October 26, 2025
Proper 25 – Katharine Armentrout
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
This morning Jesus is talking to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous”.
And he tells us this familiar parable about the self-righteous Pharisee who recites all his good deeds to God and makes clear that he is not like other sinners and certainly not like that tax collector over there.
One writer said the Pharisee’s recitation was like a “personal progress report or, to use a new phrase, it is a “humble brag!”
And the Pharisee’s recitation reminded me of that old country song by Mac Davis: “Oh Lord it is hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way.”
But.. the fact is that he does fast more than required under Jewish Law and he does pay more tithes than are required.
And, he assures those who listen, that he isn’t like “ other people” – those thieves, rogues, adulterers, and certainly not like the Tax Collector over there. ,
But… the problem with his prayer is that it really isn’t a prayer as you and I might think of one.
A prayer is ordinarily addressed to God with a heart-felt request or a deep offer of thanks for God’s blessings.Instead he recites proudly his righteous deeds, using the first person pronoun “I” five times in just a few sentences.
October 19, 2025
Sara Miller-Schulte
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
He said, “In a certain city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ And for a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘You know, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.”
And Jesus said, “Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?”
And we who have itching ears make this into a story about how God will give us what we want if we just pray until something happens.
But God is not the unjust judge.
The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says:
He says, ‘Though I have no fear of God — that’s a clue — and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.”
Justice is easy.
In fact, in granting the widow justice, the judge is making a ruling on her case; He is doing his job.
He is doing the barest minimum of what one might be moved to call a good work. So in describing this judge, Jesus is not saying something about God — he is saying something about us.
Earlier in Luke’s gospel, Jesus says, “Is there anyone among you who,
October 5, 2025
St. Francis of Assisi – Katharine Armentrout
“But God said to him: ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God?’” Luke 12:20-21
I imagine that St. Francis, or as he was known as a young man, Francesco, had those words of our Gospel in his head as he tore off his rich silk clothes and ran naked through the town of Assisi.
He was determined to leave the world of wealth and power he had been born into and to take up his life, following the teachings of Jesus, always asking himself: What would Jesus do?
Because one thing we know about Francis – he always asked that question that was so popular in our 1990s: ”WWJD” What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do?
As a young man Francis had long felt a call to follow Jesus. He had entered the army, convinced that he was called to serve God in that way.
Unfortunately, he was captured, imprisoned and became very ill. He father, a wealthy merchant, ransomed him and brought him home.
After recovering from his illness Francis decided to follow Jesus by devoting himself to serving the poor and tending to their needs, as Jesus had done.
One day, he entered a tiny, ruined chapel for a prayer time.
September 28, 2025
16th Sunday after Pentecost – Katharine Armentrout
In the last two Sundays we have listened to two of the toughest parables Jesus told – both of them on the subject of wealth and how to be faithful.
Jesus was talking to the Pharisees who, as the scripture tells us, loved money.
Basically what Jesus is trying to help us understand is that there can be a real tension between accumulating wealth and living a life of faith.
And he was challenging the Pharisees, and us, to open our eyes and our hearts to the teaching of both the Old and New Testament
– the teaching that the accumulation of wealth while neglecting the needs of others can wall us off from God and God’s loving, wonderful world.
And speaking of opening our eyes, have you ever heard of the crime of willful blindness? It is a crime that is sometimes charged when the law holds accountable someone who deliberately avoids learning of, or acting on, facts that make up a crime…You see, it is a crime to hide from facts that constitute a crime and not take any action.
For instance a person who has reason to know that a package he is to deliver contains illegal drugs but chooses to go ahead and deliver the package can be found willfully blind and convicted of a drug crime.
Or a business executive who ignores his own employee’s fraud on a customer,