"Forgiveness at the Turning Point: Being Christ's Encouragers in Anxious Times"

🕇 The 15th Sunday after Trinity -- 1928 BCP -- September 28th, 2025

Preached at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Bellville, TX

Fr. Mike Keppler, Rector

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And Lord, give us eyes to see and hear, ears to hear, so we can learn your word together as a family. And we offer you all the praise and honor and glory for it, in Jesus' holy name, Amen.

Good morning, my fellow encouragers! As we gather this Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, our Collect reminds us that the frailty of man without God cannot but fall, and then we pray for Him to 'keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation.'

This country finds itself at what many perceive as a turning point in our nation's history. The very name 'Turning Point' carries special significance in light of the recent martyrdom of Charlie Kirk, whose organization, Turning Point USA, sought to restore foundational values to our country. I think it is more than coincidental that in German, 'Kirk' means 'church' because Charlie was indeed a living testimony of the church militant, an unabashed Christian who boldly proclaimed his faith in the public square.

Today, though, I want to reflect both on Charlie's witness and on the extraordinary testimony of his widow Erika, whose act of Christian forgiveness toward her husband's murderer has stunned many all over the world. Her example calls us to examine what it means to be true 'Encouragers', sons and daughters of encouragement like our patron St. Barnabas, in a time when our nation desperately needs the healing balm of forgiveness.

'No one can serve two masters' (Matthew 6:24-34)

Our Gospel reading today from St. Matthew speaks directly to the anxieties that grip so many hearts in our nation. Jesus said, 'No man can serve two masters,' our Lord tells us, 'for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' Jesus’ words here are often narrowly interpreted as just being about material wealth, but their implications are far broader.

In view of the anxiety our nation is feeling right now and in light of His words for us today, Jesus is asking us some rather poignant questions. “What masters are competing for our allegiance? Is it not fear and faith? Vengeance and forgiveness? The spirit of division and the spirit of unity? Our Lord continues with words that speak directly to our national uneasiness: 'Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?' “Consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field,” Christ tells us. “They neither sow nor reap, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they?”

In our Epistle reading, (Galatians 6:11-18) St. Paul declares, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' The cross of Christ is the foundation of our security, our anti-anxiety medicine if you will. The nation’s unrest will not be quelled by political victories or cultural dominance.

Even our Old Testament reading from Proverbs today warns against folly: 'As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.' (Proverbs 26:11) Is there any greater folly than to respond to hatred with more hatred? To violence with more violence? To unforgiveness with unforgiveness?

In Psalm 49, we sang: 'Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased; For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him.' (vs. 16 & 17) All earthly power and glory fade. What endures is faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love. Charlie Kirk placed his faith above all else, which is why he will forever remain a Christian martyr.

This past Sunday, our nation witnessed something extraordinary – something that transcends political divisions and speaks to the very heart of the Gospel. At her husband's memorial service, Erika Kirk stood before thousands and spoke these words to her husband's murderer: 'I want you to know that I forgive you.'

In that moment, Erika embodied what C.S. Lewis described in Mere Christianity: 'Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.' She continued by saying that she prays that this person will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is not the world's way. This is the way of the Cross.

Lewis further explains: 'To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.' This is precisely what Erika demonstrated. It wasn’t a weak dismissal of justice, but a supernatural act of grace that points to the greater forgiveness we have all received in Christ.

In The Great Divorce, Lewis writes, 'I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road.' Yes, Erika's forgiveness was a personal act of healing, but it was also an invitation to her husband's murderer to find the right road – the road that leads to Christ. But beyond that, her forgiveness was an invitation to this nation to put aside vengeance, hatred, and division, to help us find the right road ahead.

This kind of forgiveness is not natural. It is supernatural. It requires divine assistance…the sort of assistance we recognized in our Collect, 'the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall.' We cannot forgive on this scale without God's help. And yet, this is precisely what our Lord commands when He teaches us to pray, 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.'

The Book of Common Prayer reminds us in the Exhortation before Holy Communion that we are to be 'in perfect charity with all men.' It’s not an option, but rather, it’s central to our faith.

My fellow Encouragers, we find ourselves in a nation deeply divided, where political disagreements have turned into personal animosities, where differences of opinion are treated as moral defects. The temperature of our national discourse continues to rise, and violence, both rhetorical and physical, threatens to become normalized. I point you to the latest shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas just this past week. But the answer is not to retreat in fear. The answer is to advance in faith. Not with the weapons of this world, but with the spiritual weapons of forgiveness, truth spoken in love, and unwavering hope.

C.S. Lewis, writing during the darkest days of World War II, reminded his readers: 'The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.'

We might update this for our time: If we are going to face national turmoil, let it find us doing the things Christians have always done – praying fervently, loving our neighbors, forgiving our enemies, proclaiming truth, and above all, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. That’s what Charlie Kirk did.

I saw a video of him, less than three months before his martyrdom, where the interviewer asked, “If you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered?” And Charlie’s response? “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing in my life is my faith.”

The healing of our nation will not come through political solutions, though politics has its proper place. The deepest healing will come through transformed hearts that have experienced God's forgiveness and are therefore empowered to forgive others. As encouragers, we are called to point others to the greater reality of God's sovereignty, Christ's victory, and the Spirit's presence among us.

In our Gospel reading, our Lord concludes with these words: 'But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'

At this turning point in our national life, we are called to be like Charlie Kirk…unashamed of our faith, bold in our witness. And we are called to be like Erika Kirk…supernatural in our forgiveness, pointing always to the Christ who makes such forgiveness possible.

As Encouragers for Christ, as the hands and feet of Jesus in Bellville and beyond, we have a unique opportunity. While many are consumed by anxiety about the future, we can demonstrate a peace that passes understanding. While many respond to hatred with more hatred, we can break that cycle through radical forgiveness. While many see only darkness ahead, we can bear witness to the light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness has not overcome.

We sang in our processional hymn today: 'Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.' The waters are indeed rolling, the tempest is high, but our refuge is secure.

My question for you today is, “How do you want to be remembered?” And when the angel of death comes, and he will come, what will you be found doing? Will we be found praying fervently, loving our neighbors, forgiving our enemies, proclaiming truth, and above all, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith? Or will we be cowering in fear in the waters of the tempest?

That, my friends, is a choice only you can make.

So, let us be Encouragers in this anxious age. Let us be agents of forgiveness in a culture of retribution. Let us be beacons of hope in a time of despair. And let us never forget that 'The Sacred Still Speaks' – that our 'Ancient Faith' empowers us to show 'Real Love' – even to those who may seem most undeserving of it.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.