Week of August 16, 2026

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

My Sisters and Brothers in Jesus Christ,

I apologize that there will not be a recorded liturgy this weekend. Saturday evening, I went to bed early because I was not feeling well, and today I have very little voice. I would be grateful for your prayers for a quick recovery. Please know that you remain in my prayers as well.

Even without our recorded liturgy, the Gospel appointed for this Sunday gives us much to reflect upon. In Luke 18:9–14, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who go to the Temple to pray.

The Pharisee lists all that he has done correctly. The tax collector offers no impressive spiritual résumé. He simply prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  Jesus tells us that it is the tax collector who goes home justified.

The Pharisee’s problem is not that he fasts, gives, or seeks to live faithfully. Those are good things. The danger is that his faith has become a reason to compare himself with someone else.  The tax collector comes with empty hands. He has nothing to prove. He simply asks for mercy.

Perhaps that is where prayer most truly begins.  We do not need to impress God or pretend that we have everything together. We come before God as we are—with our faith and failures, our gratitude and regrets, our strength and weakness—and entrust ourselves to divine mercy.

May we have the grace this week to stop measuring ourselves against others and instead stand together before the God whose mercy is greater than anything we can earn.
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Please keep me in your prayers as I recover, and know that I am praying for each of you.
Peace and every blessing,
Rev. Ben