Calling Forth Gratitude

This program year, September to May, we are guided by the theme “The Welcome of a Steadfast God: Inviting All the Questions.” This weekend, we gather for cottage meetings, smaller gatherings here at church, to ponder some wonderful questions as we begin to look toward the 100th anniversary of the sanctuary. God invites all our questions. The invitation to ask questions flows from God’s lovingkindness and mercy for you and me.

One of the questions that is below the surface of the Gospel lesson for this weekend is deeply tied to gratitude and God’s generosity. When was the last time you were positively surprised? I add “positively” since there are negative surprises in the journey of life. That said, there are abundant positive surprises, big and small, that open us to God, inspire wonder, and call forth gratitude.

In the Gospel lesson’s parable, the tenants on the land lose their sense of wonder and gratitude. They take for granted the surprises of daily life and, in one tragic moment, decide to kill the landowner’s son. We might ask the question, “What were they thinking?” How could they then be surprised by the response of the landowner in the face of such unnecessary violence?

It is a parable that Jesus tells, reshaped from the prophet Isaiah (chapter 5); there are layers of wild surprise in both Isaiah and in Jesus telling this parable during Holy Week. The remarkable surprise is that at the end of Holy Week, Jesus will be raised from the dead. There in that Easter garden, we witness God’s steadfast lovingkindness and mercy. It is the definitive surprise that offers grace, forgiveness, and love for each moment when we ask, “What were we thinking?”

Yours in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Peter