Scripture: Matthew 21:28-32
Dear Church,
(Almost) everybody loved Jesus until one day, and after that day almost no one did.
On that day, he rode a donkey, rearranged some furniture and argued with some powerful people. The next day, he cursed a fig tree (?) on his way back to tell them some stories. This is one of them:
There was a man who had two children. He went to the first and said, ‘Go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other child and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
Centuries later, James Baldwin gave the same people the same message in one sentence:
I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.
And the thing about it is–Jesus and Baldwin weren’t speaking to people who disagreed with them. They were speaking to people who claimed to hold the same ideals, the same loyalties, the same vision and core values.
But there is what we say we believe and there is what we do. And life is gained and lost in the difference between the two.
I hope you’ll join me for worship on Sunday at 10am in the sanctuary or on the live-stream. We will focus on the final part of our mission statement at the Grove–coming alive in Christ. Spoiler alert: it happens when we obey the Father and show up to work in the vineyard. That’s where the holy magic happens–in each of us and in all creation.
Come and see!
Peace,
Pastor Kate
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