July 5, 2026
Independence Day (Observed) – The Rev. Mark S. Winward, MDiv,ThM
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” – Matthew 5:43-44, NRSV
The Mood of Our 250th Anniversary
Is it me, or does this 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation seem a bit subdued – especially compared to what I remember of our 200th anniversary? I was 15 years old during our Bicentennial in 1976, and you couldn’t get away from it. I remember parades, tall ships, fireworks, television specials, and a sense of anticipation and excitement that, to my young eyes, seemed to last for months. This year, as we celebrate our 250th anniversary – a quarter of a millennium of our nation’s life, and arguably an even more significant milestone than our Bicentennial – the mood feels very different. One of the things that saddens me most is that even flying the flag of the nation I dedicated most of my life to defending can now be interpreted as a political statement. I pray we can recover a sense of shared civic identity that rises above our political differences.
When Disagreement Becomes Enmity
Whether because of politics, media, social change, or simply the pace of modern life, many of us have the sense that we no longer know how to disagree without questioning one another’s motives. Too often we have come to view those outside our self-selected tribes as not only misguided but evil – as the enemy. Part of the reason for this is that we no longer know how to be people who simply disagree. As we’ve retreated into the echo chambers of our media choices, we’ve learned how to argue, how to label, and how to distrust others – but not how to love.
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies…” Notice what he actually says. He doesn’t say, “Agree with your enemies, pretend they are right, ignore injustice, or stop seeking the truth.” He says, “Love them.”
The Declaration and the Gospel
Two hundred and fifty years ago, our founders had profound disagreements with George III and, as a result, declared our independence. But what you don’t often hear is that the colonies themselves were deeply divided. Patriots, Loyalists, and a large number who simply hoped to stay out of the conflict all lived side by side. The result was a bloody war of independence that cost the lives of more than one in ten soldiers. Yet in the midst of such horrific division, the Declaration made a revolutionary claim: that all people – even our enemies – were not less than human. In fact, its opening declaration – “that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights” – assumes that we all possess a common dignity bestowed upon us by God. Regardless of your view of this nation’s history, that revolutionary concept laid the groundwork for modern constitutional democracies throughout much of the free world. But while the Declaration proclaims that all people inherently possess equal rights – even our enemies – Jesus goes even further. Jesus tells us that our enemies deserve our love.
Children of Our Father
Take a look at today’s Gospel in your bulletin. Jesus tells us the reason for loving our neighbors, our enemies, even our persecutors. He adds, “…so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good.” Jesus doesn’t appeal to fairness or even justice. He appeals to God’s character and our calling to reflect it as God’s children. God causes the sun to shine on Democrats and Republicans. God sends rain on conservatives and progressives. God feeds people whose theology is right and people whose theology is wrong. The Father refuses to divide creation into tribes deserving of grace and tribes excluded from it. So if we are God’s children, shouldn’t we love like our Father in heaven?
The Witness of the Church
Jesus was speaking from firsthand experience, as were the people following him. They weren’t dealing with online arguments or political slogans. They had enemies – people like the Romans, Pharisees, and zealots – who sought to betray, imprison, beat, and even kill them. Yet Jesus concludes by asking, in effect, how are we any different if we love only those who agree with us – only those who belong to whatever tribe we identify with?
While our Declaration grounded equality in the Creator, Jesus grounds all of humanity in our common relationship to a loving Father. And while the founders’ Declaration was remarkable in a time of radical inequality, the love Christ calls us to is even more radical. Our Church has an opportunity to model something our culture deeply lacks. Imagine what the world would look like if Christians became known not for winning arguments, excluding others, or denigrating our enemies, but for loving people as children of God – even if they do not love us back.
Our nation will always have political disagreements. It always has. The question before us is whether the Church will simply mirror those divisions or bear witness to something greater. Jesus does not call us to agree with our enemies. He calls us to love them, to pray for them, and, in doing so, to reflect the character of our Father in heaven. If we can learn to do that, perhaps our neighbors will see in us not another political tribe, but the family of God.
June 28, 2026
5th Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 8A – Mark S. Winward
“…thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” – Romans 6:17, NRSV
The Meaning of the Clergy Collar
People often wonder what the clergy collar I wear means. I once had a waitress ask me if my collar was a new style! (I told her, “Actually, it is a very old style!”) But seriously, there are several ways to answer that question—and, for me, it comes down to being a visible reminder that I am a servant of Christ—more specifically, a bond servant of Christ. In antiquity, a bond servant, sometimes called a bond-slave, was someone who voluntarily bound themselves to serve another person, often for life.
In the Bible, the term carries two important meanings. Under the Old Testament law, a Hebrew servant who loved his master could choose not to go free. Instead, he voluntarily stayed in his master’s service, and that lifelong commitment was symbolized by having his ear pierced (Exodus 21:5–6). In the New Testament, Paul, James, and Peter all describe themselves as bond servants—the Greek word is doulos—of Jesus Christ. While slavery in the ancient world was overwhelmingly brutal, the apostles turned it around to express complete devotion,
June 21, 2026
4th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 7A – Mark S. Winward
Jesus said, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39
The Cost of Discipleship
In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wow, tough Gospel reading this morning—perhaps the hardest of Jesus’ teachings. But seriously, when there is a selection in the cycle of readings that is difficult to understand, hard to swallow, or seemingly harsh, that is probably the exact place a preacher should focus. So, I feel responsible to explore this very hard set of sayings of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Why was Jesus so harsh?
For one thing, he knew the sacrifices his followers would make to spread the Good News of his kingdom – and it was indeed costly. The great second-century Church father, Tertullian, famously wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Especially in the first three centuries of the Church, Christians would be beaten, tortured, and killed in ways limited only by the imagination of their persecutors. And it was their refusal to deny Jesus as Lord that inspired millions to embrace a faith ironically represented by a Roman symbol of execution: the cross. Martin Luther famously wrote, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.
June 14, 2026
3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6A – Mark S. Winward
Introduction: The Rhythm of Spiritual Breath
Just for a moment, please close your eyes, relax, and become aware of your breathing. Sense the rhythm of your breath – in and out, in and out – not forced or controlled, but as a natural expression of the rhythm of your life. Take in air to sustain your life, and return it. Without both, it is impossible for each of us to live or flourish.
Far too often, we Christians slip into the temptation of attempting to live on a single breath: either spiritually inhaling or spiritually exhaling. At times we may retreat into a comfortable spirituality that asks little of us beyond our own growth; at other times, we may rush into reaching out to the world without remaining rooted in prayer. Whether as individuals or congregations, without a balance between an inward and an outward faith, we cannot truly know what it is to spiritually flourish.
The Breath of God
Scripture connects breath with the very life of God. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma both can be translated spirit, wind, or breath. The Hebrew scriptures tell us the breath of God was breathed into Adam at creation. The New Testament recalls the Holy Spirit being breathed upon the disciples by the risen Christ. So when we speak about spiritual breath,