Phil. 3: 4b-14                                                                                                               Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

Matthew 21: 33-46                                                                                                                         October 4, 2021

“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.”

Prayer: O Holy Landowner, may we be tenants of your vineyard producing your harvest that nurtures us and others. Amen.

At our last worship Commission meeting, I had a blast with our team creating the idea for today’s World Communion Sunday worship service. I said that in years past we’ve had different breads representing different countries. Then someone said, “Why can’t we have different wines this year?” And at first, we were like, “No, that wouldn’t work.” And then we kind of went, “Well, wait a minute… why couldn’t we?” And we started imagining and creating how it might work. 

Pretty soon we settled on having five stations with different wines and breads from selected countries and areas of the world. And we settled on the theme “Taste and See!” I had to laugh when I shared the idea afterwards with some others. Ginny Bishop said that she wanted to commune at all five of the stations! [LOL!] Alright, everyone, only one station, please!  Yesterday someone said, “Hey Galen, can we have a flight?”

So, today we’re celebrating the harvest of the vineyards of the world. And not just the vineyards, but the grain fields, too, as we have breads from different parts of the world made with different grains.

But whether it’s the grain fields or the vineyard, it’s all about the harvest, right? I mean the purpose and value of the grainfield, and the vineyard is to have a harvest. That’s what’s valuable. The grains are crushed to make flour and bread. The grapes are squeezed to produce juice and wine. Both are nutritious and provide valuable sustenance. We taste and physically take in their goodness. We ingest the food and drink into our bodies.

But each grain and each grape have a purpose. They all fruit. They all reproduce. Seeds grow more grain stalks and grapes grow more vines for future fruit. We see their potential.

This summer, Terry Black came into the office with a box of sauce tomatoes and peppers. He gave all of us the chance to take home what we wanted. I took my share and made tomato sauce, and Barb and I had enjoyed delicious meals. We tasted the goodness of those tomatoes.

But Terry later told me that each year at the harvest time, he takes some of his tomatoes and grows new plants from those seeds. In fact, Terry’s been growing new plants from the seeds of those sauce tomatoes in the same tomato beds for over forty years! Now can you see the goodness of those tomatoes? Their seeds have great potential!

What a great metaphor to describe the vineyard! We can taste the goodness of the vineyard because God desires that you and I have a life of the goodness of God. A life in covenant with God. The goodness of the vineyard is that we know God. It’s having God in our hearts and in our spirit. It’s sharing in the love and grace of God deep within.  It’s enjoying the good news that God can resurrect your life when you feel dead inside. You can spiritually take in and taste the goodness of God’s vineyard!

But, if you have God deep within, you also see the goodness of God’s shalom for this world and its people. You can see a peace with God and with others. The love and grace inside you shows up in your outer lives. Actions. Words. Conduct. It shows up by living in harmony with others. By seeking well-being of others. By advocating for the prosperity, generosity, and justice for all. Not justice in the sense of someone getting what they deserve, but much more in the sense of fairness and equity for all.  No matter where you live on this planet. No matter what nationality you may be. God’s moral and spiritual arc of history always aims for justice and equality for all. It’s a life where everyone has enough, and everyone is entitled to God’s abundance just by being alive! Can you see the goodness of God’s vineyard?

So, the more I thought about this, the more I get it that tasting and seeing the goodness of God’s vineyard are often in tension with each other. To only taste the goodness of God’s gifts without seeing its potential in others is to seek it with no regard for God touching other’s lives.

This fosters a private kind of faith, one that focuses on individuality, one that selfishly hoards God’s gifts, but is blind to God’s interest in others. A private faith easily promotes self-righteousness. My brand of faith becomes the only right way to have faith. And easily rejects others with different points of view or even lifestyles. Why do you think the wicked tenants were so wicked?

But to only see the goodness of the vineyard without tasting it, without really taking Christ into our lives, without having a personal relationship with God is to ignore our own need for God’s new life and grace, our need for resurrection life in us.

This fosters a kind of humanistic view that says I’ll be alright if I just do good things and am a good person. But this take runs the risk of missing the new thing God is doing in others. Or worse, you can get overwhelmed and anxious for not measuring up, for listening to the voices of our culture or social media that say you’re not doing enough or you’re not good enough to be accepted by God. All of which is not true.

So where is the place where tasting and seeing the goodness of the vineyard come together? Where are they held in tension with each other?

I suggest today that one place is when we share in Holy Communion. And perhaps most particularly today on World Communion Sunday. Because clearly, we will physically taste the bread and wine or juice. And obviously we can see those elements before us.

But looking deeply, as we commune, we are spiritually tasting and taking in the beauty of God’s love and grace for personal purposes. It’s Jesus’ spirit renewing us spiritually, deepening our faith, giving us hope to live a meaningful life.

But it’s also the joyful feast of the people of God. Not the ‘individuals’ of God. The people of God. People living in the vineyard of the world. In sharing Holy Communion, we see others who have a common identity with us because in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is neither slave or free, male or female, gay or straight, trans or cis, rich or poor, American or Iranian, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, for all are one in Christ Jesus (based on Galatians 3: 28-29).

And I believe we submit, in that oneness, our lives to God to be about renewal and to be about God’s purposes. Filled with the goodness of God’s gifts, our lives are transformed, and we become useful to God. Servants at God’s disposal. We’re bread for breaking, wine for pouring. Seeds for planting. Whatever God wants to do with us.

So, we eat and drink from the fruit of God’s vineyard. We taste the harvest and see the potential of the seeds. We taste and see that God is good. So that others may also taste and see the same. Thanks be to God.  Amen.