Evansville Congregational United Church of Christ

09/14/2026

Forgiveness

September 13, 2026
Matthew 18: 21-35
Rev. William R. Wineke, preach

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No,” Jesus replied, “Seventy times seven.”

Since I tend to think most things in the world revolve around me, I was thinking yesterday of a great wrong done to me 71 years ago when I was a junior in high school.

You will not be surprised to learn that I was a fairly awkward teenager, especially when it came to girls. I had seven younger brothers but no sisters. Girls were a great mystery to me.

But I liked them.

One night following a school event, I offered a younger classwoman – she must have been a sophomore – a ride home in my 1951 Packard, the one with no heater, and she accepted.

When we arrived at her farm home, she chirped “Thanks,” and then popped out of the car – and that was that.

At least, I thought that was that.

Until the next day when my fellow classmates – the guys – started hooting ridicule at me for my fumbling attempts to put the moves on the sophomore girl.

I had done no such thing and there wasn't a student in our 120 member student body that believed a word of my denial.

Well, that was in 1957, maybe 1958, and now it is 2026 and I am still outraged that my noble gesture was besmirched in such a cruel way.

Sixty nine years it has been and I still feel abused.

It has occasionally occurred to me that, perhaps, the miscreant might have misunderstood me. I mean, I was a dork. Or, maybe she felt like a dork and used this opportunity to ingratiate herself with the cool girls.

Or, maybe, it is possible that teenagers can be mean to one another and that my mean colleague may have outgrown that attitude and became a nun.

But, no.

Just no.

Our scripture lesson this morning comes from the Gospel of St. Matthew and it deals with forgiveness.

It is pretty much the parable of a servant who managed to swindle millions of dollars from his master but was forgiven rather than being thrown into a debtor's prison.

But, as he left the master's mansion, this same guy ran into a lower-level servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. Then the unfortunate little guy begged for mercy, the debtor threw him into jail.

When the master learned of this cruelty, he took back his mercy and threw the big swindler into jail until he could repay the millions he owed.

“That's what our heavenly father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart,” Jesus said.

But the story is probably best known by its beginning, when Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive someone who sinned against him seven times and Jesus said, “No, seventy times seven.”

In other words, 49?

No, in other words, you forgive someone who has wronged you so often as your resentment creeps back into your thoughts.

It helps to understand that, in the Bible, the number seven signifies spiritual completeness. And what Jesus is doing in this story – I think – is to remind Peter that the goal is not to achieve some mandatory ritual but to actually rid oneself of the anger and resentment that required forgiveness in the first place.

When it comes to forgiveness, 50 is not the magic number.

There are probably a number of good spiritual reasons for this, but the main one is that you can't find peace if resentment rules your heart.

Or, to put it more bluntly, why in heaven's name am I still carrying a resentment about a perceived slight that occurred almost 70 years ago?

I'm quite sure the girl involved isn't carrying it around in her heart – assuming she is even still alive.

And I don't even remember the exact circumstances of the occasion. I just remember being humiliated.

But, if I want an excuse to be mad about something, all I have to do is. . .

Jesus says, pray for those who spitefully use you. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If your enemy is thirsty, give him something to drink.

Is that because we Christians are supposed to be better than other people?

No, it is because we are supposed to be children of God. We accept forgiveness for our wrong doings cheerfully. But we also forgive those who have wronged us with equal cheerfulness.

But we can't do either with anger in our hearts.

That is the Good News. Thanks be to God!

09/13/2026

Sunday Worship September 13, 2026
Pastor Bill Wineke

09/10/2026

Pastor Bill On Love Your Enemies

09/09/2026

What Counts

September 6, 2026
Romans 13: 8-14
Rev. William R. Wineke, preaching

Well, this past week truly seemed like a good week for getting angry.

Every day seemed to bring a new outrage from one source or another. The election season is here in earnest and this year it seems even meaner and pettier and less relevant to anything that really bothers me than the usual campaign season is.

Not only that, but the talking heads I spend my spare time watching on tv shows have gotten bored with the mid-term elections and have turned their sights on 2028.

And it is still hot – or, at least, it was still hot yesterday. Yesterday when I cut my grass for the second time this week.

Also, every three months I have to pay my estimated quarterly income taxes and September is the third installment period and this week is the week I have to pay.

I can find other things to gripe about, too. Thursday morning, as I was getting ready to go to my bi-weekly get-in-shape class at Anytime Fitness – the one where the 21=year old instructor looks at my fumbling efforts to get down on the floor and says “Good Job!” in the same time I use when Orca actually sits on command – as I was getting ready to leave I noticed only one of my gym shoes was next to the bag.

Orca had eaten the second one.

Orca, as I think you know, is Jackie's new dog.

I had asked Jackie to find a small dog because we are old and I wanted a dog we could take to the senior apartment when we could no longer care for our home-- which was, to be honest, a couple of years ago.

Jackie went to the Humane Society and came home with a 60-pound Malamute, a huge, furry black dog with a white face. My grandson, Will, saw a photo of him and said “He looks like an Orca,” and that became his name.

An orca is a killer whale and our Orca is just about the same size as a killer whale.

Orca eats everything.

I was not pleased.

I had a lot to be unhappy about. And, then, I read this morning's scripture lesson from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

“Another reason for right living is that you know how late it is. Time is running out. Wake up, for the time for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

“What are you doing?!” Paul asks. “If it turns out this is your last day on earth, is this the way you want to spend it?”

I don't know. It spoke to me. I suspect it speaks to you.

Every minute that I spend yelling at the TV screen or typing a nasty retort to someone who posts on Twitter (I refuse to call it X, though Elon Musk probably doesn't lose sleep over my defiance), every minute I waste on anger and self-righteousness is a minute I could have used to make the world a better place.

I really could.

It's not that I can endow a university or find a cure for cancer. My abilities to improve the world are less grandiose than that. But I could send a note to a friend, write a check to a charity, even give Orca a bone.

I mean, I really could. I could do little things that actually creates an atmosphere of happiness, at least on a little scale.

In fact, sometimes I do do good things and it actually does seem to make the world a little happier. Or, at least, it makes me a little happier.

But, I get caught up in the aggravation and, before I know it, I am spreading unhappiness in my wake.

So, what does Paul really say about all this?

“Pay all your debts except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying for that! And, if you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's Law...Love does no wrong to anyone so love satisfies all of God's requirements.”

I know. It can sound trite. To go around talking about loving your neighbor when the world is going to hell in a hand basket just seems too mealy mouthed to be worth considering.

But, honestly, isn't that where we hope to end up?

Isn't our goal really to create a world where neighbors love one another, where injustice is not only stopped but isn't even a consideration? Isn't our goal a country where we can disagree respectfully and try to find the best in one another? Wouldn't we like to live in a world like that?

Well, Paul says, don't make that just a hope, make it a first step.

Love your neighbor. Even if your neighbor doesn't love you back, you have done your part to create a new world. Don't demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Instead, turn the other cheek.

Every time you do something crazy like that, the world becomes a kinder place. Every time you do something like that, the Kingdom of God becomes more evident.

Because, honestly, I can't make my neighbor a better person. But I can make myself a better person and that's all God really requires of me.

That is the Good News. Thanks be to God!

09/07/2026

To schedule an appointment:
https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html

09/06/2026

Sunday Worship September 6, 2026 with Pastor Bill Wineke

09/04/2026

09/03/2026

Pastor Bill On Labor Day

08/31/2026

Dolly

August 30, 2026
Romans 12: 9-21
Rev. William R. Wineke, preaching

Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. – Romans 12: 8

I guess we all felt we knew Dolly Parton and, I would guess, we were all shocked last week when we learned of her death.

It's not that she was too young to die. She was 80 and, while that might seem young to most of us, it is a ripe old age.

It's just that she always seemed so alive and enthusiastic about life. She said she never got offended if someone called her a dumb blonde because she knew she wasn't dumb – and she also knew she wasn't blonde.

And, of course, with the help of plastic surgery, expensive wigs, expert makeup and, maybe a gauze filter, she certainly didn't look 80.

On the other hand, you could give me an expensive wig, expert makeup, plastic surgery and a gauze filter and I still wouldn't look like Dolly Parton.

Well, anyway, Dolly was an American icon and, when news of her death was divulged, we were treated to almost nonstop reports of her skills as a song writer, as an actress, as a humanitarian.

What most impressed me, however, was what happened a couple of days later.

With important people, that's about the time the rest of the story starts coming to light, when we start seeing reports of the dark side of the luminary.

What happened with Dolly Parton, however, was the opposite of that.

What happened is that we started seeing stories about how kind she was to little people, people she helped when her publicist was off duty.

There was a little Wisconsin girl who attended a concert as part of the Make a Wish Foundation program. Dolly not only met with her privately before the concert, but she made the girl the center of the concert, acknowledging her over and over and changing the lyrics to “Jolene, Jolene” to fit the girl's name.

There was a young woman who was assigned to Parton as a temporary personal assistant on the set of a movie. That's kind of a go-fer job, fun while it lasts but. . .temporary.

Except, when the movie ended, Parton bought the temp a first-class ticket back to her native Los Angeles and accompanied her on the trip, became a lifelong friend, attended the girl's wedding and became an honorary aunt to her children.

When the cameras were not recording, Dolly was, apparently, Dolly.

Which leads me to a question that may be pertinent to each of us, especially to those of us who consider Dolly Parton to have died young: When it is our time to go, how would we like to be remembered?

For our accomplishments and achievements?

Or, perhaps, for our kindness and generosity of spirit.

Paul had something to say about that in this morning's scripture.

It was recommended generations ago for this Sunday and our bulletin, containing the scripture reference, was printed before anyone learned of Parton's demise.

But, just listen one more time to St. Paul's admonition to the Christians in Rome:

“Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

“Be glad for all that God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble and always be prayerful. When God's children are in need, be the one who helps them out.”
You know, if you read the Epistles you can sometimes get quite frustrated with Paul.

He doesn't teach like Jesus. He doesn't use parables or subtle humor to get his case across. He's often judgmental and he is often subject to self-pity.

And, of course, there's the problem that Paul pretty much just promoted himself into the ranks of church leadership. I mean, he never even met Jesus and, yet, here he is writing a good part of the New Testament, telling wives to obey their husbands and women to cover their heads in church.

We can find lots of things in Paul's writings that make us uncomfortable.

Those of us in the God business often spend too much times trying to find reasons why Paul isn't as offensive as some of his writings might seem, especially those writings that tell us not to do what we want to do.

But, if you look at the underlying thread of Paul's advice to new Christians, it is pretty simple:” God loves you, even when you may not be able to love yourself. Take that love and share it with the next person you encounter.

“Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!”

That seems to be pretty much the way Dolly Parton lived. She was born in deep poverty, with 11 brothers and sisters, living in a house without electricity or running water, surrounded by people she loved.

She died in a Tennessee estate worth about $10 million surrounded by people she loved. She wasn't some St. Francis of Assisi who have everything he had to the poor. She liked being wealthy; but she seemed to know when she had enough.

That's important.

We live in a time when tinsel and glitter are everything. Billionaires buy yachts so large that the need second yachts just to serve the big ones. All the time immigration police wait at school bus stops and arrest parents as soon as the bus departs.

The nation's capitol city is being covered with gold and the enchantment with money is as strong among Democrat leaders as it is with Republicans – and farm bankruptcies are reading new levels out in the hinterlands.

But it doesn't make any difference in the long run. In the long run, we all die.

So, the question is, when you die would you like those who know you to remember the size of your yacht or tell stories about how kind you were.

That's the question Paul is posing.

That's the Good News. Thanks be to God!