September 13, 2026
16th Sunday after Pentecost Year 19A – The Rev. Mark S. Winward, MDiv,ThM
Forgiveness After September 11?
Friday, our nation paused to remember the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001. Do you remember how you felt that day, 25 years ago? I do.
Like the rest of the country, I was angry. This was our generation’s Pearl Harbor. And like many of us, a part of me wanted revenge. With that desire for revenge against the extremists who had attacked us came an awakening of my old distrust of Arabs in general, buried since the Gulf War. My head told me that we could not blame an entire people for what these men had done. My heart was having a harder time catching up. I wanted the perpetrators brought to justice, but I also knew that some of what I was feeling went beyond justice.
Somehow, I knew that there was a need to forgive. Forgiveness would not relieve us of the responsibility to protect others or to bring those responsible to justice. But what would it mean to do those things without allowing hatred to take over our lives? Was this too much of a crime to forgive? So how much forgiveness is too much?
How Much Forgiveness Is Enough?
That’s exactly the question Peter brings to Jesus in this passage from Matthew’s Gospel. How often must I forgive someone who sins against me? How about as many as seven times?
September 6, 2026
15th Sunday after Pentecost – The Rev. Mark S. Winward MDiv, ThM
Proper 18A
A Nation – and a Church – Divided
This Friday marks 25 years since the 911 attacks on New York and Washington – a day we vowed to never forget, but have predictably begun to. Our initial response as a nation to those horrific attacks was extraordinary. At that moment, across this land, people weren’t Democrats or Republicans, black or white, gay or straight, one religion or another. We were first and foremost Americans. What a different time we live in now. Instead of defining ourselves by what we hold in common, the prevailing mood is to define ourselves by what separates us. Social media has only intensified this. Increasingly, we see those who disagree with us not merely as mistaken or misguided, but as threats – as evil.
The Scandal of Christian Division
Christians are hardly above this. More often than not, we define themselves by what divides us rather than by what unites us. Of course we have different styles of worship, different traditions, and different ways of interpreting Scripture. And, indeed, the way we shape our faith does matter – and I am not suggesting that every disagreement is trivial. But churches and denominations sometimes divide over things that are really not going to matter a whole lot when “the role is called up yonder.”
I firmly believe that the division of Christ’s Church is one of Christianity’s greatest scandals.
August 30, 2026
14th Sunday after Pentecost – The Rev. George S. Yandell
Proper 17A
When I call out the name Phoebe, what person springs to mind? Yes, Phoebe from Friends. The singer Phoebe Snow? Maybe another Phoebe will surface for us. Today’s sermon is all about names.
What’s in a name? In the early history of the Hebrew people, the name for God was ‘El.’ One of the first conversations I had with a man named Elroy in Memphis, was about his name, which can mean ‘child of God.’ Beth-el in Hebrew means ‘house of God.’ From the time of Abraham, about 4000 years ago, the Hebrew people called God ‘El.’ Ancient times. Then around 1250 BC, a most intriguing change happens. The Hebrew people began to call God a new name. How and why?
The Hebrew people migrated from Canaan to Egypt @ 1650 BC. You remember the story- Jacob’s 12 sons sold Joseph into slavery. He was carried to Egypt, rose to become Pharaoh’s second-in-command, and then gave sanctuary to all his father’s and brothers’ people. The Hebrews lived in Egypt for 400 years. Over time, they became slaves to Pharaoh.
Then around 1250 BC, a child was born to Hebrew slaves. His parents were from the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe. But Pharaoh had decreed that all male children born to Hebrews were to be killed at birth. So the baby’s mother hid him, then built a tiny raft and floated him in the Nile River. The daughter of Pharaoh spied the little canoe and the baby,
August 23, 2026
13th Sunday after Pentecost – The Rev. Mark S. Winward MDiv, ThM
Proper 16A
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed…” – Romans 12:2
Souvenir Religion
A few years ago, while my wife and I were browsing a local bookstore, a title immediately caught my eye. Its cover featured a blue T-shirt bearing a typical tourist-style image of a sailboat. Circling the image was the slogan that couldn’t help but make me chuckle: “I became a Christian, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.” Written by Vince Antonucci, the book’s subtitle explains its central message: Replacing Souvenir Religion with Authentic Spiritual Passion.
A souvenir tells people where we have been. Christian faith, however, is not merely a souvenir we carry or a label we wear. It is the mercy of God renewing our minds, joining us to Christ’s body, and turning our lives into an offering of love.
Authentic Faith
Authentic faith is the theme I would like us to consider in today’s New Testament readings. A preacher might approach these passages in one of two ways. The first would be to focus on personal faith. In the Gospel, Peter voices the full and decisive confession on which Matthew’s account now turns, proclaiming that Jesus is not only the long-awaited Messiah but also the Son of the living God. In the Epistle, taken from Paul’s Letter to the Romans,