November 9, 2026 · 4:59 pm

Spiritual Obligations (Sermon)

Photo by Margaret Jaszowska on Unsplash; licensed under CC0.

The readings for All Saints’ Day, Yr. A were: Amos 5:18-24; Psalm 70; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on November 8, 2026.

This is a whopper of a parable. Listening to the words again as I prepared to speak now, it struck me. It is something that can really frighten people. It can make people feel guilty, and in the wrong hands, it is something a pastor or others could make you feel guilty about. “You are not doing enough! You must do more!”

When Jesus was earlier explaining why he spoke in parables way back in chapter 13 of Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Matthew 13:11-12). Not everyone will accept the gift of salvation, and some Christians will deny him, sometimes unwittingly or unwisely throwing that gift away.

In Matthew’s account, Jesus has recently cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit, reflecting (as many believe) his anger and sadness that so many of the chosen people of God among the Israelites are not reflecting the fruits of the Kingdom. (The fig tree was a common symbol for Israel.) He’s been parrying and thrusting intellectually with pharisees and other enemies who challenge his authority and teachings. He speaks of upcoming destruction of the Temple and persecution for his Church.  He also speaks about his Second Coming, and thus the end of the world as we know it.

So, note that it is immediately after these teachings and events that Jesus shares the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (or sometimes people say Virgins). How should Christians live as they wait for Jesus’ ultimate return? If we are truly saved by grace alone, listening to ancient understandings, the voices of those Christians closer to the time of Jesus as well as the voices in scripture, we learn that as his saints we are not to fear Jesus’ return but to welcome it. His promises to save us will prove true. Jesus doesn’t lie[i].

So, when Jesus speaks of the End Times, he often couches it within a celebration, often a wedding celebration. All his promises will come to fruition. Suffering will cease. We and all the saints will live with our Triune God and the Heavenly Host in a new Heaven and Earth forever. And so, the healthier voices in the Church call us to expectantly welcome that day as we watch, wait, and serve. “Come Lord Jesus, come!” we pray as Church.

In using wedding celebrations, Jesus is drawing from a rich history and tradition of prophetic proclamation. Such allusions help us understand deep truths about God’s love for us, but they also explain to us our own covenantal obligations in this relationship.[ii] (Relationships are two-way streets when they are healthier.) In response to divine love, we are called to active discipleship, not because it will save us, nor get extra credit for heaven, but because we are now Christ’s body, the Church. It is who we are, our true selves.

Receiving grace without a willingness to take up our crosses and die daily through obedience is a very cheap idea of grace indeed, as Dittrich Bonhoeffer wrote about. As Jesus teaches, we have the gift of grace, but we are to be awake and ready for his return. We have a job to do. This parable serves to remind us of our spiritual obligations (or expectations if one prefers) recalling that Law and Gospel always go together to help us.

As I hope we all understand, our Lutheran theological lens repeatedly denounces any human work as saving. Yet Martin Luther himself, with all his human shortcomings, was no fool. As much as he struggled with the Book of James and its focus on works, he could not deny its truth, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). True faith moves us toward holy works – the love of God and others.

Even as the chosen people of God, we aren’t meant to live isolated from the world’s troubles or focused solely on our needs. Luther explained this mystery with these words in 1522 as he preached on this parable:

“Therefore, let each one see to it that he has these two together: the oil, which is true faith and trust in Christ; and the lamps, the vessel, which is the outward service toward your neighbor. The whole Christian life consists in these two things: Believe God. Help your neighbor. The whole Gospel teaches this. Parents should tell it to their children at home and everywhere. Children, too, should constantly foster this Word among themselves.”[iii]

So, I understand why some people can grow fearful or feel guilty hearing this parable. They are wondering if they will be found to be one of the five wise or five foolish bridesmaids. I often wondered, too, when younger – more immature and foolish in my faith.[iv] To be left outside of that celebration, left in darkness where there will be lamenting and gnashing of teeth, is a frightening future.

So, Martin Luther pastorally responded to those around him with such fears. And reading his words helped me grow more mature and certain in my faith. Luther asked them to remember and trust that God is love. First and foremost, God is love.[v] Jesus died for all our sin, even that which we have not done yet. And forgiveness is always available through our confession and heartfelt repentance because God wants us to succeed. We also have access to means of grace, the sacraments of the church, where we are told that we can find forgiveness of sin.[vi]

Regarding fears of Judgement Day, which there were many in the Medieval period, Martin Luther told people to remember their baptism where God claimed them forever. If struggling with sin, he wrote to his friend and fellow Reformer, Phillip Melanchthon, “be a sinner and sin boldly, but [emphasis mine; this end part of the quote is often sadly left out] believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly [emphasis mine]” This doesn’t mean that we should seek out sin or that some won’t fall and fail in their Christian, much as demonic angels were cast out of Heaven, but to struggle with our faith and sin is part of our human condition even as we remain saints, claimed by God. Don’t be so fast to cast ourselves and others into hell. Trust in Jesus.

Within this parable, the primary consensus over the ages understands that Jesus is talking about his Second Coming or as what some people call Judgement Day. And in Jewish culture, I think it no coincidence that the number ten reflects divine perfection. So, we have ten bridesmaids. Here, in this primary interpretation, the Church does not represent Christ, nor does the bride necessarily represent the Church as common in some other parables and writings, but our focus is primarily drawn to the ten bridesmaids.

Although details of such ceremonies are lost to history, we understand that the parable echoes practices of the day with roots dating even further back to the Babylonian Exile. There would be a grand procession at night with the groom, a celebration of the entire village for what God was doing in the lives of those two people. And he would be welcomed with lamps, torches, and joy by the bridesmaids as he arrived at his bride’s family home.

Yet once the bridegroom arrived, a contract or covenant of sorts was drawn up, the Ketubah. It was not a ceremonial document, prayer, or even anything about the approval of God or society.[vii] According to one Rabbi,[viii] “The ketubah restates the fundamental conditions that are imposed by the Torah upon the husband,”…These are the husband’s obligations…five obligations: core marital duties (provide food, clothing, and regular marital intimacy); an endowment, a potential divorce cushion, if that day comes (to protect the woman); a dowery (which will return to the family if the marriage devolves); and a traditional promise of additional funds which would usually make arbitrary divorce difficult. The agreement protects the wife, and if the proposal was accepted, the marriage would happen. The bride and groom would then be escorted to their new home together.[ix] (Another common End Time image we hear from Jesus is his having a place for us within his mansion or house.)

So, in this parable, I think Jesus is promising to care for those who hold on to their faith, even if imperfectly. For note, all ten bridesmaids fall asleep…all of them have failed or sinned in their obligation at some level…as much as his beloved Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane did. To ancient Jews, five often represented the core texts and structure of the faith.[x] For example, there are five books to the Torah, which primarily speak of Jewish obligations under the covenant of the Ten Commandments. Here, five bridesmaids are ready to fulfill their obligation to serve. Five are carelessly, foolishly unprepared. They forget their oil, their trust in Jesus, and their lamps, their love of God and neighbor, cannot shine.

We learned with the Beatitudes, echoing earlier Jewish understanding, that the righteous will need to wait for their reward, but they are always blessed as they wait. Matthew’s community had begun to see people drift away. People experienced a challenge to their faith as the Temple was destroyed. Christians were cast out of both synagogues and families because of their faith in Jesus, and people died with no sign of Jesus’ return (at least not yet). People expected Jesus to return quickly, and he did not. We learn from their experience that following Jesus takes trust, patience, and persistence.

Yes, the truth remains that we never can know or do enough. We can never be fully prepared on our own. We need God’s help, and we need to try to trust that help is on its way just as promised. For “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1-3). And in this context, each of us must decide our response to Jesus, an individual choice to believe…to trust and let that trust reshape our lives. We call that accepting the gift of faith.

And although we cannot give the gift of faith to others (that’s ultimately the Spirit’s work[xi]), we can seek to support and encourage one another as we wait…pointing others toward faith in Christ – no matter how much faith we have; no matter what we understand or don’t; no matter our own struggles. We can direct others toward Christ as the source of abundant and eternal life just as Jesus asked of his disciples in scripture to do.

As someone noted at our Bible study last Wednesday, it seems awfully selfish that the five wise bridesmaids did not share oil with the unwise, the unprepared, those who accepted cheap grace or a counterfeit Gospel offered by the world. Yet, Jesus a chapter before already compared his Second Coming to be like Noah’s flood. The unwise “were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” until the day when Noah entered the ark. They remained unaware, lived without care, until the flood came and suddenly swept them all away (see Matthew 24:37-39).[xii] We are asked to not only trust in God’s grace but also God’s fair and loving judgement with a mystery to large for us to comprehend.

In Matthew 7 as part of his Sermon on the Mount, in conjunction with the Beatitudes and Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Today’s Gospel reading is a parable, not a command to ignore those outside of the faith or those thought by some to be unredeemable. It is a teaching story making a comparison to the suddenness of the End Times and revealing how the choices we make matter eternally, especially if we claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

If we regularly ignore his teachings and examples willfully and habitually, if we despise God’s will in word and deed even out of ignorance, if we fail to love God and neighbor as ourselves without concern for Christ’s commands, if we ignore, deny, or dishonor the Spirit that now resides within us through our faith and baptism and choose to conform to the world instead, we have a rather low view of grace. We aren’t really putting on the mantel of faith in Jesus Christ but the yoke of the pharisees. He will not know us, because he will not see himself in us in how we live. Our words, “Jesus is Lord,” prove empty, because our hearts have proved empty toward God and neighbor.

Ultimately…and this is the Good News…to be ready is not a state of perfection. To be ready is to know the source of all life is Jesus and to seek him throughout our lives. To be ready is to live in hope of Jesus Christ and share that hope in him with others. To be ready is to trust that the bridegroom is coming, surely coming, no matter what is causing us to fear or doubt, and our heart remains open to welcoming him with joy. To be ready requires that we be prepared to wait, and while we wait, we seek as best we can to love our God and neighbor in all that we do. We don’t do so for credit. We never do it alone, for we are gifted with the Spirit and the Church. We do so because we are now the children of God, and Jesus is truly our Savior. Amen.

[i] Martin Luther often said, “Jesus doesn’t lie” or similar words to remind us to trust.

[ii]Long, P. J. (2012). The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels: An Intertextual Study (Doctoral dissertation, supervised by Richard Choi, Ph.D.). Downloaded at https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3257&context=auss on November 6, 2026.

[iii] Martin Luther, “Sermon on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Trinity (October 21, 1522),” in Luther’s Works, Vol. 79: Sermons V, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown (Philadelphia: Fortress Press / St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016), 281–282.

[iv] “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1Corinthiasn 13:11).

[v] This is supported most clearly by 1 John 4:7-21, but God’s love for us is revealed throughout scripture from Creation to promises of the new Heaven and Earth.

[vi] Lutherans have two Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, also called Holy Communion or the Eucharist) where we believe the Spirit is active and encountered. These are not exclusive means to encounter God’s grace, but they were instituted by Christ and have physical signs (water for Baptism, bread and wine for the Lord’s Supper), so they are considered primary means of receiving God’s grace as gift.

[vii] See https://www.betemunah.org/five.html

[viii] See https://www.betemunah.org/five.html

[ix] See https://www.betemunah.org/five.html

[x] See https://www.betemunah.org/five.html

[xi] See Matthew 16:17 and 1 Corinthians 12:3 for example.

[xii] Allen, O.W., Jr. (November 2026). Commentary on Matthew 25:1-13. Working Preacher. Downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32/commentary-on-matthew-251-13-10 on November 6, 2026. – Referencing Matthew 13, the author also rightly adds, “In 24:36–44, Matthew portrays Jesus as drawing an analogy between the parousia and the flood in Noah’s day: Those in the ark were left behind, but those caught in the waters were swept away in judgment. This is the opposite of the way popular culture talks about the “left behind” today based on 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where those saved are caught up together with the resurrected dead to meet Jesus in the sky and taken away, and those judged are left behind.” Most of the worldwide Church echoing the witness of the earliest Christians understands the theological arguments for Dominionism and Rapture as being in error. Yet, these arguments remain a matter of faith for some Christians particularly among Baptists, Evangelicals, and Charismatic/Pentecostal churches.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 30:09 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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November 5, 2026 · 4:01 pm

Love one another. Yes, even “them.”

A quote from “Even Where MAGA Won, MAGA Lost”

I was taught in the Church as a child to treat everyone justly as individuals. Be merciful, I was told, even when people do wrong. It’s a universal (Catholic) Church with great diversity. I learned this from the Creeds weekly but also in sermons and Sunday school. Sure, when someone does wrong, consequences can be appropriate, but restoration and reconciliation is our hope for others (not just ourselves when we sin).

Meanwhile after this election, A President Trump adviser, Laura Loomer, declared on X, “America was always intended to be a majority White country. Not a cesspool for third world minorities. America was founded as a Christian country. Not a Muslim country.” She reposted a video of someone saying, “America didn’t just go blue, it went brown.”

This is not Christ-like in any way. Perfect love casts out fear (1John 4:18), but this kind of politics is fear-based – overt racism and xenophobia – clumping certain people together as “bad.” In 2025, I had someone even write me that God approved slavery in the Bible. What blindness! Where’s the condemnation from the pulpits for such statements?

Not enough is being heard for what is so easily come across online from people claiming faith in Christ. A large segment of the Church in the US sadly looks the other way because of desired political ends. They confess this at times. It’s not my lone judgment. Yet even if we are persecuted in Christ’s name, facing death, Jesus asked us to respond in love. And if we are already victorious because of what Christ did and will do (Romans 8:37), why let fear define our actions.

As a pastor, would I like to have everyone share faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, it changed my life for the good and it still is transforming me. It has brought much joy and many deep friendships. Yet, the idea that we can force others to live by our beliefs or become Christian by obligation or threat as some with access to the White House profess openly is counter to the Way of Christ. Any political thought that castigates humans as sub-human or irredeemable is an enemy of the Gospel. It is not biblical but requires the Church to respond clearly – yes, while hoping for their repentance, not destruction.

Such views are always counter to Christ’s teaching who himself would have historically been of color and ministered to all – Gentile and Jew, representatives of the Empire and those marginalized including the worst of sinners. Jesus came to draw all people to himself (John 12:32), and yet some claiming Christ want nothing to do with those who disagree with them or who look or worship differently.

Martin Luther is said to have argued, “Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the Church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?” Drawing lines between “us” and “them” is both concretely and potentially eternally hurtful to our neighbors and the Gospel. To deny the humanity of others, people created in God’s image, in word or deed is sin.

To argue and campaign for one’s values is one thing, not evil in and of itself even if one is wrong, but how we do so can be profoundly evil. Fear of others doesn’t wash this sin away, but it usually magnifies it. Certainly fear at times can protect us from dangers, but like any emotion (all gifts from God), it can lead us far astray. We can get stuck without realizing it or be led to accept a false Gospel.

As a Christian, we are asked to turn to Christ in one’s fears or sins, not run away from him like Adam and Eve in the garden. Love all those he died for as best as one can, recognizing the cost (Luke 14:28). And when we struggle with love. Confess it and ask the Spirit for help. We might stumble, but we won’t fall…because Jesus loves us too.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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November 3, 2026 · 5:27 pm

Bless your heart (Sermon)

The day after my sermon, this cartoon showed up in my social media feed. “Bless your heart” might not mean what we first think it means. And the Beatitudes also invite our reflection. What does it mean to be blessed by our faith in Jesus?

The readings for All Saints’ Day, Yr. A were: Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on November 1, 2026.

Many of you who enjoy late night television may remember this name, James Corden. He is a performer and comedian who became a late-night talk show host. You might have heard of him from his Carpool Karaoke with different celebrities still on YouTube and elsewhere. He is from the United Kingdom, and he once shared a story about his difficulty parking a car in the United States. If I remember correctly, this one incident that he brought up was when he was trying to complete the dreaded three-point turn.

After parking and going into his destination, Corden mentioned this difficulty parking to a Southern woman in the shop. The woman said in response, “Oh, darlin’, bless your heart.” Not familiar with this phrase, being totally new to him, he thought about it for a while and decided, “That’s the nicest expression you could ever have.” He thought it wonderful, but two friends from the South, hearing the story later, had to break it to him, “No, it’s not.”

For any of us who have lived in the South for any length of time, we have probably heard this phrase directed toward us at some point – “Well, bless your heart.” It is sort of a mixed blessing, isn’t it? As someone else noted, “In the South, where politeness reigns among good people, you have to put your judgments somewhere. It’s not polite to speak ill of people if you were raised right.”[i] And so, you might use this phrase…which, true, could be a sign of sincere empathy or blessing…but it is most often not intended in that way. It frequently proves a subtle critique if not a criticism. For example, someone might say, “That was a great sermon, Pastor Lou. Bless your heart.”

So, perhaps we should consider what Jesus means when he tells us that we are blessed: blessed when we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, or hungry…blessed when we are merciful instead of demanding our rights or retribution…blessed when we are pure in heart or trying to be peacemakers. Even when facing persecution for his sake, Jesus says we are blessed. He’s got to be joking right? This doesn’t sound like much of a blessing to me.

Yet Jesus isn’t trying to fool us. He’s being up front. Conforming and submitting to God’s will often has costs in a very real, harsh and fallen world. Yet we are promised that there’s no better road than the one which leads to heaven[ii]…one that allows us to share in Jesus’ purpose, promise, and mission…one where signs point to God being with us!

Through these succinct phrases, Jesus is providing us with a spiritual attitude and ethics where the rubber can meet the road in the very the real world. Trying to embody these precepts are how we retain our saltiness or reflect the light which Jesus Christ taught about. In Matthew’s mind, today’s Gospel writer, there’s nothing more important than this teaching.

And yet, the Beatitudes are not meant ultimately to be about what we do. These aren’t prescriptive or imperative statements (“if you do this, then you are blessed” or “Thou shall or shall not…”). That’s not what Jesus is getting at here. Jesus uses them to describe. They are declarative representing what God does in the world…His Kingdom values and realities are breaking in. They appear in opposition to what we find in our fallen world.

Thus, the beatitudes have been associated with All Saints Day since the medieval period if not earlier because interpreters saw them as naming both the virtues and the rewards of the holy. These sayings become the lens to view and interpret all that comes after in Matthew’s Gospel. Again, there’s no hidden message here. It isn’t a punishment, a critique, nor a joke. To love God and others in this world can be hard and result in backlash, division, and loss…crosses to bear…sacrifices to make in Jesus’ name. As I said, he will repeat this message throughout the Gospels.

Indeed, as we join Jesus this morning, he has just called his first disciples. This is his first major teaching recorded in Matthew. He has just settled in Capernaum for his base of operations. His teaching and preaching in the region of Galilee is already making a stir among the populace for its authenticity and the promises he shares. It is touching and transforming hearts…blessing them.

And as the crowd grows, he goes up a mountain and sits down. That was a common way that teachers and philosophers of his day taught, and his disciples come to him. And from that mountaintop, almost reminiscent of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, he speaks to his people. But here, Jesus shares his own sayings…for he is God. Jesus doesn’t receive something as Moses did…there’s no stones to accept as a gift. Jesus is the one giving to his disciples…something to shape and direct their lives as only God could. He is declaring them blessed as they seek to follow him.

To the Hebrews, we read that righteousness is “the fulfillment of all legal and moral obligations. Righteousness is not an abstract notion but rather consists in doing what is just and right in all relationships; ‘…keep justice and do righteousness at all times,’” urge many of the Hebrew scriptures (Ps. 106:3; cf. Isa. 64:4; Jer. 22:3; Ezek. 18:19–27; Ps. 15:2). “Righteous action results in social stability and ultimately in peace: And the work of righteousness shall be peace (Isa. 32:17; cf. Hos. 10:12; Avot 2:7).”[iii] “Righteousness requires not merely abstention from evil, but a constant pursuit of justice and the performance of positive deeds (Deut. 16:20; Jer. 22:3; cf. Prov. 16:17; Gen. R. 30:9; Job. 7:20; Tob. 3:2; Kid. 40a).”[iv]

As no human can be fully righteous, only God can be, and the world is often unfair if not in opposition to our God, the righteous will often be treated unfairly or misunderstood, if not persecuted. And so, those called to be righteous (whether the Jewish nation as a whole or the individual) understood in Jesus’ time that they often might need to wait for their vindication and reward. They might have to wait for the blessing to come in fullness. “For there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good and sins not” (Eccles. 7:20; cf. Ps. 143:2; Job 4:17; 15:14; Dan. 9:18), declares the word of God over and over again. Yet, as a faithful people trusting in the steadfast love of God, the Hebrew people expected and still expect that striving for “righteous action within a righteous society will ultimately help restore peace in the world and will reestablish Jerusalem as the citadel of righteousness.”[v] That’s the context of the people listening to Jesus at the time.

Jesus and his teachings come to us wrapped within this eschatological, or End Time, hope. It is new, but not completely new. It is rooted in other teachings. It is here but not quite yet in fullness. We must wait. Linked to the past, pointing toward the future, reminding us that God is in the midst of the fight now…even as Jesus has won the battle…these phrases stretch us toward new possibilities, if not risks, even as it seeks to comfort those who suffer or wait in the present.

For love in this world is always a choice and a risk. And as much as Jesus has already quoted from scripture, particularly Deuteronomy, a central lens of Jewish faith, he is here drawing further truth out from it. Remember, Deuteronomy calls us to love as God loves. It draws us to reexamine what it means to love God with all that we are and our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus stretches these previous commands and teachings out, and he reconfigures them. He seeks to unite us more closely with his own heart. We learn of his Kingdom, not of this world. Jesus declares what is breaking into our world with his love and ministry, but it will not become fully evident until he returns once again in victory. Through these blessings, we come to better understand the mystery of what it means to become and live as the Children of God.

Any one of these Beatitudes could prove the seed of a long sermon in its own right. Fortunately, the Beatitudes reflect the reality that we are only human. We need blessing, and although the Beatitudes can be interpreted as Happiness, of Shalom (which means Peace), or even Luck…you will see these translations…blessings from God proves the heart of the matter. They aren’t about our ability to be perfect any more than the Ten Commandments are. They are really about our perfectly loving God who wishes to have his words reside – not on stone tablets – but in our hearts.

In each of our vocations, within our unique nature and call, the Beatitudes open for us a new way to see our world and new possibilities for relationship. An inspiration and role model of mine, Br. Roger of Taizé, formed his ecumenical community in France based primarily on the vision of the Beatitudes.[vi] So, the Beatitudes prove very important to my life, and I think they must remain important to the Church.

In living such a life, many others have been attracted to join in that journey. Thousands…tens of thousands of young people come each year to this little village in France. They come from across denominations and continents to worship God and learn from one another. Some are inspired to stay…to commit their lives concretely to that work. They become brothers.

The community focuses on a radical trust in God’s love, but also commit to a particular work of reconciliation and love of others…no matter the cost. After Br. Roger was murdered during worship by a mentally ill person in 2005, Br. Alois, who I know, the new prior wrote:

Brother Roger often referred to the Beatitudes, and he sometimes said about himself: Je suis un pauvre, “I am a poor man.” He called us, the brothers, not to be spiritual masters but people who listen. He referred to his ministry as prior as being a “poor servant of communion within the community.” He did not hide his vulnerability. Now, our little community feels impelled to continue along the way he opened up. It is a way of trust. For him the word “trust” was not a facile expression. It contains an appeal: to welcome very simply the love that God bears towards everyone, to root our lives in that love, and to take the risks that that implies. To lose that intuition would lead us to impose burdens on those who come seeking the living water. Faith in this love is a wholly simple reality, so simple that everyone can receive it. And this faith can move mountains. Then, even if the world is often torn apart by violence and conflict, the way we look on it can be filled with hope.[vii]

Yes, through the Beatitudes, a door opens for each of us – alone and together in community. Do we dare enter in? Do we risk loving as Christ love us with all that we are…as best as we can? Even as it is simple, it won’t be easy. There will be sad and difficult days. We will be called to die to ourselves, so that God’s will may reign. Still, not one step will be taken, not one tear shed, which will not prove sacred in God’s hands. We will remain blessed. For we will be trying to walk the way of Jesus, and we will never be walking alone. Jesus will meet us on our road to bless us…Through Christ in faith, we share in his victory even now…and that proves the ultimate blessing for each of us who believe. Amen.

[i] Moore, T. (2019). Mel Magazine. Why, “Bless your heart” is the most savage insult in the country. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bless-your-heart

[ii] Chapman, S. C. (1990). No Better Place [Recorded by S. C. Chapman]. On For the Sake of the Call [Album]. Sparrow Records.

[iii] Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group as quoted in “Righteousness,”in the Jewish Virtual Library, at https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/righteousness.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Read for example: Cribbin, B. (February 7, 2025). Brother Roger of Taizé. Plough. https://www.plough.com/articles/brother-roger-of-taiz-5d910

[vii] Br. Alois of Taizé. (April 11, 2008). Homage to Brother Roger, as downloaded at https://www.taize.fr/en_article6736.html on January 19, 2023.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 33:51 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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October 27, 2026 · 1:00 am

The Truth Never Changes (Sermon)

Image credit: Reformed Church in America, a full communion partner of the ELCA

The readings for Reformation Sunday, Yr. A were: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 46; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on October 25, 2026.

Several years ago, while I was Dean of the Richmond Conference, the Church celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. (Today, we mark 509 years.) I felt fortunate to preside at a special worship with All Souls Episcopal and Messiah Lutheran where I served as pastor. (We shared a building and ministry by that point.) Yet, I also had the opportunity to preside at the Lutheran–Roman Catholic event at Epiphany Lutheran and the Lutheran Episcopal regional gathering at St. James the Less Episcopal in Ashland. The momentous anniversary served as a time where we tried to reemphasize the truth of the Gospel that called us to be one in Jesus. Amidst very real differences, we chose to look beyond our woundedness.

And yet, plenty of differences and sin remains. These continue to separate us as Church, family, and community. At the time of the big anniversary, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, shared a personal reflection with the Church of England and the Anglican Communion about the Reformation that challenged a too common view that the Reformation was solely a Lutheran thing.[i] He understood the Reformation story as a Christian and world story, not just for Lutherans. And he recognized there is still work to do.

As he began, the Archbishop noted the Reformation’s many positive, lasting, and powerful effects. Among them, we know how the Reformation further developed our language and communication technologies, opening access to books of all kinds including the Bible. It even helped institute our modern educational system with all the arts and sciences. Our modern political and legal systems and our modern nation states all owe something directly to the Reformation. Scholars agree that the Reformation took us out of the Dark Ages and led us into our modern age.

Still, in that same article, the Archbishop recognized the Reformation challenges and imperfections: the political wars and divisions of the church that continue to impact us today. I agree…for even the idea of denominations did not exist in the Christian church until after the Reformation began. We humans, in seeking to know and follow God, have a knack for boxing God in within our understanding and casting others aside who do not agree with us. This has concrete effects on not just church relations, but communities (such as in Northern Island or locally), and even more intimately with families and friends.

Continuing, the Archbishop spoke about the pain which comes from not being able to share in communion with those our Lord has explicitly commanded us to love. To abide in the Lord, we must love one another in the Church especially. And one day in worshipping with his dear friend, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, brokenness became all to evident.

The Archbishop writes, “At that solemn moment in the service I lined up at the front with everyone else. But because I could not put my hands out for the bread and wine, I knelt down to be prayed for by Cardinal Nichols. He took my hand and lifted me to my feet. Both of us had tears in our eyes. We are the closest of friends, and being reminded of the divisions in the global Church pains us both very deeply.”[ii]

As we struggle as human beings for the truth of the Gospel, we often stumble or make others stumble too. It is not that none of these hot button theological issues are important. And the truth always remains the truth. Yet our capacity to listen, contemplate, discern, and understand remains all too human…limited.

Even the brightest of us or most faithful struggles with God’s word. We need God’s help and the help of one another in community to best understand it. With such a communal approach, hopefully, we will grow in intimacy with God and the Church as we grow in clarity of understanding about Christ’s teachings.

In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus is starting to address the growing antipathy of the religious powers gathering around him but also the fickle, questioning nature of his disciples. People are struggling to believe in Jesus. Jesus is pushing the envelope of their understandings about faith, hope, love and community. Jesus confronts the unbiblical lack of grace that is rampant. Rather than simply condemn, Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach and to call. Jesus is not just a teacher of the truth, he is the Truth, and as the voice from heaven said at his baptism, we should listen to him. He wants to help us follow him.

And so, over and over again, we are to return to the well of Living Water which is Jesus and draw from it. We are to seek to reform and conform our lives to that Truth. It is a truth that is dynamic even as it never changes; alive among us and at work. It speaks to each of us today as much as it did to disciples over 2000 years ago or at the time of the Reformation. And yet, we are still learning. As a pastor friend once said as he retired, “There’s a reason we are called the children of God.”[iii]

Today’s passage reveals only one of Jesus’ interrelated promises shared within chapter 8. In verse 8, Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” He doesn’t promise an easy path, but he will become the lamp unto our feet as the Psalmist sang (Psalm 119). His words, example, and presence will shield us from the greatest darkness and help us rise when we fall into sin. We are only to ask (or seek), knock, and follow. Jesus promises that despite any confusion and lack of vision on our part, he will show us a way out and forward. (See 1 Corinthians 10:13 for Paul’s understanding of this.)

Then later in verse 32, Jesus declares another promise. He says that trusting him, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The tense in Greek (Future-Indicative-Middle) for the word “will” denotes a prediction. He is the Way, the Light, the Bread of Life and more. If we trust in him, follow him, and stand up in faith while under persecution, all will be made known to us. This is most certainly true.[iv]

But for those standing before him, they aren’t too interested in the future. They immediately think of their past ancestors in bondage in Egypt. They deny they are slaves any longer even if the heal of the Roman Empire hovers above their heads waiting to crush them and their nation. In contrast, Jesus is talking about more than political and economic freedom. As will become clear, he is speaking about freedom from sin and death.

As Zina Jacque writes, “To these sons and daughters of Abraham, Jesus’s use of the word ‘freedom’ implies captivity, and captivity is their invisible wound.”[v] As much as Babylon exacted tears from the ancestors, Rome does so now. “Every time they walk past a Roman soldier, every time they hold a coin bearing the image of Caesar, every time they negotiate their lives inside an occupied land, the wound throbs and the pain intensifies.”[vi] And yet, this, too…this oppression…shall pass. They need to look beyond their pain to focus on Jesus and all the possibilities he brings including true, eternal freedom.

Still, stuck in their woundedness, they cannot bear the truth. Healing could be there’s if they admit their predicament and trust in Jesus. Yet, they deny Jesus as much as someone who says their pain, sin, faults and failures are just too grave for the cross to transform them…to free them. In doubting Jesus as savior, we remain trapped. We remain slaves to Sin, Death and the Devil.

And so, we get to the third promise. Jesus explains that every human being who sins is a slave to sin. Many back then as with today, do not want to admit they need grace. We don’t want to think of ourselves as sinners, wretched, or as Martin Luther left in a note as he died, beggars. We sin and cannot save ourselves. At the best, we are simultaneously sinner and saint. This can be a bitter pill to swallow with our human pride.

And so, with the third promise in verse 35, Jesus draws from real world images. As he does elsewhere, Jesus speaks again of his contemporary household, a mansion of sorts with many rooms for grandparents, parents, children, servants, and yes, slaves. In the ancient world, the first son often inherited everything. As a result, his words are binding. Thus, Jesus says, “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” The power and penalty of sin, the sting of death, has no hold over us when we trust in the Son’s promises…not even a little bit.

Indeed, Jesus closes in verse 51 saying that if we keep his word…not perfectly (which is impossible) but by grace through faith…as we are able to with God’s help…we will never see death. His words will act in and upon our lives to save us. He’s not saying that we will not experience death, but that we will not face eternal judgement…permanent destruction or separation from God. In trusting in Jesus as the truth…even if we do not understand everything or struggle to follow…we will be looked upon as righteous. His word will claim us as his own.

As noted by a bible professor and songwriter, Michael Card, “Jesus promises light, freedom, and eternal life” in this chapter.[vii] Will we accept his promises, or will we hold onto our woundedness like the crowds before him? Abraham was looked upon as righteous because he trusted God. He did not know everything. Those who followed him faced loss, family brokenness, and hardship, and yet, they affirmed the same faith despite all they had left to learn about God. Moses and his people, the prophets that followed, and even John the Baptist did not fully understand God or God’s ways. We know this partly because they, too, are human like us, but also because scripture indicates that Jesus, coming and serving as he did, surprised everyone.

If the Apostles and disciples struggled with faith and had more to learn, why are we surprised when we have questions? Or when we have wounds that need to be healed, why deny them? Or when we struggle with sin, why pretend that we are ok? The faith of Abrham, the faith of Israel, the faith of the Reformation, and of today proves the same. We need to turn toward God in trust in order to live. In modern Protestant parlance, we might say, we are always reforming and being transformed. We are saved by grace through faith.

The Letter to the Hebrews (13:8) tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” His promises are eternal, and as Martin Luther quipped, Jesus does not lie. Amidst ongoing theological disagreements, we can choose to be patient, forgive, and love one another. As we struggle with sin, we can confess and repent. As we strain within a lack of hope, we can seek to become living signs of hope to one another and the world through word and deed anyway.

For despite our doubts and darkness, we now know the Lord and his light. And it is Jesus who has ultimately declared, “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more” (fulfilling Jeremiah 31:34). So, do not be afraid to ask, seek, and knock. With his cross and resurrection, Jesus has opened the door to you and to all.[viii] He’s left his light on for you, and a room has been prepared.[ix] Amen.

[i] Welby, J. (27 October 2017). Justin Welby: Luther’s historic act did so much to shape the world we live in. The Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/justin-welby-luther-s-historic-act-did-so-much-to-shape-the-world-we-live-in-a3669686.html – This story was shared in my 500th anniversary sermon at Messiah Lutheran as well.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Pastor Chris Price

[iv] Martin Luther repeats this phrase throughout his catechisms.

[v] Jacque, Z. (October 2026). Commentary on John 8:31-36. Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/reformation-day/commentary-on-john-831-36-20

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Card, M. (2014). John: The Gospel of Wisdom. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. p. 115

[viii] In John 10, Jesus will declare he is the Door, “if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

[ix] A famous commercial campaign for Motel 6 included the phrase, “We’ll leave the light on for you,” originally an ad lib by Tom Bodett. In John 14, Jesus speaks of heaven being like a mansion with many rooms.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 29:15 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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October 21, 2026 · 9:23 pm

Intro to the Augsburg Confession (E1)

Yesterday’s class on the Augsburg Confession offered at Grace and Glory Lutheran (Palmyra, VA) is now available on YouTube. The next episode will be recorded in a hybrid class scheduled for Monday, November 23, at 2 pm.

An Introduction to the Augsburg Confession, episode 1, was recorded on October 20, 2026.

Grace & Glory is participating in a hybrid education series for the 2026-2027 program year focused on the Augsburg Confession – started just in time for Reformation Sunday!

The Augsburg Confession is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and a foundational document of the Protestant Reformation. Written by Philipp Melanchthon, it was presented to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg on June 25, 1530.

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October 19, 2026 · 6:43 pm

Show Me the Money (Sermon)

Image: Unknown Detail from Roman Coin, ca. 48-47 BCE via Wikimedia Commons.

The readings for the 20h Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 45:1-7; Psalm 96:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on October 18, 2026.

As we continue with Matthew’s account, Jesus continues to be in grave danger. Remember, this is his last week in Jerusalem. The forces of cosmic darkness are gathering in a last gasp of power. Sin is starting to have a firmer grip on the better angels of humanity’s nature, and underlying conflict is coming to a head. As in politics today, this has resulted in strange partnerships of convenience. A past seminary friend of mine, now a professor himself, rightly noted several years ago in a reflection, “No one [emphasis mine] would have expected the Pharisees and the Herodians to come together on the issue of taxation.”[i] Yet here they are in today’s passage seeking to entrap Jesus together over that issue.

You see, these groups have decided along with other powerbrokers in Jerusalem that Jesus is clearly their enemy and a problem to manage. A decision has been made to see that Jesus die. Due to Jesus’ popularity and fear of the crowds, they want plausible deniability if possible.

Under the yoke of Rome, the Sanhedrin, the supreme legislative and judicial assembly of ancient Israel, has lost the authority to sentence people to death. Thus, the Pharisees, the Priests, the Scribes and other power groups are starting to circle. They need Rome’s help. If they can catch Jesus in heresy and frame him as a social destabilizer, the Military Governor, Pontius Pilate, will likely consent to their requests for Jesus’ death. It is not that Pilate cared so much about the Jewish faith. He didn’t, but Rome as an Empire and culture demanded strict social controls to help establish their famous peace.

The Pharisees were one of the most influential and popular religious groups of that period. They lived and worked among the ordinary people. They led local synagogue worship. They were like a beloved neighborhood priest or pastor, but they thus had power, too. The entire movement came out of a challenge faced long ago as a people during the Babylonian Captivity. The Pharisaical practices and beliefs were an effort to maintain culture, language and faith…ultimately to remain Jews not Babylonians…particularly faithful Jews. Hence, the Pharisees were in opposition to Rome and all its influences including the complicit Jewish King.

Yet next to them stood the Herodians. They were a group who favored the Roman friendly policies of King Herod Antipas. They were Jewish but open collaborators. Like the Romans, they wanted peace and prosperity. They valued the Greco-Roman culture around them, and they were known for more of a “lip service” or performative approach to the religious laws of Israel.

Their leader, King Herod, was one of the three sons of Herod the Great, who himself had become king only because of the Romans. When King Herod the Great died, his territory was split between his three sons. Herod Antipas became the vassal King of Judah with its capital city Jerusalem. When he could not control the political and religious resistance to Rome, Pontius Pilate was sent to town, and everyone feared him. For he already had an incredibly bloody and ruthless reputation. This is documented outside of scripture. He was a bad dude.

And so here they came, representatives from two enemy groups, to entrap Jesus. Both groups ultimately hate taxes and the Romans. They hate one another. They just hate Jesus more.

The coin they present has Caesar’s image on it. You cannot use it in the Temple. Although the Caesar of the time had not declared himself God yet, the Pharisees and other religious authorities decried the coins due to strict religious prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, and the intermingling of the Roman cult with money. The Herodians, whether from personal belief or political advantage, also frowned on those coins officially for those same reasons. And yet, here they just happen to have one in their pocket. “They are all trading in Caesar’s economy, so they are [all] legally obligated to pay the tax.”[ii]

And despite their hypocrisy and reservations over the coin, Roman power, and one another, they ask Jesus if a Jewish person should pay taxes or not. “Is it permissible?” These words sound like a simply religious question…innocent enough…but Jesus realizes his answer could lead to the death of himself (before he is ready), and the death of any followers influenced by his answer. The Herodians, Pharisees, and everyone else in Israel must already pay taxes or they might suffer torture or death.

And so, Jesus focuses on the aspect of “paying.” As Warren Carter has noted, “Paying taxes acknowledges Rome’s political power but not its moral authority to rule. That moral authority belongs to God. Which is why Jesus quickly adds that one must pay to God the things that are due to God.”[iii] The moral authority always belongs to God. And this is why Jesus instructs, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 25:21).

My friends, money remains a challenging topic…for all of us. It’s a worldly necessity, and yet we can abuse it. If it is in short supply or plenty, we can make too much of it; valuing it too highly…even pining for it. It can become an idol for us turning our hearts from God and God’s ways. Many a time in premarital or family counseling or after deaths, money can play an incredibly important part in any discord discovered. Money is deeply interwoven throughout our earthly lives for both good and ill.

And so, you might have already heard from pastors or stewardship chair that money is referred to by Jesus more than any other one subject related to the Kingdom of God. Eleven of his thirty-nine recorded parables are about our relationship with and use of (if not often misuse of) money. That’s because we should not ignore its very real power and influence over us. To do so can lead to our physical death, loss of freedom, and destruction of relationship. Without money, the economy would not go round, and people would be unemployed and starving. It remains true that without money the world would not go round. People would not work, be fed, and more. It is a necessary evil we say, but it is really just a thing. In and of itself, it has no power other than what we give it.

Being human in a fallen world, we might be caught up by the law we hear… “Sell all your things, give to the poor, and come follow me” (Matthew 19:21). We struggle to discern how to use what we have been given to us as “gift.” (And it is all “gift.”) There’s a struggle to balance healthy self-care and spoiling oneself. Jesus’ teachings on money are not the easiest. We can get stuck on guilt if not shame for our own relationship with money, and sometimes that’s false guilt or shame.

In my past driving around the Richmond area as a pastor, I often saw unhoused if not addicted persons begging. In the areas that I have previously served, it wasn’t unusual to encounter someone struggling to keep their home. And in my mission travels, I have seen the poorest of the poor. For example a Native American boy in high school during my time in South Dakota came to our school with all his earthly possessions in a small plastic bag from the grocery store. These kinds of sights and stories can pierce even the hardest of hearts…but sadly, they do not always do so.

Yes, the world is hard and often unfair, and we do…if we are honest…play a part with every monetary investment, purchase, and political decision that we make. Yet I’m not so sure Jesus’ intent is to shame us…to make us feel so bad about the persons God created us to be and the gifts we’ve been given by God that we give up. That might just be too simplistic. For as Lutherans, we understand everything we do is tainted by sin. So, we should get over that.

What if Jesus looks at each of us in the same way he looked at the rich man struggling to perfect himself by selling all his things and give to the poor in Luke 18? “Jesus looked at him and loved him” as he struggled…He didn’t shame him. Jesus didn’t make fun of or condemn the man. Jesus loved the man. In the context of the man’s life, with all his personal practical and assets and liabilities, Jesus wanted him to discover more joy, not the yoke of the Pharisees, impossible perfection.

Indeed, I have known some Christians that have given up much (if not everything) to try to follow Jesus. It is a wonderous testimony of faith. There is nothing wrong with that, but not everyone is called to sell everything and follow Jesus. It was not true in the Bible, and it remains untrue today. Jesus also sent people home to share what he had done for them. Whatever our unique, individual call, we are asked to be part of his Kingdom of justice and peace…with all that we are and have…sharing and nurturing abundant life no matter how much time we have left.

Thus, rather than getting stuck in shame and sadness, we might seek to identify and acknowledge our guilt fearlessly – “Where can I do better?” Trusting that no one is good except God alone, we can examine how we could possibly do better with glad and hopeful hearts. We can commit together as individuals and a community to do better with God’s help.

Yesterday in preparation for this sermon, I was reminded of what a previous Lutheran World Federation President, Bishop Josiah Kibira from Africa once said, “There is no church so big and so rich, that it wouldn’t depend on the gifts of others; there is no church so small and so poor it wouldn’t be able to enrich others.”[iv] I think this applies to individuals as well. We can all challenge ourselves to do and be better together. That’s part of our ongoing Christian repentance we commit to when we confess, “Jesus is Lord!”

Yet in the end, money can come and go. It will not last. It is part of this world’s vanity (as Ecclesiastes might declare) not the new heaven and earth God has coming. We won’t need money or have taxes in the new heaven and earth. But the love of God…a love planted in our hearts through our faith and baptism…is here now and lasts forever. It is trying to wrap itself around us and claim us. It has the power to change us and the world around us in payoffs and dividends that we might never see or fully understand in this life. That might not easily be qualified by human measures. God’s love ultimately gives us our real value. And so, I find the old Christian maxim proves true, “Those who have God already have enough.”[v]

No matter how little we have, no matter how God decides to share daily bread with us, we are promised that we have enough. We might not have as much as we want. It is ok to complain. We are encouraged to ask for more (all our needs)…But trust God.

Yes, our God is powerful enough to fit our sinful selves through the eye of a needle (see Matthew 19:24), and God can help us to live more like true saints when we humbly recognize our true value doesn’t come from money or anything else at all but only from God’s love. Yet as we struggle under the powers of this world, as we fear for our daily bread, as we wonder if we are good and generous enough, we never need slink away from Jesus and his Church in sadness.

You see, Jesus loves us. Rich or poor or anywhere in between, Jesus deeply loves you…He knows each of us can do better and wants to help us do so. Like Jesus on the way to his own death, we might even be blessed to help others on our own way. Rather than just showing him our money (as a famous movie shouted, “Show me the money!), Jesus hopes we show our hearts more each day to a world in need of him and his salvation joy. Amen.

[i] Nadella, R. (October 18, 2020). Commentary on Matthew 22:15-22. Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29/commentary-on-matthew-2215-22

[ii] Nadella, R. (October 18, 2026). Commentary on Matthew 22:15-22. Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29/commentary-on-matthew-2215-22-7

[iii] As quoted in Nadella, R. (October 18, 2026). Commentary on Matthew 22:15-22. Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29/commentary-on-matthew-2215-22-7.

[iv] Former LWF President (1977-1984), Bishop Josiah Kibira was quoted saying this in a Lutheran World Federation Facebook post, October 5, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GnvFDZTdF/

[v] Often attributed to quotes by Teresa of Ávila, Matthew 13:12, the Lord’s Prayer, and many other testimonies speak to this to us.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 32:07 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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October 14, 2026 · 6:38 pm

Happy 100th, you silly, old bear

Image: Disney Fan Club

The first Winnie the Pooh book was published by A.A. Milne on October 14, 2026. E.H. Shepard’s artistic vision shaped Pooh’s earliest, detailed depictions. Yet it wasn’t just a fluke or moment of inspiration. As a Wikipedia post, countless articles, books, and documentaries attest, this childhood tale was inspired by a likely orphaned, black bear cub named, Winnipeg (later nicknamed Winnie) purchased by a Canadian soldier during World War 1, and a stuffed bear belonging to the author’s son, Christopher Robbin. The real Winnie was given to a London zoo before the soldier, Lt. Harry Coleburn, went to France, and there he stayed to become a beloved figure among the children of the city.

Image and article from Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

As far as I recall, Winnie the Pooh first came to my attention as part of the weekly Sunday night show, The Wonderful World of Disney. (It first aired in 1963 when I was about three years old.) Certainly, like other children, I loved it, but than as we can tend to do as we mature, I moved on to new interests, distractions, joys and concerns. I suppose Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood likely next caught my attention through the song, House at Pooh Corner, by Loggins and Messina. Kenny Loggins wrote the song when only seventeen. He was feeling the melancholy sadness of losing his childhood innocence. He rereleased it in the early 1990s to try to reflect his new adult perspectives, particularly as a parent.

Then came my own young adult years. The popular book, The Tao of Pooh popped on the scene in 1992, followed ten year’s later by another companion book, The Te of Piglet. As with what happened with Peanuts and other cartoons and children’s stories during that period, the author used the stories to explore spiritual truths as they understood it.

At that time, as I have written about elsewhere, I had come into police work with a lot of previous wounds before then, and things were not working out so well. Thanks to God reaching out to me through old friends, I reentered the Church, began to understand new things about things I thought settled matters, and I began volunteering at two local college campus ministries. Through one trip, while serving as as a chaperone to the first ever United States ecumenical young adult Taizé gathering (about 8,000 attended at the university of Dayton), I was introduced to Winnie the Pooh in a transformative way.

A cluster of the young adult college women attending from my van pool, loved the above books, and they were going through a new phase celebrating their childhood love of Pooh. The meaningful spirituality of Taizé, the simplicity of Pooh, and their joy was infectious. I came to reappreciate how children’s tales don’t necessarily need to stay on the shelf. They can help you remember life lessons and rediscover joy as an adult.

Jokingly at first, and then regularly by some other youth and college students as year’s past, they and others compared me a bit to the character Tigger. In fact, some of them used that as a kind of nickname for a time. Since then, I have gotten many bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun gifts related to that energetic, optimistic tiger named, Tigger. Hopefully, I am still nurturing and growing in the best qualities from him as well.

Celebrating a past Winnie the Pooh anniversary.

Still at the time, this somewhat surprised me. As written about elsewhere, the pain of life had taken it’s toll in many ways, and as a human, I still can struggle to believe that I am always completely free as scripture promises (John 8:36). I had grown cynical as a cop. I can be rough around the edges. Yet these young adults saw that I was more than a few of my characteristics or my wounds. God used their childlike witness (and by connection Winnie the Pooh) to help me find my way not just to the Hundred Acre Woods but spiritually home. I rediscovered joy.

Unfortunately, too many, as I had, forget the lessons of their youth. And yet what we learned in the woods with Pooh and his friends, in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, or on Sesame Street and elsewhere still matters. They help us learn what it means to be a child of God. And if you doubt that value, remember what Jesus taught. To understand and receive his Kingdom, we must be like children letting go of pride, self-reliance, and status concerns while rediscovering wonder, playfulness, empathy and compassion, and more “childlikeness” rather than holding onto selfish expressions of childishness.

Saying that, I know that the world remains a hard place. Workaholism and need for control challenges we modern adults, not unlike Rabbit. Our perceived wisdom can turn into hubris, fall short, or leave us lacking like Owls’ own. I understand a children’s story isn’t the answer to all that ails us. Being so small in a big world beyond our control, we might find ourselves struggling for hope or lost in our sadness and grief like Eeyore.

And as one of our nation’s favorite library kid boosters, Mychal Threets, confesses and struggles with himself, mental illness is a very real thing that can be caused or complicated by biology (even if complicated by choices, family systems or inappropriate medical treatment). You can love books, even the Bible, and know them by heart and still suffer.

Yet our conditions are never who we are. Sometimes all one can do is try day by day. It is ok not to be ok. And in that, Michael echoes what we chaplains teach law enforcement officers. (If you need emotional support, reach out to the national mental health hotline by texting or calling 988.) And with the terrible realities that we all might face, we might even be tempted to waste our time submitting to these negative messages that we hear in our heads as if they were from Job’s wisest advisors. (But, we should not.) Ask for help, for your are worth it. God would not have created you otherwise.

Indeed, God can use the smallest and silliest things, including children’s’ books, to catch our attention and remind us that we are loved. God wants us to be comforted promising and reminding us through Isaiah (66:13a), “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” Scripture often teaches us that we should remember our God while still in our youth to learn and grow straight “before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Yet never forget that God created us all to be children of God. There’s the divine trying to call each of us into love. Fun still matters. Joy is a necessity and can be chosen. Allow yourself to be loved and be childlike. Remember the God who created and cares for us out of love is the same one who gifted us with healthier human communities to help sustain us and grow. Even as imperfect as any human community can be (including in the Church and families), God is at work. Find people who will love, support, and accept you as you are and hope with you in all that God can and will make you become.

So no matter who laughs and scoffs at me, no matter how harshly judged, no matter what anyone thinks, I am publicly giving God thanks for my friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. They are now part of who I am and still teaching me.

Happy birthday, Pooh, you silly, old bear!

Quote from the 1997 animated film Pooh’s Grand Adventure: “The Search for Christopher Robin“

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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October 12, 2026 · 8:00 pm

Happy…Columbus Day?

Posted by the US Department of War,
not yet legally an official title by statute, although it is used as an official secondary title across the executive branch.

If interested, here are my thoughts on Columbus Day after seeing the Department of War’s post. (This does not necessarily reflect the beliefs of any of the organizations I am part of. Any errors are mine.) In short, the holiday has historic and ongoing value, but it comes with baggage too. I know that I have written about this before.

The holiday is complicated by Christopher Columbus’ mixed legacy – brave perhaps, benefiting trade and modernization, but it also comes to us stained with the very real harms of colonization, slavery and genocidal acts. Why do Italians hang onto it?

Italians, especially from the South and Sicily, looked different (often dark-skinned), spoke differently, and were of a feared faith, Roman Catholicism. They were often the new working poor and unaccepted. Jobs, housing and education were often denied, and slum living or unofficial villages near rivers became a norm of sorts.

Unfortunately, false accusations and violence came too late. Eleven Italian immigrants became accused of killing the New Orleans police chief. History states that most had been rounded up due to their ethnicity. Accusations arose that organized crime was trying to influence the government. The word “mafia” moved into the US lexicon for reportedly the first time. An angry mob did not accept the judgement of acquittal for several of the men. The largest mass lynching in the history of the United States was the result.

Initially the press was quite supportive of the lynchers. Theodore Roosevelt, I’ve read, actually sent a private letter to someone commending what happened. Yet as Italian organizations complained and an angry Italian government’s diplomatic responses began to have effect, the xenophobic verbosity lessened.

As you can read in the Wikipedia article about this incident, it appears that President Harrison instituted Columbus Day on the 400th Anniversary of his voyage (1892) to partly help placate both Italy and Italians in the United States. President Harrison even agreed to pay a $25,000 indemnity to the victims’ families. (Which Congress unsuccessfully tried to derail.) Unfortunately, the death of the police chief became a rallying cry to nativists.

[Updated on 11/3/2026: Since first posting this, I have been reading several social media posts arguing that the above information is incorrect. They say, often with the similar wording. “President Harrison made a standard anniversary proclamation. There is no written evidence that the actions were in any way connected.” Certainly, there appears a debate over this, but I would like to suggest that the inherited view of Italians should not be so quickly dismissed. From what I have seen, the social media proponents often view the Italian as clearly white European and thus part of the majority white European culture. Based on the above, I argue that argument is too simplistic. Just as other minorities should be listened to by the dominant culture when speaking about their history, the same standard should hold here. My ancestors and others, including advocates for Italian rights at the time, viewed the events as connected. This does not necessitate a direct link or paper trail. What I am arguing, echoing my inherited stories, is that the protests by Italy and Italian American groups after the hangings made a difference. Such arguments denying this strip dignity from those past sacrifices and voices. Again, Italians including my family members faced overt racism and xenophobia impacting housing, jobs, and education. Italians of the time understood the start of Columbus Day was connected to the mass hanging and subsequent protests even if not in writing. Maybe we should consider their contemporary understanding past down through generations as we should do with other ethnic groups and races.]

As prejudice and racist acts continued, Italians leaned into their faith and cultural celebrations. They welcomed Columbus Day as a hopeful sign. Many of the hated or even toppled statues of Columbus (including in Virginia) were put up as a claim to a new homeland and as a request for respect and recognition as equals. They often were put up despite overt threats and sometimes violent acts including bombings and attacks on Catholic Churches and universities from the KKK and others. The statues went up anyway as paid for through the donations of immigrant families.

[Updated on 11/3/2026: For example, the oldest Columbus statue in the South was the monument to Columbus raised in Richmond. it was also the first statue to have night illumination. Italian families paid for it in full even as they heard of overt threats from the KKK. In a sad irony, because of Columbus’ undeniable colonizing past, it became a symbol hated by those in the Black Lives Matter protests. “On June 9, 2020, a statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmond’s Byrd Park became one of many monuments to the explorer toppled by protesters around the world following George Floyd’s murder.” (See The meaning of Columbus, his image and history continue to evolve.) Why was it erected in Byrd Park on December 9, 1927? The city was not willing to have it on Monument Avenue. As the above cited article reports, nativism and intense anti-immigrant sentiment shaped the decision. Much of that was directed at Italian and Jewish immigrants — or anyone who was “deemed not sufficiently white or not Protestant, not of Anglo-Saxon origin.” An article in the Catholic Virginian by Bishop Barry Nestout also suggests anti-Catholic prejudice and a desire to protect the perceived “sanctity” of Monument Avenue played a part. He quotes an earlier article arguing, “According to Harry Kollatz Jr., writing in the October 2014 Richmond Magazine, the Patriotic Welfare Committee ‘decried Columbus as a foreigner, a Roman Catholic, and wrongly credited as finding the New World. They gave the Vikings that credit.’” After being torn down, set on fire, and thrown into Fountain Lake, Richmond’s statue was recovered, refurbished, and relocated to the Rockland Lodge Order of the Sons of Italy in September 2024.]

In truth, the Italian’s lot in the United States did not progress much until WW2 when so many vets came home with an appreciation for Italian food, culture and sometimes wives. New Italian restaurants and Americano coffees became an acceptable thing. Then came Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and others. Like rap music, it caught the imagination of white youth and changed attitudes. (It’s important to note that particularly Sicilians and Southern Italians before this time were not considered white in the South.)

As I indicate above, my and my wife’s relatives faced overt discrimination in education, jobs and housing in the North. This was in the 1920s through the 1950s. To ignore why Columbus was adopted as a symbol silences people wounded in the past – some wounds carried into later generations. Yet recognizing the historical facts, perhaps just changing the name of the holiday to Italian Appreciation Day would prove a help. Yet I hope we don’t forget about this ugly past and learn from it. We need to remember it and Columbus – what he did (both good and bad) certainly, but why he became this icon – especially as we interact with new immigrants and their stories today. This link leads to a history video on Facebook about the connection: https://lnkd.in/eqa3KNiR.

As for the War Department’s post, Hegseth is using the post to stir the pot with identity politics because he too often acts like a hard hearted child. From my experience and training, people in AA might think him a “dry drunk.” He seems to have many unresolved issues from his alcoholism still harming himself, others, and our national security. His denomination is an angry, unhealthy one – overtly Christian Nationalist, many suggesting it has cult like leanings. These posts misusing scripture and inappropriately addressing “culture wars” are distractions when there are real dangers to address. I do pray for his repentance and growth toward personal peace with himself and others – although he’d scoff at me for that. He believes empathy is weak and a sin. I believe he is very unhealthy.

People might think this is inappropriate territory for a pastor, but I’m speaking this in love for him and others, not for punishment or degradation. He’s settling for a counterfeit version of the abundant life Jesus offers the entire universal Church. It’s called Christian nationalism. This is a stated desire by leaders of his denomination, dangerous to democracy and easily confirmed.

Indigenous People’s Day need not be put in competition with other cultures. That’s suspiciously looking to be the background intention of the War Department’s post even as it remains a Federal Holiday. As a simple Google search identified: “The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) did not issue a dedicated Indigenous Peoples’ Day social media post or public statement for October 12, 2026.” And recently with changes to rules regarding chaplains and faith, “The update removed the distinct “Native American Religion” category (along with 179 other specific faiths), placing service members whose specific beliefs are not individually listed under the “Other Religion” category for dog tags, military records, and chaplain services.”

Indigenous People’s Day meets a real need and stands on its own merits, as it should. I accept the need for it to supersede or overshadow my Italian celebration of culture. Italians have come a long way. I’ve benefited from the sacrifices of those that came before me. Now, others need the attention to help them find justice, acceptance and progress. It doesn’t mean I can’t still celebrate my ancestors too even if on the same day.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated. Edited for clarity and some content on November 3, 2026.

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October 12, 2026 · 1:02 pm

Being Properly Dressed (Sermon)

Matthew 22:1: “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,”
[Digital Art]. By Bible.Art.

The readings for the 20h Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on October 12, 2026.

Today’s Parable of the Wedding Banquet is no different than any other parables that you might come across. As discussed before, parables are part of an ancient teaching method where students or disciples are meant to wrestle with the story in community to find answers – hopefully the best or correct answer. This means there might be several interpretations for the parable in question – some better than others, some wrong, and yet all interpretations can be helpful in affirming or growing our understanding. We learn as we wrestle. And with all the things going on in the world, I wrestled a long time this week. What should I say and not say.

For example with this parable of Jesus, you might hear among traditions that require baptism before reception of the Lord’s Supper that the one guest who refused to wear the robe in today’s parable was unbaptized. Recall Galatians 3 where the Apostle Paul writes, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” That imagery of spiritual transformation into a new person is thought to be represented by the wedding garment. And certainly, at least for the first seven centuries of the Church, many Christian catechumens came to the baptismal waters in their regular clothes, stripped naked, and left wrapped in symbolic white garments as they exited. It was only then that they could participate in holy Communion. This would be known to later Christians and might thus hold some truth for them and us (or those who hold this interpretation of value among us), but this was not yet the practice in Jesus’ time. Thus, this might miss the primary mark that Jesus intended.

Another more modern interpretation is from what is called the Womanist tradition. Womanist theology is a religious and ethical lens that attempts to integrate “the lived experiences, survival, and liberation of Black women.” Three days ago, I came across a Roman Catholic article by Emily Sanna asked the question, “What if God isn’t the king in the parable of the wedding feast?”[i] Instead of focusing on the King and the King’s actions, some Womanist theologians invite us to instead focus on the inbreaking of “God’s just and peaceable Kingdom” first. Quoting others, the author unpacks her challenge accepting a God that seemed so judgmental and harsh as in the parable when one considers other teachings about a loving, fatherly, gracious God found in the Gospel of Matthew. And so, the author asks us to consider:

Matthew’s gospel is full of people who quietly resist state power. The magi go home by another way and don’t tell Herod where to find Jesus. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, not on a war horse. When Satan offers worldly power, Jesus outright refuses it. What if this man’s garments are another example of this same [kind of] resistance?[ii]

She ponders whether we sometimes have mistaken empire for God’s table.

And yes, we are indeed in a time of growing Christian Nationalism where one can blur the lines between national identities and practices. We can forget that we are part of a universal community of saints, meant to cross worldly boundaries just as Jesus taught. With such bent thinking, we might be tempted to ignore the suffering and needs of other non-US Christians, brothers and sisters to us, never mind the strangers and enemies we are asked to love by Jesus. Our primary identity is meant to be that of “Christian” above any other. It confirms much as John Chrysostom, a 4th Century Christian Bishop, who wrote to the people of Antioch long ago (alluding to Hebrews 11:10), “If you are a Christian, no earthly city is yours. Even if we control the world, we are still immigrants and foreigners, because our citizenship is in heaven.”[iii]

This attitude might also help explain why so many Christians can easily call others “heretics,” “schismatics,” or “apostates,” looking and treating their brothers and sisters in Christ as unredeemable rather than just lost, wrong or misled. Some Christians prefer offering the “yoke of the pharisees.”[iv] People become easily damned and not worth talking to never mind looking for, as the lost sheep that they might be to Jesus. Yes, in the United States, such folks currently tend to be from Evangelical and Baptist traditions, but liberal traditions, Lutherans and other Christians fall into this judgmental trap often. I can at times do that too if I am honest. Within our hearts, it is too easy for us to throw others who disgust or challenge us into hell…the outer darkness Jesus talks about today.

And sadly, as heard recently from Professor Pugh in his presentation at Grace & Glory, some prominent Christians today even argue for what’s called theonomy, a view that the judicial and civil laws of the Old Testament given to ancient Israel still apply and should apply to government. So, if one has participated in adultery, or proves an apostate in their opinion, or is homosexual or is worshipping other Gods (among other laws), you might deserve the death penalty in their minds. They say this out loud! And in the darker corners of the internet through my law enforcement and chaplaincy roles, I have seen these specific desires and threats expressed and planned. It is real. And yet, they somehow call themselves Christian, too.

Then, as this week’s news cycle brings up, many Christians might also forget that every life is sacred even the life of our enemies. (And I am a person who is speaking of this as both a former soldier and police officer, so I have wrestled with this for a long time.) Perhaps someone “deserves death” in a fallen world, but might they not be shown mercy anyway? As Paul argues in Romans 6, we all deserve death. He says that. We all deserve death because no one can fulfill the Law. We are saved by grace through faith alone, not our works. So perhaps we should not rush too quickly to kill others, even when seemingly deserved, or perceived as legal, or thought a just necessary action in our world. For, we ultimately defeat evil with good (Romans 12:21).

Nonetheless, if a government truly deems it a necessity to take a life within our fallen world using our imperfect justice systems – and no matter the country, they remain imperfect because they are made by humans – we might also like to remember our own Savior’s death. He was executed as public spectacle with many martyrs to follow him. Violence as found in the Roman Circus never honored the sanctity of God-given life. It diminished it. That was the intention. And perhaps that’s why totalitarian governments not concerned with Jesus’ teachings are those hosting public executions in modern times – Iran, the Taliban, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. This, too, should give us pause.

So, into this mix, I want to present to you a more ancient view stemming from Jesus’ own context when he first shared it. (It might help, and we can talk more late if you like.) Remember, this parable is offered during Jesus’ last week. He is now in open conflict with those in religious power, and they want to be rid of him. It follows on the heels of The Parable of the Tenants where the son of the landowner is murdered. Jesus explains it more clearly than other parables saying to hypocrites in power around him, “Therefore I tell you [those like the tenants], the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” – spiritual fruits. Walter Wilson notes the clear imperial nature of Matthew’s framing, “interpreting the invitees as municipal leaders, ‘their refusal to attend the banquet as an expression of political disloyalty toward the royal family,’ and their violent treatment of the palace emissaries as ‘an act of sedition.’”[v] So, this parable might also be intended to target those religious leaders standing before Jesus for their ongoing actions and attitudes toward “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).

Although our God is a loving and gracious God, we should not ignore that the Jewish scriptures understood and Jesus taught about a time of eschatological (or End Times) judgement. Judgement Say is real, but this should not frighten us as Lutherans, for we understand and accept that we are still sinners although saved by what Jesus has done…only his works. Professor Carolyn Sharp (Yale Divinity School) rightly reminds us:

“This ‘outer darkness’ [referred to in the passage] occurs also in 8:12 and 25:30 (and not in the Lukan parallels) as the eschatological destination of ‘heirs of the kingdom’ who have proved to be faithless or incompetent stewards of that which has been entrusted to them. The threefold iteration of the motif underscores how serious Matthew is about end-time torment awaiting those who dishonor the invitation of God’s grace.”[vi]

We might also discover the astonishing news that this eschatological banquet serves a bulwark (a protection) against all darkness.[vii] This promised celebration will come to fullness during a time outside time within a new heaven and earth where all tears will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). Our God is a Mighty Fortress just as we Lutherans so often sing.[viii] Just like Isaiah proclaimed in his writings today. God is a mighty fortress protecting us.

Yet, we cannot become complacent. In our ongoing imperfection, we are to confess our sins and return to the Lord each day…every one of us. Here, Matthew is drawing upon earlier Jewish texts, for “Even those who had accepted the invitation of God but are spiritually unprepared are at risk. In this light, the [witty but truth-filled phrase] ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’” is as it appears in 4 Ezra 8:1, 3 and here in Matthew 22:14. It is meant to be absolutely chilling and challenging to each and every one of us who follow Jesus.[ix] We should look at ourselves and examine our behaviors. Are we loving the least of these well? Are we reflecting the Spirit’s fruits?

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer discovered in the time of World War 2 Germany, the Church becomes too easily filled with people who accept a counterfeit or deformed Gospel; accepting cheap grace with no implications or actions expected in response. We humans can become spiritually lazy rather than striving to be Christ-like with the Spirit’s help.[x] For loving others is hard. No one denies that. It is often against our human nature.

Despite failures, it remains true that in Genesis 3, God made garments of skin to cover Adam and Eve, a sign of God’s grace amidst their own rebellion. There are many instructions and commands regarding the use and care of religious garments in the Jewish scriptures.[xi] Garments were thought to reflect one’s tribe and one’s purpose. In the Psalms, God’s loving activity and light is often compared to a garment. And the prophets speak of putting on the Lord’s splendor like a garment. So, the original listeners could have made many complimentary interpretations.

Thus, I propose to you that the garment is meant to define who we are and who we trust in through faith; faith itself being a gift reflecting that garment worn. One modern Orthodox resource alluded to Baptism, but more so, the author argues we will be examined at the End of Time to see if we have shared in a life of repentance within the Church. (Of course, in his mind, it is only the Orthodox Church alone that’s the Church, but I would suggest this applies to the universal Church.). Did we hunger for God’s mercy? Did we share it with others as we were first loved?

Indeed, Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 12 March 604), a Pope before the breaking of Christendom into East and West, who is commemorated for his Christian life and witness on our ELCA calendar on September 12 each year, argued in a sermon that ultimately the garment is God’s love…God’s transformative love. For, “[Jesus] came as a bridegroom to unite Himself to the Church. There was no other means than God’s love by which the Only-begotten could unite the souls of the elect with Himself. This is why John tells us: God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son (John 3:16). He who came to [humanity] for love’s sake, calls this love the wedding garment.”[xii]

Of utmost importance, to Gregory, echoing Jesus’ teachings on fulfilling the Law (including in Matthew’s Gospel), this garment has two threads: the love of God and love of neighbor. As Jesus taught in Matthew’s account, this is the greatest commandment. This doesn’t necessarily exclude one referencing the Baptism, the Eucharist, or political and social realties that surround us, but that explicit connection seems a bit forced if Gregory the Great’s argument and many other ancient arguments like it hold true.

Matthew’s Gospel was first written for a Jewish Christian community struggling to find their way forward after the Ascension of Jesus and the faith-challenging destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. They were being thrown out of Synagogues and their families, often persecuted. And yet amidst this uncertainty and perhaps because of it, this time proved perfect to celebrate a foretaste of the feast to come, “the banquest” to come – gathering with the saints to remember Jesus in his appointed Supper, feeding the hungry, healing the wounded, seeking the lost and lonely, visiting those in prison, and offering forgiveness, patience and love to all those trespassing against us, even our enemies.

This is absolutely not the world’s way, but it is the way of the divine Kingdom as Jesus presents it during his first discourse in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5-7) with the Beatitudes. And that passage helps us interpret all that follows. We are no longer to be dressed as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), for we have been made new, clothed in Christ’s love. This new garment, Christ’s love, changes our relationship with God and others forever.

Yet know that as with any new clothing, this gifted garment might feel awkward at first as we try to love.[xiii] Growing into it can prove an inside out process to make it fit better supernaturally over time. The Spirit uses our trials, our errors, and our repeated repentance to help perfect us. Rather than offering any perfect, instantaneous holiness, we are invited to participate in this divine movement toward ultimate perfection.[xiv]

Still, we are invited and included to the banquet all the same. We don’t have to give up our seat or fear being cast out because of our struggles with sin. We sinner-saints can celebrate. For as Jesus has taught just shortly before this parable, it is not the will of our Father who is in heaven that one of his little ones should perish (see Matthew 18:14 and 2 Peter 3:9). We can seek to love without fear, as Jesus loved us. Amen.

[i] Sanna, E. (October 8, 2026). “What if God isn’t the king in the parable of the wedding feast?” U.S. Catholic [Digital Edition]. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202610/what-if-god-isnt-the-king-in-the-parable-of-the-wedding-feast/

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] John Chrysostom (c. 387 AD). “Homilies on the Statues” [Homily XVII, section 2 or similar text depending on the translation].

[iv] See Matthew 23.

[v] Sharp, C.J. (October 2026). “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14.” Working Preacher.  https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28/commentary-on-matthew-221-14-10

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Consider the lyrics of A Mighty Fortress is Our God based on Psalm 46.

[ix] Ibid. Sharp, C.J.

[x] I suggest one read The Cost of Discipleship for more on this subject.

[xi] Much of the below is adapted from a blog post I wrote in 2020. In discussing Holy Communion, this parable came up. https://2-penny-blog.com/2020/02/11/whose-dressed-properly-for-communion/

[xii] Gregory the Great. “The Wedding Garment: An excerpt from Parables of the Gospel by Pope Saint Gregory the Dialogist.” OrthoChristian.com. https://orthochristian.com/106276.html

[xiii] Taylor, P.S. (June 14, 2015). “From Robes to Skin: When Christ’s Righteousness Becomes Ours.” Seedbed. https://seedbed.com/from-robes-to-skin-when-christs-righteousness-becomes-ours/

[xiv] I suggest a modern classic text by Dr. Larry Crabb, Inside Out, to explore this further.  

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 25:10 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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September 27, 2026 · 7:41 pm

Of the same mind (Sermon)

Parable of the Two Sons, by Andrei Mironov – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24735119

The readings for the 18th Sunday After Pentecost, Yr. A were: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25:1-9; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 20:1-16. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on September 27, 2026.

Long ago in my VMI cadet days, I heard an Army general say that the best soldier is a grumbler. He was sharing an ancient maxim with roots in the Imperial Army of Rome. He explained that grumbling can be an outlet for stress. It might even build some team cohesion through the experience of shared suffering and perseverance. Ultimately, the soldier who grumbles also often proves the soldier who goes on to fulfill his (or now her) duty.

You see, if troops stop complaining to one another, that’s not the norm. Historically, they are likely fully demoralized or planning a mutiny – neither situation good for an army. Centuries later, this maxim proved true during Napolean’s day where his most loyal, elite, and formidable soldiers came to be nicknamed “The Grumblers.” It remains true for today’s US Army. It is better to grumble and do the job at hand then be a “yes man” or woman who does not.

I have often wondered if Jesus was somehow aware of this well-known Roman military maxim when sharing his Parable of the Two Sons. This would be a sad irony, for the Roman Army would eventually execute Jesus. Yet, the parallels seen could just be the recognition of a common cultural and human frailty. We can tend to say yes as humans but then fail to follow through. We can lose our attention on the matter at hand as other things distract us or overcome us. Or maybe we just get stuck in our sin somehow. This human condition is not unrelated to Paul’s observations in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”

When Jesus meets the Pharisees today in the Temple, it is after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. He’s since caused a scene turning over tables of money changers at work in the Temple (see earlier in Mathew 21). He’s already challenged the religious powers-that-be through his teaching with authority (see Matthew 7:29). This resulted in jealousy among some over the large crowds cheering Jesus, but it also caused concern among other religious elites that a riot might happen through the exuberant crowds. This might mean Roman soldiers would oppress the notably rebellious city in response. Then, there are Jesus’ many other challenges to their authority over time. None of that had been received well. Jesus knows this kind of direct confrontation is dangerous, but he also knows that it is also time for him to die.

So, he pokes the bear[i], so to speak. All along, authority has been a key question in this ongoing conflict with religious authorities. Jesus has demonstrated authority to heal, “even at a distance, as recognized by a Gentile” (Mattthew 8:9). He has claimed authority to forgive sins and shared that authority with all his disciples (Matthew 9:8 and 10,1). As one commentary notes, “At the climax of the Gospel he declares that God has given him all authority [emphasis mine], including specifically to teach.”[ii] He has even demonstrated power over creation in feeding large crowds with very little (Matthew 14 and 15) or calming a storm with a few words of rebuke (Matthew 8:26).  

Then, knowing the hearts of the chief priests and elders, he sets a rhetorical trap. Remember that as John the Baptist became popular, the religious and political powers came out from Jerusalem to the countryside. They wanted to hear this popular prophet they had been hearing about for themselves. Like today’s political and religious elite, I suppose some wanted to be seen with the popular John the Baptist to capitalize on his fame.

And in pretension and because of conceit, they say yes to John’s message at that time. Yet in their hearts and actions, they reject John’s message. They don’t repent. They still ignore the marginalize and exclude those whom God loves. Now, in answering Jesus’ question, they must confess their failure and sin. If John was from heaven, why did they ignore his supplications? And if they admit they did not believe in John this could anger the very great crowds gathered for the Passover holiday who were still grieving his murder. For what else can one call the execution of an innocent man but murder.

In contrast, the people they judged as unredeemable and junk – prostitutes, tax collectors and others – are the ones who came to John and repented. In turn, they later responded to Jesus. Yet scripture never reports that they became perfect, but they did turn to Jesus (in other words, repent) to embrace true life. They are the ones who continued to ask, seek, and knock. They are the ones who dined with him, listened to him, and tried to follow him. For also unlike the Elders, Scribes, Pharisees and the like, they knew they were sinners and could not save themselves. Jesus had what they hungered for – a new life and freedom. Jesus taught that clinging to him while still imperfect passengers on the stormy seas of life would save them. And so, many of those labeled as the worst of sinners did just that.

Yes, we understand that the parable was an indictment against those religious, power elites opposed to Jesus. (Although, let us not forget that some relative few of the elites did come to follow Jesus.) And the elites were educated enough to understand that this parable was about them. Yet they could not agree to his indictment, and they refused to change. They willfully blinded themselves to the truth that Jesus was of God…was God. And as pressure on them increased to repent – for that’s what Jesus hungered for, their repentance and restoration – they doubled down on their gamble. They would seek to end Jesus’ life. They would help murder him much as John had been.

Yet, it would be too easy for us to just look at the parable and think it is only about those religious elites opposed to Jesus. In doing so, we become like them – judging and hard hearted, ignoring our own humanity and sin. No, Jesus hoped his followers would hear and understand this parable with the help of his Spirit. It is about his disciples, too. This parable was preserved in scripture partly because it is a parable about each of us including all those “saved,” those who trust in Jesus.

Remember that Roman maxim? Jesus, too, knows and understands well that we aren’t perfect. He recognizes that our hearts can easily be divided between the world and following him. Following Jesus can be difficult if not deadly, and this can cause grumbling. And if people ever tell you otherwise, that we can perfectly fulfill the law, that we don’t have the right to lift our struggles and complaints to God faithfully as the Psalmist does, ignore them. That’s right, ignore them. They are offering us the yoke of the Pharisees while Jesus wants to offer us freedom through grace. For, Jesus loves us…loves us enough to die for us.

Daily, not just once, Jesus longs for us to ask, seek, knock and ultimately repent. And repentance from sin can take time, sometimes a lifetime if grievous enough. Sinner-saints at our best, Jesus only asks us to follow while confessing our need and accepting our own crosses whatever they prove to be. As our friends from twelve Step programs might argue, we should rejoice in progress not perfection. And in our want, Jesus promises to send his own Spirit and the people we need to help us on our way.

It can be a frightening thing when we hear threats of our damnation in the Bible…if we are humble enough to believe them. Yet, our choices do matter. That’s what those threats teach. Yet, are we humble enough to also confess our sins and turn to Jesus without fear? “Those who had been saying no to God’s will revealed in the Torah, the tax collectors and prostitutes, changed their mind and accepted John’s message of repentance”[iii]…and now they were beginning to accept Jesus as Lord. The inability of the Elders, Scribes, and the priestly class, all those powerful people to answer Jesus resulted in their self-condemnation. Meanwhile, sinners like the Roman soldier in Matthew 8 came to understand that Jesus can just say the word (give an order) and they can be healed.

This is faith – trust in the promises of Jesus. We trust in what Jesus teaches while seeking to understand it and concretely live it more each day – asking, seeking, knocking, repenting. This helps us become of the same mind with Jesus. This kind of faith, a saying yes with mind, body, and heart (all that we are) is used by God to transforms us…make us new,

No, we will never master the law in our lifetime. No one ever will. Yet we can accept the truth of Christ’s grace. As Paul declares to the Philippians (2:13), “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” It is God who is saving you even now as you sit in that pew or leave here today. Do not be afraid for your salvation. Jesus offers it to us for free. He asks only in response that we say yes and try our best to mean it. Amen.

[i] The bear was a common symbol for raw nature and savagery during the period of the Roman Empire.

[ii] Keck, L.E. (chief editor) The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes, 1995. (Volume 8).

[iii] Ibid.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 31:54 minute mark.

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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