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,
August 16, 2026
12th Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 15A – Rev. Mark S Winward, MDiv, ThM
Jesus answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” — Matthew 15:26–27
Introduction
Today’s Gospel, at first glance, sounds pretty rough. Jesus has some pretty harsh words for this woman, who is clearly from a different ethnic group. And given the racial history and strife in our own nation, this doesn’t fall very well on our modern ears. Given wars in the Middle East, Russia pummeling Ukraine, and the mistreatment of immigrants in our own country, I need some good news right now. It is in times like these that our hearts are heavy with the reminder that evil exists and that, for many, their identity is defined by what divides them from others.
I want to suggest to you that today’s Gospel contains the seed of hope for a bitterly divided world. Although, on the surface, we might mistake it for being about sectarian divisions, it foreshadows the beginning of the end of all barriers. On the only recorded occasion when Jesus ventures outside Jewish territory, this account represents the first time Jesus’ message of hope, healing, and reconciliation touches non-Jews on its inevitable journey to transform the whole world.
Jesus in the Land of Tyre and Sidon
Even Jesus needed time to renew himself and prepare for what inevitably lay before him.
August 9, 2026
11th Sunday after Pentecost Proper 14A – The Rev. Mark S. Winward, MDiv,ThM
The Navy Hymn
I selected “Eternal Father” as our gradual hymn today because it’s based on today’s Gospel and because of its longstanding association with worship in the Navy and Marine Corps. That tradition, along with my Navy roots, may explain why this hymn resonates with me – and why you can count on me choosing it anytime this Gospel account pops up in the lectionary.
The Porter Memorial Window, shown in your bulletins, stands in the chancel of the United States Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis. This beautiful Tiffany window portrays Christ walking on the water. For more than a century, generations of midshipmen have conducted services beneath this image. I wonder how many returning naval officers have looked upon it and heard the words of the Navy Hymn echoing in their ears:
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Many of you may be unaware that I didn’t begin my Navy career as a chaplain. I started out on track to become a Surface Warfare Officer in 1986, serving as Navigator aboard one ship and later as Assistant Engineer aboard another. During those years,