Responsibility
Introduction
Anyone remember the song, “He’s got the whole world, in his
hands… he’s got the whole wide world, In his hands…”?
Usually we think of that song as referring to God, I don’t
know, it was written that way or something; but I want to suggest that it is
really about us… we have the whole world in our hands, that is the
responsibility we have been given, and more than that, the whole world is holy,
it is sacred, and it is a pretty awesome responsibility…
It is also a responsibility we share… WE have the whole
world in our hands…. It is not up to me, or you, but us… this is one thing we
all have in common, we all need to make the world a place of love and peace and
hope… and we all need to work together…
But how? I want to suggest that it is by recognizing our
need to cultivate our spiritual side, and then by recognizing that we all have
responsibility that has been placed on us by God.
The Ten Commandments (with Kids)
Object: A coloring book
Do you remember when you first started to learn how to
color? If you were like most children, you probably coloured all over the page
without staying in the lines. I imagine that some of your pictures looked a lot
like this one (show picture coloured without staying in the lines). And your
choice of colors probably wasn't very good either. You might have coloured the
cow purple! I've never seen a purple cow, have you?
As you got older, your pictures probably looked more like
this one (show a picture coloured in the lines). You began to stay in the lines
and your color choices were much better too. There aren't any purple cows in
this picture. This picture is much prettier than the other one, isn't it?
These pictures remind me of the way some people live their
lives. God gave us the Ten Commandments to tell us the things that we should
and should not do. Some people don't pay any attention to these guidelines that
God has drawn for them. They just do whatever they want to do. Often their
choices are not very good. They are like the child who doesn't stay inside the
lines on the coloring page. They think their life is beautiful, but when God
looks at it, He sees that it is just a big mess.
There are other people who read the Bible and follow God's
rules. They try to stay within the guidelines that God has set. Oh, they may
still get outside the lines at times, but most of the time they make pretty
good choices. When God looks at their life, He is pleased.
Do you want your life to be like this one (show the messy
picture) or do you want it to look like this one? (Show the pretty picture)
Let's pray and ask God to help us.
Dear Lord, help us to remember that you set boundaries for
us. Help us to stay within those boundaries so that our lives will be pleasing
to you. Amen.
Towards the Goal
What is your spiritual resume? Have you been, to quote a
Christmas tradition, Naughty or Nice?
Paul writes that he has every reason to believe that he is
better than all the rest in terms of doing what God wants. His resume is filled
with sacrifice, and commitment, and passion… he has singlehandedly created the
church of which we all, 2,000 years later, are still a part…
But really, it counts for nothing. Really, the question is, what
are you going to do next.
Perhaps more to the point, Paul seems to be saying that we
should never be content, that we always need to hunger for more, to do more, to
be more…
Of course, Paul only makes that point because he knows he
does not have to go it alone.
I did a funeral yesterday and one of the son and laws read a
gospel passage and commented on it. When I heard what he was going to talk
about I had not idea what he would say – for a funeral he chose to tell the
story of Jesus going to the well and meeting a Samaritan woman and confronting
her about her five husbands and current boyfriend… then he goes on to offer her
the living water…
I was totally unsure how he could make this into a funeral
reading – but he went on to talk about the amazing love and constant invitation
of God. Here was this woman, a Samaritan, and outsider, someone who was either
unlucky in love or not easily satisfied… and Jesus was treating her as an equal
and offering her God’s presence in her life like he would anyone else…
You see, Paul had a lot to boast about, but he knew that it
really meant nothing, that we are all equal in God’s eyes, and that because of
that, we all, each and every one of us, have a part to play…
The Vineyard of Violence
This is the third week in a row that the Gospel passage is
about a vineyard… perhaps there is something important about this…
Most people agree that the vineyard is a stand in for the
place we are asked to be, the work we are asked to do, it might even mean the
whole world… and we are told stories about the rightful wages of workers in the
vineyard, about God’s intention for the vineyard, and finally about how we can
go off track in the vineyard…
You see, sometimes we forget that we are doing all this for
the greater good. Sometimes our lives get so focused on our own needs that we
would do anything to “get ahead” in the world. Sometimes we forget what our
responsibilities are…
We don’t realize it anymore, but Jesus is actually quoting
scripture back to the religious leaders… he is weaving together Isaiah five where
God plants a vineyard and expects grapes but discovers that they have all gone
wild, with Psalm 118 which talks about the people rejecting the stone but God
making it the cornerstone.
It is not the pleasantest of passages, but it is a good
reminder, a wakeup call to the fact that we all fall short of what is expected
of us – and because of that, we might even overlook the most important things
in our world.
Conclusion
The table of God is open to everyone. Sure, we are supposed
to colour between the lines… but like my youngest daughter, we often get tired
of that and just colour any old way we want… But this community, and the unity
of God’s people, gives us courage to try again – to try and live with the
responsibilities of being the agents of God in the world.
And once more, we are sent out to make a difference…
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