Month: October 2026

Something to Eat

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Something to Eat” Matthew 14:13-21

If your last trip to the grocery store left you scratching your head and wondering where the money goes, you are not alone. U.S. consumer prices rose 3.4% between August 2025 and August 2026 with a number of economic factors contributing to that spike. Gasoline prices were up 27.4%. The median U.S. rent is now $1,965 a month. That’s 44% higher than in January 2019. Grocery prices have climbed roughly 32% since early 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those rising costs are a contributing factor when it comes to hunger across the country and in our community. Almost 48 million Americans are food insecure. That means family meals are regularly skipped because they lack the resources to put food on the table. That’s driven by those higher food prices and the loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. 3.5 million Americans lost SNAP benefits due to budgetary cuts in 2025—the steepest decline in thirty years. 14 million children in our country are food insecure. 12 million older adults and seniors also face food insecurity. Twenty-five million people are food insecure because they work in low wage jobs—they earn too much to qualify for assistance, but they can’t put food on the table. Fifty million people each year depend upon food banks and local food pantries, like the Saranac Lake Interfaith Food Pantry downstairs. In Franklin County, 15.1% of our neighbors and 20% of our children are food insecure.

Hunger is a global problem. Two billion people in our world are food-insecure. 266 million of them are “extremely hungry”—that means they cannot get enough food to meet their most basic nutritional needs. 65% of those hungry people live in conflict afflicted areas, from the 1.4 million people of Gaza to the 19 million Sudanese who have been driven from their homes by civil war to the 2 million Ukrainians who need food assistance due to the ongoing war with Russia. The majority of hungry people in our world—60%—are women and girls because they eat last and get least. Drastic cuts to global humanitarian funding have exacerbated the problem. U.S. support for hunger relief dropped from approximately $14 billion to only $3.7 billion between 2024 and 2025.

Whether we are feeling the pinch at the grocery checkout, or we are volunteering at the food pantry, or we simply keep an eye on the world news, we know that hunger is a problem, right here at home and for our global neighbors.

Jesus had something to say about hungry neighbors. The Lord was in search of a quiet place to pray and mourn the death of his cousin John the Baptist when his day was hijacked by the needs of the crowd. On foot they followed him to a deserted place. They needed his help. All day long, he compassionately ministered to them. He returned mobility to paralyzed limbs, restored sight to blind eyes, cast out demons, and cleansed lepers. All who came were welcomed and blessed and healed.

But as sun sank and the shadows grew long over the land, the disciples saw a problem. All those people in such a remote place needed to eat. “Jesus,” they appealed to their master, “let’s dismiss them with your blessing so that they can return home or seek food elsewhere.” It was a good idea, but Jesus had an even better one. He pointed to his twelve disciples saying, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

There wasn’t enough. Five barley loaves, two dried fish. The disciples couldn’t feed themselves, let alone 5,000 guests. But they placed their meager provisions in the hands of Jesus and trusted that something good could happen. Like a host presiding at a banquet, Jesus blessed their little bit. Then, he put them to work as servants, going forth into the expectant and hungry crowd.

Somehow, there was enough. The more they shared, the more there was! Later, as night fell in that wilderness place, the people reclined with full bellies around their camp fires and rejoiced in the Lord who helps and heals and feeds. The disciples rejoiced, too, as they gathered up the miraculous leftovers—12 baskets full—and celebrated that their little bit and their helping hands made a difference.

The people of Church World Service have more than seventy years of experience in answering the invitation of Jesus to give hungry people something to eat. It started in the wake of the Second World War, when there was mass hunger across the conflict-devastated global landscape. Seventeen Christian denominations came together to do in partnership what they could not do alone. In those early days, they mobilized more than 11 million pounds of food, clothing, and medical supplies to help neighbors in Europe and Asia. Once that need was met, they kept going, responding to hunger crises across the decades in places like Cuba, Ethiopia, and Haiti. Over the years, their focus has grown from meeting immediate food crises to equipping families all over the world to put food on the table, connect to clean water, and build the businesses they need to thrive.

One of the places that Church World Service is at work to equip people to meet their nutritional needs is the Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania. The camp was established in 1996 by the U.N. and the Tanzanian government to house Congolese refugees fleeing civil war. Nyarugusu is home to 137,000 people who contend with hunger and instability. One of those residents is 34-year-old Francois, who earned his living as a fisherman on Lake Kivu before being forced to flee with his eleven family members. There are no waters to fish in the refugee camp, but Francois has found a new way to support his family through sustainable agriculture programs offered by Church World Service. Francois learned to plant and tend crops, many of which he had never tried in Congo. His wife joined him in their new business. They produced both vegetables and seeds, which they ate and sold to neighbors and local restaurant owners to earn additional income. With the support of CWS, Francois and his family went from fishermen to farmers and became leaders in their community as they shared what they learned and trained others to garden.

Another neighbor in the Nyarugusu Refugee Camp is Matisho Justina. Matisho participated in the CWS Wezesha Project, an initiative that equips refugees with essential skills in agriculture, nutrition, and tree planting. Because of her love for fresh fruit and the scarcity of it in the camp, Matisho decided to focus her efforts on training in arbor culture—planting and tending trees. She learned in a tree nursery, where seedlings are cultivated and later distributed to participants. With patience and dedication, Matisho planted the little trees she received. Just nine months later, her once-barren garden transformed into a thriving orchard. Her success had a ripple effect on the community. Neighbors, motivated by the abundance in Matisho’s garden and the high cost of fruit in the camp, are now learning from her how to plant and tend their own trees. Matisho says, “Thanks to CWS… I am not only feeding my family with fresh homegrown fruits but also contributing to a shift in my community’s approach to sustainable agriculture.”

From fresh vegetables to fruit and beyond, Church World Service is answering the call of Jesus to give our global neighbors something to eat.

This church has partnered with Church World Service through the Saranac Lake CROP Walk for forty years. Today after church, walkers will take to the streets to raise awareness and funds to address local and global hunger. One-quarter of funds raised will stay local to feed our hungry neighbors through the Saranac Lake Interfaith Food Pantry. Three-quarters will benefit those 266 million world neighbors who are extremely hungry. Beyond meeting immediate hunger, we’ll be enhancing the capacity of those global neighbors to feed themselves, equipping them to thrive. Who is planning to walk today?

Church World Service won’t be the only one we’ll be partnering with today. We’ll be joining Jesus, who reminds us this morning that it is the call of faithful disciples to give our hungry neighbors something to eat. We trust that our little bit and our helping hands can make a surprising difference when placed in the hands of Jesus. Let’s lace up our shoes, hit the streets, and do just that.

Resources

Matt Skinner. “Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21” in Preaching This Week, August 2, 2026. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18/commentary-on-matthew-1413-21-7

Marilyn Salmon. “Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21” in Preaching This Week, August 2, 2026. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18/commentary-on-matthew-1413-21-3

World Data Staff. “US Prices Statistics 2026 | Inflation, Groceries, Rent, Gas, Food, Housing & Everyday Costs” in The World Data Insight Hub: Finance, Sept. 21, 2026. Accessed online at https://theworlddata.com/us-prices-statistics/

Northeast Regional Food Bank staff. “Food Insecurity by County.” Accessed online at https://regionalfoodbank.net/food-insecurity-by-county/

CWS Staff. “From Fisherman to Farmer: Rebuilding Food Security During the Lean Season in Tanzania” in CWS Stories, Sept. 8, 2026. Accessed online at https://cwsglobal.org/stories/from-fisherman-to-farmer-rebuilding-food-security-during-the-lean-season-in-tanzania/

CWS Staff. “From Seed to Sustenance: Matisho Justina’s Journey Toward a Thriving Future” in CWS Stories, June 12, 2025. Accessed online at https://cwsglobal.org/stories/from-seed-to-sustenance-matisho-justinas-journey-toward-a-thriving-future/

UN World Food Programme. “Causes of World Hunger.”  Accessed online at https://wfpuse.org/hunger

Feeding America. “Hunger in America.”  Accessed online at https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america

Matthew 14:13-21

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

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Invite Everyone

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Invite Everyone” Matthew 22:1-14

July third was the wedding of the decade as singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce tied the knot in Madison Square Garden with 1,000 of their closest friends in attendance. The bride and groom both wore white—a custom haute couture gown and a hand-stitched tuxedo by the fashion icons at Christian Dior. Tatytay’s ring featured an eight-carat Old Mine brilliant-cut diamond. In attendance? A who’s who of celebrities, from Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts to music icons Paul McCartney and Miranda Lambert to sports superstars Olympian Simone Beils and quarterback Tom Brady.

The dinner was sumptuous. Food stations served everything from steaks and seafood to burgers and fries. A dessert table featured no fewer than thirty cakes, along with Pop-Tarts, cookies, and an assortment of pastries. Multiple bars offered drinks, including 3 signature cocktails, specially crafted for the nuptials.

Taylor and Travis wanted everyone to rejoice with them, so they made $26 million in charitable gifts to food banks, children’s hospitals, educational programs, and an animal rescue organization. It was a party for the ages with music and dancing continuing into the early hours of the morning. Invitations were the hottest ticket in town. Even guests who love to spill the tea signed non-disclosure agreements and checked their cell phones at the door.

Jesus told a story about a wedding for the ages. The King’s son was tying the knot and no expense would be spared on the royal wedding. The marriage contract was signed. The rabbi was ready. The fatted calves would be roasted to perfection. The finest wines would be poured out. The musicians were tuning up. There would be dancing and singing and rejoicing all night long.

There was only one problem. The guests of honor wouldn’t come. In actions that were downright treasonous, they made excuses, then mistreated and murdered the King’s envoys. Once the rebellion was quashed, an entirely new guestlist was invited to the wedding banquet. Everyone. Literally, everyone, regardless of social standing, income, age, or ability got an invitation. In they came with great rejoicing, filling the courts of the king with loud shouts of “Huzzah!” and the sounds of celebration.

Jesus said that this story is about the Kingdom of Heaven. To understand his message, context is everything. As Jesus spoke those words, he was in Jerusalem at the Temple. Passover was near and pilgrims had flocked to the holy city from across the empire. Although Jesus found a warm welcome from the crowds who were eager to hear what he had to say, those who controlled the Temple—the chief priests, scribes, and influential elders of the Sanhedrin—were not so happy to see him. They questioned his authority, challenged his teachings, and tried to insinuate that he was a threat to the empire. Later that week, when Jesus finished spinning parables and interpreting scripture, those powerful opponents would put their heads together and plot his arrest and execution. On Friday, Jesus would hang upon the cross.

Considering that context, Jesus’ scary, exaggerated story of a fabulous wedding feast, rebellious subjects, and an angry king becomes a thinly veiled critique of the wealthy and powerful Temple elite, who were planning his demise. Jesus began his public ministry with the words, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” Now as his public ministry came to a close, he used this Kingdom parable to challenge those who would deny and murder him. Jesus was saying, “Open your eyes, people. Don’t you know the bridegroom when you see him? God’s banquet is in full swing. You are meant to be honored guests. Get over yourselves, come on in, and celebrate with me.”

When we hear Jesus’ story, we are tempted to pass judgment. We shake our heads and tsk, tsk, tsk over those first century insiders who were blind to the work of God and the presence of the Kingdom. We are tempted to pass judgment on people here and now, too, like our atheist neighbors who think our convictions of faith are stuff and nonsense. It’s tempting to pass judgment on the powerful elite of our day, who are too busy building their own kingdoms to serve God’s Kingdom. It’s tempting to pass judgment on contemporary Christians who are eager for the Kingdom, but can’t be bothered to serve it, who can’t be bothered to clothe themselves in the wedding garment of love, compassion, justice, and humility.

But I suspect that we’ve all had moments when we have received the King’s invitation and allowed it to go unanswered. Our calendars are crowded, and it’s hard to make time for Jesus in our busy schedules. We skip church, forego Bible Study, and fall asleep at night before we can say our prayers. Some days, we struggle to allow the King to have authority in our lives. Afterall, we have big commitments to work, family, and community that demand our time and our better selves. Maybe we can sprinkle the King around the edges of all that important stuff. We may even be ashamed of the gospel. We play down our convictions of faith. Our neighbors may know us as parents, grandparents, teachers, healthcare providers, retirees, or Ice Palace Workers, but do they know we are Christians?  Do we acknowledge that the most important relationship that we will ever have is our relationship with God through Christ?  Do we see that the most important mission that we will ever have is to forge a world where the limitless love of God is known by all? 

We say, “No,” to the Kingdom. Given enough time and enough “Nos,” our life begins to feel like we’re living in that burned-out city or that outer darkness of bitter tears and gnashing teeth that Jesus talked about in his parable.

But if we listen with the ears of our hearts this morning, we can hear it. The Wedding Feast is on. The bridegroom is here. There is a place at the banquet table with our name on it. There is room on the dance floor for all who will put on their boogie shoes. Won’t we join Jesus in the celebration? Won’t we join him in making the Kingdom of God come alive for our community? We are all invited, my friends. Everyone. How will we respond?

We’ll say “yes” to the King by feeding hungry people. 47.9 million Americans experience food insecurity. That means they will lack reliable access to sufficient food this year. With rising food prices, that number is also rising. Globally more than two billion people are hungry. Whether we lace up our shoes and walk in the CROP Walk, bring peanut butter and jelly to the Food Pantry collection bin, glean potatoes, or donate two-cents-a-meal, we will say “yes” to the King’s invitation.

I hope that a couple of you will say “yes” to the King’s invitation by sharing a story about your life of faith on Reformation Sunday. In what has become one of our favorite Sundays of the year, we listen deeply to stories of those blessed moments in life when we have known the goodness of the Lord. It could be a story of a life lesson learned. It could be a story of a challenge overcome. It could be a story of the surprising Jesus, who comes to us in the guise of a needy neighbor, a child, a wise mentor, or even the good creation. Your “yes” will inspire all our “yeses” as we consider how we will make a Kingdom difference through the church in 2027.

Our “yes” to the King could look a lot like Christian caring. We’ll visit with a lonely neighbor. We’ll listen compassionately as a friend shares their struggles. We’ll extend a kind invitation for a meal or a walk or a church service. Perhaps we’ll gift a prayer bear, some flowers, or a prayer shawl to someone who needs love. We’ll pray for others, inviting the King to be present and powerful for those who feel alone and powerless.

All those “yeses” will serve the Kingdom. All those “yeses” will nudge this fearful and broken world a little closer to the beautiful feast in the Kingdom of God. All those “yeses” are like being an honored guest at the wedding of the decade, at a wedding for the ages. My friends, the table is set. The savory smells of the feast waft from the kitchen. The dessert table beckons. The champagne is about to be poured. The musicians are tuning up. Consider this your royal invitation.

Resources

David Lose. “Preaching an Ugly Parable” in …in the Mean Time, October 6, 2014.  Accessed on-line at http://www.davidlose.net/2014/10/pentecost-18-a-preaching-an-ugly-parable/

Lance Pape. “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14” in Preaching This Week, October 12, 2014.  Accessed on-line at http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2204

Carolyn J. Sharp. “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14” in Preaching This Week, October 11, 2026.  Accessed on-line at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28/commentary-on-matthew-221-14-10

Rachel DeSantis. “Taylor Swift Found ‘Happily Ever After’ with Travis Kelce. All the Details from the ‘Fairy-Tale’ Wedding” in People, July 7, 2026. Accessed online at https://people.com/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-all-the-details-fairy-tale-wedding-exclusive-12013138

Editors. “They’re Married! Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Wedding Details” in The Knot, July 7, 2026. Accessed online at https://www.theknot.com/content/taylor-swift-wedding

Matthew 22:1-14

22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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Bear with Me

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Bear with Me” 1 Cor. 1:10-18, Eph. 4:1-3

Wherever two or more are gathered, we can trust that there will likely be a quarrel. We may like one another well enough now, but this church has a uniquely fractious history. It dates to our earliest years. In July of 1890, Rev. Richard McCarthy and the seventeen original members, listed on that oak plaque on the back wall of the sanctuary, planted this church as a mission outreach of the Champlain Presbytery. It was a bold statement of unity in a gospel purpose.  Yet three years later in a bitterly disputed meeting, the church voted to oust Rev. McCarthy. The meeting wasn’t pretty. One faction called for the pastor’s termination while the other rallied to his defense. One member called for the disallowance of some votes because those members had not attended church enough in the past year. The split was over different visions of mission. McCarthy and his supporters embraced their original purpose of outreach, planting churches from Saranac Lake all the way to Star Lake. But McCarthy’s opponents wanted a minister who spent less time on the road and more time ministering to this congregation.

Twenty-four years later in 1917, we were at it again. This time, we put up our dukes over whether our nation should be embroiled in the Great War in Europe. Our minister at the time was the youthful Rev. Roy Chamberlin. He was a Christian pacifist. When he passionately shared his non-violent views at a village gathering in the Harrietstown Hall, all you-know-what broke loose in the community. Some were ready to tar and feather the minister and ride him out of town on a rail. The church split down the middle on the future of their pastor. His job was preserved only through the advocacy of a few influential members, but that didn’t put out our fire. The crisis resolved the following year when Chamberlin enlisted in the war effort as a chaplain and sailed for Europe, leaving his wife and baby behind in the manse.

Even our peaceful times are often beset by conflict. The late Jan Bristol told me that Rev. Gurley, who served the church for twenty years, dealt with division. In fact, the session was once so angry at him that they changed the church locks and refused to give him a key. Later, Rev. Meacham, who served us during the expansion of our building to include the Great Hall and downstairs classrooms, would become so incensed at session meetings that he would stand up and walk out, leaving the elders to moderate themselves. Not long before I came, the pastorate of Rev. Monts sparked factions and deep divisions that threatened the very future of the church. Jesus promised that where two or more are gathered in his name, he is present. Boy, do we need his help.

We aren’t the only people to be prone to conflict. The Apostle Paul made a hopeful beginning when he planted a church in Corinth. His successor Apollos did his best to water that spiritual garden. Even so, the folks in Corinth couldn’t get along. They quarreled about whether it was better to have been evangelized by Paul or Apollos or Peter. They disputed which spiritual gifts were best. They couldn’t agree if it was appropriate to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols and purchased in pagan meat markets. They argued about whether people should wear head coverings in worship. They brought civil lawsuits against one another. They challenged Paul’s apostolic authority, questioning whether he had the right credentials to lead the church. They even fought about what we might presume would be their rite of greatest unity—the Lord’s Supper. It was so bad that Chloe’s people wrote to Paul, asking him to intercede and resolve their differences.

When Paul wrote his Corinthian friends in response, he reminded them of the unity they were called to in Christ. Afterall, Christ was not divided. Jesus had reached out and ministered to diverse neighbors without prejudice or exclusion. He sat at the dinner tables of pious Pharisees and the scandalous table of tax collector Zacchaeus. He healed the Jewish mother of his friend Peter, the daughter of a Canaanite enemy, the daughter of a synagogue leader, and even the slave of a Roman centurion. He preached amid the most prestigious rabbis of his day on the teaching steps of the Jerusalem Temple, and he preached on a mountainside, surrounded by poor peasants desperately seeking good news. Christ loved and welcomed all.

Paul saw in the cross the means of overcoming our deep divisions. On the cross, a Roman weapon of brutal execution and mass intimidation, God chose to die for us, praying even for those who tortured and murdered him. God took the cross and transformed it from a weapon of hate to a symbol of limitless love and reconciliation. Through Jesus’ choice to suffer and die on the cross, we learn of God’s infinite love for a broken world, a broken world where we would rather put up our dukes than sit down to the table of peace. Paul reminds the church that we are part of the body of Christ, and when we choose to fight and scratch, belittle and hate, ostracize and alienate, we wound the holy unity that Jesus died for.

We live in times that feel uniquely fractious, maybe even a little like the Corinthians squabbling about everything from leadership to the food we eat. This morning, Republican supporters are on the road between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid in tricked out trucks and patriotic cars tooting horns and championing the cause of their favorite candidates. On the seventeenth, folks who disagree with those convictions will rally in Riverside Park, waving signs, wearing inflatable costumes, and calling for a different agenda. We label one another: Libtards and Dumocrats, MAGA maniacs and fascists. We would rather put up our dukes than sit down to the table of peace. Paul speaks to us still. “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.”

The healing of divisions in churches or society isn’t easy. In fact, it is the most courageous and dangerous calling of all. Just ask Jesus. The way forward is found not in the forming of factions and the insistence that we are right. The way forward is found in the words that the apostle spoke to the Ephesians, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Healing begins only when we truly accept God’s limitless love for all people. It begins when we follow in Jesus’s way of reaching out across difference to accept others as God-given neighbors. It begins with listening deeply, sharing gently and honestly, seeking the wholeness and healing of a hurting world. We at the Presbyterian Church, who are veterans scarred by the wounds of 136 years of conflicts overcome, have a special calling to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Can we dare to be leaders, not in division but in reconciliation and mutual respect?

If we go on to read Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we learn that Paul’s argument about the unity that must be found in Christ and the power of the cross was convincing for the church. The Corinthian saints felt a “godly grief” and repented of their fractious ways. They forgave and consoled one another. They lived with the Spirit of the living God written upon the tablets of their hearts. They made room in those hearts for Paul and one another. They exceled in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in eagerness, and generosity to those in need. They found a renewed zeal for the gospel that made Paul proud. May the same be said of us.

Resources

Brian Peterson. “Commentary on Eph. 4:1-16” in Preaching This Week, August 5, 2018. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-2/commentary-on-ephesians-41-16-4

Sarah Henrich.  “Commentary on Eph. 4:1-16” in Preaching This Week, August 2, 2015. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-2/commentary-on-ephesians-41-16-5

Bryan J. Whitfield. “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18” in Preaching This Week, Jan. 25, 2026. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-1-corinthians-110-18-7

Jane Lancaster Patterson. “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18” in Preaching This Week, Jan. 26, 2020. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-1-corinthians-110-18-5

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God[a] that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

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