Fortune and Misfortune
BMCC Sunday Sermon · 6 Sep 2026 · Speaker: Pastor Hong
When you stand at the edge of the promised land and see the abundant grapes and pomegranates, is your heart filled with hope — or with fear? On the first Sunday of September 2026, Blessed Ministry Community Church (BMCC) gathered for worship. Pastor Hong (鄭子康傳道) preached on the theme of “Fortune and Misfortune,” leading the congregation through Numbers chapter 14 to explore an ancient yet eternal question: when fear obscures our vision, how do we find our way back to the grace God has already given?
The story begins with Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. After crossing the Red Sea and wandering the wilderness for forty years, God told Moses: the land flowing with milk and honey, I have prepared it for you. Before entering Canaan, Moses sent twelve spies to explore the land. They returned carrying abundant grapes and pomegranates — the land was indeed rich and beautiful, bearing all the marks of God’s promise. But alongside that abundance, they had also seen the inhabitants of Canaan — warriors as tall as giants. Fear fell upon them at once.
Ten of the spies stood before the assembly and began listing the reasons they could not go in: the giants were too tall; in their own eyes they were no bigger than grasshoppers. The people were shaken — they wept and complained, even declaring they would rather die in the wilderness than face those enemies.
In that moment of widespread despair, Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes and stepped forward, declaring to the whole assembly of Israel: “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:7–9, NRSV) Why could two people see what the other ten could not? Pastor Hong observed: not because they failed to see the giants, but because the giants had not completely occupied their vision — they could still see the Lord at the same time.
Pastor Hong shared a striking psychological study. Researchers invited a group of people who considered themselves “lucky” and another group who considered themselves “unlucky” to look through a newspaper and count the photographs. On the second page of the newspaper, in large bold lettering, a message was printed: “This newspaper contains 43 photographs — you may tell the researcher directly and claim your reward.” Those who felt fortunate noticed this message quickly and completed the task with ease. But those who felt unlucky — who lived with chronic anxiety and fear — were so fixated on each individual photograph that they missed the answer sitting right in front of their eyes.
This study reveals a profound truth: fear and anxiety narrow our field of vision. When we are gripped by fear, we can only see the one thing that frightens us — and it blots out the wider landscape, including the ways God has already prepared for us and the grace already present in our lives. The ten spies saw the giants and forgot God’s promise. The fearful participants counted photographs and missed the answer in plain sight. Fear makes us blind.
Pastor Hong then drew on his own experience to illustrate this truth. This year, he and a friend visited Xiaoliuqiu (小琉球), a small island off the coast of Taiwan, and rode electric scooters up a hill to see a magnificent old banyan tree. On the descent, on a steep slope, he suddenly sensed the brakes were not responding properly. Ahead was his friend’s scooter; beside him was the hillside; below was a drain. If he had been consumed entirely by fear — seeing only “I’m about to crash into that drain” — he could not have acted at all. But in that moment, he did not let fear take over completely. He quickly assessed the whole situation: first steer away from his friend ahead, then guide the scooter up onto the slope and let it fall on its side while he stepped clear. He was safe. The scooter sustained some damage, and he paid a small compensation — but he was unharmed.
“If I could only feel fear in that moment, I really would not have been able to think of any way through,” Pastor Hong reflected. Fear locks us onto one point and blocks out the whole picture. But when we stay observant and look for a way forward, the capabilities God has equipped us with are able to come forward at the critical moment.
Pastor Hong then turned to a profoundly significant work in the history of LGBTQ theology: “The Church and the Homosexual,” written by John McNeill, a Catholic Jesuit priest. Published in 1976, it was among the earliest theological works to engage seriously and caringly with the intersection of same-sex love and Christian faith. Father McNeill had witnessed too many Christians condemned by the church and driven into self-hatred, shame, and isolation — losing their faith and hope entirely. Armed with his training as a priest, theologian, and psychotherapist, he chose to respond in writing to those who were struggling in pain, publishing this deeply contested work.
The cost was immense. Shortly after publication, the Vatican ordered him to stop speaking publicly about homosexuality. Eventually, he was expelled from the Jesuit order. Pastor Hong reflected that the “giant” Father McNeill faced may have been the largest giant of all — the full institutional weight of the Catholic Church. The depth of isolation he must have experienced is almost impossible to imagine. Yet he was able to take that step because he could see the grace he himself had received — and he could also see the suffering of others. He saw many people still in difficulty, unable to find hope or direction, and he could not simply look on.
“What he saw was the misfortune of others. And what he also saw was the grace he himself had received.”
That grace was a clear-eyed recognition of his own gifts and calling; that action was his choice to share what he had with those who did not yet have it.
Pastor Hong gently invited each listener to examine their own heart: what is the “giant” in your life? Is it a fear that keeps you from taking a step forward? A long season of circumstances that makes you feel permanently unlucky? A situation that seems utterly impossible to move through? When fear occupies all of our vision, we forget God’s promises; we forget how he has led us before; and we cannot see the grace he has already given — those grapes of the promised land already in our hands.
But God has not changed. He says: “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land.” That love is already present in your life. When we see it clearly again, fear no longer needs to be our only focus.
Blessed Ministry Community Church is a home that welcomes everyone. Whatever wilderness you find yourself in — isolated, misunderstood, or in a season where no way forward seems visible — there is a community here that is also walking this path of faith, willing to walk alongside you, to seek God’s presence together even in the midst of fear. You do not need to have overcome all your fears before you can come here. This community can be a safe place for you to take your first step. Every Sunday, we are here waiting for you.
