Grits and the Gospel - October 11, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths Just really good to be with you today We are trying a little experiment here at the house Where we are bringing the outdoor cats in Because over the winter I bring them in when it's really cold and with a kitten in the house We just have to get them acclimated to each other. It's been a wild couple of days The boy cat the only boy in the house Is not one to go back outside he loves being an indoor cat so it's been an interesting ride here at Chateau Griffiths and Animal rescue so If you hear some things in the background, it is probably one of the animals Playing sneezing or snoring. So I apologize in advance for that But it regardless of any of that we are still surrounded by God's love and care and we are all God's creatures even the four-legged furry ones and it is good to be with you today a hope that with the impending storm coming through that you are safe and You have power and water and that you are happy and that you have weathered this storm that is coming through and Are are safe from it and I hope that on Sunday morning that we can all say the same thing here So with all of that being said Let us go now To a time of prayer and praise and worship on This 20th Sunday after Pentecost the Lord be with you and Also with you today's Epistle lesson is from the letter to the people of Philippi from Paul It is in the fourth chapter verses 1 through 9 here now the word of the Lord Therefore my brothers and sisters whom I love and long for my joy and crown Stand firm and the Lord in this way my beloved. I Urge Eudolia and I urge Sithich to be of the same mind of the Lord Yes, and I ask you also my loyal companion help these women For they have struggled beside me and the work of the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers Whose names are in the book of life? Rejoice and the Lord always again. I will say rejoice Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all Understanding will guard your hearts and your minds and Christ Jesus Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true. Whatever is honorable. Whatever is just whatever is pure Whatever is pleasing whatever is commendable There's any excellence and if there's anything worthy of praise think about these things as For the things that you have learned and received and heard notice in me do them and The God of peace will be with you Thus ends the first reading Let us come together now friends and be reminded of the things that we hold dear Those tenets of our faith those things we believe Friends, what is it that we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit Born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried The third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit The Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Let us pray together dear Lord we come to you today Dear Lord we come to you today Hopeful and humbled by your creation by the might and power that you Have created in this place The strong winds the mighty rains Help them be nourishing and not destructive this weekend Help them be renewing and not harsh We come to you together today as we pray those words that your son our Lord and Savior taught us to pray Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen Today's gospel lesson comes from the gospel according to matthew the 22nd chapter verses 1 through 14 here now the word of the Lord The parable of the unwelcome guest Once more jesus spoke to them in parables saying The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come Again, he sent other slaves saying tell those who have been invited look I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatty calves and have been slaughtered and everything is ready Come to the wedding banquet But they made light of it and went away one to his farm another to his business while the rest seized his slaves Mistreated them and killed them The king was enraged He sent his troops destroyed those murders and burned their city Then he said to his slaves the wedding is ready, but those invited are not worthy Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find To the wedding banquet The slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found both good and bad So the wedding hall was filled with guests But when the king came in to see the guest he noticed that a man there was not wearing a wedding robe And he said to him friend. How did you get in here without a wedding robe? And he was speechless Then the king said to the attendant to bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth For many are called But few are chosen The word of god for us the people of god. Thanks be to god Would you pray with me? Dear lord as we come together today, just let us hear this Ideal that paul holds true of being gentle and not being anxious Help us find ways to live into that dream of peace in our lives and peace in our neighborhoods Hear us now As we come to you just humbled Asking for forgiveness And love Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord Our strength in our redeemer amen This sermon is a do as I say and not as I do kind of sermon This sermon is one that I needed to write and hear and speak to help my own self What I hope is that every week god uses the lessons that she is teaching me To help someone else as well I love the show ted lasso We thought it would just be three seasons and done about an american football coach who runs from his problems in kansas To become a fish out of water english football coach in richmond england those Three seasons are a masterful retelling of the wizard of eye story where ted has to run away from So he can find his way home This new season starts the story of the ufc richmond women's football team It deals with a lot of issues that face the club including an attempt at a hostile takeover The pay disparity between men's and women's sports love relationships fathers and sons New life morning sickness new job opportunities And even death There's a lot for the characters To be anxious about At the end of this season rebecca the strong and amazing owner of the team has a revelation About her own life that seems to resonate with what is happening in the world today She says this spoiler alerts ahead Do you know how may died She died doing what she loved the rest of us are still in it aren't we we laugh we hurt we fall We get back up We're a mess and that is fantastic because Being messy Just means being alive And we could all do With being a bit more alive So what are we waiting for it takes a while? But she finally sees what paul is trying to tell the people of philip eye life Is messy Paul is in prison when he writes this letter his life is messy He can identify what the people are trying to figure out this new church and this new life together and even what the death of jesus means What he's telling them is that you can see it as something to be anxious about Or you can see it as something fantastic Life Is always Messy Sometimes the mess seems more difficult than others But it's always there The question is how do we live in the mess? In this part of the letter, I think paul gives several things for the people of philip eye and us for And for us today as well to learn from Three things stand out to me three Things that I need to hear for myself first Surround yourself with people you love and trust Paul names several people by name and this is where we get to redeem paul a little bit He names two women who he served with Eudoia and syneth Aren't they amazing names? Not only is he encouraging to them, but encouraging others to help them He says help these women For they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel Encouragement and working together struggling together builds bonds strong and it builds community I found that in my own life in ministry. I need Lots of people in many different boats with me I need my lifelong friends that know my history to help when things come back to the surface from long time ago I need friends who have struggled with me through relationships and been there for laughter and tears To help me when hard things happen I need people who are new to my tribe of friends to be close by when I need a moment away I need my colleagues in the united methodist church who are going through the same ordination process I am or that have done it successfully We need friends and neighbors when things get hard in our town and in our country paul needed people jesus needed people Whether some church goers want to admit it or not a lot of these people were women And men like clement and many other co-workers that are in the book of life We cannot do this alone. We are not Made to do it alone That's partially why I love our benediction we are not alone We have god and we have the saints and we have each other The second thing is to rejoice and look these next two are not easy It is difficult to rejoice in the midst of a storm While I love a good october hell at the moon twirl under the stars moment It's hard to do when there's lightning and thunder it's hard to rejoice when you think you might drown It is hard to sing when your heart is broken for your neighbors It is hard to clap your hands and praise when a woman is assaulted for hours On end and every system fails her until the world has to step in But that's exactly what we're called to do Rejoice in the lord always again. I will say rejoice Maybe rejoicing We can take the focus off of the hard things around us And focus on something positive Maybe by rejoicing we can be reminded of the god that loves us and cares for us Maybe by rejoicing others will see our safe Space that we create to sing in And think that if they can that they can find a safe place there, too Third is to be gentle to ourselves and to others This is the one I struggle with the most personally i'm rarely gentle to myself I need to do this and live this and be this I need to give just as much gentleness and grace to myself as I do to everyone else We also need to be gentle to our neighbors There are a lot of horrible things being said by some of the people in our community right now Instead of being hateful, we need to be gentle with our community People are dying people are hurting people are struggling with visions of wounded strewn across their front yards Why do people think that this is the time to be critical and not gentle? In the parable jesus told the king's servants went and gathered anyone and everyone To come to the wedding banquet the good and the bad Those who were dressed for the party and those who were not Those who the world deems worthy and those who were not All of them were invited all of them were welcome. It was the right thing to do, but it was not the easy thing to do Even today it brings criticism and hate instead of gentleness and kindness Love those who are hurting Bring everyone to the table Don't we wish that would happen more often in our world? I also wish that everyone would watch ted lasso There are many lessons on how to treat each other how to be good neighbors and friends how to build community I think the thing that would help the most is for people to live by one of my favorite quotes from the show be curious and not judgemental Is a very messy world that we live in and living this mantra would help us survive all life has to throw at us If we were more curious about each other and less judgmental I think that our town our state and our country would be a much better place There's a lot to be anxious about in vienna The world is not helping with that News crews and articles and big papers paint a pretty bleak picture of our beloved town They're looking for clickbait and not looking to accurately report the news Is it a mess? Sure It's a big old mess right now If we look to paul's advice to find people to do this messy life with To rejoice always and to be gentle with ourselves we may just make it through If we look to jesus as example of welcoming everyone even the ones that others say not to If we trust in god and seek ways to share the holy spirit with others Then the peace we are so longing for Will be found Paul is problematic at times or better yet some men Make paul problematic He clearly had women who he worked alongside He knew that surrounding himself with good people was not limited to men Women were a vital part of his life and ministry even in jail So I will listen to paul when he speaks of faith He does it in a way that reminds us of what god wants for us in all of our lives peace And goodness gracious Couldn't we all use some of that these days do not be anxious about anything But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to god that peace of god Which surpasses all understanding? Will guard your hearts and your minds In christ jesus as you go throughout your week try to be reminded To be gentle to everyone you meet let anxiousness fall away And peace reign over ourselves Our community and our world Because in life in death in life beyond death god is with us We are not alone Thanks be to god