Grounded in Generosity

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

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Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Generous God, you come to us again and again, no matter how late it is in the day or in our lives. Calling us, gathering us in, you give us your good work to do, daily bread, and boundless joy. Increase in us a generous spirit so that we may do your work with joy alongside others who are also your beloved creation. We celebrate your way of love not only in our lives, but also in the lives of all of your very good creation. Align us with your way of love and help us to receive and share your gift of justice and mercy. Amen.

God of unending mercy and steadfast love, we are grateful that you call us to be your hands and feet in the world today. We see much that is wrong and set against your purposes. Overcome our fear with your love and empower us to overcome the many injustices with your way of justice. Overtake our lust for revenge with your great mercy.

We pray for nations locked in patterns of hate to be free from old ways and to embrace a new way of relating.

We pray for people who wield economic power to take notice of those whom you notice and to have compassion for those who are vulnerable.

We pray for day laborers, the unemployed, the under employed, and the unhoused.

Inspire us who have enough to share what we have, not in measured or resentful amounts, but gladly, abundantly, so basic needs do not go unattended.

Gather up the first and the last, the least and the greatest, in the common work of your kindom, until there is no more first or last at all, for all are one in your name.

Help us all to see not only your grace at work in the world, but also your humor at work in us, the holy laughter that heals us and helps us see ourselves rightly.

We thank you for the privilege of following the way of Jesus, living grounded in your love, and serving to share your love in the vineyard and the world.

In all things, at all times, we give thanks to you, who never lets us go.

Amen.

Loving God, your word surprises, challenges, upsets, and overturns our way of seeing and thinking. Come find us today wherever we are, however we are. By the power of your Holy Spirit, cause that which is withering in us to blossom and that which is exacting in us to broaden until we see as you see, and thereby glimpse the kindom you are calling into being around us. Amen.

¹ When God began to create the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸ God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. ⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

The Laborers in the Vineyard ¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵ When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. ⁶ And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ ⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

In Matthew’s Gospel the landowner asks the grumbling workers who have been laboring all day: “Are you envious because i am generous?” How does God’s generosity invite us to reconsider the world we have constructed around us?

Whether we have much or only a little, we can share what we have been blessed with so that all may be fed. As we have received, so now we give, in the vineyard of the Lord.

God of the harvest, we are privileged to be cast in your image and called your very good creation. Bless the fruit of our labors as we return this gifts of yours to you. Amen.

May the surprising movement of the Holy Spirit guide you, the astounding love of God hold you, and the teachings of Jesus inspire you everywhere and always. Amen.

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