Eighteenth Sunday after TrinityIsaiah 5.1–7 Philippians 3.4b –14 Matthew 21.33–endImagine for a moment that you are successful in business. So successful that you are the owner of several companies. As time passes the companies increase in their viability. They are now too big for you alone to manage. Now is the time to bring in assistance. Who better than to keep all in the family and enlist your children in the management.Such is the way of the world and is how things have proceeded for years. But, back in the time of Jesus, although such practice was common there was also an accompanying criminal intent as there is in more modern times.Running a successful vineyard was a lucrative business. It is likely that such a businessman could have more than one vineyard. Palestine was a troubled land and lookouts would be posted, watch-towers built, to guard against thieves. At harvest time the owner would send out slaves to gather in the harvest. Today the owner would expect his managers to arrange the harvest. The aim was the same, to gather in the produce.As Jesus spoke his parable the listeners would be able to identify just who is being targeted. The vineyard is the Israeli nation with God as its owner. The workers in the vineyard were the religious leaders having charge for the success and welfare of the people. The messengers sent were the prophets who were rejected or even put to death. Finally, the son who came to the vineyard was Jesus.In the relating of the parable his listeners would have probably squirmed as they recognised their part being described. Today we experience similar attempts being made on successful businesses. Thieves were trying to steal the vineyard and revolted against the agents sent by the owner. Yet as we look at the words of Jesus, we see how he is telling of the history of Israel.The business owner, the owner of the vineyard, is God. The parable is showing us the trust that God has in us all. Religious leaders are placed in the vineyard to lead and encourage. They were not supervised but entrusted with the task they were given. Today the local business managers have been entrusted with the local running of the business. Looking at ourselves, we understand that each task that we are given is a duty which is ours through the grace of God.We are assessed on how successful we are. God does not give us just one chance. Like the messengers sent time and again so we are given chance and opportunity to be successful in the duty given to us. But, in the end, if we have failed completely, we should not be surprised if that which we had a care for is taken from us and given to others. We had sunk to our lowest level.We had been given all of the tools that we should need to complete that which we have been tasked to do. God has given us our task. He has laid out before us that which he demands from us. He has also given us the wherewithal to be successful. It is almost like being in an Escape Room, a room where you are locked in and the task is to unlock the door and get out. I have never been in one but have heard how everything that you need to escape from the room is provided. It is up to you to find and use what is supplied. God has provided us with all that we need to produce a successful harvest, and that is ourselves.The thieves that the people Jesus was addressing is likened to the sin that surrounds us. Waiting, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. It will manifest itself as disobedience, as rebellion, against God’s wishes. Sin is deliberate in its action. It is us doing our own thing when we know quite well just what is required of us.Jesus, the Son of God is above the messengers. He is above the local managers at work. Before him had been the prophets. They were messengers of God and held in high esteem for the work that they did, but Jesus came as the Son. He came to do all that God had required of him. He also came knowing what lay before him. He would die, not because he was being compelled to die. He would go to his death willingly, knowing full well what he was doing.We are in the vineyard. We are working towards bringing forth the harvest. Whoever we are the task is ours. God has given us the tools to go out and bring in the fruit of the vine, the harvest of souls. Collect for the Eighteenth Sunday after TrinityAlmighty and everlasting God,increase in us your gift of faiththat, forsaking what lies behindand reaching out to that which is before,we may run the way of your commandmentsand win the crown of everlasting joy;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.Amen.
Seventeenth Sunday after TrinityEzekiel 18.1–4, 25–end Philippians 2.1–13 Matthew 21.23–32Today we hear of two conflicts with the religious authorities. This was with the chief priests, the elders of the people, Pharisees, Herodians and the Sadducees. How do we reflect upon these two conflicts looking with our own eyes today. I will look at the second of the conflicts, where a man has two sons. When asked to do a task the first son said that he would not do as asked, then he went away to actually do as he had been asked to do in the first place, whilst the second son readily agreed to do the work that had been directed at him, but instead did his own thing ignoring the request made to him. Which son did the right thing? And which son do we think we identify with?Many are the times when we make, or are called to make, a promise. It may be to do a task or it may be a promise made as part of a commitment. These promises may be made in complete determination to hold to them for as long as required. But sometimes these promises are made with crossed fingers. What place do crossed fingers have in society. All that they do is put a condition on the on the promise being made. ‘Yes, I will accede to your request and go off and put it into practise’, when in actual fact the intention is to go away and have nothing to do with what has been asked of you, and go and do your own sweet will. Crossed fingers are seen as a get out clause.When, or if, you are involved in making solemn promises then there can be no place for the crossed fingers. These promises are binding upon us. We are required to hold by them. Many of us would have taken promises under the solemn umbrella. A court of law requires witnesses to swear on the Bible, for instance, that the evidence that is given will be the truth. There's no place here for possibly telling the truth or speak with your fingers crossed behind your backs.There are other occasions where promises have been made without really thinking about what is being promise. For instance, the role of being a Godparent is a demanding role and cannot be taken with fingers crossed. The promises that are being made are ones that have lifelong effect on another. There are other promises also made in a similar vein. Which of the two sons do we copy when we are making these promises. Are we like the first son who said that he would not do as asked, then he went away to actually do as he had been asked to do in the first place. Or are we like the second son who readily agreed to do the work that had been directed at him, but instead did his own thing ignoring the request made to him. Time to look now at ourselves and to determine which type of son we are. Remember that whichever way we turn we are all still God’s children. Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after TrinityAlmighty God,you have made us for yourself,and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,and so bring us at last to your heavenly citywhere we shall see you face to face;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Sixteenth Sunday after TrinityExodus 16.2–15 (related reading) Philippians 1.21–end Matthew 20.1–16You are the Chair of a committee and share the responsibility for much of what the club or association does. As Chair you can, to a degree, sway the direction of a meeting. This is the case that we see with Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament reading. OK, they are not heading up a committee as such. But a whole nation of people, the Israelites.The Israelites had been happyish where they were sat beside their fleshpots and eating their fill of bread. Now Moses and Aaron had led them away from this life into the wilderness to seek a new place. It would not be long before the supplies of food ran thin or even ended altogether. Rumbling tummies give rise to dissatisfaction and complaints and this is just what happened.God heard their dissatisfaction and spoke to Moses telling him that he was going to rain bread from heaven for the Israelites to gather as food to supply them. Day by day this bread would be provided for the people to go out and gather. On the sixth day there would be twice as much bread so double may be gathered to feed them on the seventh day, the Sabbath.Moses and Aaron told the Israelites what would happen. He explained how God had heard them and was supplying their needs. When this occurred, the Israelites were in a quandary. What was happening? Moses explained that it was the bread that the Lord had given them to eat.Here we had a complete nation rise up and complain. Leading them into the wilderness it was up to Moses and Aaron to satisfy the complaining hoard. God heard and acted. He supplied the needs of the people. Sending a layer of dew and then hidden beneath the dew was a fine flaky substance. Here was the bread from heaven, food which would satisfy their needs. All they had to do was to go out and gather for their daily needs and on the sixth day gather twice as much. A heavenly harvest was theirs for them to gather.We are still very much in the harvest season with churches up and down the land celebrating God’s providence in their different ways. Coastal parishes frequently have the fruit of the sea as a large focus of their harvest festival whilst deep inland the fruit of the field is more likely to be the major point of focus. We see cleverly shaped loaves in the shape of a sheaf of corn and loaves of bread reflecting the skill of the baker.For the Israelites the heavenly harvest had to supply them whilst they trekked through that wilderness. For how long they did not know. They just placed their trust in Moses and Aaron that they would lead them to the promised land. The heavenly harvest would supply their needs.Here, wherever we may be reading this homily, we too will be gathering our harvest. Many of my e-congregation are local to mid-Devon, and yet I know of some who read this in South Australia. It would be nice to receive an idea of your location if more than just a few miles away. It would show how the Word of God passes throughout the world. A Word which upon being read is reaping a harvest of souls. God is gathering into his kingdom his children. Currently, they may be lost, travelling through a wilderness, unsure not only of where they are going but also doubtful of what will sustain them on their journey.And a journey is what we are all on, from the moment of our birth to our final breath. God is with us and providing for us in any of many different ways. The Israelites had the heavenly bread. We have a whole superstore of delights harvested for us by people working in fields and farms all over the world and provided for us in the mega super-stores in our land.The Israelites did not know what that heavenly food was and asked of Moses. We can find ourselves in a similar position when we go into a big supermarket and grab a tin off the shelves. Do we recognise the contents? Possibly we do but we may find a tin or a piece of fresh produce we do not recognise. The label may not be of much help. Using the maxim of ‘if in a tin pour it into a pan to cook it’ may not be the best way forward if it is a soft fruit meant to be eaten straight from the tin. Even today there are times when we also have to ask what is in front of us. Whatever it is the object of our question will have been provided by God through his grace and by the work of his children caring for his creation.Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after TrinityO Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hearthe prayers of your people who call upon you;and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do,and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Harvest 2026Philippians 4: 4-9 John 6: 25-35From the moment that we get out of bed to that time when we creep into it once more after a hard day's work, we are surrounded by the gifts of nature. From trees reaching out to the distance, and fields all around us, from gardens with flower borders and immaculate cut lawns, to flowerpots and window boxes, we see the results of the hand of God.You may be the ones who have been handed the task of maintaining all of this nature we have. The truth being that if we did not engage in this work we would have very little. The work of our hands engages with nature in caring for our crops, in developing new strains, and in the production of equipment to keep up with all of the new technologies.We've come together today to give thanks to God for our harvest and, well ,yes he does play a part in the seasons. In the first place we would have nothing about us if God had not been our creator. This planet would have been like Mars or any other planet if it had not been for the action of God in creation. We have the seasons as they cycle around us year after year, each cycle bringing with it an annual gift of rain, frost, snow, and sun. We cannot forget the sun. We have developed our interaction with the seasons and seen our farming practises change as new technologies and understandings become known.Even the development of technology can be classed as a harvest because God has given us the reasoning, the intelligence, to move forward. Taking matters to extreme AI, that the artificial intelligence, is a part of the divine harvest.The harvest is upon us, or even past, depending on what it is that you are growing, but the harvest also includes the gathering of ores and minerals from the earth. These are a finite resource that once used will not grow again. Once used up cannot be replaced. Much of the plastic that we use in various formats, the petrol or diesel that we use to go from place to place, some of the clothes that we wear, all have their common base in oil. Once we exhaust our oil supplies I suppose it will mean getting out those rusty old cycles and hope that we have enough oil to lubricate the wheels and chain.But not all is gloom and doom. There is hope on the horizon. Rather like the massed riders of the cavalry as they appear charging over the horizon towards you, as you are surrounded by your enemies and about to ‘go down for the third time’. The cavalry are our farmers. They go out, whatever the weather, to carry out the tasks that need to be done to ensure that whatever they are producing is cared for. We may be running out of oil and diesel but there are alternatives provided from crops that our farmers grow.And so it goes on. From crop to crop, from age to age, God has given us the resources to continue. From changing what we grow to developing new materials and chemicals, we have a future in front of us. It is a future that we travel towards, hand in hand with God.It matters not whether we have our arm up the rear end of a cow or whether we just potter around our garden with our small pack of seeds wondering just where to plant the beans, out of reach of the birds naturally, we are furthering the work of creation. This harvest we give thanks for all of God’s goodness.The Collect for HarvestEternal God,you crown the year with your goodnessand you give us the fruits of the earth in their season:grant that we may use them to your glory,for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
