08/29/2026
CALL TO WORSHIP ⛪ Come, follow Jesus.
🌼 We are offering mums for sale again. Orders and payment need to be in by next Sunday, September 6. Order forms are at the church now and are posted on this page.
🏫We pray for the students and staff starting a new school year that everyone has a safe and productive year.
🔥14th Sunday after Pentecost
Overview for Today
When Peter doesn’t grasp Jesus’ words about suffering, Jesus tells the disciples they will find their lives in losing them. Such sacrificial love is described by Paul when he urges us to associate with the lowly and not repay evil with evil. In worship we gather as a community that we might offer ourselves for the sake of our suffering world.
📚 Discipleship lessons
School has just started in many places. Matthew 16 marks a new beginning in the disciples’ education. Having undergone the lower elementary lessons of “kingdom theology,” they were now candidates for the upper elementary lessons of “cross theology.” “From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering … and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Never was anything said like this before. Never did the Bible say it was the Messiah who had to die and suffer. “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” Give Peter an “A” in Bible history and for openly admitting he did not care for this new course of study. Give Peter an “F” in divine economics and for failing to catch on to the necessity of it. The path to glory involves a cross both for Jesus and his disciples. Ignore that and even the most vocal, rock-like, well-intentioned disciple can become a stumbling stone.
Here Jesus nails himself to a page from the suffering servant imagery of Isaiah, inspired by the life of Jeremiah—a prophetic cross-bearer if there ever was one—although his call for vengeance must be countered by Christ’s call for redeeming grace. The self-denying, cross-determined life style of a Christian is spelled out by the apostle Paul in Romans 12. Genuine love. Mutual affection. Joyous hope. Patient suffering. Prayerful perseverance. Contributions to the needy. Hospitality to strangers. Nonviolent resistance to persecution. And lots and lots of coal heaping by acts of kindness precisely to the people who we detest the most. The bottom line of his lesson book reads: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.” When it comes to discipleship, school is always in session.
✝ Jeremiah: The Book of Jeremiah contains six personal laments or complaints. Today’s reading is the second of these laments. Here the prophet complains that his faithful preaching of the Word of God has brought only angry violence from his hearers. While God responds with a promise of support, note that God does not promise that Jeremiah’s task will be easy or painless. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=465747691
✝ Psalm: Your love is before my eyes, I have walked faithfully with you. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=465747870
✝ Romans: Paul presents benchmarks for faithful relationships with Christians and non-Christians. Love is the unflagging standard of our behavior. When we encounter evil, we do not resort to its tactics but seek to overcome it with good. While Christians cannot control the actions and attitudes of others, we seek to live at peace with all people. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=560638556
✝ Matthew: After Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God (16:16),” Jesus reveals the ultimate purpose of his ministry. These words prove hard to accept, even for a disciple whom Jesus has called a “rock.” http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=560638661
🙏🏼 Prayer of the Day: O God, we thank you for your Son, who chose the path of suffering for the sake of the world. Humble us by his example, point us to the path of obedience, and give us strength to follow your commands, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
(Sundays & Seasons © Augsburg Fortress)
>>A Closer Look at…
🔍 Romans 16:21-28
Radical discipleship is on Paul's heart and mind as he continues to challenge the Christians in Rome to explore what it means to be "living sacrifices" (12:1) reminding his hearers that developing healthy relationships is at the heart of what kingdom life looks like. These relationships must be guided by the core principles of sincerity, generosity and hospitality—themes that will crop up again and again in his exhortations to the Early Church, often as a result of these principles not being lived out in practice.
Paul reflects further: it is one thing to love and serve those who are part of our community; it is quite another to take a further step and to practice these disciplines with those who are outside of that community—even to those who actively seek to make life difficult for us. Earlier in Romans, Paul has said that, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). This is the standard and this is the challenge. True discipleship is never about looking after those who are already on the inside.
So, in verses 14, 17, 20 and 21, we are presented with actions that must not be absent from those who would take up the challenge of the cross. Again, discipleship is not presented as straightforward. Paul concludes this section by stating, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." One commentator is reminded of Martin Luther King Jnr's words at a civil rights rally: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Our readings conclude with a clear and relevant call to the Church of today to follow the way of the cross. There is no other way.
(Rev Ken Brown, Mission Co-ordinator for the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian, www.churchofscotland.org.uk)
