Lay Servant Scribblings

I'm a certified lay servant in the United Methodist Church. Occasionally I am invited to fill in for pastors who must be away from their church. I am often asked to share my sermons with people who can't be there in person - I'm happy to do so. Sometimes I share bits and pieces from other authors. I have made every effort to acknowledge those instances. If I have missed any, please send me a note. Remember that these are the "scribblings" of a lay person. Be kind in your critique!

Cornerstone

This message was first delivered at St. James United Methodist Church in Gladstone, Virginia and Monroe United Methodist Church in Monroe, Virginia on October 8, 2017. It is based on the lectionary text of Matthew 21:33-46.

Cornerstone

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Jesus and his parables. Sometimes the meaning is very subtle but in this case, he is blunt enough that the chief priests and Pharisees are scared. They are stuck between a cornerstone and a hard place. They would love to arrest him but they fear the crowds who have come to know Jesus as a prophet. I think their fear is misplaced...I think I'd be more worried about the Stone in verse 44. it will crush anyone on whom it falls.

When people in authority challenged Jesus, he often responded to their challenges with a parable. If those challenging him didn't get the first parable, he'd give them a second one. Today's Gospel lesson is just such a second parable. The first was the parable of the two sons in verses 28-32 which addressed the challenge posed by the chief priests and elders about the source of Jesus' authority. They wanted to know by WHOSE authority he was doing things like healing, tossing the tables in the temple, and teaching in the temple. Jesus tells them he'll answer their question if they can answer one for him – then he asks who authorized the baptism of John, heaven or humans? Knowing that they are trapped – that if they say it was from heaven then Jesus will want to know why they didn't believe what John preached OR if they say it was authorized by humans then the crowds will be angry because they respect John as a prophet. So they use every student's favorite answer “I don't know.” I love Jesus' response to that – you got no answer for me, I got no answer for you! Then he tells the first parable, as paraphrased here by Eugene Peterson's The Message, “A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’ “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.

“The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went. “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?” They said, “The first.”

And the Pharisees scratched their heads. What did this have to do with authority? Jesus tries to clarify – you knuckleheads heard what John was saying. He was pointing out the right pathway and you chose to continue doing what you wanted. You give great lip service to loving God but fall real short on the execution of the plan.

So he tried with the second parable that we began with today – the ungrateful, unruly tenants of the vineyard. It begins with a situation that was business as usual in Roman-occupied Palestine. A landowner established a vineyard complete with a fence, a winepress, and even a watchtower. He then became an absentee landowner, returning to his own country as often happened in the far-flung territories of the Roman Empire. Tenants were in charge of overseeing the productivity of the vineyard and paying their rent to the owner at harvest time, in the form of a share of the produce. So far, so good: business was working as usual. Then everything came apart!

When the owner's slaves arrived to collect his share of the produce, the tenants attacked them, even beating one and killing another. The owner of the vineyard then simply sent another delegation of slaves to collect the rent. Hmm... this is not normal!

Those slaves were treated even worse than the first. Surely by now the owner would send in troops or some form of armed enforcement of his rights! But no, instead he sends his son, thinking by some logic that the thugs who have abused two delegations of slaves will respect the owner's son and heir. How foolish! In parallel folly the tenants reason that if they kill the son, they will get his inheritance. Apparently unaware of how ridiculous their notion is, they kill the son.

Are you still playing along with the parable? I hope so, because the punch line is almost here. Jesus asks his audience, "Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" The answer is obvious, and the chief priests and Pharisees offer it: "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time".

Whether the answer is given in a gloating voice or as a lament in fear and trembling depends on where those listening see themselves -- us -- in the story, and therein lays the catch. The chief priests and elders probably see themselves in the role of the landowner, caught in his own merciful response to those in his charge. They would be able to actually own land, and to have others manage it for them while they were busy with their administrative tasks in Jerusalem. They would see the servants as their subordinates and themselves as the real victims of the unscrupulous tenants, and they would be ready and even eager to pronounce judgment on them.

Ah, not so fast boys...maybe you'd better examine who is playing who in this little scenario. I'm not sure that you can cast yourselves as the owner. Maybe (as usual) you are missing the point. So Jesus spells it out, tells them to look it up in their Bibles – and quotes scripture to them. Psalm 118:22-23 to be exact. Psalm 118 is the last of the Psalms that make up the Great Hallel which Jews sang at the end of Passover. This is a passage with great cultural significance. It was probably written by David and is known as a Song of Victory. The 29 verses tell a story of one who overcame battles and storms and who is thanking and praising God for answering prayers and providing salvation. These would have been familiar words but Jesus is giving them a new frame of reference.

The stone the masons discarded as flawed is now the capstone!
This is God’s work. We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!

Jesus gets right to the point. Verses 43 and 44 from The Message: “This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.”

Wait, what? When you said “YOU” did you mean us? God's kingdom will be taken back and given over to someone else? And they got it – the chief priests and Pharisees KNEW this was about them and couldn't get back at Jesus without inciting the crowd.

Now we just need to figure out where WE are in the parable. I think most of us get that we aren't the landowner. If you think you might be the landowner then we'll have to address that in a different sermon. We could be one of the groups of slaves that tries to collect the rent. And maybe that is a noble place to be – approaching those who are misusing their position of power. We can be those people who stand up to the status quo and work to correct injustice. But I see those groups as more aligned with the prophets including John the Baptist – sent to convey a message but found themselves abused, ridiculed and murdered.

And I don't think that I'm the son. I think we know that Jesus is talking about himself here. And once again foreshadowing his death at the hands of those in power.

So that just leaves the current tenants and the future tenants. Which group are we in there? Are we part of the establishment so wrapped up in our way of doing things that we don't see how far away we've gotten from God's purpose or are we willing to do God's will and offer back to him his portion of the harvest? Are we the son who said, “sure I'll go do the work...but never showed up” or are we the one who said, “I don't really want to. But then thought better and DID show up”

I know who Jesus wants us to be. He wants us to be the ones that show up. Because there is a lot of work to be done.

We are living in a world that needs to know the miracle of grace. People who feel disconnected and searching so hard for a place to belong that they don't know where to turn. We can point them to the one who loves them so much that he knows them by name, can count the hairs on their head – who longs to be in a deep and abiding relationship with them. We need to show up and tell them God loves them. God is crazy about us!

Take one more look at the parable from today with that knowledge – the landowner is crazy. First of all – he creates the excellent vineyard with fences and a winepress and even a watchtower. As someone who has worked in Virginia's wine industry I can tell you, vines do not produce wine the first year. Or the year after that. Most landowners of that time would have planted, then dug the winepress a couple years later and a watchtower wouldn't have been needed until after that! But he builds a top-notch facility from the start.

Then he goes to another country leaving it in the hands of the tenants. That's a normal arrangement. And he sent some servants to collect the rent. But things don't go smoothly. At all. But when he hears that his servants have been abused and murdered – he does something strange. He sends more servants.

He doesn't send soldiers or guards – he sends another batch of servants. That doesn't make sense. What he does next is right on the edge of lunacy. He decides that they'll have to respect his son. But we know what happens to him. They crucify him. But why does the owner do something so risky? So crazy? I found one answer in a children's sermon based on today's Gospel lesson – a story about a light bulb.

When Thomas Edison was working to invent this crazy contraption called a "light bulb" it took a whole team of men working for twenty-four hours to put just one light bulb together. The story is told that when Edison's team was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy to carry upstairs. Step by step he carefully carried it, afraid that he might drop this priceless piece of work. You can probably guess what happened; the poor boy dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried upstairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one.

That's true forgiveness. Mr. Edison gave the boy another chance!

God offers that same kind of forgiveness. He offers man a second chance — and a third! In this story that Jesus told, the landowner was God. God first sent men such as Noah, Moses, David, the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and others to tell the people of his love for them and to call them to turn from their wicked ways, but many would not listen. Finally, he sent His own Son, Jesus. You know what they did to him, don't you? That's right, they crucified him. God gave them a chance. He even gave them a second chance — and a third. It may seem crazy on the outside – but that is what unfathomable love is all about. God love isn't like any other but maybe this will give a glimpse.

This story is from Tattoos on the Heart, a book by Jesuit Gregory Boyle who began Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, a gang intervention program in the gang capital of the world. Pastor G, as the homies call him, spends a great deal of time visiting with incarcerated youth – conducting services and just sitting and talking with these kids on the margins of society. In this instance he is at Camp Paige, a detention facility and is meeting with Rigo, a fifteen year old about to make his first communion. They have about ten minutes to kill and Pastor G asks him about his life and family. He gets around to asking about Rigo's father.

“Oh,” Rigo says, “he's a heroin addict and never really been in my life. Used to always beat me. Fact, he's in prison right now, barely ever lived with us.” Then something seemed to snap in him, an image brings him to attention.

Rigo continues, “I think I was in the fourth grade...I came home one day, sent home in the middle of the day. Got into some trouble at school Can't remember what. When I got home, my jefito was there. He was hardly ever there. My dad says, “Why they send you home?” And cuz my dad always beat me, I said. “If I tell you, promise you won't hit me?” He just said, “I'm your father. 'course I'm not gonna hit you.” So I told him.

Rigo is caught short in the telling. He bgins to cry, and in moments he's wailing and rocking back and forth. Father Greg put his arms around him. He was inconsolable. When Rigo is able to speak, and barely so, he says only, “He beat me with a pipe...with...a pipe.” When Rigo composes himself, Father Greg asked, “and your mother?” He points some distance across the room at a tiny woman standing by the gym's entrance.

“That's her over there.” He pauses for a beat. “There's no one like her.” Again, some image appears in his mind and a thought occurs to him. “I've been locked up for more than a year and a half. She comes to see me every Sunday. You know how many buses she takes to come here? To see my sorry self?”

Then he sobs again with the same ferocity as before. When he reclaims breath he gasps through his tears. “Seven buses. She takes... seven...buses. Imagine.”

Imagine. The expansive heart of this God – greater than God – who takes seven buses, just to arrive at us. Who sent his Son to be our Savior.

Embrace that God and there's no question of what role we will take in the parable. We will show up. We will introduce everyone we meet to this God. We will be so full of gratitude that we will be ready to turn over God's portion of the harvest to him without complaint, without abusing his messengers. We will be the new tenants in the new kingdom built on the solid foundation of our cornerstone.

When Jesus asks, which son will we be? The one that says, “sure, I'll do the job” but doesn't show up? Let our story be of the one who – although reluctant at first, thinks better of it...and gets into the vineyard!

How to Get Along

This message was first delivered at Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia on September 10, 2017. It is based on the lectionary texts of Matthew 18:15-20 and Romans 13:8-14.

How to Get Along

“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. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Years ago, a large statue of Christ was erected high in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile. Called "Christ of the Andes," the statue symbolizes a pledge between the two countries that as long as the statue stands, there will be peace between Chile and Argentina. Shortly after the statue was erected, the Chileans began to protest that they had been slighted -- the statue had its back turned to Chile. Just when tempers were at their highest in Chile, a Chilean newspaperman saved the day. In an editorial that not only satisfied the people but made them laugh, he simply said, "The people of Argentina need more watching over than the Chileans.”

Arguments. They are a part of life. We are humans and we will inevitably rub each other the wrong way at times and end up in a disagreement. It happens in families, at school, work...and yes, even in church. But today's scriptures give us a blueprint on how to get along. The challenge is following the plan!

This lesson from Matthew is, first and foremost, about how we live as Christians in community with one another, particularly when someone from our community has sinned against us or wronged us in some way.

Most people, when they hear the word “sin,” think about things they have personally done that are wrong. That is because we think in terms of me, myself, and I: My personal relationship with Jesus, My desires, my needs, my values, My sin as a private matter between ME and GOD

In this way of thinking, sin involves only individual confession: I confess my sin, God forgives me, and I am saved and can move on. Jesus strikes at the very heart of our individualism when he says we are wrong about this. He says that if we are one of his followers, then it can no longer be all about ME; because the moment that we enter in to his fellowship, our lives change, and it becomes all about US. Remember he taught us to pray OUR Father, not MY father. Living in community is a challenging thing!

It’s not just about sharing living space or stuff. At some very core level, we don’t like to have others knowing our business. We don’t want to air our dirty laundry or let others see our mistakes and weaknesses. We don’t want to be held accountable for our actions.

Jesus says that sin is very clearly a community matter. He suggests that living in Christian community requires both accountability and forgiveness. And the way we live out our faith in relationship with one another affects our relationship with God. The way we treat one another has everything to do with our relationship with God. When we live in a spirit of Christian love and commit to accountability and forgiveness a way of life, Jesus says that’s when God is there, present among us.

Jesus offers a model of accountability that we as brothers and sisters in Christ might live by. In his model, there are three steps: From Eugene Peterson's The Message, Matthew 18:15-17: “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.”

Now don't take this as an invitation to launch an attack on every person that you disagree with! This is about people in the community of faith. This is about people who have entered into an agreement to be a part of community. Just like we do every time we share the Lord's Supper. In the United Methodist Church's liturgy for the sacrament of Holy Communion, we say that the invitation from Christ our Lord is for all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. We then confess our sins, hear words of absolution, and share the peace with one another before sharing the bread and cup. It is time that we take that promise seriously...because it is important that we show unity in the church. We live in a hurting world that needs to hear about God's love...but it will be hard to trust in that love, if we don't show it within the church. You see? They'll Know...They are going to know we are Christians by our love.

I love that hymn and I'm so grateful that your congregation has the Faith We Sing so that we could share that hymn together. It is a wonderful reminder of what we can accomplish when we are all pulling in the same direction!

Sure, we have to exemplify God's love in every aspect of our lives, but it is critical that we show love within the church. This story was related to me and it hit so close to home, it felt like a story I could have told it myself. Sara wrote, “I became a Christian as a teenager, and I immediately wanted to be involved in my church. Hoping to channel that enthusiasm, the church leaders put me on the committee which was planning the promotion for the church's building fund. The adults were working on a brochure, which I was supposed to help them write. It was exciting to be performing an important service, and to be working along side a group of mature Christians-or so Sara thought.

After the first meeting it was clear that these "mature" believers were more concerned about whether or not to have an air conditioner in the new sanctuary than they were about spiritual matters (in my church it was about round tables vs. rectangular tables and red carpet runners vs. blue). They argued and fought through the entire meeting. Sara got her eyes off the creator and onto the creation, and it was discouraging. For 6 years after that day she refused to go to church, read the Bible or even consider anything relating to Christianity. "If that's what Christians are like, why would I want to be one?" Sara reasoned.”

You see? They'll know! They will figure it out before we even get the chance to tell them about Jesus and the unfathomable love he has for every single person.

If we are going to be a Christian community, we must commit ourselves to working through our differences in healthy ways. I can’t make it work by myself, no matter how much I want it to. I can’t do it alone. None of you can do it alone either.

It takes all of us, speaking and listening and then speaking and listening some more, over and over, for as long as it takes. Every one of us has to be willing to listen and to learn from one another and from our differences. That’s the only path to true community.

Scripture reminds us that this love thing is tricky and that we, as humans, will take this simple command and screw it up. We will carelessly call our brother 'idiot' and thoughtlessly yell 'stupid' at a sister. Even in the church.

We can be reassured by the fact that the difficulties we face as members of the body of Christ are not so different than those difficulties faced by the early church. In Colossians 3:13-14 Paul tells that church (and us) that we need to “be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” After listing all the ways we can bless each other, Paul wrote these words because he recognizes that sometimes we fall short. We're going to irritate each other, so we'll need to put up with each other.

How many of you have had times in family or romantic relationships when you just needed to put up with each other? Church relationships are no different. Accepting each other is an important key to making this “marriage” work. At some point you say to yourself, you know what? I love him, I love her even though he/she is not perfect. There are things that cause pain and require a measure of grace to be dealt with. If we are to move beyond those things, we have to remember there are six words that are as important as any spoken in a marriage or relationship: Those six words are “I am sorry” and “I forgive you.” If you're unable to say those words, you have no chance of making a friendship, a family relationship, a marriage or a church last. It's that simple.

The key is love. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, is talking about love not as a feeling, but as an action. Love is what we owe our neighbors. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Love is not doing things in the dark that we don’t want others to see, but rather putting on the honor of light and living honorably as in the day. Living in a way that nothing needs to be hidden.

Love is not a feeling here. It is something that we do. Let's shift our attention for a minute to the passage from Romans we heard – and bring out three key points. 1. Believers should be "debt-free" in relation to others, except with regard to love. The Message states verse 8 in this way: “Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along.” The law was a very big deal to the people of Israel. Often, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) is referred to as the Law. More literally it means instruction or guide. This was the center of Jewish teaching, culture and practice. The Torah consists of the origin of the Jewish people: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws. Paul knew his audience and THEY knew the law. He's turning it into something personal: When you love others, you complete what the law intended to accomplish. That takes us the point 2. The commandments can be summarized and fulfilled in one statement, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Or as one of the members of my youth Sunday school class puts it: Don't be a jerk. He's a real philosopher! But Paul is right...if you take all the don'ts...don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't covet...they can all be covered by “love your neighbor as yourself.” You don't want any of these things being done unto you...don't do them unto anybody else! I could wander off on a tangent here about maybe people DON'T love themselves much – and how that might cause them to BE jerks. But I'll save that for another visit.

Point 3. Christians should be motivated to goodness because of agape and the approaching Second Coming of Christ. Agape. A different kind of love. That is a love that comes from compassion. God looks on us with compassion and despite our human-ness, loves us more fully than we can comprehend. Why else would he send his son to die on a cross for us?

God can get tiny if we're not careful. Too often we fall into the trap of God being made in our image – instead of the other way around. We relate to God in our human understanding, putting God in a box that he simply can't be contained in! But God is bigger than that. This wild, untamed God has a deep and abiding love for us.

I'd like to read a story for you from Tattoos on the Heart, a book by Jesuit Gregory Boyle who began Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, a gang intervention program in the gang capital of the world. Pastor G, as the homies call him, spends a great deal of time visiting with incarcerated youth – conducting services and just sitting and talking with these kids on the margins of society (you don't get much more “They” than that. In this instance he is at Camp Paige, a detention facility and is meeting with Rigo, a fifteen year old about to make his first communion. They have about ten minutes to kill and Pastor G asks him about his life and family. He gets around to asking about Rigo's father.

Rigo is caught short in the telling. He begins to cry, and in moments he's wailing and rocking back and forth. Father Greg put his arms around him. He was inconsolable. When Rigo is able to speak, and barely so, he says only, “He beat me with a pipe...with...a pipe.” When Rigo composes himself, Father Greg asked, “and your mother?” He points some distance across the room at a tiny woman standing by the gym's entrance.

Then he sobs again with the same ferocity as before. When he reclaims breath he gasps through his tears. “Seven buses. She takes... seven...buses. Imagine.”

Imagine. The expansive heart of this God – greater than God – who takes seven buses, just to arrive at us. It is that agape love and the promise of Jesus' return that Paul says should move us to goodness.

Jerome, in his commentary on Galatians, tells that St. John continued preaching in Ephesus even when he was in his 90s. Even when he was so enfeebled that he had to be carried in on a stretcher, he would lean up on one elbow and deliver his message, “Little children, love one another.” Then he would lie back down and be carried out. One day, the story goes, someone asked him why he said the same thing week after week. John replied, “Because it is enough.” It is Christianity in a nutshell.

We are called to love one another. To show that we are Christians by our love. Because They'll know. And they are going to know we are Christians by the love we show to them. But who are THEY? Who is my neighbor?

With storms and natural disasters or even human-caused crises, I often hear about neighbors taking care of each other. People shoveling each others' walks in snow storms, giving rides to people, checking on each other to be sure they are okay. These neighbors are important. But we know from scripture that our neighbor is more than the guy who lives next door with the chainsaw when wind takes down a chunk of tree. The whole world is our neighborhood!

Suddenly – They and them are more clearly defined. They are the people on the outside who are just waiting to be invited in. In another part of Tattoos on the Heart, Father Greg tells about the instance in scripture where Jesus is in a house so packed that no one can come through the door anymore. So the people open the roof and lower this paralytic down through it so Jesus can heal him. Although the focus of the story is, understandably, the healing of the paralytic...there is something more significant happening. They're ripping the roof off the place, and those outside are being let in.

We need to rip some roofs off. We need to go outside and see the people who are hurting and need Jesus. We need to find every way possible to get them connected to the one who loves them – and let them know that he does. We are tasked with showing God's love to the world. Are we doing our job? And are we doing it with a Christ-like attitude?

There are people who are hurting out there. People who need to see the love of God. We have neighbors who don't have enough to eat, who need a listening ear, who need a helping hand to get back on their feet, neighbors who face barriers that we can dismantle. They are counting on us. But they will experience God's love through the love we show. And they will be able to tell if it is genuine. They will know if we are helping them out of a sense of obligation or if our helping them is just an extension of the joy we have in being loved so much by God.

Let our story be about how we ripped off roofs to introduce a hurting world to the love of the one who knows our name. Who can't wait to see us face to face. Because when we dive into the depths of that unfathomable love, then we start to see the people around us differently. And this love thing starts to spread. And this just might catch on.