September 26, 1999
Jesus tells the story about a father who says to his two sons, "Go into the fields and work today." We do not have to go very far from this spot to know what that means. As we look around at the groves, the orchards, the fields, and the vineyards of the Coachella Valley, we know that it takes a great deal of labor to bring in the harvest every fall as the crops ripen, to bring them to market so the people may be fed with a variety of things.
But of course the story is not told about farmers and farm workers. The story is told about the church. We, too, are to work in God's fields. We are to work as diligently, as periodically, as regularly — with the same vigor, excitement and sense of urgency as in the date groves, the fruit orchards, the vegetable plots and the vineyards of this valley.
Jesus tells the story about us. The one who does the Father's will is not the one who pays lip service, but the one who actually goes and does the work. Even if we refuse to do it with our voices, if we do it with our bodies we have fulfilled the Father's commission.
Now, in case you have missed the point, let's make it clear. When we are baptized, when we are confirmed, when we present people for baptism and confirmation, we make promises and reiterate and recommit ourselves to the promises that are made in those great times of passage and growth. We promise God — not the church, but God — to study the Scriptures regularly, to know what's in the Bible, to know the story of salvation. We promise God to attend Lord's day worship. And yet across America, people use the Bible to decorate the coffee table more than to inform their minds and their hearts. The alarm clock goes off on Sunday morning and it is a lot easier to roll over and go back to sleep. But, we have made a promise.
In these great times of passage and growth in our liturgy, we promise God that we will renounce sin in all its forms in our life. And yet, we hold onto our favorite vices. We promise God to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ, and yet we fail to commend the faith that is in us by speaking of Christ to our neighbor. We promise God that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, but then we engage in that favorite American pastime of finding fault with each other rather than looking for the good. We promise God that we will strive for justice and peace and respect in the world around us, and then we ignore the poor and the elderly and the different.
Lip service didn't die out when Jesus told this story to his hearers 2,000 years ago. We know what it is if we're honest with ourselves. Let us remember that Jesus is not telling this story to make us feel bad. He is telling this story to awaken our hearts and our minds so that we can be changed into His likeness. We are reminded as He tells these stories that we are a community called to go out. We cannot go out if we keep our faith inside the walls of the church. We have to take our faith with us when we go into our homes and into our neighborhoods and our businesses.
When Jesus gives the great commission, He gives us something to do when we go out — namely, to convert the nations. That's not a popular subject in the 90's. But conversion of the nations to the knowledge and love of the Lord is what we are sent to do. We are a people with a mission in the world: to go out from here, to teach people, to tell them about Christ, to heal the sick, to baptize those who are outside the community, to make them part of the community. We are sent out to love and enfold all of God's children no matter what they look like, no matter what their background. We are not called into the church for personal maintenance. We are called into the church for mission, to go in the name of Jesus Christ. The church today desperately needs leaders with vision. It also needs people with trust, to follow the leader and to go into the vineyards and work.
That mission is not easy and it is not without risks. The great risk that probably scares most Episcopalians is that we might fail. In fact, we will fail from time to time because not everyone will hear, not everyone will embrace the Lord. And so it is risky to go. It is also risky because sometimes Jesus sends us to do something we don't want to do. He might send us to somebody we don't even like, in order to be His embracing arms in their life. And, terror of all terrors, and we all know what time of the year it is, it's risky to do the work of Christ because it costs currency — money that God has put in your bank account that he calls you to share in His mission and ministry.
If we are going to be faithful disciples of Christ, we must learn to take risks, not just of being rejected, but risks of our substance, of our money, of our very selves. Risking just as the farmer does in bringing in a crop; knowing that the farmer has control over only 5% of what is required to bring in that crop. Everything else is in God's hands — the rain, the sunshine, the nutrients, the market at the end of the day — all of that is not a result of the farmer's work, but God's.
We must risk ourselves just as someone in business must risk to start a new venture to provide a new product or a new service to society. We must risk ourselves just as the investors do to choose a stock to put their money in, hoping that it will grow.
The goal of the Christian mission is defined by Jesus Christ, not you and me. The resources to accomplish Christ's goal have been placed in our hands, in our person and in our wealth. And then He calls us together to say what needs to be done to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, what we can do as individuals, what we can do as a community. He gives us the privilege of setting the strategy to do what we believe we are called to do in the Kingdom of God.
St. Margaret's Church is a wonderful parish. A parish that has lived its life striving to be a place of open doors, striving to proclaim the Gospel with inviting smiles and welcoming arms. If we are going to continue to be that same vital parish that we have been for so many years, then we will continue to require each year a substantial recommitment and increase in active work. If we are going to continue to be vital, it will require each year a new commitment to faithful stewardship and each new year and each new day a recommitment to our baptismal promises. To accomplish the Lord's bidding in this place, to go and work in the fields, requires all of us, not lip service, but our hearts and our souls working together.
So the story about the father today speaking to his two sons presents the same question, the same commitment that He asks of you and me — to go into the field and to work today. We know how the brothers answered with their voices, and we know what the brothers did with their bodies. The question is, "What are you going to do?"
AMEN
The Rev. Dr. Robert Certain
rgcertain@stmargarets.org
26 September 1999