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Welcome and Theme
Welcome, friends, as we gather as a community of faith. Let us take a moment of gratitude as we sit in one another’s company.
Opening Prayer
Holy One, we know that you are Love, and out of the Love that is your very self you have made this universe and set it on a course that leads back to you. Help us to recognize your Love in all that we see. Help us to use the Love you have entrusted to us to right the course of our own lives and to reach out to those in need. Amen.
Opening Song: Behold Now the Kingdom, John Michael Talbot
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: From Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, September 15, 2026, “A Choice for Love”
Jesus says, “I’ll be with you only a little while longer, so I’m going to leave a sign that I’m still here. I’m going to reveal myself in the presence of loving people” (John 13:33–35, Richard’s paraphrase). That’s the only way anyone can know God. If we’ve never let anyone love us, and if we’ve never let love flow through us—gratuitously, generously, undeservedly—toward others, then we can’t possibly know who God is. God is just a theory or abstraction. If “God is love” (1 John 4:8) then those who live in love, live in God, and know God experientially. There’s no other way we can know who God is—or who we truly are—but to love and be loved. Take that as an absolute!
We affirm these words of Richard Rohr with Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia by Jan Phillips
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one--
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two.
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master's money.
"After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward
bringing the additional five.
He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.'
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
'Master, you gave me two talents.
See, I have made two more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.'
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
'Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.'
His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter?
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"
This is the Gospel from the writer we know as Matthew. We affirm his words with "Amen."
Homily Starter:
What on earth could our first reading have to do with the second? What could this difficult parable have to do with love? A harsh landowner, two financially canny servants who through market trading doubled and quintupled the funds entrusted to them, and one frightened servant who buried his share, and was harshly thrown off the master’s land. And Jesus tells his listeners that the Kin-dom of heaven is like this?
This parable, so full of thorns and prickers, is part of a series of prickly parables in Matthew 25, the others being the Ten Virgins and the Sheep and the Goats. Jesus introduces the group of parables this way: “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like…”
The gospel of Matthew was written 20 or 30 years after the death of Jesus, and primarily for Jewish followers of Jesus, not gentiles. It was written during the Roman occupation, but before the destruction of the Temple in the year 70AD. The audience that Matthew is addressing is clinging to the idea of Jesus as Messiah, the one who will finally replace the “Evil Empire” with the Kingdom of God. This heavenly kingdom would be revealed by the physical return of Jesus, who would then judge who qualifies to enter into it.
Many scholars, including the scholars of The Jesus Seminar, are skeptical that Jesus even spoke the parables in Matthew 25. Regardless, I know that for some of us, the idea of Jesus returning may be a strong tenet of faith. For others, it may not. I am not here to argue either way on this, and I would like to offer an interpretation of this gospel which I think might make sense to anyone, whether they believe in the second coming or not. And importantly, I think that whether Jesus spoke the parable or not, the story reflects a truth based on the broader message of Jesus, which is love.
We know that fundamentally, Jesus preached the nearness of God’s realm here on earth. It was “at hand.” Not far off, not somewhere in the sky, but right here, very close. And we know that for Jesus, paramount to bringing that Kin-dom to full reality was love. Loving our neighbor. Loving God. Love, and acts of love, are the building blocks of the Kin-dom, and it is up to each person to use the love we have to build it, to make it a reality.
So, back to the prickly parable, which may, or may not have been spoken by Jesus. Could the treasure given to each of the servants represent the material needed to build the kin-dom? Is this story all about what we do with the love we are given? With the love we are made from? Is it really a love story after all?
Do the servants who multiply the love they are entrusted with at birth help bring the Kin-dom to fruition? And in so doing, are they able to see and experience God’s Kin-dom in their lives? Does the love they multiply make the love of God visible in their daily experiences? What about the servant who hides his share of love, who buries it so deep it becomes hard and inaccessible? Does that servant miss out on participating in the Kin-dom because he has lost touch with any love he once had? Are we, as human beings, so called to act in love that without those acts, we become blind to the possibility of God’s Kin-dom as it grows all around us? Without love do we miss out on the smile of the checkout girl as she greets us? Without love do we pass by the brightness of falling autumn leaves without really seeing them? Without love are we deaf to the melody of birdsong or a kind word spoken in passing? Is love a substance that only grows when used repeatedly? And if we don’t use the love we’ve been given, do we bury our spirits in the same darkness in which we have buried our love? Richard Rohr tells us that love is the only way to know God. So, does it follow that to bury love is to bury the knowledge of God and God’s Kin-dom?
The Kin-dom of heaven is at hand. Maybe love is both the material we need to build it and the lens we need to see what has already been built.
What do you think? I challenge us to a discussion of this difficult gospel. I think that’s what parables are all about. Please share your thoughts.
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that we are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for this sacred meal we bring to this table our prayers for the community.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Peter Mayer shortened
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing:
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would re-member him.
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are called, consecrated and chosen to serve.
Please receive Communion with the words, “Love is building the Kin-dom.”
Communion Song: The Face of God by Karen Drucker
https://youtu.be/rH-BKtAP2q4?si=VIsuHJ-A8rYhMTIE
Prayer after communion
Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Please raise your hands in blessing:
May we be blessed with the wisdom of your love. May we witness your Kin-dom as we build it, one loving action at a time. May we be a blessing in our time.
Closing Song: Be Our Vision Now by Andra Moran https://youtu.be/PbC70zhj12c?si=61RjEkKGcfYPWHh5
References
For further reading on Jesus Seminar:
https://www.westarinstitute.org/seminars/jesus-seminar-phase-1-sayings-of-jesus
Amy Jill Leving, Short Stories by Jesus: The enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi
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