Grits and the Gospel - September 6, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths It is good to be with you today September 6th, I can't believe we're already in September It is still in the 90s and hot as blue blazes down here in Georgia I hope that wherever you are it is more fall-like than it is here it is a Great time of the year though, and I hope that you are enjoying it Today is the 15th Sunday after Pentecost. We are working our way to All Saints Day and to Advent and it is good to be with you to celebrate today Today is the first Sunday of the month, which means my congregation will be celebrating communion and I hope that wherever you are That you have a place where you can go and find community and communion at the table And I hope that you will do that as often as you can I love coming together at the communion table and I hope that you have that in your world Let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you Today's Old Testament lesson comes from the book of Exodus. We are in Exodus 12 Verses 1 through 14 here now the word of the Lord The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt this month shall mark for you the beginning of months It shall be the first month of the year for you Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the 10th of this month They are to take a lamb for each family a lamb for each household If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in Obtaining one the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat it Your lamb shall be without blemish a one-year-old male you may may take it from the sheep or from the goats You shall keep it until the 14th day of the month and then the whole Then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight They shall take some of the blood and put it on two doorposts and the lentil of the houses in which they eat It they shall eat the lamb that same night. They shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water But roasted over the fire with its head legs and inner organs You shall let none of it remain until the morning anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire This is how you shall eat it your loins girded your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand And you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt From human to animal on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord The blood shall be a sign for you in the houses where you live When I shall see the blood I will pass over you and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt this day shall be a day of remembrance from you shall Celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout your generations You shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance Thus ends the first reading Let us come together now and say those words that remind us of The Lord that passed over those people of Israel the Lord that sent his son For us to die on the cross and that remains here as the Holy Spirit Friends what do 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 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 thence 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 Amen Let us pray Dear Lord as we come together now, let us form those bonds Over our supper tables over your table That are so strong That when conflict comes that cannot be broken Help us to learn to love you and to love one another the best way we can And our humanness let us find peace Hear us now 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 trespass 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 We're in the 18th chapter today verses 15 through 20 here now the word of the Lord If your brother and sister sins against you go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone If you're listened to you have regained that one But if you are not listened to take one or two others along with you So that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses If that person refuses to listen to them tell it to the church And if the offender refuses to listen even to the church Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector Truly, I tell you Whether you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven again Truly, I tell you if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask It will be done for you by my father in heaven For where two or three are gathered in my name. I am there among them The word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God Would you pray with me dear lord? We come to you today just humbled by your example humbled that this book of scripture that we have helps us live every part of the human existence In relationship with you and through your example even the hard stuff Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord our strength and our redeemer Amen It is never a good sign when you get a text from the preacher on saturday night that says something like this Hey, make sure you warn your supper club that i'm going to use our card playing night As an illustration in my sermon tomorrow Don't worry, I won't use your names But that is exactly the text I got from one of my favorite humans reverend matt woodbury Who is a retired army chaplain and currently serving in germany for nato and their chaplain program The responses I got from my supper club and card playing group are not words that I can use in the pulpit every one of them, however sparse their Church attendance was regularly we're in the pews that that next day to hear how we were going to be called out from the pulpit The problem was that our card games could get a little raucous We played social solitaire once a week If you've never played social solitaire is exactly what it sounds like every person around the table Has their own solitaire game to play But the aces in the middle are communal To say we were competitive is an understatement There were elbows thrown Names called people pushed hateful things were said every week We threw down and tried our best to beat the tar out of each other So when the pastor said that he was going to use us As an example in the sermon We immediately regretted inviting him and his amazing wife to join us one week By the way, they never came back to play again So understandably we got a little nervous when the text came in. What exactly was he going to say? The options for the pulpit were pretty limited What he told the rest of the congregation was this I've never seen a group of people love each other so much one minute and hate each other so much the next It was like a switch was flipped He told the congregation that he had just witnessed a violent war around the card table And then all of us hugging each other and telling each other how much we loved one another on the way out the door And he served in the middle east during a war That was nothing compared to the war he witnessed that night How could it even be possible for this kind of friend group to exist? What woodbury didn't see was the years of gathering that came before our warlike card games The whole thing started at a table in the back of the fellowship hall at mulberry street united methodist church wednesday night suppers We had to sit at the back Because we as grown adults Were like the bad kid in the class Laughing and talking together instead of paying attention to the programming We were the cool kids table the disruptive cool kids, but the cool kids for sure One summer we decided that we loved seeing each other so much each week that we didn't want the fun to end over the summer When there were no fellowship dinners So we started a supper club We cooked and swam in one of our group members pools We laughed and played that game highs and lows of the week and two truths and a lie We built a bond that was strong enough to withstand a lot that life threw us bouts of cancer funerals marriages family drama breakups We became each other's ride or dies All because we bonded so strongly over a meal at church This matthew text is hard to hear Confrontation is hard When someone hurts you this is a good blueprint on how to handle it But most of us just want it all to go away We have to be careful with it. We cannot Be take it cannot be taken as a license to get rid of a troublemaker Notice it says when someone does something to you personally This is a good and healthy way to work out any issues in our families our friend groups or at work But it's not a good it's not our job to correct someone about things that have nothing to do with us Even so none of it is easy Wouldn't it be wonderful in today's world if we could just work through our differences and resolve conflict and build trust and be nice and love one another No matter what elbowing occurred Don't you think it would be great if we could be such good friends that when we hurt each other We could just work it out and remain friends Or agree to disagree about some things but still help each other through rough times It feels like we have lost that a lot in this country We as believers should be the example of how to resolve conflict with people because jesus Showed us how to be good humans in every part of our lives, especially the hard times Starting with going to the person directly Then if that doesn't work take a friend that still is not enough to resolve the issue then bring it up to the larger group To the larger group In a normal human friendship, none of us want to hurt anyone intentionally So going to the person directly usually is all it takes But it's not fun to think about bringing something to the whole church and you should never skip a step You should never go straight to public confrontation Start with talking to someone about the problem Will most likely fix the issue You But the process is laid out for us if there are more complex things to fix I've said it before to my friends. I will never Intentionally do anything to hurt you but goodness I can be oblivious sometimes just talk to me When I say or do something that's hurtful and we can work it out That blueprint for solid friendship and trust is shown in our exodus passage from today as well The original supper club if you will Aaron and moses are told the way to make it work Verse four says if a household is too small for a whole lamb it shall join its closest neighbor In obtaining one the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat it Every family gets a lamb and comes together around the table And if you have a small family come together and share a meal It's that simple God then goes on to give them the first viral recipe of how to prepare it and what sides to bring What it takes to make community really work is trust The israelites and my group of friends shared a deep bond over living through trauma together and laughing together But before all of that took place we had to build community and get to know our people It takes sitting at the table Together and working through hard things like cancer together It takes building a foundation of love and acceptance to be able to play social solitaire together It takes sharing a lamb and worshiping together the hard work the bonding the friendship the working out of differences will be rewarded The bonds you have will be so strong that no matter where you move or how long you go without seeing each other One phone call will get you the help you need from these friends It is the last three verses of the passage that spell it out so beautifully And they should sound familiar. You know when jesus repeats himself you need to listen Truly, I tell you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven again. I truly tell you If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask It will be done for you by my father in heaven For where two or three are gathered in my name. I am there among them Paul echoes this idea in his letter to the romans in today's less lectionary epistle lesson Romans 13 8 tells us oh no one anything except to love one another For the one who loves another has fulfilled The law I have been very fortunate over the years to have found people in every community that I've lived in I've worked to get to know people on a deep level that care for me and love me and are willing to take one for the team and Take me to surgeries and other procedures and cared for me People that I can walk through tough times with and people that I laugh with People that I can elbow and call very bad names around a card table with People I can eat a meal with and learn about and grow with and love deeply and people When there's an inevitable conflict I can work it out and continue to love For where two or three are gathered in my name I am there among them I'm not sure that god was always thrilled with what was happening around that social solitaire game table But I am sure god got some really big belly laughs out of it What I know Is that god was there with us? And was very pleased with the love That permeated it all I'm in As you go throughout your week find ways to build the bonds of friendship and love Stronger than they have ever been before Strong enough to withstand any conflict that may come up Because in life In death in life beyond death God is with us We are not alone Thanks be to god I'm in