TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST – 02 October 2005

St Paul Lutheran Church, ABQ NM – The Rev. P. L. Holman

Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-14; Philippians 3:14-21; Matthew 21:33-43

“How Can We Keep from Sharing?”

Have you ever wondered who owns the farm?  When I went away to college the last thing I expected to learn about was farming.  Born and raised in Cook County, Illinois, I had seen dairy farms and petted farm animals at Brookfield Zoo, but my father worked for a manufacturing firm, my mom worked at home, and their parents were seamstress and janitor, shoemaker, homemaker and factory worker.  As the Spirit works, “the computer” (a novelty back then) assigned me to room with Diane Baum, who came to Luther from a small farm outside a small town in western Iowa.

If you know farming you can imagine the things I learned.  This was before the advent of corporate farms so prevalent now; I learned a lot.  But perhaps most powerful of all was learning to ask the question, “Who owns the farm?”  You see, it never occurred to me to ask.  I figured, if you’re farming it then it’s your land.  Wrong.  Orval and Linda Baum raised their three children on a farm owned by Linda’s mother, and every year following the sale of the harvest, the first expense paid was the rent to Granny Ehlers.  As my roommate described it, this seemed to me a very hard life.  A good year might gross $1000, to cover their medical, clothing and other household expenses for the entire year. 

It was a very labor intensive life lived close to the soil.  And judging by the times I spent with the family, a wonderful life – not perfect, filled with crisis and uncertainty but also lots of love and joy.  Community events like Lytton Gala Days, the women’s circles at church, and the men meeting every day for coffee at the local café – these were all part of the rhythm of community life.  They brought people together, and they were very good.  While it did matter very much financially who owned the farm, what mattered most of all was the sense of community.  If someone took ill or was killed in a farm accident, there was no question that folks would step in to help or harvest or just do what’s needed.  They know what matters.

In these past few weeks the Gospel has taken us to a farm of sorts, to the vineyard where we’ve learned that the latecomers get paid the same as those who labored all day – and, thanks be to God, everyone gets paid!  Then we learned about the father shamed by his two sons – one who agreed to work them didn’t show, the other who refused then went to work anyway – and in this saw how the path of life is neither constructed by our goodness nor destroyed by our mistakes, but how life is always gift from the God who longs for us to know ever more deeply the blessing of community. 

Today the story gets to the heart of the matter: those who covet the land sacrifice everything to feed their greed, even to the point of killing the owner’s son.  The owner is unbelievably patient with the selfish tenants, first sending two groups of slaves before sending his own son.  It’s bad enough what they did to the slaves -- what do YOU think the owner will do to these who murdered his son? 

They could kill the messenger but not the message: God is unbelievably patient with us.  There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing.  How can this be?  Well, God so loved the world … We did nothing to earn God’s love.  God has freely chosen to love us and has given us all we need to live.  And God calls us to live mindful of that grace.  We don’t own the land.  We are here for a time gifted to live mindful of others knowing Christ is mindful of us, to follow not just the WORDS but also the WAY of Jesus.

Who owns the farm?  Thanks be to God, WE don’t!  That, my friends, is Grace.  We are servants entrusted to be the church, little more than tenant farmers responsible for what God has given us.  We can never be as faithful as we ought with these abundant blessings, so time and again God sends messengers our way to remind us of who owns the farm. 

Some times that reminder comes in the form of conflict: As a people called to work for peace and justice in the world, how can we remain silent on the justice issues in Palestine and Israel, or the hideous avalanche of deaths in Baghdad?  As residents of this polis called Albuquerque, is it faithful for us to live as though living wage and affordable housing are not our concern when they so greatly impact the health of our community?  As members of this part of the body of Christ, called to gather in praise of God, could it be that our current worship dialogs are God’s way of leading us to more faithful use of resources for worship, resources perhaps we didn’t know we have?

Some times God’s reminder comes in the form of crisis: As people who have promised to serve others like Jesus did, “following the example of our Lord Jesus,” could opportunities to help hurricane victims now and for the long haul be God reminding us what engaging in joy-filled giving is truly about? 

Some times that reminder comes in the form of a simple plea: At the Congregation Council meeting last month our two youth members made a candid request of their partners at the table: “We want to be the church, but we can’t do it ourselves.  We need adults to work with us.”  Mary Parson and Christina Rhee are preparing a list of opportunities for you.  Among other things they are seeking folks to help them improve the youth room, to help our youth grow in faith, and to help plan opportunities to network with other youth in our Synod and throughout the Church.  We are blessed …

Some times God’s reminder comes in the form of pain: what an amazing experience it is to spend time with Betty Peterson who, in these days when cancer is ravaging her body, has a heart is still full of love for life.  How amazing, this grace …

There are people who don’t call themselves Christian yet choose to care deeply for others: to advocate for peace, to take time off work to help rebuild storm-damaged communities, to care for ailing friends.  This is good, and God knows we need all the hands we can get in this world so hungry for peace and healing.  But for those who know Jesus, who are named and called and sent, it is not a matter of choice – it is a matter of grace.  God’s grace.    God has first loved and cared for and claimed us.  WE don’t own the farm – God does.  Our job is simply to respond to God’s grace with thankful and generous hearts.  The time is now – God’s waiting for us with amazingly patient urgency to get with it and get moving

How can we keep from sharing!