“We’re All in This Together” (a short communion meditation …)          October 2, 2011
Matthew 21: 33–46                                                                              The Rev. Mary A. Pullen

The story is told of the journalist David Halberstam who traveled to Japan. He was nervous, because he did not speak Japanese and wondered how he would get around. One day while out sightseeing, he hit upon a way in which to tell his taxi driver where his hotel was. He showed the driver a book of matches with the hotel’s logo stamped upon it. The driver’s eyes lit up and he nodded. He proceeded to drive Halberstam through the city, pulling up in front of a building. It was not Halberstam’s hotel–it was the factory that manufactured the matches!!! Though he tried his best, Halberstam could not communicate effectively with his taxi driver.

Let me recap for us the story we find in the gospel reading for today. It’s known as the parable of the wicked tenant. A man plants a vineyard and takes good care of it. He builds a watchtower and a moat around it, but then goes off to a far country. At harvest time, he sends a servant to collect the rent due him, but the tenants beat up the servant and refuse to pay. The vineyard owner sends a second servant, who also gets roughed up. The vineyard owner then says, “I will send my son and heir to collect the rent, I know they will respect my son and pay up. But instead, the angry tenants murder the son.

The vineyard is a metaphor for God’s providence. We have been given the kingdom, we don’t own it, we are only tenants. It is part of God’s Providence for us. Like the wicked tenants, we sometimes don’t believe in the good things we have been given. These last few years in our society have not been easy. Economists say that the recession is over. It’s not. Just ask the millions of people who have lost their homes, their jobs, their cars, their families, everything. It’s overwhelming. It’s bad. I find myself wallowing in self-pity, for all that is lost. What I fail to recognize is that I can look at the situation I find myself in as either a glass half-full or a glass half-empty. When we trust God, we realize that the glass is always half-full. What things in life really, truly matter? Certainly not all the possessions we acquire. What matters most are our relationships with our families, our friends and with God.

The tenants in the vineyard had a choice, and they chose to beat up and murder the messengers sent by God. Humans have freedom. We are free to either choose or reject God. No one forces God upon us. God makes overtures to us all the time. God’s grace is all around us. All we have to do is reach out and take it. In addition to choice, we have responsibilities. For Christians, our lives are not our own, they belong to God. Perhaps you have had the experience of a child or grandchild saying to you, when you are trying to put rules around them…”It’s my life; I can what I please with it. To which my response was, as long as you are living in my house and I’m paying the bills, your life is MINE (to some extent). Our lives are our own, but only so that the fruits of life may be dedicated to god.

When we ignore God’s messengers, greatness passes us by. God’s grief as we turn away from him is heartbreaking, but sometimes that is the choice we make.

Let me share with you this story from Roger Lovette, in Dinner Reservations, an article published in the Christian Century on September 20, 2005. It goes like this:

“A friend told me about an announcement in her church’s weekly newsletter saying that next Sunday the church would celebrate the Lord’s Supper. A new Christian with no church background saw the notice and called up my friend. ‘I have two questions,’ she said. ‘It’s about this supper thing. Am I invited and how much does it cost?’

The world is still asking these questions. Can we come? And how much will this supper cost? The way we answer these questions will determine the kind of tenants we are. We still have much work to do. We keep reminding one another that the table is not ours. We just work here. The vineyard belongs to God.” (p.21).

As we come together at our communion table on this world-wide communion Sunday, look again at the many beautiful types of breads displayed here. Loaves, tacos, tortillas, bagels, black and white and brown bread, round bread, raisin bread, pitas, flat bread…all different but made from the grain of wheat. Reminds us of our own humanity, doesn’t it? I remind you, as we come now to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, that this is not a Presbyterian table, or an American table, or even an international table. It is a Christian table. All who believe in Christ are welcome here.

Amen and Amen.