The Basin and Towel

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on October 25, 2026, at Saint John Lutheran Church in Garfield Heights, Ohio.

October 25 was Reformation Day at St John Lutheran Church. In this sermon I talked about Jesus’ statement “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,” I emphasized that God accepts us despite our sinful condition in order to transform us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus, and I talked about a wedding banquet and a graduation ceremony. 

Here are some “next steps” you might want to consider:

 • Reflection and Reading: Reflect on what it means that God accepts you “despite the way you are” and His intent to transform you. Identify areas of life where you resist exchanging “old garments” for Christ’s robe of righteousness.

 • Meditation and Practice: Revisit Matthew’s parable of the wedding banquet [Matthew 22:1-14]; list practical “mudroom” steps (repentance, confession, baptismal remembrance) you can take this week.

 • Worship and Prayer:

 ○ Sing or read “Rock of Ages” (LSB 761) daily this week, focusing on the lines “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling,” and note how it shapes your prayers.

 ○ Participate in the Lord’s Supper as you intentionally focus on its promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

You can read a lightly edited transcript of this sermon on Substack at https://substack.com/@bnt2025

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on October 11, 2026, at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Malvern, Ohio.

This sermon looks at Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22 from two directions. After I identify the king in the parable as God the Father and Jesus as the king's son, the first part  highlights two sobering warnings within the parable: one about rejecting the invitation, the other about refusing the wedding garment.  The second part of the sermon is a reflection on Christ’s Love for His Church, based on Isaiah 25:6-9 and my own observation at my niece's recent wedding.

You can watch the video of this worship service on the Resurrection Lutheran Church Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BvbVoGme3/

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on September 13, 2026, at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Malvern, Ohio.

Forgiveness is not an accounting or mechanical process; instead, it mirrors God’s generous, complete forgiveness through Jesus, who paid our debt of sin. Our forgiveness of others often requires effort, but the regular practice and habit of forgiveness over time may actually have observable results. It’s possible that when we forgive fully and freely, others will notice and be drawn to Christ through such practiced forgiveness. 

As you think about this sermon and your own forgiveness practices, you might also want to 

1. Reflect on personal tendencies to “count” forgiveness, and identify situations where you’ve treated forgiveness as an accounting process; commit to a change toward full, generous forgiveness.

2. Practice a deliberate act of forgiveness this week that requires effort beyond saying “It’s okay”; aim for lasting reconciliation.

3. Review and meditate on the parable of the unforgiving servant and John 3:16; consider how Jesus’s payment of our debt shapes your approach to forgiving others.

You can watch the video of that worship service on the Resurrection Lutheran Church Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1MR23D4rpa/

You can listen to this sermon on YouTube at https://youtu.be/eilyipGFGlg

Or you can read a lightly edited transcript on Substack at https://substack.com/@bnt2025/p-215846934

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on September 6, 2026, at Saint John Lutheran Church in Massillon, Ohio.

The readings from God’s Word that were assigned for this Sunday came just at the right moment for this congregation, at the beginning of the third month after the retirement of their pastor, Rev. John Telloni. It seemed to me that after an initial period of grieving and readjustment, this was a good opportunity to talk about the RESILIENCE empowered by the love of Christ that would strengthen them as they move into the future. I suggested that the readings from Romans 13 and Matthew 18 can help us to focus on RESOURCES, RELATIONSHIPS, RESTRAINT, REJOICING, and RESTORATION as aspects of that resilience.

The video of this worship service is available on the Saint John Lutheran Church Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1JfW2EiQrk/

Resources mentioned in today’s episode include these Bible passages:

2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV) - It is the love of Christ that compels us

Philippians 2:6-8

Romans 13: 10 

1 John 4:7-8

Romans 13:1-10 - RESOURCES

Matthew 18:1-6 - RELATIONSHIPS

Matthew 18:7-9 - RESTRAING

1 Peter 4:8 - “Love covers a multitude of sins”

Matthew 18:10-14 - REJOICING

Luke 15:11-24 - Parable of the Prodigal Son

Matthew 18:15 - RESTORATION

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on August 30, 2026, at Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church in Sharon, Pennsylvania.

Some years ago a member of my youth group told me “Pastor, I have to write an essay for language arts this week about whether I think people are basically bad or basically good.” When I asked her what she thought she might write, she said “I think people are basically good, because they’re always helping other people.” My less-than-enthusiastic response caught her off guard; when she asked me why, I said, “Well, I think people are basically bad. You have to teach people how to be good - we can do bad all on our own!”In this episode I take the opportunity to think about this theory and test it against the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel lesson, and a truly horrible chapter in the Old Testament book of Second Chronicles that we never learned in Sunday School. Along with a paragraph from Saint Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians, I break this all down into the actions of Taking, Keeping, and Giving.

The readings from the Bible included in this worship service were

• 2 Chronicles 28:8–15 
• Psalm 32 
• Galatians 3:15–22
• Luke 10:23–37

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on August 23, 2026, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Parma, Ohio.

A friend of mine, another retired pastor, once told me that years ago he heard a seminary professor make this comment - “When you see the word therefore in the Bible, you have to ask, ‘What’s that therefore, there for?”That word is usually strategically placed, wherever it appears in the Bible! Sometimes, like in some of Saint Paul’s letters, it’s there like a “call to action” toward the end of an infomercial - “now that you’ve seen and heard all the wonderful things this product can do, call now to order one (or scan the code or go to the website0.” “Therefore” at the beginning of Romans 12 is in that kind of place - after a thorough explanation of God’s work of forgiveness and salvation, “therefore”, what should you and I do about it all?

The readings from the Bible included in this worship service were

• Isaiah 51:1–6
• Romans 11:33–12:8
• Matthew 16:13–20

You can listen to a slightly different version of this sermon, and view the worship service from Holy Trinity’s partner church, Grace Lutheran Church in Lakewood OH, on Grace’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19eR7h8cap/

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on August16, 2026, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Parma, Ohio.

A woman in distress came up to Jesus one day, intending to beg Him to get rid of a demon that had been tormenting her daughter. The only problem was - she wasn’t Jewish. At first Jesus refused, which was sure to please His disciples, but when she came back swinging He granted her prayer. That’s the Gospel lesson behind this sermon - but the other two readings push us to the understanding that God does not actually restrict His mercy only to those who already know Him. He freely gives His mercy all the time to everyone in the whole world, and I believe He hopes that by doing that, some of those people who receive it will actually someday believe in Jesus and be saved. Do you know anyone like that?

The readings from the Bible included in this worship service were

• Isaiah 56:1, 6–8; 
• Romans 11:1–2a, 13–15, 28–32; and
• Matthew 15:21–28. 

The parable of the weeds and the wheat is at Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

To read what what Martin Luther said in his Small Catechism about the mercy of God the Father , start with his explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ CreedHERE>>, and then read his explanation of “daily bread” HERE>>

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on August 9, 2026, at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Malvern, Ohio.

The accounts of Jesus’ miracles in the New Testament are meant to be eye-witness testimonies that Jesus is in fact the Son of God. In chapter 14 of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, for instance, you can read about the time He fed thousands of people with a few breads and a couple of fish, or when He walked on the surface of the Sea of Galilee during a windstorm, and finish up the chapter with a healing ministry. But Matthew’s chapter 14 begins with the horrible murder of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. In this sermon I suggest that if we think of this chapter as one entire episode, we can see clues along the way that describe Jesus doing something that is completely human - trying to find space to grieve and come to terms with the murder of His cousin John.

The readings from the Bible included in this worship service included Job 28:4-18 and Matthew 14:22-33

In this sermon I mention several habits Jesus practiced that kept His relationship with His Father strong. To learn more about how we can use these and other “Keystone Habits” of His to provide structure to our own lives and ministries, go to https://redletterchallenge.com/40-day-challenges/being-challenge/

A video of this service is available at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BzM3Jy5r1/

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on July 26, 2026, at Calvary Lutheran Church in Parma, Ohio.

In last Sunday’s sermon, we thought about questions like “If God is such a good and loving God, why does He let bad things happen to good people?” or “If God created the world good, and is taking care of it, why does so much bad stuff happen all the time?” As we think about a famous passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans today, we’ll find out that even if bad things happen, even to people who know how much Jesus loves them, God has already done more than we can imagine to prevent us from ever becoming disconnected from His love. 

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay

Welcome back to the Basin and Towel podcast!  I’m your host, Pastor Chris Cahill.  I live in Lodi, Ohio, where last year I retired from 45 years of pastoral ministry. In my retirement I’ve been doing some substitute preaching in several congregations of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod - this episode is the sermon I preached on July 19, 2026, at Saint John Lutheran Church in Massillon, Ohio.

Sometimes you hear somebody ask “If God is such a good and loving God, why does He let bad things happen to good people?” or “If God created the world good, and is taking care of it, why does so much bad stuff happen all the time?” Today’s Gospel lesson addresses those questions with another one of the stories that Jesus used to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. In this sermon we’ll think about these questions and the story Jesus told, but we’ll also take a little time to think about how you and I might respond to it - and what help we have.

A video of this worship service is available at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/191xMX8ifS/

The Basin and Towel podcast is written and recorded by Rev Chris Cahill, a retired pastor and the Second Vice President of the SELC District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  You can find out more at the Basin and Towel website -bit.ly/bnt2025

You can also follow the Basin and Towel on Facebook @thebasinandtowel and on YouTube HERE». I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have a question or some topic you'd like to hear about.  

Unless otherwise indicated, any Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.  Accessed through www.biblegateway.com

Basin and Towel Theme by cliveromney from Pixabay