St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Welland, Ontario, Canada

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 7, 2025

Prayer of the Day
Direct us, O Lord God, in all our doings with your continual help, that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name; and finally, by your mercy, bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
25 Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Reflections: There’s a preacher known for addressing tough topics in his sermons by saying “if you can’t say ‘amen’, say ‘ouch’. Today is an “ouch day”.

The great paradox at play requires us to take Jesus’ words with utmost seriousness without taking these particular words literally. Plenty of churches justify their true hate, violence and oppression in religious garb and language. Such folk are happy to take a passage like this one literally—and to lose its meaning in the process.

Let’s clear the decks with four sweeping motions to separate what Jesus is and isn’t saying:
First: Jesus’ whole life was resistance against ‘hate’. Remember his instruction to love our enemies?
Second: Jesus isn’t calling us to reject family. Remember his last words as he was tortured to death? He asks John his disciple and Mary his mother to look after each other as family.
Third: A word Jesus uses that means “to regard less” or to relegate. The word “misteu-ow” was mistranslated into the word “hate”.
Fourth: The major arc of Luke’s Gospel traces Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and into the hands of a coalition of imperial and religious authorities who want to end him. As the crowds are captivated by their ideal of him and by their hopes of all he will do for them, Jesus speaks forcefully about who he is and what he’s about. To follow Jesus doesn’t entail the religious equivalent of a red carpet gala—it means confronting systems of power and social conditions that contradict God’s vision of wholeness and Shalom for everyone.

With the decks cleared somewhat we’re still faced with highly uncomfortable and inconvenient truths about what it means to follow Jesus—the speed bump Jesus tosses out comes in the form of parables about people biting off more than they can chew.

Most interpreters of scripture view the Gospels as instruction and inspiration for faith communities—these days we might says these are words for the whole church to hear.

For instance, when we say we welcome people do we mean it? One Lutheran church in North Minneapolis says right in their website that they do. They’ve kept the major aspects of our worship forms and then taken risks within it. Their website invites all to participate and makes physical and social accommodation for those with special needs.

When we say we share the same reverence for creation that Jesus does, are we ready for that? How seriously do we take the carbon footprint our church buildings and even our make? How many trees do we need felled for our convenient bulletins? How much are we willing to give to programs like the Friends of Creation that seeks to help finance the reversing of climate damage in Chad?

What does it cost us to follow Jesus by working for justice and peace? We get dismissed as ‘woke’ when we object to hateful rhetoric directed at our LGBTQ siblings and our siblings from other countries or races. We might lose friends and when we advocate for just economic conditions for everyone.

The truth is we’re a lot like the first disciples, writing cheques with out mouths that our bodies can’t cash. The Good News is that the arduous path Jesus calls us to doesn’t dead-end at futility. Along the way, we discover our higher selves and that our lives wrapped up in the loving intentions God has held for us all along—the restoration and healing of all things.

Sermon 🔈 (audio only)

Transcript 0f Gospel and Sermon (PDF text format)

Worship Guide

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost August 31, 2025

Prayer of the Day
O God, you resist those who are proud and give grace to those who are humble. Give us the humility of your Son, that we may embody the generosity of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

Luke 14:1, 7-14 1
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

REFLECTIONS: Long ago in a high school far away, “jock rock” established, reflected and enforced the school’s social hierarchy. Varsity athletes, cheerleaders, and social scene “A” listers with their respective plus-ones, sat on the rock nearest the nexus of several hallways that formed a central court. Jock rock was actually a brick bench that extended the length of one hallway and demonstrated social mobility as new kids and JV athletes proved themselves worthy of moving farther up the rock. Suburban legends about transgressors of Jock Rock protocol receiving lengthy tours of the inside of a student locker dictated far more than any student handbook or Mr. D’s annual beginning of the year harangue about proper conduct. As an aside, it is tragic that fifty years later kids at West High School routinely rehearse active shooter drills and evacuation procedures when a bomb threat is phoned in. Alas, there is nothing new under the sun. Long ago at a Passover supper, guests side eye Jesus to size him up. He can’t help but to notice, and then point out the jockeying for position at the head table.

Far beyond Jesus going ‘Emily postal’ about seating charts, He seeks to subvert a social order that is shaped like a pyramid. He critiques our tendency toward building hierarchies and using ‘quid pro quo’ in hopes of improving our spot.

Alas, pyramids are old news…Pastor Daniel Erlander’s illustrations of pyramid shaped —slave holding societies— like ancient Egypt—depict those he calls the “big deals” perched on top of the pyramid, weight bearing down and squashing the poorest underneath….Now as then, the poorest suffer the most in natural disasters, climate change and economic crises. Pretty. Much. Every. Time.

God’s good news embeds itself in old news and in pyramid schemes. Slaves are liberated from Egypt. —Jesus’ mother sings of the poor being cared for and tyrants being toppled. And Jesus lives a life dedicated to God’s shalom displacing pyramids and oppressive empires.

Good News even as recent as last month came as Lutherans and Anglicans held a zoom service for their first combined celebration of Emancipation Sunday. Bishop Ali Tote from Alberta spoke at that service about all people gaining a place at the table not as wait staff or even as the ‘main course’ but as equals.

In the most recent edition of Canada Lutheran, Bishop Susan Johnson reflects on her 18 year ministry—she says ours has become a more outward looking church….inviting people to the table.

Biblical Commentator E Trey Clark, at Fuller Seminary in the US puts it thus: “Jesus invites us to live in an entirely different world within this world—a world called the kingdom of God. “ (Working Preacher).

For in God’s rule, pyramid schemes are defeated and transformed into a life where everyone has a place at the table and where they are wrapped in God’s embrace. Amen.

Sermon 🔉  (audio only)

Transcript of Gospel and Sermon (PDF text format)

Worship Guide

Since there was no worship service today at St.Matthew’s (we were at First Lutheran, Pt. Colborne for a shared service and luncheon), HERE is today’s Summer Series sermon video (Bishop Ali Tote, Saskatchewan Synod), provided by the ELCIC.

Our worship service returns to St. Matthew’s sanctuary, next Sunday at 11am. Prior to the service, at 10Am, we will be providing coffee and muffins/bagels in the newly air conditioned Fellowship Hall, celebrating the end of a long hot summer.

Gospel and Sermon (PDF text format)

TIME CHANGE FOR NEXT WEEK’S SERVICE
St. Matthews will worship with First Lutheran at their Port Colborne
location on Sunday, August 17 at 10 am. First Lutheran will provide lunch after the service.

Sermon 🔉 (audio only)

Gospel and Sermon Transcript (PDF text format)

Worship Guide

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost August 10, 2025

Prayer of the Day `Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church. Open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may be ready to receive you wherever you appear, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

The Gospel
Luke 12:32-40 32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Reflections on the Gospel reading:
Remember the old joke about ‘how do we get to Carnegie Hall’? Practice, practice, practice. We might wonder ‘how to get into the kingdom of God’ when the reality is God eagerly waits to bring it to us—and generate it with in us. The kingdom can be spotted when a way of life is being practiced. Maybe we can use the word “vibe”…God’s kingdom has a certain vibe. It’s how people structure their lives and it’s what people value.

I like the Scandinavian ideal of hygge—it’s a sense of simple coziness and quiet contentment usually with generous doses of good food and drink.

My coffee aficionado friend Dave just returned from Denmark and I could hardly wait to hear about his trip; and I was particularly interested in the coffee. “Good coffee”, he said. “It was funny, though that when I asked for recommendations about coffee shops people pointed me to cafes with the most comfortable chairs…they must have a thing for comfortable chairs there.”

Part of the vibe…the values of comfort and community at work.

The kingdom Jesus talks about is a way of life—can we call it a vibe? Ethos might be an apt term as well. The last couple of weeks, the Gospel readings warn against obsessing over possessions speaks to our anxiety about not having enough. In today’s reading, the ‘ethos’ God’s kingdom is living life in which we trust in God’s goodness and live in hopeful expectation.

More broadly speaking, we can remember Jesus’ sermon on the plain where the poor are valued or we recall his mother Mary’s song about the poor being filled with good things or we might remember stories about the last being first. That’s all ethos of the kingdom God yearns to impart to us.

Jesus is just getting warmed up….he’ll continue subverting hierarchies and inviting the outcast into the inner circle. And he’ll tell some wild stories about joy overflowing when lost things are found and lost people find their way home.