When God Calls Us To Work In The Vineyard

Jesus tells a parable, recorded in Matthew 20:1-16, about a landowner who goes to the town square to hire day laborers to work in his vineyard. The landowner promises those hired at six in the morning the proper day’s wage. Every three hours he employs more workers and promises to pay them “What is right.” Finally, at five in the afternoon he finds more who need work and sends them to the vineyard as well; without promise of specific pay. Most of us know this story:  at the end of the work day, the laborers are called and paid, beginning with the last employed and ending with the first. All are paid the same, and those hired first are unhappy and feel they have been treated unfairly. The landowner reminds them that they received the agreed upon pay and that he has the right to be generous with what is his.

This is a story of Grace and The Kingdom of God. God invites us all into his Kingdom in different ways and at different times. Some of us are invited many times before we accept his invitation to “go into his vineyard.” When we (finally?) accept God’s invitation, we go, and work: without counting the cost and without expecting pay. However, we are paid generously. God pays us all the same, and the pay is much, much better than “a day’s wage!”

Our pay is Eternal Life, membership in the Kingdom of God, a relationship with God and God’s people forever. Oh, and an opportunity to invite others into God’s Kingdom, into the Vineyard. Our work in the Vineyard is to share the Good News and to become Co-Creators with God.

God’s Good News: While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us; it is never too late to enter the Kingdom of God; Jesus came into the world that we (all) might have abundant life. We become Co-Creators with God by: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked; by setting the prisoners free: free from sin, drugs and alcohol addiction, poverty, unjust laws, discrimination, and free from hatred, anger, bitterness and fear.

Hatred, anger, bitterness and fear are a major problem in the world today. This was true in Jesus’ day as well. The workers in his parable were so afraid that others might get more than they received, more than they deserved. It was not fair, it just was not fair. And at times life isn’t fair. But, Jesus is telling a different story, giving the people of his day, and us, a different message. Jesus is preaching about Grace. He is telling and showing us that life is not a “zero sum game, that for me to win, it is not necessary for you to lose.” He is proclaiming a Gospel not of scarcity, but of abundance!

Jesus is proclaiming that your good education does not prevent a good education for me; that your having a living wage will not prevent me from having a living wage; and that my having health insurance will not prevent your having health insurance.

It does mean that we need to plug in to Jesus, that when He asks us to work in his Vineyard that we go! No matter what! That we use our God given gifts and talents to create more good jobs that pay people fairly. That we work to help find ways to insure all people justly and affordably. I know these things are not easy. I know that there are many people wiser than I, who are trying to make these things happen. Yes, it is not easy, but it is important. God cares about our souls, yes, but God also cares about our earthly, physical lives as well.

What can you and I do to make the Master’s Vineyard blossom and grow? We can learn to work together and play together. We can learn not to call people idiots, losers and worse when we disagree with them. We can write and call our Senators, House Members and others in government to thank and encourage them. It is important that we stay informed about the world and what is happening, but, please, let’s not watch and listen to the news all the time! It will make us crazy and angry. Get outside, disconnect: paddle a kayak, buy a pair of boots and find a trail, play a round of golf, go fishing or simply sit on a creek bank and open you mind and heart to the beauty and power of God’s creation.

As we live and move and have our being in God’s Kingdom, let’s give up grumbling, let’s learn to pray to God for guidance and wisdom and peace, and to learn how to talk with and listen to one another with understanding, respect and grace.

“But Jesus replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Are you envious because I am generous?”

“So the last will be first and the first will be last.” Something to think about. . . .

Forgiving and Being Forgiven

In the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35, we read the story of the servant who owed his master so large an amount of money that it would have been impossible for him to repay it in his lifetime. The master planned to recoup his money by selling the man, his wife and his children. The man begged forgiveness of the debt and received it. As it turns out, on his way out the servant ran into a fellow servant who owed him a “few dollars.” Servant number one grabbed servant number two and demanded his money. The man begged for mercy and was thrown into prison by his colleague. Most of us know the rest of the story. The first servant was thrown into prison by an angry master who had shown him mercy, forgiveness.

Jesus tells this story in an attempt to show us that forgiveness is a two-way street. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. . .forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who trespass (sin) against us.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

Our “hero” apparently did not understand this simple lesson. He certainly understood the wanting to be forgiven part and its importance to him. He seemed to miss or not care about the “as we forgive those who trespass against us” part. I have thought a great deal about this and asked myself why he only acted on the being forgiven part:  Did he simply not understand? Just not care? Want to have his cake and eat it too? Was he just unable to make the connection between being forgiven and forgiving? Or did he, in Jesus Parable, represent “everyman and everywoman, showing us how easy it is to accept forgiveness and yet not understand that we must also forgive.

Remember how Matthew began this passage. He began with his disciple Peter asking Jesus about forgiveness, about how often he should forgive a brother or sister. I do not believe Peter received the answer he hoped for. Peter was hoping for a finite number, “7.” Jesus gave him basically an infinite number, “77.” And, just in case Peter (and the others) missed the point, he answered with a story, as he often did, with the story we just looked at.

So why is it easier to accept forgiveness than to forgive? Perhaps we believe we were correct in the first place and are only receiving what we deserve; or, we are unwilling to accept our part in the conflict, our fault, our sin. Last week I attended a workshop for the Clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama entitled “Leadership in Anxious Times.” The leader, a Mennonite, reminded us that in any Church conflict, all parties have played some part and no one is completely free of responsibility. My mind and emotions immediately went back to a conflict in which I was involved and after which I resigned my pastorate. Was I the victim, was the church the victim, could I have done some things differently, could the church have done things differently? The answer to all these questions is yes. Would the results have been different: maybe, maybe not. I might still have resigned from my position, the church might still have been divided, but healing may have come easier to all concerned, and all of us just might have learned a lesson in how to react and function the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation.

The best example of forgiveness I have ever witnessed and the model for most such efforts in the world today is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa which was formed in 1994 at the end of the Apartheid segregation in that nation. Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu headed the commission, and it was designed to give the victims, those who had lost family members, property and homes to tell those who had committed these atrocities how their lives were affected by them. The perpetrators who desired were given the opportunity to respond and ask for forgiveness. This process paved the way for a peaceful transition in South Africa and gave the people and the nation hope for the future. Archbishop Tutu later wrote a book, No Future Without Forgiveness.

I leave you with a prayer and a scripture:

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see! everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”

 

Grace and Forgiveness

Thanks to my friend Evan Garner for reminding me how important it is to read a Gospel passage in context with the surrounding verses, in order not to lose or distort the real purpose of the passage. The Gospel recommended in the Common Lectionary for this past Sunday was Matthew 18:15-20 in which Jesus tells his followers how to deal with a person who sins against them.

Jesus said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Think about the implications of bringing your offender before the entire church. The mechanics are good, but the act could be awkward, to say the least. If we look at the passages before and after, however, we begin to see a larger story. We see a story not just about “how to confront a sinner,” but, one about how to give as well as receive forgiveness.

In Matthew 18:10-14 we read Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep, in which God searches out the one lost sheep and rejoices in heaven when it is found.

‘What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

“So the purpose of Jesus’ process of confrontation is not just about setting up an elaborate process for seeking reconciliation, or excommunicating the sinner but about showing the great lengths to which one must go for forgiveness.” (Evan Garner, A Long Way From Home) In fact, Matthew moves us quickly to a piece that pulls Jesus’ message together, ‘the question of forgiveness.’ Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’  Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Jesus’ message is not about rooting out sin, but about showing forgiveness.

The Amish response to the killing of 10 young girls in 2006 brings Jesus’ message of forgiveness to our day in a very powerful way.

In the hours and days following the tragic Amish school shooting of 10 young schoolgirls in a one-room Amish school in October 2006 , an unexpected story developed.

In the midst of their grief over this shocking loss, the Amish community didn’t cast blame, they didn’t point fingers, they didn’t hold a press conference with attorneys at their sides. Instead, they reached out with grace and compassion toward the killer’s family.

The afternoon of the shooting an Amish grandfather of one of the girls who was killed expressed forgiveness toward the killer, Charles Roberts. That same day Amish neighbors visited the Roberts family to comfort them in their sorrow and pain.

Later that week the Roberts family was invited to the funeral of one of the Amish girls who had been killed. And Amish mourners outnumbered the non-Amish at Charles Roberts’ funeral.

It’s ironic that the killer was tormented for nine years by the pre-mature death of his young daughter. He never forgave God for her death. Yet, after he cold-bloodedly shot 10 innocent Amish school girls, the Amish almost immediately forgave him and showed compassion toward his family.

In a world at war and in a society that often points fingers and blames others, this reaction was unheard of.

Me: “How many times must I forgive one who sins against me?” Jesus, “As many as it takes.”
 

It Takes a Village to Overcome Disaster: Reflections on Jesus and Hurricanes

Sermons grow out of the interaction of Holy Scripture, prayer, and the life that is going on around us right here and right now. As I reflected on the scriptures this past week in preparation to preach, I also kept track of the news of Hurricane Harvey and the devastation poured upon the people of Houston and Southeast Texas, a place once home for my wife and me. We still have friends in the area, some of whom lost everything they had, and others are working as I write to help those in need. How do the Scriptures and the teachings of Christ inform our lives in situations such as this?

On Sunday, we prayed: “Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works. Amen.”

This prayer was followed by a reading from Exodus 3:1-15 in which Moses encounters God in a burning bush, and is reminded by God that he is standing on Holy Ground. Truly the Earth is the Lord’s for he made it, the whole Earth is Holy Ground, and we, as God’s people, are its stewards. This is especially true during times of devastation such as that experienced by the residents of Texas through the winds and waters of Harvey.

St. Paul (Romans 12:9ff) encourages us to love genuinely, to rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering and to persevere in prayer. He encourages us to contribute to the needs of the saints and to extend hospitality to strangers. Finally Jesus challenges us (Matthew 16:21-28): “If any want to become my followers, they must deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow me. Those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for my sake will find them.”

Twelve years ago, I was involved with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I lived in Beaumont, Texas and am a hurricane survivor. First we welcomed thousands of Katrina refugees into Beaumont. After helping provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need, Rita headed our way and we were forced to join our Louisiana refugees and evacuate to safety. The evacuation and clean up, were difficult physically, mentally and spiritually.

People in Beaumont, many my friends, as well as people in Houston and other coastal towns have had their homes flooded. Water anywhere from a few inches up to eight feet fills some homes. Beaumont was without running water for four days, and even now those who have water must boil it before drinking. Power is slowly being restored, but still some are without. Many have been evacuated, and some of these may never come back to Beaumont, and will begin a new life in a new location.

Those following Jesus’ admonition to “pick up their cross and follow him are making a difference and are bringing life back to a soggy and exhausted community. The Coast Guard, friends and neighbors, the Cajun Navy from Louisiana, FEMA, as well as other people with boats and dump trucks have rescued people and are now helping them get back to their homes to begin the difficult task of rebuilding their lives. Power companies from other states are there, and local churches and synagogues, including my friends at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, are providing food, water, clothing, books for children and even reading to the children. They are providing Bibles and prayers and a listening ear.

These people need our support. We cannot be there with them on the ground at this time, but we can send money through our denominations, The Red Cross, and other organizations on the ground. We who are Christ Episcopal Church are supporting the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, centered in Houston and St. Stephen’s Church in Beaumont with our gifts. I pray that you will find a way through your Church, Denomination, the Red Cross or other reliable organization to partner with in this rebuilding of God’s Kingdom on the Holy Ground in Texas.

I leave you with a prayer from my friend, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, The Right Reverend Andy Doyle:

Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that holy City where the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Sustain those displaced by the storm with food, drink, and all other bodily necessities of life. We especially remember before you all poor and neglected persons it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them; that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, we may ever be defended by your gracious and ready help; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.