09/10/2026
TITLE: Before Sunday Ep. 17: Forgiveness, Freedom, and the Parting Waters of Resentment
DESCRIPTION: Join St. John’s Cathedral’s Seminarian-in-Residence, Ed Daniels, Jr., with Dean Kate Moorehead Carroll for Before Sunday, a weekly conversation that looks ahead to the readings, the liturgy, and the questions shaping Sunday worship.
This week, we prepare for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, as St. John’s also celebrates Kick-Off and Cathedral School Sunday and continues its observance of the Season of Creation. Canon Mark Anderson will preach, while Dean Kate joins Ed to open up the readings and the theological questions they bring into worship.
In Exodus, God leads the Israelites through the divided sea and releases them from a power they could never defeat on their own. In Matthew’s Gospel, a servant is released from a debt he could never repay, yet refuses to extend mercy to someone else.
Dean Kate describes forgiveness as “a parting of the waters of resentment.” Together, she and Ed reflect on what we do with freedom once we have received it, why mercy does not automatically make us merciful, and how unforgiveness can become a prison within us.
The conversation also explores the difficult violence in the Exodus story, God’s presence before and behind us in times of suffering, the difference between forgiveness and continued access to someone who causes harm, and why forgiveness is ultimately a gift of grace for which we pray.
During the Season of Creation, Psalm 114 and Eucharistic Prayer C also remind us that creation is not simply the backdrop of salvation. The sea, rivers, mountains, earth, and “this fragile earth, our island home” all participate in the story of God’s presence and liberation.
Readings:
Lesson: Exodus 14:19–31
Psalm: Psalm 114
Gospel: Matthew 18:21–35
In this episode:
• Forgiveness as “a parting of the waters of resentment”
• What we do with freedom after we receive it
• God’s presence before us, behind us, and around us
• How to read the violence of the Exodus story faithfully
• Creation as part of God’s revelation, not simply a backdrop
• Peter’s question: “How often should I forgive?”
• Why receiving mercy does not automatically make us merciful
• Forgiveness without surrendering healthy boundaries
• The difference between releasing resentment and restoring a relationship
• How unforgiveness can become a prison within us
• Forgiveness as a gift of God’s grace
• A Sunday takeaway: allow God to part the waters of resentment and lead you toward freedom
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St. John’s Cathedral, Jacksonville, Florida
