Grace Doesn't Exclude Consequences
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For October 11, 2026:
Grace Doesn’t Exclude Consequences
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 22:1-14, Exodus 32:1-14
He will not always chide
He will with patience wait
His wrath is ever slow to rise
And ready to abate
“Oh Bless the Lord, My Soul,” Godspell, based on Psalm 103
If you have ever been in the cast of Godspell, or have an older sibling who was, these words are very, very familiar. I sang along gleefully, even though I did not know what “chide” meant. Surely if the Lord’s wrath (I knew that was bad) was slow to rise, and ready to abate, there was forgiveness for everyone and everything, right? Where does this “outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth” come from? Are we talking about the same God?
In the Scriptures
Exodus 32:1-14
The people are afraid. Again. This time it’s not the Egyptian cavalry chasing them. It’s not hunger, or thirst, or bitter water. It’s not the peril of the wilderness compared to the luxury of life in Egypt. (Remember the fleshpots from a couple weeks ago?) This time their leader has been away too long. Who is that guy anyway, and what were we thinking following him way out here?
Aaron, Moses’ mouthpiece, has an idea. He’ll make them new gods, all they have to do is bring their jewelry to him. They do. Does that seem a little far-fetched? We tend to overlook that detail, but they’re prepared to sacrifice their jewelry and kids’ jewelry so they can have something to worship and have a festival around.
God’s nose gets hot. Seriously, that’s the idiom for anger in Biblical Hebrew. God’s anger is destructive. It threatens to consume the people. And isn’t there a very human side to our creator? “Let me alone…” The Lord appears to want to nurture the anger that has raised the temperature.
But Moses. Moses points out that if the Lord brought the people out of slavery and led them into the wilderness to slaughter them — bad press. Moses even ignores the Lord’s implied offer to make a new, better nation from him. Moses reminds the Lord of the promises made way back in Genesis, numerous descendants from Abraham and Sarah. And the Lord changed the Lord’s mind! Here, the Hebrew term נחמ has a sense of regret, along with change. The English “repent” may be too strong, but it’s clear that at some level the Lord opted to act less forcefully after listening to Moses’ reasoning. Apparently, the divine nose cooled a little.
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Today’s psalm echoes the sense of God’s faithfulness in spite of the people’s sinning. The people acknowledge their sin, which is more than the Israelites do in today’s Exodus reading — they get to it later, after Aaron tells Moses “So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24, NRSVue) This is as believable as a four-year old denying he ate the last chocolate cup cake through lips smeared with frosting.
Matthew 22:1-14
This is not the kingdom of heaven I imagine. Not even close. It starts out kind of promising, a wedding banquet to which the king wants lots of people to enjoy the party celebrating his son’s nuptials. But the invited guests insulted the king by “making light” of the invitation. The violence escalates to a clearly exaggerated level. The invited guests mistreat and kill the king’s slaves bearing the invitation. The king sent the army to burn and destroy the city of those who had dissed him. (Another equation of heat with anger.) There’s a happy ending….looming? The slaves are able to fill the wedding hall, after dragging in all kinds of people, good and bad. Clearly the king is a Midwesterner who cannot bear to see perfectly good food go to waste. I’ve lived in the Midwest 56 of my 62 years, the worst sin imaginable is something good going to waste. Maybe the best people, the A-listers, aren’t enjoying the prime rib as the king imagined, but it’s finding bellies, which is pretty good. But wait! One of these people dragged in from the public library where he’d been keeping warm isn’t dressed well enough. He is bound, cast out into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It’s totally not fair! Could this seat filler even afford special clothes? Did he even get the memo?
I personally lived the opposite experience of the one cast out. When I was leaving my second congregation to take a pastor position in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, I wore my best suit to the shindig. (My wife at the time called it my “dead Presbyterian suit.”) Everyone else came in overalls, because Oshkosh. When it was finally my turn to speak, I said, “The next time your associate pastor moves to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, be sure he gets the memo about the dress code.” Then, I quoted Oscar Wilde who famously said, “You can never be over dressed or over educated.”
Remember: this is a parable. Remember: Jesus told this parable after he had arrived at the Temple on Palm Sunday, cleansed the Temple by flipping the tables of the money changers, and those who sold animals for sacrifice — exploiting devout Jews seeking to fulfill their religious obligations. This is the third parable in a row he has targeted at the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees. In a later parable the Sadducees try to trap him. These parables are told with a specific target audience: the powerful, religious people who have been driving Jesus crazy his whole career. It is they who will be cast out of the kingdom of heaven, not because they’re poorly dressed, but because they had a chance to join the feast, but without recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, it’s as though they were not appropriately dressed, and because they should have known better, and had a chance to shape up and didn’t, that they were cast out, excluded, expelled from community.
In the News
Instances of harsh, rigid rejection are always in the news. The one consuming the most oxygen this week is the sexual assault case involving the Cornell 7. The alleged assault survivor’s statement to the Cornell campus police was 120 pages. Matthew Van Houten, the district attorney of Tompkins County, New York, received a six-page summary of the longer document and chose not to pursue a criminal case.
On October 2, New York Governor Kathy Hochul removed Van Houten from the case, and replaced him, appointing New York attorney general Leticia James as a special prosecutor to oversee the case.
This case has generated a lot of attention about the climate on college campuses. The Cornell student who filed civil lawsuit against Cornell and the Chi Phi fraternity on September 16 is identified as “Jane Doe.” Within days the phrase “I Am Jane Doe” began trending on social media and many women are coming forward confessing that they are also survivors of sexual violence on college campuses.
It remains to be seen how the lawsuits will be resolved. Cearly the Cornell 7 case has begun a serious conversation about gender relations among young adults in the United States that is long overdue. Still, I contend with great confidence, that Matthew Van Houten’s career has been annihilated. He has been cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The court of public opinion will never permit him to return to public service in any capacity. He had a chance; he under-responded and there will be no second chances, no grace for him. I am equally confident that removing him from the case, expelling him from profession, and upgrading him to pariah-status, will not change the culture that produces cases like this one. Systemic change is needed and that will take time and persistent energy and attention.
In the Sermon
There is a profound contrast between the Exodus and Matthew readings. In Exodus, the people had sinned blatantly, obviously, and openly. The Lord’s anger burned against them and Moses was able to ease the Lord’s anger. As “Oh Bless the Lord My Soul” goes, God “will not always chide, (God) will with patience wait…” The Lord’s anger cooled and the connection between the people and the Divine was maintained. Grace and mercy prevailed, though not without consequences.
The parables that Jesus told against the elders, the chief priests, and the Pharisees are told in a different context, for a different audience. In these parables grace is finite, limited. The leaders had their chances but preferred to hold power and status. The last two verses of Matthew 21 make this very clear: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.” They knew better. They knew there were places for them at the wedding reception, which is “the kingdom of heaven,” and they knew the dress code, but they wouldn’t or couldn’t do it. Darkness and painful orthodontia awaited them.
This contrast may best be summarized in this song by Lyle Lovett, “God Will.”
Who keeps on trusting you when you’ve been cheating
And spending your nights on the town?
And who keeps on saying that he still wants you
When you’re through running around?
And who keeps on loving you when you’ve been lying
Saying things ain’t what they seem?
God does, but I don’t
God will, but I won’t
And that’s the difference between God and me.
Grace doesn’t exclude consequences, and it can run out. Yes, it’s amazing, but not that amazing.
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Courage to Be Gentle
by Nazish Naseem
Philippians 4:1-9
What if gentleness is not weakness, but one of the harder forms of courage? In a culture that rewards outrage, certainty, and the satisfaction of being right, Paul asks Christians to let their gentleness be known — to everyone.
Gentleness is not usually the quality we associate with strength. We admire people who speak with confidence, stand their ground, and refuse to back down. Our public conversations can easily become contests in which someone has to win and someone else has to lose. Into that world Paul offers a different word: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5, NIV).
It is a beautiful sentence, but not an easy one.
Paul was writing to a community that had its own disagreements. Just a few verses earlier, he names Euodia and Syntyche and urges them to “agree with each other in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2, NIV). He does not ask the community to choose sides or pretend the conflict does not exist. He calls them back toward relationship.
Christian community has never meant that everyone agrees. It means learning how to remain in relationship when we do not.
That is where gentleness needs some explanation. Gentleness does not mean avoiding accountability, staying silent when someone has caused harm, or overlooking injustice. Sometimes love requires us to speak clearly, establish boundaries, and insist that harm be taken seriously.
The question is not whether there should be accountability. The question is what kind of people we become when we hold one another accountable.
The Greek word Paul uses for “gentleness,” epieikēs (ἐπιεικής), carries a richer meaning than simply being pleasant or mild. It can mean fair, reasonable, considerate, patient, or forbearing. Bill Mounce’s Greek New Testament Dictionary includes “fair, reasonable; gentle, mild, patient” among its meanings and identifies Philippians 4:5 as one of its uses.
Paul is asking for more than simply being nice. Gentleness is a way of exercising strength with care.
Accountability asks us to tell the truth and take responsibility for consequences. Gentleness asks us to remember that the person being held accountable is still a human being, not simply an offense or a label. We can name harm without humiliating someone. We can seek justice without making revenge our goal. We can establish consequences without deciding that a person is beyond redemption.
Accountability without compassion can become punishment for its own sake. Compassion without accountability can become an excuse for allowing harm to continue. Christian community needs both: the courage to tell the truth and the grace to leave room for repentance, change, and restoration.
This feels especially important in a culture where anger travels quickly. One harsh comment can lead to another, and before long, a complicated situation can become a battle over who is right and who is wrong. A 2017 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that messages combining moral judgment with emotion were more likely to spread on Twitter.
Sometimes anger is justified. Sometimes speaking strongly is necessary. But anger can also become a habit. We can become so accustomed to judging, correcting, exposing, and condemning that we forget there are human beings on the other side of our words.
Paul’s invitation to gentleness interrupts that habit.
It also connects with his words about anxiety. “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6, NIV), Paul writes, inviting us to bring our worries to God in prayer. He connects prayer with thanksgiving and speaks of the peace of God guarding both heart and mind. Prayer creates space between what happens to us and how we respond.
It does not remove the need for action or accountability. But it reminds us that we do not have to carry every fear as though everything depends on us. We can bring our concerns to God and find enough room to respond rather than simply react. Paul then turns our attention toward what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8, NIV).
What we repeatedly give our attention to shapes us. If we spend our days consuming anger, anger can begin to feel normal. If we continually rehearse grievances, they can begin to define how we see the world. But the reverse can also be true. Gratitude, generosity, patience, and gentleness can become habits too.
Paul does not simply tell the Philippians what to believe. He tells them what to practice: “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice” (Philippians 4:9, NIV). We become a certain kind of community through what we practice with one another: how we disagree, how we apologize, how we listen, and whether we leave room for another person’s humanity. Gentleness is most difficult when we believe we are right. The real test comes when we are hurt, angry, frightened, or convinced that someone else does not deserve another chance. Perhaps that is why Paul connects gentleness with the reminder, “The Lord is near.” We practice gentleness because we remember that God is near — in our disagreements, our anxiety, our imperfect communities, and even in the moments when we would rather walk away.
The Christian hope is not that we will create a world without disagreement. It is that disagreement does not have to destroy community. There will always be reasons to be angry. There will always be people with whom we disagree. The question is what kind of people we become in response. Paul’s answer is neither passivity nor silence. It is gentleness. Not because truth does not matter or justice is unnecessary, but because the way we pursue truth and justice matters too.
Perhaps gentleness is one of the harder forms of courage: the courage to resist outrage, listen before responding, and remember the humanity of the person with whom we disagree.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all,” Paul writes. “The Lord is near.”
Perhaps that is the word we need most right now.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Exodus 32:1-14
Golden Calf or Golden Commode?
Since people don’t change much, we might wonder what our modern golden calf would be. One possibility is the golden toilet, stolen in an audacious robbery in Britain.
“The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born…The toilet has never been recovered but is believed to have been cut up and sold. The satirical work, titled “America” by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth. It weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was insured for 4.8 million pounds ($6 million). The value of the gold at the time was 2.8 million ($3.5 million). The piece had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum had offered the work to U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting.”
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
Recommendations for Euodia and Syntyche
If Euodia and Syntyche want “to be of the same mind in the Lord,” as Pual urges, then conflict expert Amanda Ripley has some advice. She says, “The most powerful interrupter of all kinds of ugly conflict is tactical listening. The kind of listening where you prove, with your words, tone and actions, that you have heard and understood the other person. Even as you continue to totally (utterly!) disagree. Advanced listening is the skeleton key to conflict, proven out in study after study.”
The other beautiful tool for disrupting conflicts was a surprise to her. Listening to people talk at an event, she says, “I felt myself becoming more curious about what they were saying, without conscious awareness. It just happened. I felt a little embarrassed about this at the time. Is that all it took? A sense of humor, and then suddenly I drop my guard?...There is hard science behind this. Laughter causes the release of oxytocin—and a decrease in stress hormones. It sparks trust. (Even the expectation of laughter can decrease adrenaline by 70%, researchers have found.)”
With deep listening and shared laughter, Euodia and Syntyche can find their way to the unity Paul longs for.
* * *
Matthew 22:1-14
Missing the Invitation
This parable puzzles us, with the host’s anger at the guest who won’t take the last step and put on the festive robe. The host has done everything for the guest, and the guest can’t enter fully into the invitation.
Kate Haynes Murphy writes that many of us are like this when it comes to repentance. "The call to repentance is not a call to conform more deeply to the world’s expectations of us but to cast them off. Repentance interrupts our self-soothing, our confidence that we are good Christians who do not need to grow or change. In our age, the call to repentance is a call to quit fighting the culture wars, quit congratulating ourselves on the degrees and honors we’ve achieved, and quit celebrating ego-driven burnout.
She continues, “The call to repent is an invitation to place on the altar not only the parts of life that we see as wretched but also the parts of life that we cling to. To repent is to pray with the psalmist: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23–24). The call to repentance is not a test or a trap, but an invitation to trust that God has even more life for you. It is an invitation to unclench your fists and see what falls from your open relaxed hand. A call to look around and see what might be manna—strange and unfamiliar blessings that nourish us, even the very bread of angels. Repentance is the path from certainty to uncertainty, which is to say, the path to faith. It is a call, not a demand. But make no mistake, it is a call to wonder what might be wrong not in others but in yourself. It is a willingness to learn from the One who made you and sustains you in love. It is an eagerness to hear how you have lost the path and forsaken parts of your own blessing." (from Lost, Hidden, Small: Finding the Way of Jesus Where We Never Think to Look)
It’s a necessary step, and a hard one to take, as we see from the guest in the parable.
* * *
Matthew 22:1-14
The Great Banquet
Using Matthew’s imagery, author Cole Arthur Riley also imagines the banquet at the end of time, writing about an invitation that can’t be refused. "One day, at the end of all things, the legs of all the tables in the world will come alive. And without apology, they’ll each begin plodding toward the space where the top and bottom of the earth meet. And we’ll be terrified, of course, so some of us will go into hiding underground, but some, after pausing to feel sad or terrified or betrayed, will get brave and follow them. Those who are able to withstand the pilgrimage, who are able to push back despair in the company of the tableless, will make it to where they’re going. And when they arrive, they’ll find all of the moving tables lined up into one great plank tracing the entire equator. The children will sit first, because they are unafraid. And the elders will follow, because they are unafraid of their fear.”
In her imagination, “eventually everyone will take a seat, squirming their elbows in tight. Some will be grunting, complaining about how absurd the whole thing is. Some will be laughing, in awe of how beautiful it is. And some will be crying, sensing how familiar it all is. And in mystery, and all at once, we’ll look up from the table. And we’ll see ourselves. At that moment, the wood of the table will begin to suck all the shame out of the air, and once it does, the air will become so light that we all will realize how little we’ve been able to move in our own bodies before this moment. When we understand that the food is not going to fall from the clouds or manifest from the knots in the table, we’ll take ourselves and begin wandering off to collect things. And we’ll probably get lost now and again, but the table will just send out a long whistle and lead us back.” (from This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us)
In Matthew’s parable, people refuse the invitations, and in this vison from Cole Arthur Riley, it’s impossible to refuse.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Matthew 22:1-14
31% of people who attend weddings in the last five years accrued debt to go, because its considered the last hurrah of friendship. Much of this has to do with how we value partnerships over friendships in society, and also how we do not leave time for relationships in general in our culture. Work triumphs over all else, and the wedding is the last time to see and spend time with friends. Saying no usually breaks the friendship according to NPR and The Atlantic Thus, destination bachelor, bachelorettes, and weddings have become prominent. The question of what to wear to the wedding is probably less about clothing and more about how you present yourself. Are you full of love, humility, and peace? Are you there to party? Just like the willingness to come to the destination celebration is way deeper than money, it’s about norms, expectations, and all the cultural realities that follow. How do we allow room for people to not go into debt and make room for healthier relationships in the future?
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
The golden calf of AI is easy answers and computer perfection that makes everything fast and easy in a different way. The Pope came out in response, asking for value in the imago dei in art, and of course, in humans very self. He said, “There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human.” As artist Arthur Kwon Lee puts it, “Nobody has to delete you. You just drown in the beige” or the noise of online immediate access to everything. Stopping and appreciating the simplicity and beauty of the act of creation is something else, is it not?
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
When anxiety is high, how do we build trust? Especially in times like these, when doubt and distrust in each other, motives, money, and institutions seems to be everywhere? Building trust is a process requiring competence, consistency, integrity and compassion. All of these seem to be touched on in Philippians. The Gottman Institute describes six kinds of trust and nine behaviors to build trust. The key is that it is built piece by piece, and takes working together.
* * *
Psalm 23
If God is our shepherd, and we are the sheep, sometimes I wonder if the pastor should be called the sheepdog, or if that is too high a name for what it is that we do. If we are not the sheepdog, then who is? Is it the Holy Spirit? Sheepdogs are very important to shepherds: “In the art of shepherding, dogs play an indispensable role that enhances flock management.” The flock is so important to keep social and together. “Interestingly, when sheep are separated from their group, they can exhibit signs of stress and anxiety, underscoring the importance of their social bonds. Shepherds often take advantage of this natural behavior, using it to manage their flocks more effectively during grazing or herding.” This point makes me wonder about how God might manage us effectively by trying to coax us closer together in relationships so that we might be easier to herd. It reminds me of when my parents, and then I, would invite other kids to play because it was easier to keep track of more of us. We would all entertain each other. I would have a houseful of six preschoolers instead of three and it would often be simpler. I wonder if that is why God said to be fruitful and multiply, to keep us busy with each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Exodus 32:1-14
When anxiety reigns
Aaron’s response to the Israelite’s fears that Moses had disappeared fits well with leadership theories developed by the late Edwin Friedman. In his posthumously published work A Failure of Nerve, Friedman uses the lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory to tease out elements of leadership in a time of anxiety.
Out of their anxiety, Israel demands a quick solution to stave off their fears. Friedman demonstrates that congregations, denominations, and other organizational systems often fall prey to this sort of regressive behavior in times of challenge. One of Friedman’s commentators summarized the late rabbi’s teaching by noting compulsive behavior in anxious groups result in 1) reacting to threats, rather than responding; 2) herding together in undifferentiated clusters demonstrated by group thinking; 3) shifting blame from the real cause of concern; 4) seeking short-term relief that complicates true progress. The result of this behavior creates a system that Friedman says is locked in “imaginative gridlock.”
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
When fear leads to idolatry
Sociologist Andrew Whitehead of Indiana University is widely regarded as the leading scholar of White Christian Nationalism. His book American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church details how political groups have manipulated fears over loss of Christian status and pending national demise into a weapon for promoting the idea of the United States as a white and Christian country. Just as Israel’s fear and anxiety led to creating an idol, these groups stoke fears by lamenting what Whitehead calls “a lost, idyllic past, usually due to the sins and waywardness of the people.”
Theologically, this functions similarly to the Israelite’s fear that God was absent. Fears of societal changes stoke a sense that perhaps God’s absence today has been caused by declining morality. “In American Idolatry,” writes Whitehead on Substack, “I write how fear is a central idol of Christian nationalism and the role fear and threat play in the history of Christianity in the United States, and in particular the religious right in the last 40-50 years.”
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
What do we do with an angry God?
Anger and rage figure prominently in both Exodus 32 and Jesus’ parable in Matthew 22:1-14. Images of God’s anger figure prominently in the Christian tradition, most notably in Jonathan Edward’s 18th century sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” These are still troubling, however, especially when held up against other scriptures such as Exodus 34:6, where we are reminded that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Coming to an understanding of God’s anger as well as God’s grace is an important task of pastoral theology and preaching. In his seminal study The Wrath of a Loving God: Unraveling a Biblical Conundrum, Brother John of Taize pushes readers beyond what he calls the easiest solution to this dilemma, which is to “simply to eliminate these difficult passages from our portrait of God.” (Cascade Books, 2019.) He writes:
Even a mind as brilliant and enlightened as that of the philosopher Simone Weil (1909-43) did not escape this kind of facile simplification. She wrote that she could not understand “how it was possible for a rational mind to see the Jehovah of the Bible and the Father mentioned in the Gospel as one and the same being.”
A better answer, suggests Brother John, is to examine the passages referring to God’s wrath through a liberationist lens. While God has led God’s people away from oppression toward a land of abundance. Even when this “stiff-necked” people reject God, God remains faithful. Brother John’s book builds on this theological perspective to develop a theology of anger to understand God’s message of love in more meaningful ways. “Does it reveal,” he wonders, “aspects of God and of our human condition that otherwise would remain hidden?”
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
Allowing joy to mingle with anxiety
Paul’s desire is that the conflicts between two women in the Philippian church be quickly resolved. It’s clear that this conflict has ruptured the relationship these women share in Christ, and is likely causing issues throughout the church. He urges his listeners to find a different path, calling them to rejoice even in the midst of their anxieties. But walking that path can become difficult.
“For a lot of us,” writes therapist Emmalee Bierly, “joy doesn’t arrive alone. It brings a shadow with it — a hyper-awareness of what could be lost.” Bierly reminds us that joy requires a certain vulnerability and openness. Understanding that anxiety — the sense that we’re waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop — means understanding anxiety’s protective purpose. She reminds clients that “You can feel grateful and scared. You can feel excited and anxious.” These may seem contradictory, but they are rooted in our humanness. What helps is to gently retrain our nervous system to realize joy does not automatically signal danger — much the way Paul does in this passage.
* * *
Matthew 22:1-14
It’s not person, it’s business
Jesus’ parable of the wedding guests is a strange, almost vile tale. Instead of a joy-filled feast of dancing and celebrating, we encounter guests who refuse to attend, and a temperamental host who criticizes the way some are dressed. It’s a complicated image and a story that is hard to preach. Yet what if this tale of a wedding is hiding something more sinister? Perhaps it is describing the church’s lack of wholehearted embrace of God’s grace, offering an improbable tale of anger lurking beneath a scrim of happiness.
As the classic 1972 movie The Godfather begins, we encounter a family joyfully celebrating a wedding. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the “Godfather,” or head of a large crime syndicate. Members of the family, as well as associates, those in the Godfather’s debt, and even enemies gather. As the wine flows, another story takes place. Inside the Godfather’s den, a line forms of people asking for favors. It’s tradition that the Godfather would grant requests on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Yet the promises made are grueling, vicious, and requests for retribution. The enemies are watching the Godfather’s moves. Unlike God, however, his love is conditional and streaked with violence.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
One: Happy are those who observe justice.
All: Happy are they who do righteousness at all times.
One: Remember us, O Lord, when you show favor to your people.
All: Help us, O God, when you deliver them.
OR
One: Come to the feast that God has prepared for us.
All: We come gladly to feast in the presence of God.
One: Do not let the call of the world sidetrack you.
All: We will keep God’s feast our goal.
One: Do not neglect God’s call to care for others.
All: We will love others into coming to the feast with us.
Hymns and Songs
Come, Thou Almighty King
UMH: 61
H82: 365
PH: 139
GTG: 2
AAHH: 327
NNBH: 38
NCH: 275
CH: 27
LBW: 522
ELW: 408
W&P: 148
AMEC: 7
Praise My Soul, the King/God of Heaven
UMH: 66
H82: 410
PH: 620
GTG: 619
CH: 23
LBW: 549
ELW: 864/865
W&P: 82
AMEC: 70
Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
UMH: 90
H82: 618
PH: 451
LBW: 175
ELW: 424
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
UMH: 160/161
H82: 556/557
PH: 145/146
GTG: 804
AAHH: 537
NNBH: 7
NCH: 55/71
CH: 15
LBW: 553
ELW: 873/874
W&P: 113
AMEC: 8
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
GTG: 169
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
UMH: 361
H82: 685
GTG: 438
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
W&P: 384
AMEC: 328
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
GTG: 649
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
GTG: 729
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the life of all creation:
Grant us the wisdom to reject the idols of this world
and cling to serving you as we follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because all creation is enlivened by your love. You offer the way to life and peace. Help us to let go of our idols and to serve you as we follow Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our constant turning to false gods.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have turned to false gods that offer us a quick fix to our problems. We lose patience as we try to live lives of love, grace, and caring. We are drawn in by the glamor of wealth, power, and status. We worship the very ones whom you have come to bring down. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us so that we may worship you and you alone. Amen.
One: God is gracious and knows our weaknesses. Receive God’s forgiveness and follow Jesus into God’s realm.
Prayers of the People
We offer you our praises, O God, because you are the true God of all creation. You spoke and the worlds came into being. In all the glory of your power you cherish your people.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have turned to false gods that offer us a quick fix to our problems. We lose patience as we try to live lives of love, grace, and caring. We are drawn in by the glamor of wealth, power, and status. We worship the very ones whom you have come to bring down. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us so that we may worship you and you alone.
We offer our thanks to you for all the ways your creation speaks of your love and glory. We thank you for speaking words of life to people throughout the ages and for their passing them along to help us. We thank you for the call to wholeness and healing you send. Most of all we thank you for Jesus who calls us to you still.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We lift up to your loving care your hurting world. There are those who live in fear, poverty, and want because of those who have chosen greed over grace. We pray for those in power that they might remember their call to serve and care for the people.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 11, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Grace Doesn’t Exclude Consequences by Tom Willadsen based on Matthew 22:1-14, and Exodus 32:1-14.
- Second Thoughts: The Courage to Be Gentle by Nazish Naseem based on Philippians 4:1-9.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Katy Stenta, Chris Keating.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- More to come...
Grace Doesn’t Exclude Consequencesby Tom Willadsen
Matthew 22:1-14, Exodus 32:1-14
He will not always chide
He will with patience wait
His wrath is ever slow to rise
And ready to abate
“Oh Bless the Lord, My Soul,” Godspell, based on Psalm 103
If you have ever been in the cast of Godspell, or have an older sibling who was, these words are very, very familiar. I sang along gleefully, even though I did not know what “chide” meant. Surely if the Lord’s wrath (I knew that was bad) was slow to rise, and ready to abate, there was forgiveness for everyone and everything, right? Where does this “outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth” come from? Are we talking about the same God?
In the Scriptures
Exodus 32:1-14
The people are afraid. Again. This time it’s not the Egyptian cavalry chasing them. It’s not hunger, or thirst, or bitter water. It’s not the peril of the wilderness compared to the luxury of life in Egypt. (Remember the fleshpots from a couple weeks ago?) This time their leader has been away too long. Who is that guy anyway, and what were we thinking following him way out here?
Aaron, Moses’ mouthpiece, has an idea. He’ll make them new gods, all they have to do is bring their jewelry to him. They do. Does that seem a little far-fetched? We tend to overlook that detail, but they’re prepared to sacrifice their jewelry and kids’ jewelry so they can have something to worship and have a festival around.
God’s nose gets hot. Seriously, that’s the idiom for anger in Biblical Hebrew. God’s anger is destructive. It threatens to consume the people. And isn’t there a very human side to our creator? “Let me alone…” The Lord appears to want to nurture the anger that has raised the temperature.
But Moses. Moses points out that if the Lord brought the people out of slavery and led them into the wilderness to slaughter them — bad press. Moses even ignores the Lord’s implied offer to make a new, better nation from him. Moses reminds the Lord of the promises made way back in Genesis, numerous descendants from Abraham and Sarah. And the Lord changed the Lord’s mind! Here, the Hebrew term נחמ has a sense of regret, along with change. The English “repent” may be too strong, but it’s clear that at some level the Lord opted to act less forcefully after listening to Moses’ reasoning. Apparently, the divine nose cooled a little.
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Today’s psalm echoes the sense of God’s faithfulness in spite of the people’s sinning. The people acknowledge their sin, which is more than the Israelites do in today’s Exodus reading — they get to it later, after Aaron tells Moses “So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24, NRSVue) This is as believable as a four-year old denying he ate the last chocolate cup cake through lips smeared with frosting.
Matthew 22:1-14
This is not the kingdom of heaven I imagine. Not even close. It starts out kind of promising, a wedding banquet to which the king wants lots of people to enjoy the party celebrating his son’s nuptials. But the invited guests insulted the king by “making light” of the invitation. The violence escalates to a clearly exaggerated level. The invited guests mistreat and kill the king’s slaves bearing the invitation. The king sent the army to burn and destroy the city of those who had dissed him. (Another equation of heat with anger.) There’s a happy ending….looming? The slaves are able to fill the wedding hall, after dragging in all kinds of people, good and bad. Clearly the king is a Midwesterner who cannot bear to see perfectly good food go to waste. I’ve lived in the Midwest 56 of my 62 years, the worst sin imaginable is something good going to waste. Maybe the best people, the A-listers, aren’t enjoying the prime rib as the king imagined, but it’s finding bellies, which is pretty good. But wait! One of these people dragged in from the public library where he’d been keeping warm isn’t dressed well enough. He is bound, cast out into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It’s totally not fair! Could this seat filler even afford special clothes? Did he even get the memo?
I personally lived the opposite experience of the one cast out. When I was leaving my second congregation to take a pastor position in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, I wore my best suit to the shindig. (My wife at the time called it my “dead Presbyterian suit.”) Everyone else came in overalls, because Oshkosh. When it was finally my turn to speak, I said, “The next time your associate pastor moves to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, be sure he gets the memo about the dress code.” Then, I quoted Oscar Wilde who famously said, “You can never be over dressed or over educated.”
Remember: this is a parable. Remember: Jesus told this parable after he had arrived at the Temple on Palm Sunday, cleansed the Temple by flipping the tables of the money changers, and those who sold animals for sacrifice — exploiting devout Jews seeking to fulfill their religious obligations. This is the third parable in a row he has targeted at the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees. In a later parable the Sadducees try to trap him. These parables are told with a specific target audience: the powerful, religious people who have been driving Jesus crazy his whole career. It is they who will be cast out of the kingdom of heaven, not because they’re poorly dressed, but because they had a chance to join the feast, but without recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, it’s as though they were not appropriately dressed, and because they should have known better, and had a chance to shape up and didn’t, that they were cast out, excluded, expelled from community.
In the News
Instances of harsh, rigid rejection are always in the news. The one consuming the most oxygen this week is the sexual assault case involving the Cornell 7. The alleged assault survivor’s statement to the Cornell campus police was 120 pages. Matthew Van Houten, the district attorney of Tompkins County, New York, received a six-page summary of the longer document and chose not to pursue a criminal case.
On October 2, New York Governor Kathy Hochul removed Van Houten from the case, and replaced him, appointing New York attorney general Leticia James as a special prosecutor to oversee the case.
This case has generated a lot of attention about the climate on college campuses. The Cornell student who filed civil lawsuit against Cornell and the Chi Phi fraternity on September 16 is identified as “Jane Doe.” Within days the phrase “I Am Jane Doe” began trending on social media and many women are coming forward confessing that they are also survivors of sexual violence on college campuses.
It remains to be seen how the lawsuits will be resolved. Cearly the Cornell 7 case has begun a serious conversation about gender relations among young adults in the United States that is long overdue. Still, I contend with great confidence, that Matthew Van Houten’s career has been annihilated. He has been cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The court of public opinion will never permit him to return to public service in any capacity. He had a chance; he under-responded and there will be no second chances, no grace for him. I am equally confident that removing him from the case, expelling him from profession, and upgrading him to pariah-status, will not change the culture that produces cases like this one. Systemic change is needed and that will take time and persistent energy and attention.
In the Sermon
There is a profound contrast between the Exodus and Matthew readings. In Exodus, the people had sinned blatantly, obviously, and openly. The Lord’s anger burned against them and Moses was able to ease the Lord’s anger. As “Oh Bless the Lord My Soul” goes, God “will not always chide, (God) will with patience wait…” The Lord’s anger cooled and the connection between the people and the Divine was maintained. Grace and mercy prevailed, though not without consequences.
The parables that Jesus told against the elders, the chief priests, and the Pharisees are told in a different context, for a different audience. In these parables grace is finite, limited. The leaders had their chances but preferred to hold power and status. The last two verses of Matthew 21 make this very clear: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.” They knew better. They knew there were places for them at the wedding reception, which is “the kingdom of heaven,” and they knew the dress code, but they wouldn’t or couldn’t do it. Darkness and painful orthodontia awaited them.
This contrast may best be summarized in this song by Lyle Lovett, “God Will.”
Who keeps on trusting you when you’ve been cheating
And spending your nights on the town?
And who keeps on saying that he still wants you
When you’re through running around?
And who keeps on loving you when you’ve been lying
Saying things ain’t what they seem?
God does, but I don’t
God will, but I won’t
And that’s the difference between God and me.
Grace doesn’t exclude consequences, and it can run out. Yes, it’s amazing, but not that amazing.
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Courage to Be Gentle
by Nazish Naseem
Philippians 4:1-9
What if gentleness is not weakness, but one of the harder forms of courage? In a culture that rewards outrage, certainty, and the satisfaction of being right, Paul asks Christians to let their gentleness be known — to everyone.
Gentleness is not usually the quality we associate with strength. We admire people who speak with confidence, stand their ground, and refuse to back down. Our public conversations can easily become contests in which someone has to win and someone else has to lose. Into that world Paul offers a different word: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5, NIV).
It is a beautiful sentence, but not an easy one.
Paul was writing to a community that had its own disagreements. Just a few verses earlier, he names Euodia and Syntyche and urges them to “agree with each other in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2, NIV). He does not ask the community to choose sides or pretend the conflict does not exist. He calls them back toward relationship.
Christian community has never meant that everyone agrees. It means learning how to remain in relationship when we do not.
That is where gentleness needs some explanation. Gentleness does not mean avoiding accountability, staying silent when someone has caused harm, or overlooking injustice. Sometimes love requires us to speak clearly, establish boundaries, and insist that harm be taken seriously.
The question is not whether there should be accountability. The question is what kind of people we become when we hold one another accountable.
The Greek word Paul uses for “gentleness,” epieikēs (ἐπιεικής), carries a richer meaning than simply being pleasant or mild. It can mean fair, reasonable, considerate, patient, or forbearing. Bill Mounce’s Greek New Testament Dictionary includes “fair, reasonable; gentle, mild, patient” among its meanings and identifies Philippians 4:5 as one of its uses.
Paul is asking for more than simply being nice. Gentleness is a way of exercising strength with care.
Accountability asks us to tell the truth and take responsibility for consequences. Gentleness asks us to remember that the person being held accountable is still a human being, not simply an offense or a label. We can name harm without humiliating someone. We can seek justice without making revenge our goal. We can establish consequences without deciding that a person is beyond redemption.
Accountability without compassion can become punishment for its own sake. Compassion without accountability can become an excuse for allowing harm to continue. Christian community needs both: the courage to tell the truth and the grace to leave room for repentance, change, and restoration.
This feels especially important in a culture where anger travels quickly. One harsh comment can lead to another, and before long, a complicated situation can become a battle over who is right and who is wrong. A 2017 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that messages combining moral judgment with emotion were more likely to spread on Twitter.
Sometimes anger is justified. Sometimes speaking strongly is necessary. But anger can also become a habit. We can become so accustomed to judging, correcting, exposing, and condemning that we forget there are human beings on the other side of our words.
Paul’s invitation to gentleness interrupts that habit.
It also connects with his words about anxiety. “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6, NIV), Paul writes, inviting us to bring our worries to God in prayer. He connects prayer with thanksgiving and speaks of the peace of God guarding both heart and mind. Prayer creates space between what happens to us and how we respond.
It does not remove the need for action or accountability. But it reminds us that we do not have to carry every fear as though everything depends on us. We can bring our concerns to God and find enough room to respond rather than simply react. Paul then turns our attention toward what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8, NIV).
What we repeatedly give our attention to shapes us. If we spend our days consuming anger, anger can begin to feel normal. If we continually rehearse grievances, they can begin to define how we see the world. But the reverse can also be true. Gratitude, generosity, patience, and gentleness can become habits too.
Paul does not simply tell the Philippians what to believe. He tells them what to practice: “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice” (Philippians 4:9, NIV). We become a certain kind of community through what we practice with one another: how we disagree, how we apologize, how we listen, and whether we leave room for another person’s humanity. Gentleness is most difficult when we believe we are right. The real test comes when we are hurt, angry, frightened, or convinced that someone else does not deserve another chance. Perhaps that is why Paul connects gentleness with the reminder, “The Lord is near.” We practice gentleness because we remember that God is near — in our disagreements, our anxiety, our imperfect communities, and even in the moments when we would rather walk away.
The Christian hope is not that we will create a world without disagreement. It is that disagreement does not have to destroy community. There will always be reasons to be angry. There will always be people with whom we disagree. The question is what kind of people we become in response. Paul’s answer is neither passivity nor silence. It is gentleness. Not because truth does not matter or justice is unnecessary, but because the way we pursue truth and justice matters too.
Perhaps gentleness is one of the harder forms of courage: the courage to resist outrage, listen before responding, and remember the humanity of the person with whom we disagree.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all,” Paul writes. “The Lord is near.”
Perhaps that is the word we need most right now.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Exodus 32:1-14
Golden Calf or Golden Commode?
Since people don’t change much, we might wonder what our modern golden calf would be. One possibility is the golden toilet, stolen in an audacious robbery in Britain.
“The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born…The toilet has never been recovered but is believed to have been cut up and sold. The satirical work, titled “America” by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth. It weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was insured for 4.8 million pounds ($6 million). The value of the gold at the time was 2.8 million ($3.5 million). The piece had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum had offered the work to U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting.”
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
Recommendations for Euodia and Syntyche
If Euodia and Syntyche want “to be of the same mind in the Lord,” as Pual urges, then conflict expert Amanda Ripley has some advice. She says, “The most powerful interrupter of all kinds of ugly conflict is tactical listening. The kind of listening where you prove, with your words, tone and actions, that you have heard and understood the other person. Even as you continue to totally (utterly!) disagree. Advanced listening is the skeleton key to conflict, proven out in study after study.”
The other beautiful tool for disrupting conflicts was a surprise to her. Listening to people talk at an event, she says, “I felt myself becoming more curious about what they were saying, without conscious awareness. It just happened. I felt a little embarrassed about this at the time. Is that all it took? A sense of humor, and then suddenly I drop my guard?...There is hard science behind this. Laughter causes the release of oxytocin—and a decrease in stress hormones. It sparks trust. (Even the expectation of laughter can decrease adrenaline by 70%, researchers have found.)”
With deep listening and shared laughter, Euodia and Syntyche can find their way to the unity Paul longs for.
* * *
Matthew 22:1-14
Missing the Invitation
This parable puzzles us, with the host’s anger at the guest who won’t take the last step and put on the festive robe. The host has done everything for the guest, and the guest can’t enter fully into the invitation.
Kate Haynes Murphy writes that many of us are like this when it comes to repentance. "The call to repentance is not a call to conform more deeply to the world’s expectations of us but to cast them off. Repentance interrupts our self-soothing, our confidence that we are good Christians who do not need to grow or change. In our age, the call to repentance is a call to quit fighting the culture wars, quit congratulating ourselves on the degrees and honors we’ve achieved, and quit celebrating ego-driven burnout.
She continues, “The call to repent is an invitation to place on the altar not only the parts of life that we see as wretched but also the parts of life that we cling to. To repent is to pray with the psalmist: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23–24). The call to repentance is not a test or a trap, but an invitation to trust that God has even more life for you. It is an invitation to unclench your fists and see what falls from your open relaxed hand. A call to look around and see what might be manna—strange and unfamiliar blessings that nourish us, even the very bread of angels. Repentance is the path from certainty to uncertainty, which is to say, the path to faith. It is a call, not a demand. But make no mistake, it is a call to wonder what might be wrong not in others but in yourself. It is a willingness to learn from the One who made you and sustains you in love. It is an eagerness to hear how you have lost the path and forsaken parts of your own blessing." (from Lost, Hidden, Small: Finding the Way of Jesus Where We Never Think to Look)
It’s a necessary step, and a hard one to take, as we see from the guest in the parable.
* * *
Matthew 22:1-14
The Great Banquet
Using Matthew’s imagery, author Cole Arthur Riley also imagines the banquet at the end of time, writing about an invitation that can’t be refused. "One day, at the end of all things, the legs of all the tables in the world will come alive. And without apology, they’ll each begin plodding toward the space where the top and bottom of the earth meet. And we’ll be terrified, of course, so some of us will go into hiding underground, but some, after pausing to feel sad or terrified or betrayed, will get brave and follow them. Those who are able to withstand the pilgrimage, who are able to push back despair in the company of the tableless, will make it to where they’re going. And when they arrive, they’ll find all of the moving tables lined up into one great plank tracing the entire equator. The children will sit first, because they are unafraid. And the elders will follow, because they are unafraid of their fear.”
In her imagination, “eventually everyone will take a seat, squirming their elbows in tight. Some will be grunting, complaining about how absurd the whole thing is. Some will be laughing, in awe of how beautiful it is. And some will be crying, sensing how familiar it all is. And in mystery, and all at once, we’ll look up from the table. And we’ll see ourselves. At that moment, the wood of the table will begin to suck all the shame out of the air, and once it does, the air will become so light that we all will realize how little we’ve been able to move in our own bodies before this moment. When we understand that the food is not going to fall from the clouds or manifest from the knots in the table, we’ll take ourselves and begin wandering off to collect things. And we’ll probably get lost now and again, but the table will just send out a long whistle and lead us back.” (from This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us)
In Matthew’s parable, people refuse the invitations, and in this vison from Cole Arthur Riley, it’s impossible to refuse.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Matthew 22:1-14
31% of people who attend weddings in the last five years accrued debt to go, because its considered the last hurrah of friendship. Much of this has to do with how we value partnerships over friendships in society, and also how we do not leave time for relationships in general in our culture. Work triumphs over all else, and the wedding is the last time to see and spend time with friends. Saying no usually breaks the friendship according to NPR and The Atlantic Thus, destination bachelor, bachelorettes, and weddings have become prominent. The question of what to wear to the wedding is probably less about clothing and more about how you present yourself. Are you full of love, humility, and peace? Are you there to party? Just like the willingness to come to the destination celebration is way deeper than money, it’s about norms, expectations, and all the cultural realities that follow. How do we allow room for people to not go into debt and make room for healthier relationships in the future?
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
The golden calf of AI is easy answers and computer perfection that makes everything fast and easy in a different way. The Pope came out in response, asking for value in the imago dei in art, and of course, in humans very self. He said, “There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human.” As artist Arthur Kwon Lee puts it, “Nobody has to delete you. You just drown in the beige” or the noise of online immediate access to everything. Stopping and appreciating the simplicity and beauty of the act of creation is something else, is it not?
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
When anxiety is high, how do we build trust? Especially in times like these, when doubt and distrust in each other, motives, money, and institutions seems to be everywhere? Building trust is a process requiring competence, consistency, integrity and compassion. All of these seem to be touched on in Philippians. The Gottman Institute describes six kinds of trust and nine behaviors to build trust. The key is that it is built piece by piece, and takes working together.
* * *
Psalm 23
If God is our shepherd, and we are the sheep, sometimes I wonder if the pastor should be called the sheepdog, or if that is too high a name for what it is that we do. If we are not the sheepdog, then who is? Is it the Holy Spirit? Sheepdogs are very important to shepherds: “In the art of shepherding, dogs play an indispensable role that enhances flock management.” The flock is so important to keep social and together. “Interestingly, when sheep are separated from their group, they can exhibit signs of stress and anxiety, underscoring the importance of their social bonds. Shepherds often take advantage of this natural behavior, using it to manage their flocks more effectively during grazing or herding.” This point makes me wonder about how God might manage us effectively by trying to coax us closer together in relationships so that we might be easier to herd. It reminds me of when my parents, and then I, would invite other kids to play because it was easier to keep track of more of us. We would all entertain each other. I would have a houseful of six preschoolers instead of three and it would often be simpler. I wonder if that is why God said to be fruitful and multiply, to keep us busy with each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Exodus 32:1-14
When anxiety reigns
Aaron’s response to the Israelite’s fears that Moses had disappeared fits well with leadership theories developed by the late Edwin Friedman. In his posthumously published work A Failure of Nerve, Friedman uses the lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory to tease out elements of leadership in a time of anxiety.
Out of their anxiety, Israel demands a quick solution to stave off their fears. Friedman demonstrates that congregations, denominations, and other organizational systems often fall prey to this sort of regressive behavior in times of challenge. One of Friedman’s commentators summarized the late rabbi’s teaching by noting compulsive behavior in anxious groups result in 1) reacting to threats, rather than responding; 2) herding together in undifferentiated clusters demonstrated by group thinking; 3) shifting blame from the real cause of concern; 4) seeking short-term relief that complicates true progress. The result of this behavior creates a system that Friedman says is locked in “imaginative gridlock.”
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
When fear leads to idolatry
Sociologist Andrew Whitehead of Indiana University is widely regarded as the leading scholar of White Christian Nationalism. His book American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church details how political groups have manipulated fears over loss of Christian status and pending national demise into a weapon for promoting the idea of the United States as a white and Christian country. Just as Israel’s fear and anxiety led to creating an idol, these groups stoke fears by lamenting what Whitehead calls “a lost, idyllic past, usually due to the sins and waywardness of the people.”
Theologically, this functions similarly to the Israelite’s fear that God was absent. Fears of societal changes stoke a sense that perhaps God’s absence today has been caused by declining morality. “In American Idolatry,” writes Whitehead on Substack, “I write how fear is a central idol of Christian nationalism and the role fear and threat play in the history of Christianity in the United States, and in particular the religious right in the last 40-50 years.”
* * *
Exodus 32:1-14
What do we do with an angry God?
Anger and rage figure prominently in both Exodus 32 and Jesus’ parable in Matthew 22:1-14. Images of God’s anger figure prominently in the Christian tradition, most notably in Jonathan Edward’s 18th century sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” These are still troubling, however, especially when held up against other scriptures such as Exodus 34:6, where we are reminded that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Coming to an understanding of God’s anger as well as God’s grace is an important task of pastoral theology and preaching. In his seminal study The Wrath of a Loving God: Unraveling a Biblical Conundrum, Brother John of Taize pushes readers beyond what he calls the easiest solution to this dilemma, which is to “simply to eliminate these difficult passages from our portrait of God.” (Cascade Books, 2019.) He writes:
Even a mind as brilliant and enlightened as that of the philosopher Simone Weil (1909-43) did not escape this kind of facile simplification. She wrote that she could not understand “how it was possible for a rational mind to see the Jehovah of the Bible and the Father mentioned in the Gospel as one and the same being.”
A better answer, suggests Brother John, is to examine the passages referring to God’s wrath through a liberationist lens. While God has led God’s people away from oppression toward a land of abundance. Even when this “stiff-necked” people reject God, God remains faithful. Brother John’s book builds on this theological perspective to develop a theology of anger to understand God’s message of love in more meaningful ways. “Does it reveal,” he wonders, “aspects of God and of our human condition that otherwise would remain hidden?”
* * *
Philippians 4:1-9
Allowing joy to mingle with anxiety
Paul’s desire is that the conflicts between two women in the Philippian church be quickly resolved. It’s clear that this conflict has ruptured the relationship these women share in Christ, and is likely causing issues throughout the church. He urges his listeners to find a different path, calling them to rejoice even in the midst of their anxieties. But walking that path can become difficult.
“For a lot of us,” writes therapist Emmalee Bierly, “joy doesn’t arrive alone. It brings a shadow with it — a hyper-awareness of what could be lost.” Bierly reminds us that joy requires a certain vulnerability and openness. Understanding that anxiety — the sense that we’re waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop — means understanding anxiety’s protective purpose. She reminds clients that “You can feel grateful and scared. You can feel excited and anxious.” These may seem contradictory, but they are rooted in our humanness. What helps is to gently retrain our nervous system to realize joy does not automatically signal danger — much the way Paul does in this passage.
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Matthew 22:1-14
It’s not person, it’s business
Jesus’ parable of the wedding guests is a strange, almost vile tale. Instead of a joy-filled feast of dancing and celebrating, we encounter guests who refuse to attend, and a temperamental host who criticizes the way some are dressed. It’s a complicated image and a story that is hard to preach. Yet what if this tale of a wedding is hiding something more sinister? Perhaps it is describing the church’s lack of wholehearted embrace of God’s grace, offering an improbable tale of anger lurking beneath a scrim of happiness.
As the classic 1972 movie The Godfather begins, we encounter a family joyfully celebrating a wedding. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the “Godfather,” or head of a large crime syndicate. Members of the family, as well as associates, those in the Godfather’s debt, and even enemies gather. As the wine flows, another story takes place. Inside the Godfather’s den, a line forms of people asking for favors. It’s tradition that the Godfather would grant requests on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Yet the promises made are grueling, vicious, and requests for retribution. The enemies are watching the Godfather’s moves. Unlike God, however, his love is conditional and streaked with violence.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
One: Happy are those who observe justice.
All: Happy are they who do righteousness at all times.
One: Remember us, O Lord, when you show favor to your people.
All: Help us, O God, when you deliver them.
OR
One: Come to the feast that God has prepared for us.
All: We come gladly to feast in the presence of God.
One: Do not let the call of the world sidetrack you.
All: We will keep God’s feast our goal.
One: Do not neglect God’s call to care for others.
All: We will love others into coming to the feast with us.
Hymns and Songs
Come, Thou Almighty King
UMH: 61
H82: 365
PH: 139
GTG: 2
AAHH: 327
NNBH: 38
NCH: 275
CH: 27
LBW: 522
ELW: 408
W&P: 148
AMEC: 7
Praise My Soul, the King/God of Heaven
UMH: 66
H82: 410
PH: 620
GTG: 619
CH: 23
LBW: 549
ELW: 864/865
W&P: 82
AMEC: 70
Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
UMH: 90
H82: 618
PH: 451
LBW: 175
ELW: 424
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
UMH: 160/161
H82: 556/557
PH: 145/146
GTG: 804
AAHH: 537
NNBH: 7
NCH: 55/71
CH: 15
LBW: 553
ELW: 873/874
W&P: 113
AMEC: 8
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
GTG: 169
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
UMH: 361
H82: 685
GTG: 438
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
W&P: 384
AMEC: 328
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
GTG: 649
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
GTG: 729
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the life of all creation:
Grant us the wisdom to reject the idols of this world
and cling to serving you as we follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because all creation is enlivened by your love. You offer the way to life and peace. Help us to let go of our idols and to serve you as we follow Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our constant turning to false gods.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have turned to false gods that offer us a quick fix to our problems. We lose patience as we try to live lives of love, grace, and caring. We are drawn in by the glamor of wealth, power, and status. We worship the very ones whom you have come to bring down. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us so that we may worship you and you alone. Amen.
One: God is gracious and knows our weaknesses. Receive God’s forgiveness and follow Jesus into God’s realm.
Prayers of the People
We offer you our praises, O God, because you are the true God of all creation. You spoke and the worlds came into being. In all the glory of your power you cherish your people.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have turned to false gods that offer us a quick fix to our problems. We lose patience as we try to live lives of love, grace, and caring. We are drawn in by the glamor of wealth, power, and status. We worship the very ones whom you have come to bring down. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us so that we may worship you and you alone.
We offer our thanks to you for all the ways your creation speaks of your love and glory. We thank you for speaking words of life to people throughout the ages and for their passing them along to help us. We thank you for the call to wholeness and healing you send. Most of all we thank you for Jesus who calls us to you still.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We lift up to your loving care your hurting world. There are those who live in fear, poverty, and want because of those who have chosen greed over grace. We pray for those in power that they might remember their call to serve and care for the people.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, October 11, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
