Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sep 6, 2026 · 17 min · 6 segments
Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Sep 6, 2026 · 17 min · 6 segments
But as the meeting was about to begin...
Everyone, as was their custom, they stood for the opening invocation.
And I said, I'm going to ask you to sit for just a moment.
I'm going to share a few words before we pray.
And I said, I stand before you humbly this day because I know within my heart that the only thing that is more intense, more emotional, and more nasty than a city council fight is a church fight.
And sadly, they laughed because they knew that it was true.
A church fight has deep, deep emotion and connectivity and rawness, and it can last for generations between different households in that community.
This is one reason, I believe, that here in the United States of America, We have well over 200 what we would call formal denominations.
Like this is over 200 denominations that are really intertwined and structured and organized in a way we would call denomination.
If you talk about church affiliations or fellowships or cooperative groups or licensing groupings, now we're talking well over 1,500 denominations.
religious christian groups and this doesn't count what we would call the non-denominational independent churches many of the what we think of as mega churches are non-denominational completely independent autonomous on their own they're not even counted in this number and i would say this all points to the reality that a church fight is harsh intense A few years ago, my neighbor was a very devout Baptist, and he saw me and he said, Reverend, can I tell you a story? And I said, sure.
And he said, there was a man that was deserted on an island, and he was stuck there for 30 years.
And after 30 years of surviving, you know, he was found and discovered and news teams arrived And he was showing them the island and how he made it 30 years.
And he showed them, you know, this is where I began to cultivate some food and where I would forage for different vegetables and fruits and plants.
This is a home that I built using what I could find.
And he had added to it over time.
And he so proudly took them to another little setup.
This is where I would go have prayers and sing and pray.
And one of the reporters said, you know, this is really nice, but what is that over there? It looks like it was something you may have built, but I can't tell what it is.
could have conflict and struggle.
But as the meeting was about to begin...
Everyone, as was their custom, they stood for the opening invocation.
And I said, I'm going to ask you to sit for just a moment.
I'm going to share a few words before we pray.
And I said, I stand before you humbly this day because I know within my heart that the only thing that is more intense, more emotional, and more nasty than a city council fight is a church fight.
And sadly, they laughed because they knew that it was true.
A church fight has deep, deep emotion and connectivity and rawness, and it can last for generations between different households in that community.
This is one reason, I believe, that here in the United States of America, We have well over 200 what we would call formal denominations.
Like this is over 200 denominations that are really intertwined and structured and organized in a way we would call denomination.
If you talk about church affiliations or fellowships or cooperative groups or licensing groupings, now we're talking well over 1,500 denominations.
religious christian groups and this doesn't count what we would call the non-denominational independent churches many of the what we think of as mega churches are non-denominational completely independent autonomous on their own they're not even counted in this number and i would say this all points to the reality that a church fight is harsh intense A few years ago, my neighbor was a very devout Baptist, and he saw me and he said, Reverend, can I tell you a story? And I said, sure.
And he said, there was a man that was deserted on an island, and he was stuck there for 30 years.
And after 30 years of surviving, you know, he was found and discovered and news teams arrived And he was showing them the island and how he made it 30 years.
And he showed them, you know, this is where I began to cultivate some food and where I would forage for different vegetables and fruits and plants.
This is a home that I built using what I could find.
And he had added to it over time.
And he so proudly took them to another little setup.
This is where I would go have prayers and sing and pray.
And one of the reporters said, you know, this is really nice, but what is that over there? It looks like it was something you may have built, but I can't tell what it is.
could have conflict and struggle.
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