The Great Experiment

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

There was a small item in the news this week that was lost amid the financial turbulence. It involved a man by the name of Paul Emory Washington. Perhaps because it's an election year, or perhaps because of the turbulent times we're now in, or most likely in a bid for advertising by a genealogy company, research was done on the ancestry of our first President George Washington to discover his oldest living heir.

The process was complicated by the fact that George Washington had no children. But the intrepid genealogists followed the rules of their science of kinship to trace the line which led them from the late 1700's to 2008 to 82 year old Paul Emory Washington of San Antonio, Texas.

Being of presidential lineage is not that uncommon, as a matter of fact, we're pleased to know that one of our own church members is a direct descendant of President Ulysses S. Grant.

However, what makes Paul Washington of interest is that in the days following the Revolutionary War, George Washington was offered the monarchy. The role of President had not been invented yet, and the new American country only knew one form of leadership, that of Sovereign Monarchs. So grateful was the nation to George Washington that they offered him the crown. Perhaps Jesus was the only other person in history to decline such an honor. But, Washington so believed in the leadership capability of the people that he championed the idea of President and elected terms as part of the great experiment of Democracy. Had Washington accepted the crown and become King, Paul Emerson Washington of San Antonio, Texas might just have been our reigning King.

Mr. Washington humbly brushes aside any notion of regal standing, though his children are quoted as being quite sure he'd make a dandy king.

In the early days of American independence, there was a great deal of fear and worry that the "great experiment" as it became known would fail. Drawing up a whole new governmental system as it was adopted in 1787 didn't seem quite as easy as it had in 1776 when they signed the declaration for independence. It was indeed risky and the lives of everyone in the country weighed in the balance.

Many people looked back to the traditional method of monarchy as the solution to their fear. It's what they knew, and in the anxiety of facing an unknown, untried "experiment," to many people, returning to the monarchy seemed a conservative and prudent course of action.

To some degree this is the mind set of the Israelites wandering in the desert as we continue this account from the Book of Exodus. They really didn't know what they had gotten themselves into. Yes, they had been miserable; and yes they cried out for help. But who was Moses anyway? Modern readers have the end of the story and several millennia of myth and lore surrounding it to know who Moses was, but to the people in the desert he was a young, relatively unknown, untested man whose only claim to authority was speaking to a burning bush. He told them of a God whose name was so holy that they couldn't even say it. A God who was everywhere, yet invisible, and a God who had singled them out for a particular relationship. It didn't bode well.

There were signs and wonders along the way, but quite possibly they were coincidences. And there was that disturbing habit Moses had of going off by himself climbing mountains and disappearing for months at a time. In our first lesson we read about the last straw the Israelites were prepared to endure. He was gone too long, they were scared and lost and fearful that Moses and this God were gone forever. They decided it was time to return to what they knew. And what they knew were carved images they called gods. The needed the security of seeing their gods and carrying them and knowing where they were. They wanted to know their names and speak directly to them. They had reached a point of thinking their own great experiment had indeed failed and it was time to return to the old ways.

Well, Moses did return and he set them straight. We know the ending of that story and how the people of Israel did continue to make their way through the desert to their promised land, and similarly we know the ending of the story after the American Revolution, how the Constitution was written and how each community put their trust in God, engraving it, in the former case on tablets of stone, and in the later case on dollar bills.

The Gospel lesson gives us another very strange image of God's invitation to community. What a wedding that must have been! I don't think I've ever received and invitation to a wedding that has elicited from me a hostile response toward the mail carrier - much less kill her. Nor would it have occurred to me to re-examine the cause of a town's destruction to be the work of an angry father of the groom. I can only imagine the second round of guests looking at the carnage around them and tell the next set of messengers they'd be delighted to attend the wedding. It sounds like a real blast. This is like the Kingdom of Heaven, huh? Some parables work better than others.

Sifting through the debris of the Gospel lesson we can actually see how the invitation from God to enter into joy is often met with resistance. The messengers who were the prophets did try to prepare the people for righteous living worthy of God and they were ridiculed and killed. This is where I differ with the teller of the story. I don't believe that a loving God retaliates against the wrongs done to the messengers. I think the towns tend to destroy themselves through their own pettiness or carelessness, or greed, or hostility.

There is a theology in the world that credits God with earthly destruction. I think such theologies are the worst cuts of all. We can look around the world at the wars, violence and financial crisis and figure out that this is not God's doing. This is ours. God invites us to a kingdom of joy and we refuse the offer with, and through, violence.

But in God's love it doesn't stop there. God asks again and again until someone shows up. During my lifetime the biggest crisis and catastrophes I've seen have been the rise and falls of stock markets in 1987, 2001 and this current one. I've seen the devastation of the early AIDS epidemic and lost more friends than I care to count. I watched in horror as the towers fell in 2001 and spent countless hours in pastoral care for those who lost loved ones or colleagues or hope. We all watched the devastation of the tsunamis and hurricanes, especially Katrina.

Yet in each of these crisis I witnessed miracles. The overwhelming power of love to face the challenges. The number of people who rose to the occasion to be God's hands and voice in times of need. Volunteers to work or donate money or time and expertise are, in keeping with the parable, those who accepted the invitation to the wedding feast. People who come to the help of others in time of crisis and need are the people who experience the kingdom of God and its love. In each of these crisis we did not know what was going to happen next, but pulling together we walked through the difficult terrain of unknowing through the sheer will of doing the next right thing.

In times of uncertainty it's a very real temptation to look back and try to replicate older solutions to older problems. But new problems require new solutions and they aren't always clear or obvious. They take faith and will power. They take integrity and patience. When I read about the executives who used part of their bail out money for a $400K junket, I thought of the guest who came to the wedding not dressed properly.

We've lived through crisis before and we'll certainly live through this one. It's an opportunity for all of us to do our daily work and live our daily lives committed to honesty and service to our fellow travelers. If anyone is tempted to feel sorry for themselves, then it's time for that person to help another.

In one sense we picked a horrible time for a Stewardship Campaign. But in another sense, this is a perfect time. People are afraid and giving threatens to be low. But on the other hand the need is greater now than ever to do what we do best, and that is to live, preach and witness the Good News of God in Christ. Hope is one of the foundations of our common lives here. It's a demonstrated fact that whenever public crisis hit, people turn to houses of faith in ways they never had before. We need to continue our work and ministry and be prepared to offer a spiritual haven and living example of the triumph of love in the face of adversity. We are not a people defeated and we are not a people looking backward. We do not look for scapegoats nor do we shrink from difficult questions. Our faith means everything to us and for that reason we must continue to pledge toward the work and witness of St. George's.

Over the next few weeks we'll conduct this program a little differently than before, but ultimately the need remains to make a financial pledge that makes sense for each household. No one of us will presume to tell you what that should be. We will make clear that we made good decisions last year regarding our budget and though we have a deficit it's much smaller than in years past. I think we've found the right balance. We need to maintain it to stay where we are, but we also need to grow our income side if we are to grow in our ministry. Our family and youth programs have been doing so well, I would personally love to see our income grow enough to hire a youth minister. There are a lot of ways we can grow, but first we must recommit ourselves to the value of the ministry we already do and the value of the faith, hope and love that is nurtured in this church. It's up to all of us to keep it strong and it's up to God to help us. God has never let his people down and certainly will not this day.

When the apostle Paul wrote to his church facing hard times he wrote these words for their comfort and inspiration: "...Beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." Amen.

© 2008 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

The World Is Changed

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

Once upon a time, in a Kingdom far away there lived a princess. She was very beautiful and wherever she walked the birds would sing and bright flowers would open up. She liked to go for walks in the forest around the castle and call to the deer and rabbits to walk along with her. Then one day she strayed farther than usual into the woods and realized that no one was around. She replaced her princess dress with her party clothes and tore out of the woods in her royal Ferrari leaving the deer and rabbits in a cloud of dust on her way to the disco.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

I’d get this far before my very young nieces and nephews would scream in a chorus of "No!!!’s" That’s not how to tell a fairy tale, they’d complain through their giggles. I’d try again, but they didn’t want to hear about Cinderella in the Industrial Waste Dump either. (I didn’t get many invitations to baby sit. My sister had no sense of humor.)

Well, I’d ask, how do you tell a fairy tale? And I’d get the same old conventional Grimm Brother’s garden variety story. The real message was, "Don’t mess with our fairy tales. Either tell them right or don’t tell them at all."

That’s not unlike the message Jesus got when he told the parable or the Vineyard. He took a perfectly good old favorite story and put it on it’s head. The story of the Vineyard was an old favorite first told by the Prophet Isaiah centuries before. Everyone knew it and when Jesus began his version of it, like my nieces and nephews they no doubt began to relax with the familiar cadences until he changed it. In the fifth chapter of Isaiah the story starts, "Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his Vineyard." Now that’s how you start a story! It’s the Old Testament version of "Once upon a time." It continues, "My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill, He digged it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the mist of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it... and he looked to it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes." It too was a parable of Israel’s disobedience and unfaithfulness to God, but Jesus turned it on it’s head and gave it a Martin Scorsese ending with a lot of violence. In Jesus’ version the tenants in the Vineyard got greedy and wanted all the income for themselves and thought to kill the landlord’s son in order to get it.

The scribes and Pharisees listening to the story may not yet have understood the flow of it, but the generation later that read the Gospel certainly made the connections with the Christ figure of the son being killed and the greedy tenants being the religious leaders. The rejection of evil people and replacement of a new people in the vineyard must have given the average listener hope.

The addition of the verse about the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone added another dimension to the lesson. Though Jesus was rejected and crucified, he became the cornerstone after all for their beliefs and lives. Jesus really knew how to take a story and run with it.

But people still don’t like their stories being tampered with. The financial crisis that hit the world has tampered with an American story begun in the post world war II era. A story about an America strong and independent who could lead and not need any other country. This latest crisis has in fact shown that America is not isolated and invulnerable, but linked to a world economy that must be considered partners not servants or unequals.

There are important lessons to be learned about how to conduct business that include responsibility and accountability. Greed and fear have threatened the strength of our systems. The bedrock of integrity seems to have been rejected by too many in leadership roles leading up to the crisis. That same integrity and moral sense of responsibility for people in this country and around the world has got to become the chief cornerstone. The first lesson from Exodus recounts the giving of the ten commandments and connected with this Gospel lesson serve as a wonderful reminder of exactly what that cornerstone is made up of. The very decency of humanity as encapsulated in the ten commandments and lived in the life of Jesus and given through the commandments of his teaching provide us with the compass to lead us.

One of the comments I heard about this crisis was that it might have changed the world as we know it. There is no "might" about it. The world is changed. It is not how we’ve known it. Some look back in nostalgia to the 1950's as the glory days of America and wouldn’t it be wonderful to go back to that time. For some yes, but for others, no. That decade was a tale of two cities (or two countries) in which we hear one story at the exclusion of the other.

Regardless, we cannot look back at stories trying to recapture an illusion. We have to look toward the uncertainty of the future, not in fear, but in faith. We’re programmed to fear the unknown rather than embrace the opportunities that the future has to offer. If integrity replaces greed and faith replaces fear we’ll be on our way.

We have a lot of four legged guests today to remind us of a man we commemorate today. St. Francis certainly gave a model to the world of faithful compassion. His love of God and the created world is the subject of much spiritual writing and song. His personal story inspired countless others to live simpler lives and find their joy in God’s creation. It touches us six hundred years later because deep down, and maybe not so deep down we still hope and believe that a simpler love can restore the chaotic consequences of materialistic greed and even beyond that, ambitious power to dominate people, lands and markets.

The unconditional love experienced by pet owners from their beloved pets is further witness of the possibility of a perfect world. We need to slow down and take seriously the spiritual laws handed down to us by people we honor. Moses, Jesus, Francis, and many others are honored for what they have to share and teach us. These teachings can and have to be the cornerstone of our lives if we are to make it to another generation. The world has become too small to think only of ourselves and lives too precious to be thrown away or ground down by inhuman labor practices and abusive expectation.

Our story as a people has yet to be written. Old stories can keep us grounded and it’s important to know where we’ve come from but it’s a mistake to think we can ever go back again. Like the stories of the Israelites in the desert we’ve been reading these past weeks, there is no going back and even the uncertainties of the future cannot scare us into trying. We have to go forward and rather than fear it, we have to go bravely and lovingly into it.

It’s a beautiful vineyard that God has given us, full of life and possibility. We are tenants on this fragile earth and we can be good ones. We’ve seen what the bad tenants can do, let’s show them what the good tenants can do. Amen.

© 2008 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

Times Are Hard; Times Are Turbulent

By the Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud

Come Holy Spirit: Touch our minds and think with them, touch our lips and speak with them and touch our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In the name of the Living God. Amen.

To say that these are difficult times is a little oxymoronic, but the truth of the matter -- these are difficult times. Within the past week and a half, we’ve had historic financial meltdowns that have sent shock and concern across the world. As I thought about all of this nonsense this week, it reminded me somewhat of being on an airplane when it encounters dangerous and frightening turbulence. Everyone on board seems to tighten their seat belts, kicking themselves because they didn’t catch the last rolling of the beverage cart to order that bottle of anything strong, and the air is fraught with palpable anxiety. Often times, the cabin becomes eerily quiet and you’re left with your thoughts jumping all over the place. Difficult times produce many of the same feelings don’t they? Anxiety, confusion, and fear surround us like a wet blanket.

We’re flying in the midst of economic turbulence. No one knows how long the bumpy ride will last. No one really knows what the short or long term effects any bailout effort will have, but we’re all very clear that the average taxpayer will get stuck paying for Wall Street’s greed and speculation binges at some point. The consequences of short term rewards blinded most to the long term dangers that are inevitable when unbridled power and greed are at the helm. Our culture has become trapped in a false sense of values where huge profits and gain dictate what is important -- more profit and gain and less concern for the common good.

Bono, the rock star and anti-poverty activist said this week: “It’s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion [dollars] to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion [dollars] to save the 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases." [1]

Well, it’s extraordinary to me as well. I can’t even begin to fathom what $700 billion dollars looks like! All I can envision are brigades of cloned Treasury workers churning out palettes of money 24/7. But Bono’s point is well made. $700 billion dollars! $700 billion dollars to save the economy from the reckless mismanagement and unethical manner of business that has been pervasive for years. Jim Wallis, Editor of Sojourner’s magazine and religious political activist stated in one of his essay’s this week:

“The behavior of too many on Wall Street is a violation of biblical ethics. The teachings of Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths condemn the greed, selfishness, and cheating that have been revealed in corporate behavior over decades now, and denounce their callous mistreatment of employees. Read your Bible.” [2]

And as Jim has suggested, let’s turn to the Bible and our scripture readings for this morning.

Often, our lectionary readings tie into what is going on in the world. Sometimes, the references are clear and direct; sometimes not so clear and direct. The relationship of the readings this week to what is happening in our world is pretty interesting. Some might say that this is merely coincidental -- I tend to believe that God knows a thing or two about who we are as a people. I think that the strands of the texts that tie us into what is happening around can fall in two categories: By whose and under what authority do we live and how obedient are we to the law of love rather than the law of greed and selfishness?

So, we continue with the Israelites, moaning and groaning their way out of “the wilderness of Sin” -- what an appropriate metaphor, don’t you think? Last week the Israelites were hungry, this week they’re thirsty and they’re taking Moses to task for bringing them to that dry, barren place. Moses, tired and overwhelmed by all of the griping, looks to God and says “What shall I do with this people?” God directs Moses to take his staff -- the same staff that God gave him to part the waters for their safe exodus from Egypt -- and to go find the rock of Horeb with some of the elders, where once he strikes it, water will flow for the people. And again, as with last week’s readings, we find that God provides for his people in the most trying of circumstances. Clearly, times were rough for the Israelites and they never hesitated to make known their complaints. But what they forgot, as we often do, is they forgot who was in charge of their destiny -- their journey. They simply didn’t trust in God’s promises. But God, as is his way, responded to their needs and complaints with goodness and mercy.

Moses could have turned a stone ear to the people. He certainly had every right to resent them for their constant bickering and complaining. But instead, he placed his faith in God and sought God’s mercy and help for the people. Moses was obedient to and lived fully into the law of love -- for both his God and the people to whom God entrusted to him. He didn’t place himself above the people; he didn’t act selfishly and ignore their needs; and he didn’t just leave them to figure it out on their own. He placed the people before himself without question or hesitation. Imagine… just imagine how differently things might be today if the movers and shakers of the huge mega corporations and Wall Street operated within the context of the law of love rather than the law of greed and self interest.

As we turn to the Gospel reading, we have the chief priests and elders questioning Jesus’ authority. They were always questioning Jesus because they were always looking for opportunities to discredit him. Jesus knew this. So, Jesus decides to counter with a question of his own and makes their answer a condition for his answer. “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” You can almost see the chief priests and elders whispering and sweating it out with one another. They knew if they stated that they accepted John’s baptism as divine, they would have to justify why they didn’t believe in John’s teachings and accept him as a prophet. They further knew that if they said that John’s baptism was of human nature, the people would respond angrily because they believed that John was a prophet of God. It was a no-win situation for them, so they decided not to answer at all. They were not willing to stand for their truth because their truth didn’t exist within the realm of God and they knew that. Their truth existed within their own selfish motives, their own desire to retain power and authority and within their own godless convictions. In order for them to answer, they would have to shatter their own self image and strip themselves of their own power. They didn’t have the wherewithal to admit the truth because the stakes were far too much for them to sacrifice.

So when they don’t provide an answer, Jesus takes it a step further and tells them the parable of the two sons. It’s a simple story that Jesus uses to illustrate the nature of God’s kingdom. Jesus, through this parable, is asking us to think about the consequences of our choices. Not just the choices and decisions that count for today or tomorrow, but those choices and decisions that count for all time. Good intentions simply are not enough. Superficial and empty promises count for absolutely nothing at all. God looks to us to have a change of heart so that our actions match our words and that ultimately we do His will and not follow our own will.

How easy it is to point our fingers at the bigwigs at the corporations and on Wall Street and the political machines that have made really bad choices and decisions that have placed us all squarely in this economic upheaval. But the truth of the matter is all of us have gone a little batty in our culture of excessive greed and materialism. We live in an economy based on consumerism which bombards us constantly with messages that we need to buy this new thing or the other. The stuff we seek and want, not need, distorts our relationship with one another and with God. We can’t ignore our own shortcomings and yes, sometimes greed and selfishness, as it relates to this so we all need to take some personal responsibility as well.

Times are hard. Times are turbulent. It’s stressful and full of uncertainty. Our faith in the ways of the world has failed us once again. And it’s exactly at times like these that we need to remind ourselves that WE are the body of Christ and WE must act like we are. We need to recommit ourselves to bringing the good news to the poor, to healing the sick, to welcoming the stranger, and feeding the hungry. We need to remind ourselves that we are called to be in relationship with one another and not materialistic stuff or money. We need to remember, that we are in relationship with a God who loves us and who provides for us and who gives us the gift of peace through His son.

We do not and should not owe any debt to anxiety or fear. Yes, times are hard. Times are turbulent. But we are reminded in the 4th chapter of Philippians: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Amen.

[1] Bono: The American Prospect Blog, September 2008
[2] “Sackcloth and Ashes on Wall Street”: God’s Politics - a blog by Jim Wallis and friends, 9/22/08

© 2008 The Rev. Deacon Christine McCloud

It's Never Too Late to Heal

By the Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

The Presidential campaign was put on the back burner this week as our attention was riveted to the stock market. Historic declines terrified millions and set off domino effects around the world. Attempts to bail out the major companies and hopefully the small investor and homeowners are being sought and frantically put in place with prayers for deliverance. Deliverance from what? Or whom?

Many years ago a cartoon character named Pogo made famous a saying: "We have met the enemy and he is us." It was a take off on the previously famous quote from Naval Commander Oliver Hazard Perry who after a battle in the War of 1812 said, "We have me the enemy and he is ours."

Commander Perry’s quote was the succinct report of his success against British ships in the Battle of Lake Erie, while Pogo became the voice of his cartoonist Walt Kelly in a Poster made for Earth Day in 1970 talking about preserving the environment.

In 2008, we know there’s an enemy, but it seems we don’t quite know who it is or what to do about it. It’s certainly tempting to look outside, but more often the truth lies inside. While searching for others to blame for our misfortunes we cannot overlook the probability that our own past actions have consequences coming home to roost. And just as the causes usually begin from within, so the solutions can be found from within. It starts with honesty from top to bottom and side to side. As this crisis continues the stakes are high and all the more reason to look within as well as without to find the causes and solutions.

The first lesson today is the continued story of Exodus with the children of Israel having escaped from the Egyptians and now wandering in the desert. Given this week’s activity, the desert metaphor seems entirely appropriate. In literature and story the desert is a time in between the certainty of the past and the confidence of the future. It’s a time of not knowing, a time of venturing into new territory not necessarily drawn by the promise of what lies ahead, but motivated more by the knowledge that the past was unacceptable. When the Israelites left Egypt, they had been miserable under the intolerable conditions of slavery they endured. They had to get out and they decided to follow Moses based on his assurance that God would lead them to a better place. Since they believed things couldn’t be any worse, they decided to follow him and put their trust in a God they didn’t know and a leader who had no experience. They were indeed desperate.

After the excitement of escape they face the long period in the desert of unknowing. Their faith was tested and they frequently complained. They began to wonder if they made the right decision by leaving Egypt. It was bad, but at least they had food. They discovered at each step that God provided what they needed. It was a long, difficult trip, but God did not abandon them and there were signs of hope along the way.

In the Gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable in which the characters complain also. Those that worked all day complained that they made the same amount of money as those that had only worked one hour. Frankly, it doesn’t seem fair to me either and I would have complained myself, had I been one who had started in the early morning. That is, if the parable was about work. And that is, if the parable was about salary. It may have complaining in it, but it’s about God’s love. God’s abundant love is extended to all people regardless of when they show up. Even more than that, I believe the parable captures the joy of people who reach a point of clarity in their lives and start to live in a way that makes sense and offers wholeness.

I heard a story not too long ago told by a man about his mother who had been an active alcoholic her whole life. Somewhere in her early 80's she stopped drinking. Others hearing the story, rather insensitively asked, Why bother at that age? I heard it differently. I thought the woman was incredibly blessed to have finally found a sense of peace which had so long eluded her. Yes, it would have been wonderful had she stopped drinking decades before but what an amazing gift that she stopped at all. At the end of her day, her reward was equal to that of others who had stopped long ago. Spiritually, her gift was as priceless as that received by others.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of Walter Seward. He’s the father of our fellow member Marymae Henley. He was 111 years and 11 months old at the time of his death. The eulogies were long, they had a lot of ground to cover! The funeral was held in the chapel at Rutgers University from which Walter was graduated in 1917. We were told he was the president of the class of 1917 until he was the class of 1917. There were a lot of wonderful and poignant stories, but one of the most moving parts of the funeral for me was during the Rutgers alma mater sung by the glee club which easily had 100 young men singing. I looked around and noticed that all through out the chapel men and women of all ages were mouthing the words as the young men sang. There was a shared love of that university that has to transcend the buildings and classes. That place which watched each person transition from youth to adult, from naive freshman and wise fool sophomore to confidant senior taking a place in the world. Relationships and discoveries within their minds, hearts and spirits reverberated in that song as did the gratitude for a substance that fed them like the manna in the wilderness. The Israelites looked at this stuff that Moses called bread from heaven. It didn’t look like any bread they’d ever had, but it did the trick. Who knows what the substance is that feeds us in the institutions and societies that capture our allegiance but whatever it is works. I also belong to groups that make me sing with pride and love with people who have born the heat of different days and yet receive the same gift of a powerful knowing inside that God’s love is good, that I am loved, and I am so grateful.

Walter’s day was a long one and out of the billions of people in the world only 29 had a longer one. But according to the parable, the kingdom of heaven guarantees that 111 years or simply a day, we are loved by God with an equal and powerful love that is not earned but given.

The work in the parable is presented as a burden. It doesn’t have to be. The flight of the Israelites is presented as an escape and a time of fear. It doesn’t have to be. To be sure, there are times that are trying and fearful, but our lives can also be thrilling, adventurous and opportunities for unlocking mysteries, having fun and building relationships that make our hearts sing. When it’s like that, a long day is good to have. It’s the ones who showed up late that seemed to have missed out.

The parable means to us that it’s never to late to heal, never too late to try again, never too late to let go of something harmful and pick up something healthy. It’s never too late look for ourselves and find the best that’s inside us and never to late offer a hand to someone who’s lost. The gift of grace, the gift of love, the gift of joy is just as powerful for the late comer as it is for the early riser. We needn’t complain about that, we should be happy that another person has been surprised by joy, there’s plenty to share, there’s more than enough .there’s an infinite supply.

The ebbs and flows of our economics are often based on fear that there will not be enough, or that others will get more. There is a real world out there in which we live and work that plays by rules of fear and intimidation, greed and arrogance. But thank God there is a real world in here that sustains us with bread from heaven that heals us from within so that we can offer healing to the world without. Amen.

© 2008 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ