Sermon Seeds There Among Them

Sunday, September 6, 2026
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost| Year A
(Liturgical Color: Green)
For those observing Creation in Christ Sunday, click here.

Lectionary Citations
Exodus 12:1-14 and Psalm 149 • Ezekiel 33:7-11 and Psalm 119:33-40 • Romans 13:8-14 • Matthew 18:15-20 https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=72&y=17134

Focus Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20
Focus Theme: There Among Them
Series: Faithful and Vital (Click here for the series overview.) 

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Have you ever been subjected to a lurker…that person who seems to be resent all the time, listening to your conversations, observing your interactions, and failing to read the signs you would like a little space? Maybe, you have been the lurker. You attended an event and did not know the people there. You do not thrive with small talk, and yet, you want to be present. You linger a little too long after the conversation you were part of has run its course. You may begin to feel like an eavesdropper or stalker. You struggle to think of a graceful way to exit without appearing rude or abrupt. Whatever the case, these encounters prove awkward.

The Holy One, as a companion, does not intrude as a lurker or cause the discomfort of a stalker. At the same time, God may disrupt our comfort zones, surprise us, and humble us with their presence in our lives. The biblical witness describes the presence of the Holy One in the cloud that descended from the holy mountain to meet Moses and deliver the message to the people. The divine presence was intimately known in the Garden with the first humans. The burning bush demonstrated the power of God. The falling manna and occasional quail manifested the provision of God. The words of the prophets communicated the heart and hurt of God to generations of peoples who struggled to follow the path of righteousness and to live up to the covenant with the Holy One.

Jesus comes to earth in the Incarnation as the ultimate demonstration of God’s desire and commitment to know humanity and the human condition for God’s self. At the same time, Jesus also demonstrates to humanity the relational nature of the divine. Holding both conditions at the same time, Jesus models the relational life that humans are created to live—in community.

chapter 18 begins the fourth teaching block in Matthew. This discourse is about the new community that is being formed. In chapters 14–17, Jesus has been preparing his disciples for ministry, gathering and instructing them. Others have rejected, opposed, or sought to domesticate Jesus. Still others have followed along in hopes of healing or feeding. The disciples stand out, not because they are perfect but because—frail and fallible though they be—they follow and are “on the way” to understanding. This discourse is directed to them (v. 1) as Jesus begins to form them into the new community that Matthew calls “the church.” Of all the Gospels, Matthew alone speaks explicitly of the church (16:18; 17:18; 18:15, 17, 21). This teaching block is about how to be the church and makes it clear that discipleship is not worked out in splendid isolation but in life together. – Anna Case-Winters

While the gospels recount instances when Jesus separated from the crowds and even the disciples in order to connect more deeply with the Source, that is also a communal act. The divine-human connection also forms a community as it shapes those who assemble together. It cannot substitute for human-human relationships. Both are needed and essential to the kindom of God. It is just one dual reality that the church must embrace to live fully as agents of the gospel and witnesses to the reign of God.

Now the chapter turns to matters of church discipline and calls, within the space of a few verses, for both accountability and forgiveness. On the face of it, these seem to be in opposition to one another, with accountability making demands and forgiveness issuing grace. It will become increasingly clear, however, that in the new community they require one another, and each has unexpected aspects of the other. Accountability (vv. 15–20) may entail gracious acts of truth-telling correction that aim to set things right, restoring both individuals and the community. Forgiveness places a claim on our lives, demanding that we extend to others the grace that we ourselves have received (vv. 16–35). – Anna Case Winters

These two flourish together. In fact, cultures of accountability and forgiveness treat them like communal partners in fostering healthy and thriving relationships. The truth telling, vulnerability, and receptivity necessary for real accountability form critical steps in forming an apology and seeking forgiveness. Accountability facilitates the wronged party being heard as they convey their truth, the harm done, and the repair required for them to be made as whole as possible. Without accountability, an apology can cause more harm than the original offense, and attempts at repair, if any exist, will seem empty and performative at best.

When accountability precedes and companions with the pursuit of forgiveness, the desired end widens beyond mere absolution—to repair of the broken relationship, restitution of what was lost by the offended party, and transformation of the offender.

When I served in re-entry ministry for formerly incarcerated persons, I studied restorative justice. It’s a system that de-emphasizes punishment and retribution in order to center victims’ needs and wholeness while holding the offender accountable for repair to the extent possible. This systems, implemented in local communities as well as certain countries, lead to increased safety, reduced recidivism, and greater satisfaction among victims and their families with the process. At the heart of restorative justice is the linkage between accountability and forgiveness, taught in the gospel text so aptly by Jesus as not only a model for the justice systems, but also for the church.

But, perhaps we discount the need for the church to be a justice and righteousness system. Jesus (and the Spirit) enter as Advocates and Judge so that humanity may find a way to live in wholeness with one another and all creation. The promise of Jesus’ presence when two or three are gathered in their name is to help lead and guide human relationships, to forge community, and to embrace the kindom God. The Holy Spirit, we proclaim, is always with us…even when we choose isolation or it is foisted upon us. But, when we gather, God is there binding us together, growing us in wisdom and compassion, care and accountability. In this way, at our best, our gatherings as the church serve as a public witness to the world that God is there among us.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
Excerpt of Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech as President of South Africa
“Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty.
Out of the experience of and extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for glorious life for all.
All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today.
To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change.
We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom.
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws no so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil.”

For Further Reflection
“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.” ― Jelaluddin Rumi
“Be here now.” ― Ram Dass
“Shrinking in a corner,
pressed into the wall;
do they know I’m present,
am I here at all?” ― Lang Leav

Works Cited
Case Winters, Anna. Matthew (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
For the season after Pentecost, the themes are derived from the categories of the Marks for Faithful and Vital Churches. Each subseries will invite engagement with one Mark within the category. Each local church should choose how this will be incorporated. (This could be a sermon talk-back from the lens of the Mark, a direct discussion on the Mark, a prayer or song that relates to the Mark.) The response may also be a call to action embedded in the sermon or the sending inviting engagement beyond worship.
Mark for Congregational Response: Nurturing gifts for ministry among lay people and equipping new generations of faith leaders.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources: https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/after-pentecost-15a-september-6/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.