If You Can’t Stand the Heat…
September 7, 2025
13th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18 – Year C
Luke 14:25-33
Click the Audio Link below to hear the Sermon
(The second link below includes both the scripture reading and the Sermon.)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 15, 2023
1 Emilie Townes, “Luke 14: 25-33, Theological Perspective”, editors David L. Bartlett and
Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word— Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2
(Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Feasting on the Word: Year C). Presbyterian Publishing
Corporation, 2010. Kindle edition. Page 129 · Location 1716, Page 130 · Location 1723.
2 Catherine Meeks, The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations for Racial
Healing. Church Publishing Incorporated, 2022. Kindle edition. Page 19 · Location 217.
3 Bernard Mokam, “Joseph McNeil, Young Spark in a Civil Rights Battle, Dies at 83,” New York
Times, September 5, 2025. Accessed 09/06/2025:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/joseph-mcneil-dead.html.
Find A Way
September 8, 2013
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Proper 18 – Year C RCL
Jeremiah 18:1-11, Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17, Luke 14:25-33
Last Monday afternoon, at 1:53 Eastern Time, something amazing happened. No, it wasn’t that your teenager finally woke up, after sleeping-away most of the Labor Day holiday… it was even more amazing than that… after swimming 52 Hours 54 Minutes 18.6 Seconds, Diana Nyad made history as the first person to swim the 110-mile Florida Strait… and she did it without a shark cage.
Diana Nyad, Photograph by J. Pat Carter, AP
It was her 5th attempt. Her first attempt came when she was in her twenties. Her goal was accomplished at the age of 64. That’s what I call commitment!
In an interview on Good Morning America the next morning, she struggled to speak because of the cuts inside her mouth. They were caused by a mask she wore while swimming at night, to protect her from poisonous jelly-fish. In spite of this discomfort, in the interview, she was radiant! She beamed as she talked about the accomplishment and the many people that helped her through.
She also admitted that this wasn’t easy – and she knew it wouldn’t be. After four previous attempts, she didn’t kid herself into thinking any of it was going to be fun. It was going to be a struggle. But this time, she came up with a mantra that she used in those moments when the struggle was overwhelming… she said “Find a way.”
jodygreenwood 