system like ours. This early Christian writing is telling the group of humans that part of what they need to work out is a mutually supportive situation both internally and externally, one without exploitation. So what that person should have noted in that video instead of shaming or blaming those impacted by a collective choice not to feed people, was that it’s a biblical value to not be greedy, to not exploit people or Mother Earth, he should have shamed those who are profiting from underpaying people or from extracting their health and offering no healthcare. What this letter is really saying in our 2025 lingo is “Anyone unwilling to toil for the whole should not get the fruits.” Any company willing to profit from public infrastructure, socializing the losses with business models that rely on exploitation and tax dollars while privatizing all of the gains- that’s immoral, out of alignment with love, with God, with Jesus’ teachings. Work here in this letter is about toiling for the group, giving back to the whole. So how do we not grow weary in our worm work?

Because…

No matter…

     the worm does not tunnel faster…

What do we do so we do not grow weary?

Knowing we could be under this for a while. We cannot end up tattered from our tunneling on the other side of this. We will not end up reduced from all of our harried work to repair. We cannot grow weary. So what would it take for us to prevent that? How do we support one another in being grounded, consistent, even slow? Obviously I am biased because I have given so much of my life, my heart, my gifts to the weird and wonderful idea that is the church, but I do think that community and sharing life others on the spiritual journey is part of the answer. and mystery seeking adventures together, grounded in Jesus teachings and doing what he did, but I have found that church has saved me, prevented me from being tattered, reduced or growing weary. It has offered a consistent container for well “worm work.”

But you know worm work isn’t an individual thing, you know worms don’t try to exist on their own. You might see them out and about wriggling about on their own, the truth is that worms wander in herds. And you know herds can be hard. But I have long believed that we humans are wired for community and connection, for our herds, but with the technology added to our lives, in my lifetime, things have shifted to cater to our individual preference, we can have most of what we want on our own, whether it be screening a new film on our i pad from the couch instead of going to the theater for movie night or going to class online instead of sitting in an auditorium, having takeout dropped off at the front door instead of dining among others gathered around tables, there is so much of post- modern life that offers a curated and convenient delivery of just what we want as individuals. And church is the opposite of that. It’s messy. It’s not customizable. It’s just what we need.

While I know that a healthy community of faith is not the answer to all of this, I have seen and experienced the difference it makes to spiritually wandering and in need of a herd. Maybe the fact that it cannot be customized is part of what makes it so special. There is no way for a healthy church to be curated just to each of our individual preferences and I think the messiness of human community is part of what is good for us. Part what makes a good church like CUCC special, is how we are each truly invited to belong to the clump as we are, to be on our individual trails, while also being together. There’s a support of the particular paths we are each on, while also giving the strength, care and wisdom from the group. And this is part of what will help each of us not grow weary. Being among others devoted to showing up and tending to mystery in a sacred container where all of us belong, as we keep tunneling toward what is right, being grounded, consistent, and even slow. The slow part church is good at! In a culture that is increasingly disinterested in organized religion, it’s clear to me that some of what we do and who we are as a church is both countercultural and urgently needed at the same time. I wanted to highlight what we church people are good at: We church people know how to organize networks of caring. We know how to show up as a spiritual practice again and again and again, when it’s awesome and when it’s hard. We know how to set aside time to pray and to contemplate, and to be open to guidance beyond our egos. We know how to support healing and recovery in all kinds of ways. We know how to create a safe space for people of all kinds can share life. We know how to do things that we are told are insignificant and we do them anyway. We know how to have the long view since we are stewards of an inheritors of ancient thing.! We know it can take decades to build fine soil for life that lasts.

A hard time like this shows that a church like ours, like us, like CUCC is really something worth giving our heart and money and time to. On this Stewardship Sunday, I am in a celebratory mood as this year many things have shifted this year. Having endured so much, our financial and spiritual life are all healthy and in a really good place! We have survived and now we are in a new season and we are growing and I am less weary because of you! My husband lost his job this week and I know he is a part of a wave of many and more to some. And still we will give generously.

We are a healthy and active organism that is sprouting new life welcoming more worms to our club because we have been, grounded, consistent, slow… We are what we need and what our friends and neighbors need. CUCC is a beautiful way that we can all not grow weary in doing what is right.

For a long time, scientists suspected that worms were usually in clumps to offer protection for predation or for environmental factors, like low temperatures, or inadequate food supply, but new studies are showing there’s another reason that worms form herds. In the journal of Ethology for example, it shows that worms use ‘touch’ to communicate and actually influence each other’s behavior. And further “after communication signals have been swapped, the worms will then collectively move in the same direction, meaning that worms do not act singularly…” Technically, “we can now also understand that the worms are deciding where to go next to move away from the immediate danger, and then move together.” This explains the growth of worm populations in healthy soil because since “since worms travel together, once they find good soil, their whole family will soon be

there!” 1

The healthy groups toil for the whole, that’s being in alignment with love, with God, with Jesus’ teachings. The worm can do its work well because of the clump! Let us support one another in being grounded, consistent, slow so that we do not grow weary in doing what is right.

And it can because of the clump. Thank you for being such a life changing clump of worms! Do not be weary in doing what is right!

Communal Reflection

What are the things in our lives that help us not grow weary?

Beloved of God, et our gift to one another and to the world be our constancy, our devotion to openness, our willingness to be with what is. Let a gift to ourselves be patience as we keep on, not faster, not more, just good worm work, tending to what is dense and dark. Do not grow weary. May it be so. Amen.