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,
September 21, 2025
15th Sunday after Pentecost – Byron Tindall
I usually like at least 2 weeks to prepare a sermon. Unfortunately, Father Mark’s untimely accident didn’t give me the time I like to spend on preparation. I’m grateful to the email “Sermons that Work” from The Episcopal Church for assistance this week.
Remember, Jesus used parables, or stories he made up, to make a point he wanted his listeners to understand. On occasion, a parable could have several meanings on different levels. I’m going to look at this example and first take it at its face value.
The Merriam-Webster website defines squandering as, “to spend extravagantly or foolishly: dissipate, waste.”
How was the manager squandering his master’s property? Rioterous living? Under the table payments to his cronies? Bad investments? We don’t have the slightest idea of how the steward was misusing and wasting his master’s property. It’s really not that important.
One of the things we have to keep in mind that in this parable, Jesus or God is not portrayed as the master.
I’m pretty sure that the manager would not have been looking forward to the meeting with his master.
Even after the confrontation, the dishonest manager continued to “cook the books” as the expression goes in order to gain acceptance with those with whom he dealt in the past. The manager was still looking out for number one.
The dishonest steward realized that he was only qualified to be a steward.
September 14, 2025
14th Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 19C – Mark Winward
“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.” – 1 Timothy 1:15
Where were you 24 years ago this last Thursday morning? I remember exactly where I was. I was flying a small, rented plane on a perfect, sky-blue morning, heading to a diocesan clergy conference near Bar Harbor, Maine. Little did I know, as I was pre-flighting the aircraft at Portland International Jetport, that two radicalized Islamic extremists were departing from that same airport on a connector flight bound for Boston.
At that time, I was the Rector of Trinity, Saco—a small parish just south of Portland, Maine—and also a Naval Reserve Chaplain. Flying VFR under Boston Air Traffic Control, I was in touch with ATC when the announcements began. First, they reported a suspected hijacking somewhere in New England. Then came word of a ground stop on all aircraft in the region. For me, flying a rented Cessna in Maine, it seemed a minor inconvenience—until my passenger’s cell phone, ringing constantly, was answered. His wife told him an airliner had crashed into one of the World Trade towers. We could not imagine that there was a connection.
Then came the order: all aircraft, wherever they were, were to land at the nearest airport and stay there. Thankfully, the nearest field was the little grass strip where I had already planned to land near our clergy conference.