WEBVTT 00:00:12.320 --> 00:01:28.480 I was child my family will travel Western Kentucky where my parents were born so town software so many times that my memory is won't you take me back to the county battle every nice lane Solvey must unplug you to nuts the body's go train us all the way sometimes we travel right down the old prison down by hill We smell like snakes and we chew with our fists empty pop buffs were all we would kill Daddy won't you take me down the county by the clean river where paradise lay Sorry my son touched you later Mr. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:08:37.039 Peebody's cold trades all the way County came with the world's such a show torture the temple stripped all the land for the cold to the land was forsaken wrote it all down to the progress of man Daddy won't you take me down to New County who appeared as there my son but you too late an ass be about his coach train us all the way I let my ashes flow down the river so roll on up to Rochester dam I'll be halfway to heaven paradise wins five miles away from wherever I am Daddy won't you take me down to New Render County By the Green River where paradise lay I'm sorry my son but you're too late and ask people he's gonna train his own way One Love One hold let's get together and feel alright One love one hold thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright saying let's get together and feel alright let them all pass dirty there is one question I'd really love to ask is there a place for mankind just to say the one let's get together and feel alright one all and I will feel alright let's get together and feel how right let's get together I can see bully on again so when the man comes there will be no no two on the whole chance to full video there in the high from the appropriation one love one hour together and feel alright one love one ho give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright let's get together and feel alright blessed be God Father Son and Holy Spirit blessed be God family now and forever amen together almighty God unto whom all hearts are open all the spirits of us by the inspiration of all spirit that even by see if you try no hell above a story sky imagine all the people live in all the day imagine there's no country it isn't hard to nothing to kill that no religion to imagine all the people you may say I'm a dream but I'm not the only one I hope someday join us I'm a world that's no perception I won't you can know how to imagine all the people I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one I hope someday join us I'm a world live as one friends the Lord be with you let us pray Almighty God the fountain of all wisdom you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking have compassion on our weakness and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not and for our blindness we cannot ask. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:44.639 Through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:50.559 Amen please be seated I invite our kiddos to head on out for godly play. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:09:30.799 If you'd like go ahead into the back of the sanctuary rock song we should make a kid song Dan reading from Samuel Now it was that when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:10:26.080 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel at Rama they said to him here you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways now then set up for us a ruler to judge us like all the evil nations but the thing was evil in Samuel's sight when they said give us a ruler to judge us then Samuel prayed to the Holy One of old and the holy one said to Samuel hearken to the voice of the people and all that they say to you for it is not you they have rejected but it is me they have rejected from ruling over them like everything else they have done to me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this very day forsaking me and serving other gods they are doing the same to you. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:44.799 Now then hearken to their voice but you shall testify against them and show them the judgment of the ruler who shall rule over them so Samuel relayed all the words of the Holy One to the people who were asking him for a ruler. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:11:23.600 Samuel said this will be the judgment of the ruler who will rule over you all your sons he will take and set them aside for himself in his chariots and in his cavalry and to run before his chariots and he will set aside for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ploughing and to reap his reaping and to make his furnishings of war and the furnishings of his chariots your daughters he will take to be apothecaries and cooks and bakers he will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:13:17.039 He will take and give to those who serve him one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards he will take to give to his eunuchs and Dosean slaves your male slaves and your female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take and put them to his work your flocks he will tithe and you all shall be his slaves and you all will cry out on that day in the face of your sovereign whom you have chosen for yourselves and God whose name is holy will not answer you all on that day the word of the Lord Psalm ninety nine please read responsibly by half verse the ever living God reigns let the peoples tremble the Holy One of old is great in Zion exalted over all evil let them praise your great and awesome name mighty majesty lover of justice you have established equity you have executed justice and righteousness among the descendants of Rebecca extol the mother of creation our God well worship holy is she Moses and Aaron were among her priests Miriam her prophet Samuel and Hannah also among those who called on her name to the faith of one and she answered them. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:14:29.279 In the pillar of the cloud she spoke to them and the strategies just one our God you answered them forgiving all to them and advancing how they're doing extol the fire of Sonai our God bow down and worship at a holy mountain from Revelation A voice came from the throne saying Praise our God all you slaves of God and all who fear God, small and great. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:15:00.000 And I heard the sound of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderings crying outelujah for the Holy One our God the Almighty reigns Let us rejoice and revel and give God the glory for the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has prepared herself to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:17:53.599 Then the divine messenger said to me blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb and the messenger said to me these are true words of God the word of the Lord When I find myself in times of trouble love an air it comes to me speaking words of wisdom let it be in my outness she is standing right in front of me speaking words of wisdom let it be let it be let it be let it be oh let it be speaking words of wisdom let it be within the room heart people let it be oh the big heart in there is a chance we'll see there will be an answer let it be let it be let it be let it be oh let it be speaking words with sound let it be when the night's cloudy there is still a light that shines on me shine till tomorrow let it be I wake up to the sound of music mother comes to me speaking words of wisdom let it be let it be let it be let it be oh let it be whisper words of wisdom let it be the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew Jesus said the realm of the heavens is like a landowner who went out in the morning to hire laborers for a vineyard agreeing with the laborers for the customary denarius a day the landowner sent them into the vineyard. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:59.599 The landowner went out about nine o'clock and saw others standing in the marketplace idle. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:07.839 And the landowner said to them you all also go into the vineyard and I will give you what is right and they departed. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:24.880 Again the landowner went out and did the same about the sixth hour which is noon about the ninth hour which is three in the afternoon and even then about the eleventh hour five the landowner went out and found others standing around and said to them Why are you all standing here idle all day? 00:18:25.279 --> 00:19:19.920 Well they said because no one is hired us the landowner said to them you also go into the vineyard and when it was even the vineyard said to the manager all the laborers and gave them their pay beginning with the last group within the first group and those hired at the eleventh hour that is five in the evening came each received a denarius and when the first came they thought they would receive more each of them also received the same denarius receiving it they grumbled against the landowner and they said these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat the owner of the vineyard replied to one of them I have done you no wrong did you not agree with me for the reason what is yours in God. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:20:41.119 I choose to give this last what I gave you do I not have the right to do what I choose with what is mine or are your eyes envious because I am generous the last will be first and the first will be last is the gospel of the Lord be seated now I've never worked in a vineyard but when I was a middle schooler late in middle school and all throughout high school uh my dad decided he was going to open up a wholesale nursery and so I found myself working at the nursery for pay is in air quotes and because I was my father's son and I had his work ethic sure enough I spent hours multiple days a week especially in high school moving pots from A to B. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.759 And then later we'd move them to B to C. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.160 And strangely we move them from C to A. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:47.519 So this is what I did. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:55.119 And by the time I was 14 I had done this so much that I would grab five pots in each hand. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:59.920 I would put one finger in each pot, squeeze them together so I could move 10 in a go. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:05.039 And what do you know I got paid the lovely wage of$5 an hour. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:15.359 At the time it was something right then I noticed one spring break that my father wanted extra help so he hired some of the college boys down the street. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:20.480 They were much taller than I was they were much bigger presumably they were much stronger. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.200 He paid them$15 an hour. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:22:01.759 They moved one pot in each hand at a time so I found myself thinking not only have you made me equal to them no no no you have made them superior to me who do I identify with in this story the people who work at 6 a.mad my dad has been dead almost four years and there are a few phrases he Would say, and some of them were quite good. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:03.839 I'll share you two of the good ones. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:11.039 One of them was having gone to Vietnam and been conscripted, right? 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.279 So he was drafted by his own father. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.839 My dad's draft number was 400. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.400 So there's no way he should have been drafted. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:20.480 But his father pulled his number. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:21.039 Right? 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:25.440 So we went to Vietnam, and by his own account, he killed women and children. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.519 That's what he was ordered to do. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:38.960 When he came back, he said to people who knew him or who wanted to hear it, and certainly to us as kids, that a communist was a man trying to feed his family. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:53.519 And then another one of his very good sayings was the minute you think you are different from everybody else is the minute you are just like everybody else. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:55.519 Good saying. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:02.400 Most of the time he talked about how his superior intelligence made him better than everybody around. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:05.920 So I don't know what kind of dad you had. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:12.160 I had a probably a normal one, and I lived in the tension between these good quotes and the other ones. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:21.759 And to be honest, I think that is where the parable today is introducing that tension, and quite honestly, in a way I really don't like. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:28.160 Because I already told you I identify with the folks that started working real early. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:33.279 Like real early for me was like I was attending church nine months before I was born. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.599 And hey, I gave my adult confession to Jesus when I was 10. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:46.480 And I had this idea that was grilled in me that I was suffering for the Lord by wearing Christian t-shirts and evangelizing people in laundromats. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.039 See, we did that because they couldn't leave, right? 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:52.160 So they were literally a captive audience, right? 00:23:52.319 --> 00:24:00.079 So I was doing this and I was foregoing all the pleasures of, you know, dancing or whatever else it was, right? 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:03.599 Because that's the whole problem with premarital sex, is it leads to dancing. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.160 So we weren't going to do any of that stuff. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:14.160 And I sort of had this sort of thought that, like, look, I have worked so hard and I've sacrificed so much. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.559 So what do I get? 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:26.079 Because, of course, we always heard about people converting on their deathbed, which meant they got to have all the fun and all the clemency. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:32.079 And all that my church could tell me is, well, people die in their sleep, so do you want to risk it? 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:38.480 Now, this is exactly where evangel I don't know who made this doctrine up. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:39.359 It's really nuts. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.640 Don't raise your hand. 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.000 I'm kind of curious, but don't raise your hand if you heard this. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:52.079 This is where we came up with the idea in the church, one of our worst ideas ever, that when we do a good work, we get a jewel in our heavenly crown. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:59.200 In fact, I've even been told in the process of doing something, somebody would say, That's a jewel in your heavenly crown. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.079 I don't know if you've read the book. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:06.799 It turns out I'd read it a bunch, but you know, you believe what you're told, not what you read. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:11.200 Returning to the book, you know what you do with your heavenly crown the moment you get it? 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.000 You throw it away. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:22.079 You throw it actually at the feet of Jesus because it turns out that weight doesn't belong in the afterlife. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.559 The weight of your earned righteousness. 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:44.240 I mean, that's a great vision in Revelation, but John didn't really know what he was talking about because I think whoever dies with the most jewels in their heavenly crown probably gets the penthouse in heaven, and I don't want to live in the shantytown in heaven. 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:51.279 Surely heaven is like earth, where some people get penthouses and some people live on the streets. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.960 I mean, I get the man in the gold, but I don't want to live on the street forever. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:59.839 Why we made that garbage up, I have no idea, except for this. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:07.519 We decided that as an early age that life should be fair. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:14.079 And therefore, God should be fair like we are. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:24.000 And this is part of the reason I think the church is dying, because when we make God like us with just more power, it's scary as hell. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:26.559 And I mean that literally. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:37.519 Now, when my kids were small, I don't know if you did this as a parent, too, I'm sure that they faced some gross inequity. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:43.200 And I probably told them more than once, well, sweetie, you know life's not fair. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.039 So we live in that tension that we know that. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.480 But darn it, we want it to be fair. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:59.039 By the way, if you really think that your marriage is going to be fair, I'm predicting a divorce for you. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.920 I don't say that tongue in cheek. 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:08.559 If you got in marriage for it to be fair, you will be gravely disappointed by the seventh year, if not the second. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:13.599 If you thought having kids was gonna be fair, let me prepare you in advance. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:17.440 If you're looking for fairness, you will only have grief. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:22.079 The truth is, I get what's leftover from my kid. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:24.799 But teachers get the good behavior and manners. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:26.480 I get the leftovers. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:32.000 I mean, maybe that's how I want it, but gosh, I'd like more than leftovers sometimes. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:40.880 So when I read this story, the last line is actually not translated. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.599 I want to translate it for you woodenly. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:48.880 The last line says, Is your eye evil because I am good? 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:53.279 Instead of, is your eye envious because I'm generous? 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:58.160 It reads, is your eye evil because I am good. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.960 I don't know if you've heard about the evil eye. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:08.799 That's a thing in the Mediterranean still, you know, if you go to Greece or you go to Turkey, you see that little black pupil, and there's a white one, and there's a blue one, right? 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.599 And people say it doesn't mean that, but it sure does. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:17.920 It came from this idea that you wear this off to ward off the evil eye because you could curse somebody with your eyes, right? 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.000 So apparently this is a really old saying, the evil eye. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:28.240 And really, I think it confronts me as I read the story with this idea that Sean's referenced before. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:32.799 It didn't come naturally to me, of offensive generosity. 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:40.799 That is the owner of the vineyard entreating everybody to the same wage. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:50.240 I'm more likely to give that the evil eye than I am to say thanks be to God. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.279 Because damn it, I've worked through the heat of the day. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:56.240 You ever work through the heat of the day? 00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.359 I mean, you know what you do at five o'clock until six? 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:02.079 You like put up the ladder and you sweep. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.000 And it's like, that's nothing, right? 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:07.359 It's nothing. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:13.920 So surely God works like the capitalist economy that I find myself a part in. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.240 I mean, we've got to recognize merit. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:17.759 Except here's the problem. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.480 Do you know the definition of grace according to your prayer book? 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:29.119 Unmerited favor. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:40.880 And here is probably why my trying to convert people to intellectual propositions I had in laundry mats actually wasn't that effective. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:47.759 I mean, maybe I cared about their immortal souls, but really I just cared about jewels in my own crown. 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:52.640 Now, here's the interesting thing about the story we often miss. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:57.279 This isn't about a wholesale plant nursery, and it's not about a peach orchard in Georgia. 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.799 This is a vineyard. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:08.240 And I don't know that we all have this cultural fluency with the Bible, but the vineyard is the people of God all throughout the Hebrew Bible. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:12.880 And like, you know, I don't know if you anybody been to a Jewish wedding before? 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:15.200 They do weddings better than we do. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:16.240 And here's why. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:22.079 At the beginning of a Jewish wedding, the rabbi blesses a glass of wine. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:34.720 And in the wedding, seven people come and say seven blessings over the couple, and after each blessing, they take a drink from the wine. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:40.960 Because wine in the Hebrew Bible is not a symbol for alcohol, it's a symbol for joy. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:48.880 This is the people of God, and they're meant to produce joy for the world. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:50.960 This is all symbolic speak, right? 00:30:51.119 --> 00:31:04.480 Now, I I I'm not stag's leap, but I am very aware that grapes have a limited shelf life in which they are to be harvested in order to produce the best possible vintage. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:08.960 Like if they freeze on the vine, the wine is gone. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:12.799 If you get them too early, the wine will be too bitter. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:21.279 If you get them too late, well, it turns out the wine quality also goes down because there's been too much fermentation happening, too much sugar. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:26.640 Roughly speaking, I think this is true, even if I didn't get the particularities correct. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:29.039 So here's what I think is happening in the story. 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.559 The workers like me are thinking about what's in it for me. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.839 Because that's what we've been trained to do. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:37.759 What's in it for me? 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:43.839 This is why I don't know if it's felt uncomfortable for you to sing, imagine. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:45.200 I don't know, John Lennon. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:55.839 Like, I don't know what he had in mind, but boy, you know, what I have in mind when I hear that song is if my whole faith life is trying to earn my way to heaven, what a sad state to live in. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:07.359 As if God wants me on a treadmill, hustling for my worthiness to exist and take up space in the world and in some kind of afterlife. 00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:12.319 I mean, I think John Lennon actually asks us imagine that there is grace. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:16.559 We might actually live in peace then. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.079 You talk about a prophetic witness. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:27.920 I mean, you can make the song about atheism or agnosticism, or you could say, man, this is a yearning for grace that we're not living into. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:33.279 And I will tell you, as your priest, I want a heavenly crown. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:36.319 I want good wages. 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:39.759 I have worked hard and I have given stuff up. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:45.359 So how is it that God is going to treat people who haven't done work and haven't done much? 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:48.079 And here's the sad issue, right? 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:50.319 I am working for the wine of the Lord. 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:54.160 I'm working for the joy of God, and I don't have very much in my own life. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:59.039 I don't think I'm the only one to say this. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:07.440 See, we thought, and I was somehow trained, that life is supposed to be miserable, and then you'll get the wine later. 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:11.920 But then again, you consider you consider telling somebody good news about Jesus. 00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:13.920 I got good news, brother. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.240 Your life is gonna be horrible. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:19.359 It is going to be like you think you're enjoying life. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:21.680 No, no, that's not joyful, that's misery. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:23.200 The joy happens when you die. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.039 You want to know why church is dying? 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:26.960 Because we say stuff like that. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:30.799 Because we believe it. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:32.640 That's the worst part. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:39.279 We've decided that God is a more powerful version of capitalist us. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:43.519 So there's this different perspective in the parable. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:49.119 There's the owner of the vineyard who can't stand to waste any of a good joy. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:51.599 You know what you do with bad wine now? 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:54.960 All kinds of vineyards make bad wine every day, even the best vineyards. 00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:56.079 You know what you do with it? 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:57.519 You distill it. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:04.160 And then you can sell it as cha cha, or you can you can call it raki, or you can make it into brandy. 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.880 They didn't have distillation in the Hebrew Bible. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:07.440 They didn't. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:10.239 The wine was either good or it was bad. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:16.960 The owner of the vineyard cannot stand to see joy die on the vine. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:26.960 Most of my spiritual life, I mean, only in three instances has grace actually broken into me. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:33.519 Most of my spiritual life has been focused on the wages, not the harvest of joy. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:38.800 So when I try to convert somebody, what's my good news? 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:41.119 You can be as miserable as I am. 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:49.280 I'm glad you're chuckling, and I hope you also realize I'm not joking at all. 00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:58.239 Converting people to the church of misery is a fool's errand. 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:05.280 And today, I'm even I'm preaching this sermon, right? 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.159 My eye is often evil with God for being good. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:18.480 I have resentment in my heart that God loves all of us the same. 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:21.519 Because I don't. 00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:30.880 Now, I wish I had five easy steps to harvesting and living in the joy of the Lord. 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:36.719 I wish I did, but at least I have step one is recognizing that I don't want unmerited favor. 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:39.599 I actually don't want it. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:41.519 I'd rather earn it. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:47.920 And if you've already cleared that hurdle, tell me how to do it. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:36:04.639 Because I'm not saying there's something inherently wrong with capitalism, but I'll say the capitalism I've drunk down, like the workers in the vineyard, is I don't want to be beholden to anybody. 00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:11.519 If you give me a gift, maybe I'm obligated to you, but if I earn it, then I don't owe you anything. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:12.880 I got wages. 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:16.960 Of course, all of this earning stuff is where we miss what grace is about. 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:18.719 Gifts are given, they're not earned. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:21.519 I mean, God doesn't expect this is really wild. 00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:23.760 This may not sound like good news. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:27.039 God doesn't expect you to do anything. 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:35.039 I think what God hopes is in the vineyard of the Lord, you realize there's real joy to be found. 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:44.320 You know what's not enjoyable is constantly comparing yourself to the other workers in the vineyard. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:46.880 Welcome to hell. 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:52.800 I was taught to do it in school, weren't you? 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:03.039 I didn't go to law school, but I don't know if you realize in law school, everybody gets a 90 on a test in a class of a hundred, a 90 and above. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:04.079 Everybody. 00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:07.119 Only five are getting A's and five are getting F's. 00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:11.599 Because some people have to be bad and some people have to be good. 00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:14.159 It's called grading on a bell curve, right? 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:16.320 That's how law schools in general work. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:20.239 If you all got A's, some people are still actually getting F's. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.079 We were taught in school to do this. 00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:30.880 Some of us were taught in our families that we have to excel our siblings in order to receive affection from our parents. 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:33.840 I hope that wasn't your experience, it was mine. 00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:37.599 It was done on purpose so that we would work harder. 00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:41.519 You know what the reward for that work is? 00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:42.719 Is misery. 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:46.639 Because not only have you lost your brother, you've lost your parents too. 00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:48.960 They were never yours. 00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:54.880 And we live in the family of God like that. 00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:59.199 Or at least I'll just say I do. 00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:10.000 I think grace is so foreign to us, I'm not sure we would enjoy the taste of it if we had it. 00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:19.199 Like I think we'd have been drinking such bitter wine, when the good bottle comes out, we might spit it out. 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:27.679 Like I said, I don't have easy steps. 00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:31.440 But I do have this thought, right? 00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:49.920 That most of the time we work in the vineyard and we're thinking about our wages, or we're thinking about our fellow workers, or we're thinking, oh, surely God's gonna recognize me because I doubled my pledge, or I've been praying every day, and that's so modeled. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:53.440 I really want to be modeled. 00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:55.199 I really want to be modeled. 00:38:55.280 --> 00:38:57.199 Like I want to be a good person. 00:38:57.440 --> 00:38:58.880 I really want to be good. 00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:03.199 And I just want to remind you that you don't have to be good. 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:05.199 You don't have to be good. 00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:08.159 Good is really a form of social control. 00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:09.840 Good girls. 00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:13.199 We know about the several girls, don't we? 00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:15.360 Good girls. 00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:18.480 Well, they keep their heads down. 00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:20.000 Good girls dress pretty. 00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:21.280 I hope you hear this. 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:26.559 I mean, I really think Mary Oliver's right when she says you don't have to be good. 00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:32.239 No, I don't think God needs us to be good either. 00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:40.320 I I I think when my thinking goes best, God knows where joy is to be found. 00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:43.039 And so there is a pattern of life that is more joyful. 00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:49.440 And where I'm where I most miss it is not with what I do, it's how I compare myself to other people. 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:52.800 Who God has also called and love. 00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:57.519 Good news, you're wrong about everything, and I'm right. 00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:01.360 That's what evangelism is like. 00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:04.320 Good news, you're wrong. 00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:06.639 Not good news. 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:09.519 Here's some good news. 00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:13.840 There's nothing you can do to make God love you any less. 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:18.880 And here's the hard good news: there is nothing you can do to make God love you anymore. 00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:32.239 What it takes for that news to go from bitter to good is probably some kind of death to an identity we've been trying to eke out on a treadmill most of our lives. 00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:34.960 And you know, I don't like things dying. 00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:37.119 I think death is terrifying. 00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:46.480 So maybe I'm afraid to let that part of me die, even spiritually, which is probably why the earliest Christians said baptism is like a death. 00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:50.000 Because until it dies, there can't be a resurrection. 00:40:50.159 --> 00:40:55.119 All there can be, right, is the same old idea that we pigeon God into. 00:40:57.360 --> 00:40:58.400 Still don't have the book. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:04.400 So I I really mean this is sincerely email me, call me, tell me, Mike, here's step two. 00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:05.679 I've found step two. 00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:08.559 Step one was just knowing this, right? 00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:10.320 I want to know step two. 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:21.360 So I that's where I'm gonna leave you. 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:23.920 That's where I'm gonna leave you. 00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:28.239 Is God made this to be joy for the world. 00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:30.800 God made this to be joy for the world. 00:41:31.039 --> 00:41:36.559 And if it's not enjoyable for us, well, we get to do some repenting. 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:37.679 We get to do it. 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:41.039 We get to do it until it feels joyful. 00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:46.800 Let's help each other figure out how to do that and what that looks like. 00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:49.199 Thanks be to you for that. 00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:09.280 I invite you now to join me as we proclaim our common faith in the words of the 19th. 00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:13.840 We believe in one God, the Father. 00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:01.039 So let us cry out to God saying, Abba, Father, here are Our prayer. 00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:05.199 O great parent, you have adopted us as your own children. 00:44:05.360 --> 00:44:07.920 You have made us joint heirs with Christ. 00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:09.119 You love us. 00:44:09.440 --> 00:44:13.119 Lead us by your spirit and strengthen our hope. 00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:20.000 Please add any thanksgivings that you may share. 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:25.280 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:31.519 God our King, you have planted us in a complex and often confusing world. 00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:38.880 Give us patience to live with each other, not judging our neighbors, but trusting in your wisdom. 00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:44.639 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:50.159 Present God, even creation groans as it waits on you for freedom. 00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:54.639 Forgive us for the times in which we have subjected it to futility. 00:44:54.880 --> 00:45:00.400 Give us eyes to see your presence in the heavens, on earth and in the seas. 00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:05.679 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:09.199 God of light, darkness is not dark to you. 00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:15.360 Brighten the place in our city where darkness serves as a cover for crime and violence. 00:45:15.599 --> 00:45:18.000 Redeem all who are lost. 00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:24.400 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:45:24.719 --> 00:45:31.360 God of glory, we wait and hope for the day when we will set be set free from the bondage of decay. 00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:36.960 Even now, free the suffering from pain and the sorrow from the heartache. 00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:42.559 If you have any petitions, I invite you to say these at your this time. 00:45:47.199 --> 00:45:50.480 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:55.599 Eternal God, may the righteous shine like the sun in your kingdom. 00:45:55.760 --> 00:46:00.320 We trust that even in the grave you are with us and hope. 00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.679 Abba, Father, hear our prayer. 00:46:11.119 --> 00:46:18.880 So I invite you now into a moment of silence as you confess to yourself the moments you have fallen short of who you believe God has called you to be. 00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:30.480 Together we say, loving God, help us. 00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:41.679 When we have run away, when we have turned our backs on love, when we have sought immediate satisfaction and not long-term healing, help us. 00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:44.400 Merciful God, forgive us. 00:46:44.639 --> 00:46:53.119 When we have been selfish, when we have been mean, when we have closed our ears to the cries of others, forgive us. 00:46:53.440 --> 00:46:55.760 Powerful God, heal us. 00:46:56.079 --> 00:47:07.440 When we are so broken we cannot move, when we don't know how to stem the bleeding of our wounds, when we are too ashamed to seek community, heal us. 00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:15.119 Give us the courage, the strength, and the hope to accept your grace and hear your call in Christ. 00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:16.000 Amen. 00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:27.360 The mighty to save and ever compassionate God grant you absolution and remission of your burden of sin, true repentance, the time to amend your life, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit. 00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:28.400 Amen. 00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:31.360 My friends, the peace of our Lord be always with you.