Homecoming, Part II

I've finally chosen a text for this Sunday's sermon. I'm used to choosing my text AT LEAST three months before preaching it, if not longer. This has been a little stressful, moving into this week, still not knowing what direction I would go on this upcoming big occasion.



I've got it now though. I'll be preaching from Matthew 20:1-16, commonly known as Jesus' Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. I think this particular story speaks well to a congregation with 175 years of history and tradition. My next concern is to make the sermon strong, but not too pointed. Here's why:



If you read the parable, Jesus tells a story about a vineyard manager who hired some workers (day laborers) early in the morning, more at lunch time, more in the mid afternoon, and again more close to the end of the day. When the day was done, each worker, regardless of time put in was paid the same. This is the parable that brings us the tagline, "the last shall be first and the first shall be last."



Mt. Bethel has some issues, as does every church I believe, with entitlement. Just like those vineyard workers, some of our most long-term members like to remind others of just how long they've been around - how many years they've sat in THEIR pew or how many times they've stayed out overnight to tend to the men's BBQ.

I've got a problem with this, especially when it makes some perfectly good Christians with tons to offer feel like outsiders. God has given us each an equal opportunity and when you're in, you're in. There's no waiting period, no neophyte year, just acceptance.

I'm finding that this is generally the problem with dying churches. When you find a church full of older people who have been attending since infancy and you notice that their children and grandchildren are nowhere to be found, you might have an issue. When it goes a step further and people in the twilight of life are still holding all of the key leadership positions and not passing that power off to the younger generation, you've got a church in the throws of death.

Likewise, you've also got those members that are never considered insiders because they might have a shadow on their past. Maybe they did something that they're not proud of. Maybe they were the Prodigal who took a little longer to return home. Those things never seem to be forgotten.

So what's with the hierarchy that we place on church? Jesus says pretty clearly that he's not down with that kind of treatment and it's really none of our business if God wants to treat each of us the same, whether we receive Christ early in life or in our last moments on our deathbed.

Have you left somebody out? Do you still treat someone as new or unworthy simply because they don't live up to your standards or they haven't been around as long as you?

What can we do to get past this?