Kingdom, Power, Glory
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For October 4, 2026:
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
Kingdom, Power, Glory
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 21:33-46
White Christian nationalism fuses a particular and peculiar reading of Christianity with the belief that the United States was founded by and for white Christians and should be governed accordingly. Recent news has shed light on the growing influence of White Christian nationalism in the US, with significant support among certain demographic groups and in certain states.
Nearly two-thirds of White evangelical Protestants identify as adherents to these beliefs, and states like Arkansas and Mississippi show over half of their populations subscribing to White Christian nationalism.
Not unlike the tenant vineyard keepers in the parable, White Christian nationalists have claimed ownership of a vineyard that is not their own: the Church of Jesus Christ.
In the Scripture
Matthew 21:33-46
In this parable, Jesus echoes Isaiah’s allegorical story of a rich man’s vineyard (Isaiah. 5:1-7). In this version, a rich man (YHWH) spares no expense in building a large, well-equipped vineyard (Israel), complete with a winepress, a guard tower, and a wall to protect it from predators — the kind with two or four legs, we presume. He leases it to tenant farmers (religious leaders) with the understanding that, at harvest time, they will pay him his due — traditionally 50% of the crop (honor and obedience to the Law) — with the other 50% left for the tenants to divide among themselves.
Harvest time arrives and the owner sends some of his slaves (the prophets) to collect his half of the crop. The tenants decide, however, that they don’t want to pay the owner his due, so they beat up one of the slaves, stone another, and kill yet another. The owner sends more slaves (prophets), probably with a sterner message, but the tenants treat them the same way as the first.
The owner then sends his son (Jesus), inexplicably believing that the tenants will do the right thing because the son speaks for the father. He is wrong. They see the son and believe that, if they kill him, the grief-stricken owner will simply forget about the vineyard, and it will become theirs.
Jesus lets his listeners finish the parable. What, he asks, do you think the owner of the vineyard will do next?
They answer that he will, of course, take terrible revenge on the tenants, reclaim what is rightfully his, and turn it over to other tenants who will honor him and the Law — the followers of Jesus.
Jesus asks whether they are familiar with Psalm 118 and quotes verses 22-23, which were originally meant to apply to Israel, but which he reinterprets to apply to himself.
[Many ancient manuscripts leave out verse 44, which is, at best, opaque.]
Leaving nothing to chance, Jesus explains his point simply and directly. YHWH is going to take Israel away from the priests and pharisees, and its leadership will fall to the followers of Jesus, who produce the fruit of the kingdom.
The religious leaders realize that this parable is about them (duh!), and they want to kill him, but they dare not arrest him because they are afraid of the crowd, with whom he is popular.
In the News
Tim Alberta’s book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is a deeply reported, often unsettling examination of how segments of American evangelical Christianity have become entangled with political extremism, nationalism, and fear-driven identity battles.
Angelyn Spaulding Flowers (University of the District of Columbia), Christina Littlefield (Pepperdine University), and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian and professor at Calvin University, are among the most widely cited contemporary scholars on White Christian nationalism. They and others are working to raise awareness of the threat that White Christian nationalism poses to the Christian church and the United States of America.
White Christian nationalism is best understood not as a denomination or set of theological doctrines. It is a political ideology that fuses a particular and peculiar reading of Christianity with the belief that the United States was founded by and for white Christians and should be governed accordingly.
Here are some of the basic tenets of WCN that scholars, journalists, and civil-society researchers most consistently identify.
1. America is a Christian nation by divine design — WCN asserts that American identity is inseparable from Christianity, and that government should actively preserve and enforce this identity.
2. Whiteness as a core part of national identity — The “white” in white Christian nationalism is not incidental. This ideology historically intertwines Christianity with white cultural dominance, treating white Christians as the rightful stewards of the nation.
3. Fusion of church and state — Adherents typically support policies that privilege Christianity in public life.
4. Patriarchal and traditional social order — Many versions of WCN promote a hierarchical, male dominated social structure.
5. Authoritarian governance preferences — Surveys and analyses show strong support for strongman leadership, strict law-and-order policies, and the belief that dissent threatens the nation’s divine mission.
6. Populist, conspiratorial, and apocalyptic rhetoric — The movement often frames political opponents as existential threats to America’s Christian identity.
7. Concrete policy aims — Throughout organizations and surveys, adherents frequently support:
Adherents to and advocates for WCN include:
Government officials — Pennsylvania politician Doug Mastriano is known for rejecting strict church-state separation and using explicitly Christian identity language in political messaging.
Member of congress Lauren Boebert, who has voiced sympathy for Christian nationalist ideas, often fuses Christian identity with political rhetoric.
Congressman Andy Ogles, who has expressed Christian nationalist themes in policy and public statements.
Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth, whose public religious framing has been linked by analysts to Christian nationalist ideology.
Pastors and religious leaders:
Douglas Wilson — pastor in Moscow, Idaho, frequently cited for promoting a Calvinist-inflected ideology influential among MAGA-aligned activists.
Sean Feucht — worship leader and activist whose pandemic-era rallies blended charismatic worship with nationalist political messaging.
Media and Internet figures:
Nick Fuentes — far-right internet personality associated with explicitly white nationalist and Christian nationalist messaging.
Andrew Torba — founder of Gab, known for promoting a fusion of Christian identity and nationalist politics.
Pat Buchanan — older conservative commentator whose writings are cited as precursors to contemporary Christian nationalist arguments.
Although they are not individuals, analysts also highlight Project 2025 and its architects — particularly Russell Vought and allied Heritage Foundation networks — as major contemporary drivers of Christian nationalist policy frameworks.
White Christian nationalism is not simply “Christian patriotism.” It is a political movement that seeks to preserve a particular ethnic and religious identity — white, Christian, and culturally conservative — as the normative center of American life and law. Scholars warn that this ideology is exclusionary, anti-pluralistic, and often authoritarian, because it treats deviations from its vision as threats to the nation’s divine purpose.
In the Sermon
In the parable Jesus tells of a landowner who plants a vineyard with great care — fencing it, digging a winepress, building a watchtower — and then leases it to tenants. When harvest time comes, the landowner sends servants to collect the part of the harvest that rightfully belongs to him. But the tenants, forgetting their role and rejecting the owner’s authority, beat the servants and plot to seize the vineyard for themselves.
The heart of the parable is this: the tenants twist stewardship into ownership. They try to take what was never theirs. They even commit murder in their attempt to steal the vineyard from its rightful owner.
In our own time, a similar temptation appears whenever a political ideology — for example, White Christian nationalism — tries to claim ownership of Christ’s church. Like the tenants, such movements confuse “God’s vineyard” with their own, treating the church as a tool for cultural dominance, political power, or national identity. They attempt to define who “really” belongs, who “really” speaks for God, and who “really” owns the future of the faith.
But the church does not belong to any nation, race, party, or movement. It belongs to Christ alone.
Just as the tenants in Jesus’ story try to seize the vineyard for themselves, White Christian nationalism attempts to seize the church, reshaping it around earthly power rather than the crucified and risen Lord. Jesus’ parable warns us what happens when stewards forget who the true owner is: the vineyard is reclaimed, and the false claimants lose everything they tried to grasp.
The good news is that Christ still sends servants — prophets, teachers, pastors, and everyday disciples — who remind us that the vineyard is God’s, the harvest is God’s, and the church’s mission is not to serve the ambitions of a few, but the salvation of all.
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Ten Commandments for Modern People
by Mary Austin
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
It all feels so far away, imagining our ancestors in faith standing by a mountain until someone comes back with ten rules from God, written on stone. Like a lease, an HR policy, or even a constitution, shouldn’t those rules be updated for a new time?
Having the Ten Commandments posted in schools is a perennial favorite cause, and is now before the courts again. “Louisiana is among four states (including Texas, Arkansas, and Alabama) that have recently enacted laws requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public school classrooms, from kindergarten to college. A host of other southern states, including West Virginia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, are debating similar legislation. The laws, which raise thorny questions about the separation of church and state, are gaining renewed attention as the supreme court is expected to consider a number of challenges to them…in the fall. Public school teachers caught in the crosshairs of the escalating culture war are fighting back, some taking the legal route and others quietly defying the law in their own classes.” Some teachers are complying with the current law, and others are refusing.
Survey after survey shows that most people can’t name the Ten Commandments. Maybe that’s why we’re so bad at following them. People in the public eye are happily flaunting the prohibition on making graven images or taking God's name in vain. Adultery is commonplace.
And still, as bad as we are at living by these ten words from God, something in them tug at us. In Exodus for Normal People, Pete Enns proclaims that the main idea of Exodus, “THE big one, is: Yahweh and Yahweh alone is worthy of Israel’s worship.” That frame makes all of the commandments — whatever they are — fall into place. God is pointing the people toward faith in the divine source of deliverance, and into living in a community that will sustain that faith.
As John C. Holbert writes, there are different ways to number the commandments, and “I choose the traditional Jewish way that makes Exodus 20:2 the first commandment. This, on the face of it, is decidedly odd, since Exodus 20:2 is not a commandment at all; it is a statement, a foundational theological claim. But because it is that, it anchors the other nine in a most significant way.” We begin the commandments with the reminder of our roots in God.
Exodus functions as a second creation story, with the people of God being re-created as they pass through the water. Once again, God’s power is sovereign over the water. Having been recreated, the people need some way to keep their lives in order. God again offers instruction. In Genesis, God tells humankind they can eat of any tree in the garden except one. By now, God knows to be more specific. That one rule didn’t work out too well; now the people get ten guidelines for life.
Do we need an update now? In our modern era, would an AI-based religion suit us better?
Would we behave better if we had guidance from something more modern, like Way of the Future? That’s “an official AI-worshiping religion created by Anthony Levandowski, a former Google AI engineer…Levandowski went as far as filing all the requisite paperwork to register as a church with the IRS, telling the agency that the faith would focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.”
In a 2017 interview, Levandowski told Wired that “what is going to be created [as AI] will effectively be a god . . . not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?” After some legal troubles, Levandowski said recently that a “couple thousand people” were joining him in a kind of worship of what he called “things that can see everything, be everywhere, know everything, and maybe help us and guide us in a way that normally you would call God.”
Maybe that version of God can inspire us to do better? Or is it another graven image, substituting for God?
Tech writer and Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein finds interesting parallels between Silicon Valley and traditional cathedrals. He notes that “religion is a dirty word in tech… And yet the secular tech world is determined to breathe new life into being, like Yahweh did to Adam in Genesis. It is obsessed with immortality, longing to un-eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge by technological means so that its leaders might get to stay in their gardens forever. It constantly promotes evangelistic new leaders as prophets, visionaries, oracles, and diviners of truth and success in equal measure.”
Can these modern visionaries get us closer to God? Can they inspire us to act with more justice and compassion? Let’s re-evaluate when they’ve been around for thousands of years, and people still find their words as compelling as we do the Ten Commandments. “Do not be afraid,” Moses concludes, reminding the people that the whole purpose of the commandments is to help them draw closer to God.
“But we are afraid.” Greg Epstein says. “It’s tempting to choose a different path, to distract ourselves, to attempt to control the uncontrollable, to try to become something we are not, to escape fate’s harsh but beautiful decree: that we are human and mortal.” Tempting, indeed.
Or, we can be like the original hearers of the commandments. We can embrace our limitations, and turn toward God, who wants us to live in the divine presence, and in community with each other. We don’t do it well. We can’t even remember the whole list. We fail repeatedly and publicly, and yet that’s no reason to stop trying.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
World Communion Sunday
The Federal Council of Churches (now the National Council of Churches) endorsed World Communion Sunday in 1940. It was conceived in Pittsburgh at Shadyside Presbyterian Church by the Reverend Hugh Thomson Kerr in 1930. While it’s nearly 100 years old, there are still many Christians who do not observe World Communion Sunday. In good Presbyterian fashion, one of its goals is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in each time zone around the globe. While there isn’t an especially strong connection between any of the lectionary readings, you may want to find people who can read them in a language other than English to mark this annual observance.
* * *
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments have been in the news recently. Louisiana and Texas have mandated that this version of the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms:
The Ten Commandments
I AM the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
If you’re wondering which version of scripture this text appears in, you will not find one. This version appears on a monument on the Texas Statehouse grounds that has been there since 1961. It was one of many such displays that the Fraternal Order of the Eagles paid to have installed across the United States to promote godliness.
I want to ask the Texas legislature whether there has been a surge among sixth graders in Brownsville coveting their neighbors’ manservants.
* * *
The Ten Commandments
There is a variety of schemes that different faith traditions use in numbering the Ten Commandments. All agree there are ten, but the specific digits assigned to the various commandments show some variation.
Here’s one Jewish numbering:
Presbyterians number them this way in The Larger Catechism:
Lutherans number them this way in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.
1. You shall have no other gods.
2. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, workers, animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
* * *
Psalm 19
Verses 11-14 in today’s psalm reading are often overlooked.
11Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect one’s own errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
14Then I shall be blameless
and innocent of great transgression.
They point to a kind of humility required of those who seek to be wise. This attitude is prominent in Buddhist thought.
Like someone pointing to treasure
Is the wise person
Who sees your faults and points them out.
Associate with such a sage.
Good will come of it, not bad,
If you associate with one such as this.
(The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic, Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2018, p. 20.)
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
All: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
One: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
All: The decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
One: Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts
All: Be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
OR
One: The God of all creation comes to dwell with us this day.
All: We are in awe that the Almighty cares for us.
One: The Christ comes and invites us to follow the path of love.
All: We are disciples and we will follow our master.
One: The Spirit comes to dwell within us so we can see truly.
All: Through the Spirit we will look for God in all people.
Hymns and Songs
This would be a good Sunday to roll out Canticle of the Holy Trinity/ Te Deum Laudamus or Canticle of God’s Glory/Gloria in Excelsis. If they’re not in the hymnal it could be a choir piece.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
GTG: 1
AAHH: 239
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
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
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
GTG: 4
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
To God Be the Glory
UMH: 98
PH: 485
GTG: 634
AAHH: 157
NNBH: 17
CH: 39
W&P: 66
AMEC: 21
Immortal, Invisible. God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Jesus Shall Reign
UMH: 157
H82: 544
PH: 423
GTG: 265
NNBH: 10
NCH: 300
CH: 95
LBW: 530
ELW: 434
W&P: 341
AMEC: 96
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
GTG: 697
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Here, O My Lord, I See Thee/Here, O Our Lord, We See You
UMH: 623
H82: 318
PH: 520
GTG: 517
NCH: 336
CH: 416
LBW: 211
AMEC: 531
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
UMH: 626
H82: 624
PH: 5
GTG: 347
NCH: 345
CH: 124
LBW: 198
ELW: 490
W&P: 232
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 foundation of all that exists:
Grant us the wisdom to listen to your teaching
that we may grow wise and healthy;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the foundation of all creation. You made us and you know us better than we know ourselves. We thank you for your guidance and ask that you would give us the will to follow it. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we ignore your teachings.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We give lip service to your guidance but we do not act upon it. We want others to obey your laws but those are the ones we don’t think apply to us. Instead of using your law for our own guidance we want to use it as a weapon against others. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may trust you and follow your Christ always. Amen.
One: God loves us and desires only our good. Receive God’s forgiveness and act upon God’s guidance.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God, who has loved us into creation and desire to love us into wholeness. Glorious is your love for us and for all creation.
(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 give lip service to your guidance but we do not act upon it. We want others to obey your laws but those are the ones we don’t think apply to us. Instead of using your law for our own guidance we want to use it as a weapon against others. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may trust you and follow your Christ always.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you call us into your healing presence. We thank you for those you send to us to help us see the path we need to follow. You have blessed us with wise people who see through the mists of deceit and help us see you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your Church that we may have the courage to stand by the gospel of Jesus the Christ by forgiving, welcoming, and loving all your children. We offer into your care those who have been hurt when people in the church use religion to hurt them.
(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.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Taking Care of What God Gives Us
by Nazish Naseem
Matthew 21:33-46
Good morning! I brought a little plant with me today. What does this plant need to grow? (Wait for their answers.)
Right — water, sunlight, good soil, and someone to take care of it. Now, what if I gave you this plant and said, “I’m trusting you to take care of it?” Would you remember to water it? Would you make sure it gets enough sunlight? (Pause for their responses.)
You would have to take care of it because someone trusted you with it.
In today’s Bible story, Jesus tells a story about a vineyard. A man planted a vineyard and then left some people in charge of taking care of it. (A vineyard is a farm where people grow grapevines to produce grapes.) But they forgot something very important. The vineyard did not belong to them. It had been entrusted to them.
Jesus uses this story to remind us that God has entrusted many things to us, too.
God gives us people to love. God gives us families and friends. God gives us a church family.
God gives us this beautiful earth and wants us to take care of these gifts.
Sometimes we forget. We think, “This is mine,” or “I don't have to worry about anyone else.”
But Jesus reminds us that what we have is not just for ourselves. We are called to care for what God has placed in our hands. So, when you see this little plant, I want you to remember one question:
“What has God trusted me to take care of?”
Maybe it is your little brother or sister. Maybe it is a friend who needs kindness. Maybe it is helping your parents at home. Maybe it is taking care of an animal or a part of God’s creation.
You don't have to do something big.
Sometimes being faithful to God begins with something very small — like taking care of a little plant.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, thank you for all that you have placed in our lives. Help us to notice the people, the gifts, and the world you have entrusted to us. Teach us to care for them with love. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 4, 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.
- Kingdom, Power, Glory by Dean Feldmeyer. White Christian nationalism (WCN) is a dangerous perversion of the Christian gospel, and it is growing in popularity in the US. It must be called out and faced down by faithful, responsible church leaders.
- Second Thoughts: The Ten Commandments for Modern People by Mary Austin based on Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Taking Care of What God Gives Us by Nazish Naseem based on Matthew 21:33-46.
- More to come...
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
Kingdom, Power, Gloryby Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 21:33-46
White Christian nationalism fuses a particular and peculiar reading of Christianity with the belief that the United States was founded by and for white Christians and should be governed accordingly. Recent news has shed light on the growing influence of White Christian nationalism in the US, with significant support among certain demographic groups and in certain states.
Nearly two-thirds of White evangelical Protestants identify as adherents to these beliefs, and states like Arkansas and Mississippi show over half of their populations subscribing to White Christian nationalism.
Not unlike the tenant vineyard keepers in the parable, White Christian nationalists have claimed ownership of a vineyard that is not their own: the Church of Jesus Christ.
In the Scripture
Matthew 21:33-46
In this parable, Jesus echoes Isaiah’s allegorical story of a rich man’s vineyard (Isaiah. 5:1-7). In this version, a rich man (YHWH) spares no expense in building a large, well-equipped vineyard (Israel), complete with a winepress, a guard tower, and a wall to protect it from predators — the kind with two or four legs, we presume. He leases it to tenant farmers (religious leaders) with the understanding that, at harvest time, they will pay him his due — traditionally 50% of the crop (honor and obedience to the Law) — with the other 50% left for the tenants to divide among themselves.
Harvest time arrives and the owner sends some of his slaves (the prophets) to collect his half of the crop. The tenants decide, however, that they don’t want to pay the owner his due, so they beat up one of the slaves, stone another, and kill yet another. The owner sends more slaves (prophets), probably with a sterner message, but the tenants treat them the same way as the first.
The owner then sends his son (Jesus), inexplicably believing that the tenants will do the right thing because the son speaks for the father. He is wrong. They see the son and believe that, if they kill him, the grief-stricken owner will simply forget about the vineyard, and it will become theirs.
Jesus lets his listeners finish the parable. What, he asks, do you think the owner of the vineyard will do next?
They answer that he will, of course, take terrible revenge on the tenants, reclaim what is rightfully his, and turn it over to other tenants who will honor him and the Law — the followers of Jesus.
Jesus asks whether they are familiar with Psalm 118 and quotes verses 22-23, which were originally meant to apply to Israel, but which he reinterprets to apply to himself.
[Many ancient manuscripts leave out verse 44, which is, at best, opaque.]
Leaving nothing to chance, Jesus explains his point simply and directly. YHWH is going to take Israel away from the priests and pharisees, and its leadership will fall to the followers of Jesus, who produce the fruit of the kingdom.
The religious leaders realize that this parable is about them (duh!), and they want to kill him, but they dare not arrest him because they are afraid of the crowd, with whom he is popular.
In the News
Tim Alberta’s book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is a deeply reported, often unsettling examination of how segments of American evangelical Christianity have become entangled with political extremism, nationalism, and fear-driven identity battles.
Angelyn Spaulding Flowers (University of the District of Columbia), Christina Littlefield (Pepperdine University), and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian and professor at Calvin University, are among the most widely cited contemporary scholars on White Christian nationalism. They and others are working to raise awareness of the threat that White Christian nationalism poses to the Christian church and the United States of America.
White Christian nationalism is best understood not as a denomination or set of theological doctrines. It is a political ideology that fuses a particular and peculiar reading of Christianity with the belief that the United States was founded by and for white Christians and should be governed accordingly.
Here are some of the basic tenets of WCN that scholars, journalists, and civil-society researchers most consistently identify.
1. America is a Christian nation by divine design — WCN asserts that American identity is inseparable from Christianity, and that government should actively preserve and enforce this identity.
2. Whiteness as a core part of national identity — The “white” in white Christian nationalism is not incidental. This ideology historically intertwines Christianity with white cultural dominance, treating white Christians as the rightful stewards of the nation.
3. Fusion of church and state — Adherents typically support policies that privilege Christianity in public life.
4. Patriarchal and traditional social order — Many versions of WCN promote a hierarchical, male dominated social structure.
5. Authoritarian governance preferences — Surveys and analyses show strong support for strongman leadership, strict law-and-order policies, and the belief that dissent threatens the nation’s divine mission.
6. Populist, conspiratorial, and apocalyptic rhetoric — The movement often frames political opponents as existential threats to America’s Christian identity.
7. Concrete policy aims — Throughout organizations and surveys, adherents frequently support:
- Criminalizing abortion
- Rolling back LGBTQ rights
- Restricting immigration
- Banning books or media seen as “anti‑Christian”
- Expanding religious exemptions for Christians
- Inserting Christian doctrine into public school curriculum
Adherents to and advocates for WCN include:
Government officials — Pennsylvania politician Doug Mastriano is known for rejecting strict church-state separation and using explicitly Christian identity language in political messaging.
Member of congress Lauren Boebert, who has voiced sympathy for Christian nationalist ideas, often fuses Christian identity with political rhetoric.
Congressman Andy Ogles, who has expressed Christian nationalist themes in policy and public statements.
Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth, whose public religious framing has been linked by analysts to Christian nationalist ideology.
Pastors and religious leaders:
Douglas Wilson — pastor in Moscow, Idaho, frequently cited for promoting a Calvinist-inflected ideology influential among MAGA-aligned activists.
Sean Feucht — worship leader and activist whose pandemic-era rallies blended charismatic worship with nationalist political messaging.
Media and Internet figures:
Nick Fuentes — far-right internet personality associated with explicitly white nationalist and Christian nationalist messaging.
Andrew Torba — founder of Gab, known for promoting a fusion of Christian identity and nationalist politics.
Pat Buchanan — older conservative commentator whose writings are cited as precursors to contemporary Christian nationalist arguments.
Although they are not individuals, analysts also highlight Project 2025 and its architects — particularly Russell Vought and allied Heritage Foundation networks — as major contemporary drivers of Christian nationalist policy frameworks.
White Christian nationalism is not simply “Christian patriotism.” It is a political movement that seeks to preserve a particular ethnic and religious identity — white, Christian, and culturally conservative — as the normative center of American life and law. Scholars warn that this ideology is exclusionary, anti-pluralistic, and often authoritarian, because it treats deviations from its vision as threats to the nation’s divine purpose.
In the Sermon
In the parable Jesus tells of a landowner who plants a vineyard with great care — fencing it, digging a winepress, building a watchtower — and then leases it to tenants. When harvest time comes, the landowner sends servants to collect the part of the harvest that rightfully belongs to him. But the tenants, forgetting their role and rejecting the owner’s authority, beat the servants and plot to seize the vineyard for themselves.
The heart of the parable is this: the tenants twist stewardship into ownership. They try to take what was never theirs. They even commit murder in their attempt to steal the vineyard from its rightful owner.
In our own time, a similar temptation appears whenever a political ideology — for example, White Christian nationalism — tries to claim ownership of Christ’s church. Like the tenants, such movements confuse “God’s vineyard” with their own, treating the church as a tool for cultural dominance, political power, or national identity. They attempt to define who “really” belongs, who “really” speaks for God, and who “really” owns the future of the faith.
But the church does not belong to any nation, race, party, or movement. It belongs to Christ alone.
Just as the tenants in Jesus’ story try to seize the vineyard for themselves, White Christian nationalism attempts to seize the church, reshaping it around earthly power rather than the crucified and risen Lord. Jesus’ parable warns us what happens when stewards forget who the true owner is: the vineyard is reclaimed, and the false claimants lose everything they tried to grasp.
The good news is that Christ still sends servants — prophets, teachers, pastors, and everyday disciples — who remind us that the vineyard is God’s, the harvest is God’s, and the church’s mission is not to serve the ambitions of a few, but the salvation of all.
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Ten Commandments for Modern People
by Mary Austin
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
It all feels so far away, imagining our ancestors in faith standing by a mountain until someone comes back with ten rules from God, written on stone. Like a lease, an HR policy, or even a constitution, shouldn’t those rules be updated for a new time?
Having the Ten Commandments posted in schools is a perennial favorite cause, and is now before the courts again. “Louisiana is among four states (including Texas, Arkansas, and Alabama) that have recently enacted laws requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public school classrooms, from kindergarten to college. A host of other southern states, including West Virginia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, are debating similar legislation. The laws, which raise thorny questions about the separation of church and state, are gaining renewed attention as the supreme court is expected to consider a number of challenges to them…in the fall. Public school teachers caught in the crosshairs of the escalating culture war are fighting back, some taking the legal route and others quietly defying the law in their own classes.” Some teachers are complying with the current law, and others are refusing.
Survey after survey shows that most people can’t name the Ten Commandments. Maybe that’s why we’re so bad at following them. People in the public eye are happily flaunting the prohibition on making graven images or taking God's name in vain. Adultery is commonplace.
And still, as bad as we are at living by these ten words from God, something in them tug at us. In Exodus for Normal People, Pete Enns proclaims that the main idea of Exodus, “THE big one, is: Yahweh and Yahweh alone is worthy of Israel’s worship.” That frame makes all of the commandments — whatever they are — fall into place. God is pointing the people toward faith in the divine source of deliverance, and into living in a community that will sustain that faith.
As John C. Holbert writes, there are different ways to number the commandments, and “I choose the traditional Jewish way that makes Exodus 20:2 the first commandment. This, on the face of it, is decidedly odd, since Exodus 20:2 is not a commandment at all; it is a statement, a foundational theological claim. But because it is that, it anchors the other nine in a most significant way.” We begin the commandments with the reminder of our roots in God.
Exodus functions as a second creation story, with the people of God being re-created as they pass through the water. Once again, God’s power is sovereign over the water. Having been recreated, the people need some way to keep their lives in order. God again offers instruction. In Genesis, God tells humankind they can eat of any tree in the garden except one. By now, God knows to be more specific. That one rule didn’t work out too well; now the people get ten guidelines for life.
Do we need an update now? In our modern era, would an AI-based religion suit us better?
Would we behave better if we had guidance from something more modern, like Way of the Future? That’s “an official AI-worshiping religion created by Anthony Levandowski, a former Google AI engineer…Levandowski went as far as filing all the requisite paperwork to register as a church with the IRS, telling the agency that the faith would focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.”
In a 2017 interview, Levandowski told Wired that “what is going to be created [as AI] will effectively be a god . . . not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?” After some legal troubles, Levandowski said recently that a “couple thousand people” were joining him in a kind of worship of what he called “things that can see everything, be everywhere, know everything, and maybe help us and guide us in a way that normally you would call God.”
Maybe that version of God can inspire us to do better? Or is it another graven image, substituting for God?
Tech writer and Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein finds interesting parallels between Silicon Valley and traditional cathedrals. He notes that “religion is a dirty word in tech… And yet the secular tech world is determined to breathe new life into being, like Yahweh did to Adam in Genesis. It is obsessed with immortality, longing to un-eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge by technological means so that its leaders might get to stay in their gardens forever. It constantly promotes evangelistic new leaders as prophets, visionaries, oracles, and diviners of truth and success in equal measure.”
Can these modern visionaries get us closer to God? Can they inspire us to act with more justice and compassion? Let’s re-evaluate when they’ve been around for thousands of years, and people still find their words as compelling as we do the Ten Commandments. “Do not be afraid,” Moses concludes, reminding the people that the whole purpose of the commandments is to help them draw closer to God.
“But we are afraid.” Greg Epstein says. “It’s tempting to choose a different path, to distract ourselves, to attempt to control the uncontrollable, to try to become something we are not, to escape fate’s harsh but beautiful decree: that we are human and mortal.” Tempting, indeed.
Or, we can be like the original hearers of the commandments. We can embrace our limitations, and turn toward God, who wants us to live in the divine presence, and in community with each other. We don’t do it well. We can’t even remember the whole list. We fail repeatedly and publicly, and yet that’s no reason to stop trying.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:World Communion Sunday
The Federal Council of Churches (now the National Council of Churches) endorsed World Communion Sunday in 1940. It was conceived in Pittsburgh at Shadyside Presbyterian Church by the Reverend Hugh Thomson Kerr in 1930. While it’s nearly 100 years old, there are still many Christians who do not observe World Communion Sunday. In good Presbyterian fashion, one of its goals is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in each time zone around the globe. While there isn’t an especially strong connection between any of the lectionary readings, you may want to find people who can read them in a language other than English to mark this annual observance.
* * *
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments have been in the news recently. Louisiana and Texas have mandated that this version of the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms:
The Ten Commandments
I AM the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
If you’re wondering which version of scripture this text appears in, you will not find one. This version appears on a monument on the Texas Statehouse grounds that has been there since 1961. It was one of many such displays that the Fraternal Order of the Eagles paid to have installed across the United States to promote godliness.
I want to ask the Texas legislature whether there has been a surge among sixth graders in Brownsville coveting their neighbors’ manservants.
* * *
The Ten Commandments
There is a variety of schemes that different faith traditions use in numbering the Ten Commandments. All agree there are ten, but the specific digits assigned to the various commandments show some variation.
Here’s one Jewish numbering:
- I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Presbyterians number them this way in The Larger Catechism:
- Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
- Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Honour thy father and thy moth er: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not bear false wit ness against thy neighbour.
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Lutherans number them this way in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.
1. You shall have no other gods.
2. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, workers, animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
* * *
Psalm 19
Verses 11-14 in today’s psalm reading are often overlooked.
11Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect one’s own errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
14Then I shall be blameless
and innocent of great transgression.
They point to a kind of humility required of those who seek to be wise. This attitude is prominent in Buddhist thought.
Like someone pointing to treasure
Is the wise person
Who sees your faults and points them out.
Associate with such a sage.
Good will come of it, not bad,
If you associate with one such as this.
(The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic, Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2018, p. 20.)
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
All: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
One: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
All: The decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
One: Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts
All: Be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
OR
One: The God of all creation comes to dwell with us this day.
All: We are in awe that the Almighty cares for us.
One: The Christ comes and invites us to follow the path of love.
All: We are disciples and we will follow our master.
One: The Spirit comes to dwell within us so we can see truly.
All: Through the Spirit we will look for God in all people.
Hymns and Songs
This would be a good Sunday to roll out Canticle of the Holy Trinity/ Te Deum Laudamus or Canticle of God’s Glory/Gloria in Excelsis. If they’re not in the hymnal it could be a choir piece.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
GTG: 1
AAHH: 239
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
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
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
GTG: 4
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
To God Be the Glory
UMH: 98
PH: 485
GTG: 634
AAHH: 157
NNBH: 17
CH: 39
W&P: 66
AMEC: 21
Immortal, Invisible. God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Jesus Shall Reign
UMH: 157
H82: 544
PH: 423
GTG: 265
NNBH: 10
NCH: 300
CH: 95
LBW: 530
ELW: 434
W&P: 341
AMEC: 96
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
GTG: 697
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
GTG: 286
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Here, O My Lord, I See Thee/Here, O Our Lord, We See You
UMH: 623
H82: 318
PH: 520
GTG: 517
NCH: 336
CH: 416
LBW: 211
AMEC: 531
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
UMH: 626
H82: 624
PH: 5
GTG: 347
NCH: 345
CH: 124
LBW: 198
ELW: 490
W&P: 232
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 foundation of all that exists:
Grant us the wisdom to listen to your teaching
that we may grow wise and healthy;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the foundation of all creation. You made us and you know us better than we know ourselves. We thank you for your guidance and ask that you would give us the will to follow it. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we ignore your teachings.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We give lip service to your guidance but we do not act upon it. We want others to obey your laws but those are the ones we don’t think apply to us. Instead of using your law for our own guidance we want to use it as a weapon against others. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may trust you and follow your Christ always. Amen.
One: God loves us and desires only our good. Receive God’s forgiveness and act upon God’s guidance.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God, who has loved us into creation and desire to love us into wholeness. Glorious is your love for us and for all creation.
(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 give lip service to your guidance but we do not act upon it. We want others to obey your laws but those are the ones we don’t think apply to us. Instead of using your law for our own guidance we want to use it as a weapon against others. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we may trust you and follow your Christ always.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you call us into your healing presence. We thank you for those you send to us to help us see the path we need to follow. You have blessed us with wise people who see through the mists of deceit and help us see you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your Church that we may have the courage to stand by the gospel of Jesus the Christ by forgiving, welcoming, and loving all your children. We offer into your care those who have been hurt when people in the church use religion to hurt them.
(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.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMONTaking Care of What God Gives Us
by Nazish Naseem
Matthew 21:33-46
Good morning! I brought a little plant with me today. What does this plant need to grow? (Wait for their answers.)
Right — water, sunlight, good soil, and someone to take care of it. Now, what if I gave you this plant and said, “I’m trusting you to take care of it?” Would you remember to water it? Would you make sure it gets enough sunlight? (Pause for their responses.)
You would have to take care of it because someone trusted you with it.
In today’s Bible story, Jesus tells a story about a vineyard. A man planted a vineyard and then left some people in charge of taking care of it. (A vineyard is a farm where people grow grapevines to produce grapes.) But they forgot something very important. The vineyard did not belong to them. It had been entrusted to them.
Jesus uses this story to remind us that God has entrusted many things to us, too.
God gives us people to love. God gives us families and friends. God gives us a church family.
God gives us this beautiful earth and wants us to take care of these gifts.
Sometimes we forget. We think, “This is mine,” or “I don't have to worry about anyone else.”
But Jesus reminds us that what we have is not just for ourselves. We are called to care for what God has placed in our hands. So, when you see this little plant, I want you to remember one question:
“What has God trusted me to take care of?”
Maybe it is your little brother or sister. Maybe it is a friend who needs kindness. Maybe it is helping your parents at home. Maybe it is taking care of an animal or a part of God’s creation.
You don't have to do something big.
Sometimes being faithful to God begins with something very small — like taking care of a little plant.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, thank you for all that you have placed in our lives. Help us to notice the people, the gifts, and the world you have entrusted to us. Teach us to care for them with love. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 4, 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.
