2026-09-10
Brooke Strong
What Holds Us Together
Thursday, September 10, 2026
The Federated Church of Chagrin Falls
Churches are made of people.
That sounds obvious. But people are complicated.
We misunderstand one another. We forget things. We say the wrong thing. We make decisions somebody doesn’t like. We carry different histories, convictions, personalities, wounds, hopes, and expectations into the same room—and then somehow dare to call ourselves a church.
What could possibly hold something like that together?
Last Sunday, we heard Jesus speak about the ekklesia: the people gathered together. We considered how communities are formed through thousands of seemingly insignificant choices—a card written, a meal delivered, a name remembered, an apology offered. We bind these things together, relationship by relationship, until they become something larger than any one of us.
But relationships are not bricks in a building. The relationships are the building.
And relationships get hurt.
That is exactly where Matthew takes us next.
Peter comes to Jesus with what sounds like a very practical question:
“Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?”
Seven times?
Peter wants to know when enough is enough. How much forgiveness does this community actually require?
Jesus’ answer is essentially: Stop counting.
Perhaps that is because forgiveness is not merely something we occasionally do to repair the church when something goes wrong. Forgiveness is part of what makes life together possible in the first place.
If the Church is a body, forgiveness is part of its circulation. Grace has to keep moving. We receive mercy and pass it along. We are given room to grow and make room for somebody else. Someone bears patiently with our imperfections, and we learn to bear patiently with theirs. Someone refuses to reduce us to the worst thing we have done, and slowly we learn to see one another with the same generosity.
Grace circulates. And when it stops circulating, something in the body begins to suffer.
That seems like an especially fitting Gospel for this Sunday.
It is Rally Day, when we celebrate the many ministries through which our lives become connected. We will welcome new members who are choosing to bind their lives more intentionally to ours. And we will dedicate beautiful new paraments, lovingly made for the sanctuary where this community gathers.
All around us will be signs of something being made together.
But the most beautiful thing we are making is not hanging on the walls.
It is us.
A community of people learning how to belong to one another. A people through whom mercy can move. An ekklesia capable of carrying grace from one life into another.
Perhaps forgiveness is not simply the repair work of Christian community.
Perhaps forgiveness is its lifeblood.
Read Before Sunday
Matthew 18:21–35
Questions for Reflection
- Why do you think Peter wants Jesus to give him a number for forgiveness?
- Where has someone else’s grace or forgiveness given you room to become something new?
- What would it mean for Federated Church to become a community where grace keeps circulating?
I look forward to celebrating the life we are building together this Sunday.
In the Triumphant Mercy of God,
Pastor Michael
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