Loving Ourselves


I came across this quote a few days ago and it really hit me hard. I know what it’s like to be a woman in a leadership position and have people tell me I’m being “bossy” (or worse) when the same characteristics in a man would not be questioned. Even in 21st century America, a lot of people really do expect women to be the weaker gender. It so deeply ingrained that we often don’t even notice the subtle (and for some not so subtle) ways we express this belief.

The flip side of this misguided idea that women are less capable than men is that we’ve taught our daughters that they have to “dial back” their leadership abilities so as not to appear “bossy” (or worse). Or if coins could have more than two sides (I need a better metaphor) we’ve taught our daughters that if they want to be in leadership they have to be aggressive and pushy and have to knock others out of our their way.

I’m not saying we intentionally teach these things but that we have passed on our own unexamined biases. We need to pay attention to our own words and reactions to uncover biases we aren’t even aware we have. We need to pay attention to when these biases are expressed in our societal and cultural norms and seek to change them by changing ourselves. We need to face these biases courageously so that we don’t continue to pass them on by our own behavior and words.

For example, people describe men who are priests as a priest and women who are priests as a woman or female priest, men who are scientists as a scientist and women who are scientists as a woman scientist, men who are soldiers as a soldier and women who are soldiers as a woman soldier. And yes, we do the same in reverse – we have nurses and male nurses, for instance. My point here is if we truly, really, deep down in the core of our being, believe that women and men are equal why do we need to in some cases specify gender when describing someone’s profession?

A sweet story I love to tell is the elderly lady who, on my second Sunday at a new parish, came up to me and said, “I can’t call you ‘Mother Nancy’ because you are younger than me.” I replied (in a gentle but firm tone), “you call Father Scott ‘Father Scott’ and he’s even younger than I am.” I watched a lightbulb appear over her head and the look of deep sadness spread across her face as she realized what she’d done. She hugged me and apologized and at fellowship I heard her tell everyone who would listen what had happened and they’d all better call me “Mother Nancy” or they’d have to answer to her.

What we need to teach our daughters and our sons, and what we all need to learn for ourselves regardless of our age, is to bravely be who God created each of us to be. We need to teach our daughters and sons and ourselves to love ourselves as we are because this is how God loves us. We need to teach our daughters and sons to love others compassionately so that whatever profession or role they are in, they are admired because they treat people, all people, with dignity and respect. The best way to teach others to be compassionate is to be compassionate with ourself and others and to walk confidently and boldly with Jesus in the Way of Love.

Self Compassion

Originally posted on January 8, 2020

Part of our compassion journey is learning to treat ourselves with compassion and realizing that this doesn’t just mean treating ourselves to a spa day or a day huddled in a blanket fort with our coffee and dogs (which are both awesome ideas!). Sometimes the most compassionate things we can do for ourselves is to take control over the sources of anxiety in our life. As much as we’d like to, we cannot live in a bubble.

God calls us to shine the holy light and reveal the divine love to the world around us so we have to come out of our blanket forts and do what is ours to do with the boldness and confidence we find through Jesus.

I know a few folks who have left social media because it continually upsets them. Recently I’ve heard a few folks talk about how the political phone calls have started and it causes them great anxiety. Now, I’m not belittling or discounting these feelings – I know all too well from personal experience they are true. But I think instead of focusing on what we can’t control – such as what other people post or who dials our phone number – that we need to take control of these tools and use them for our own benefit. After all isn’t that why we have them in the first place?

So, where are some suggestions.
1. Get a call blocker app. They don’t stop all unwanted calls, but they help.
When your phone rings and you see it is a number you don’t know – say out loud “I don’t want to answer” and then press whatever you press on your phone to decline the call. There is great power in this simple act! And, it puts you in control.
2. Get to know and use the “do not disturb” feature on your phone and devices. Set your notifications to how they work best for you. Learn how you can control your devices rather than just letting them control you.
3. On social media, delete, unfollow, snooze, or block those folks who post things you don’t want to see. These are your apps and you are in control of who you are linked to on them. If you want to use it to keep in touch with far away family and friends, then narrow your friend list to just these people.
4. Get to know all of the security settings in these apps and use them. Again, this isn’t the be-all end-all solution but it helps and it gives you control.
5. Scroll past the things you don’t want to see and actually click on and respond to the things you like. This helps train the algorithms to put the things you do like on your feed.
6. Before you post or share something, ask yourself “is this going to help other people feel loved?” and if your answer is “no” don’t post it.

We do not have to be passive receivers of media! We have power and control over what we see and listen to – if we choose to exercise it. Be bold. Be confident. Be compassionate. Be kind.

May your day and week be full of the light and love of God and may the peace of God be always with you, my dear ones.

Holy Days

Originally posted on December 18, 2019

Happy week before Christmas! I do pray you are able to discover happy moments. And I pray that you can discover the joy and peace that always comes from the awakening our awareness of God in everyone, every place, and every hour.

It’s been way too long since I’ve made the time to write. Not that there hasn’t been reason to but because, I think, I am stuck. Stuck in that place where we feel like what we are working at is impossible. Our country is in such great turmoil. Shootings continue and no one even seems to notice the pain and sorrow among the public bickering and blizzard of hate blowing mercilessly through the airwaves. A bit dramatic? Maybe. But it’s how I am experiencing it and it makes me want to shut down.

But I can’t, even when, especially when, I feel my voice is so very small that it can’t be heard by even the best of ears. As I sit with scripture and pray, looking for the courage to continue to speak, God reminds me that nothing is impossible when we are working together to offer the world beautiful, joyful glimpses of the peace of The Kingdom.

In this third week of Advent, as we light the third candle, I am reminded that each tiny light alone is enough to pierce the darkness but together the light is so much brighter. And we have the hope of more light to come. Together with God we can continue to bring compassion to the world through the small things: simple acts of kindness, choosing not to join in the anger and hate, smiling, choosing words that build up rather than tear down, looking for sameness rather than difference.

Most importantly, we can all choose to not look for things to argue over. We’ve become so addicted to arguing that we create needless conflict over the smallest of things. I was hoping the false debate over “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” would die down but I keep seeing posts, including the two pictures with this post, which state my position accurately if, perhaps a little more bluntly than I would say it.

The greatest act of compassion we can do in this next week is to let go of our need to be right at another’s expense and remember the real reason for the season: the love of God so great for all people that he came to live as one of us so we can know and reveal that same love in our own lives.

May the God of peace fill you with joy and love in the hope of his coming.

Do not Grow Weary

Originally posted on November 18, 2019

This is a portion of my sermon yesterday. The scriptures we read were from the Revised Common Lectionary: Isaiah 65:17-25, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, & Luke 21:5-19.

The prayer that I reference is the Collect for the Day (also from the RCL) and the same one I posted yesterday: ‘Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.“

There was another shooting at another school this past Thursday and amidst all of the political scandal playing out on the news, it seems it barely got a mention. Perhaps it wasn’t “bad” enough – there were “only” five shot and 3 dead. Or is it that this is just common news these days?

Or are we just burying our heads in the sand? We wonder if this type of event will ever end and we grow weary of doing what is right because it doesn’t seem to matter. We’ve decided that only evil persists and we’ve forgotten that love and compassion persist as well.

We want quick answers instead of an eternal story of God’s creation and so we stop looking to God for answers. And we became afraid. We look at the immediate circumstance around us and we do the exact thing Jesus tells us not to – we lose sight of the eternal and we become frightened and terrified.

Jesus gives us the difficult information that all of these terrible events will happen and in spite of it all, we are not to lose sight of God and God’s promise to set things right because God chooses to work out his eternal plan through each of us, IF we are willing participants of love and compassion. Because love and compassion do persist and they are stronger than evil.

Instead of giving up in fear, we let’s ask God to give us the strength and courage to keep loving, to keep looking for ways to show the world God’s love.

Instead of screaming WHY, let’s ask God to show us how we can shine the light of heaven into the dark corners of evil.

The prayer we read this morning is my very favorite – we ask God to direct us to know scripture in such a way that it is a part of our very cellular structure, just as food we eat becomes a part of us, just as the body and blood of Jesus we consume at communion are part of us and make us part of God and each other.

When God’s word is so much a part of us, we don’t have to fret about defending our faith and way of life. All that we need to live a life different from the world – the courage, strength, patience, and peace, will come from God. When we know God this way, we know the hope of eternal life – that life isn’t about quick answers and fixes but about living for God’s greater purpose and glory, trusting God is always with us, guiding us and loving us. In our endurance, we gain the eternal life our souls are created for.

Each and every one of us is part of God’s plan. We are the instrument that God has chosen to spread love. We have work to do to outbalance the evil in this world. Together let’s keep our vision long, working in the moment to dispel fear with hope and conquer evil with love, trusting God who is always faithful to us. Amen.

The 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes

Originally posted on October 17, 2019

Whether you are a Christian or not or whether you go to church regularly or not, I think the majority of folks can quote at least one or two of the 10 commandments. And, I’m sure that some of you have engaged in a debate as to whether or not they belong posted in our courthouses or town squares. So, let me ask you this: can you recite any of the Beatitudes? Do you know what the Beatitudes are? I don’t ask that to belittle anyone but to make a point that the Beatitudes are far less known that the 10 Commandments.

Go read Matthew 5:1-12. If you don’t have a Bible handy, google it. I’ll wait here …

God gave us the 10 commandments through Moses to teach us how to love God and each other and how to live in community on earth, for the greater good of all. And then God came to us as Jesus and said “I’ve come to fulfill the law” and preached the Beatitudes. Jesus shows and teaches us how to live in communion with each other on earth as it is in heaven for the greater good of God’s Kingdom.

The 10 Commandments are the basics, given to a restored people of God who needed to (re)learn what it means to live as God’s people. Jesus gives us the way to move from knowledge to wisdom, to be able to discern God’s path and plan in all situations as the world around us changes at an ever increasing rate.

The 10 Commandments seem clear enough, yet the ancient Israelites needed 613 more laws to clarify just how to follow these commandments in specific situations. And, it seems that a lot of their leaders spent far more energy trying to script loopholes to get around the laws or using the law as a weapon to restrict rather than as guidance to live a full and abundant life as God intended for them. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us a way to discern God’s will and apply God’s laws wisely as we live our life fully as the people he created us to be. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches us how to live compassionately.

Just because the 10 Commandments were engraved in stone doesn’t mean they are the last and only word of God. Even stone eventually wears out and can be destroyed. Both the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes were given to help us build relationships, not stone walls to exclude others.

God’s word imprinted in us by following Jesus is eternal. It is treasure that no one can take from us, that can’t be destroyed. Jesus gives us the opportunity to live now as it will be someday for all of creation when God sets all things right. He shows us how to live on earth as it is in heaven.

So, guess what I’m going to encourage you to do? (See how smart you are.) Read, ponder, ruminate over, and/or meditate on the Beatitudes as often as you can make time. (And let’s just clear this one piece up – “poor in spirit” does not mean to be weak or timid but to let go of our own egos so that God can refine our spirit into the image he created us all. Don’t think that Jesus is asking any of us to become passive, mindless doormats.) The more we work at seeing the world as Jesus does, the more compassionate we will become. Together with God’s help we can make the world a better place.

Getting Comfortable

Originally posted on October 11, 2019

It’s been a few weeks. Things have settled down. It’s easy to relax and let go of the urgency that prompts our need to change ourselves and the world. But the intentional soul work that equips us to make the world a better place has to continue.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the phrase “God won’t give us anything we can’t handle,” especially when people claim that it is scriptural. It isn’t. There is so many things wrong with that phrase that I could possibly write a whole book on deconstructing it. It paints a picture of a chess master type god who created us as play things or test subjects. It paints a picture of people who are to be independent, living life without community or communion of any type, set in motion by a distant god who doesn’t care or desire a relationship with his created children.

I think mostly people use it to make themselves feel better about all of the dangers in this world, either to make them less scary or to let ourselves off the hook for not stepping out of our comfort zone and doing the hard things God asks us to do with his help.

In the Episcopal baptism service, the priest asks a series of “will you” questions about the manner of life all baptized persons are called to live. The response is “I will with God’s help.” We are not to live this faith-walk alone or do it on our own. God doesn’t want us to “handle things” without him. And when the world has let us down and the life we’ve built for ourselves crumbles around us, we can trust and believe that God is with us to be our strength and to give us the courage we need to heal and begin building God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Compassion can’t be lived out in isolation. Living a life of compassion means we let God shape our heart like his and that we, with God’s help, help each other handle all that this world throws our way. In doing so we paint the picture of a loving and compassionate, relational God who is with us in all things and at all times. Don’t get stuck in your comfort zone. Try something new this week that will show someone the compassionate God we serve. And know that God will give you what you need to do it. Thank you for walking this compassion journey with me. Together, with God’s help, we will make a difference.

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20 NRSV

Calibrating our Compass

Originally posted on September 18, 2020

I inherited my grandmother’s big, round, solid oak coffee table. I love it because of all the memories formed around it at my grandparent’s home. And (to my brother’s horror) I painted the top turquoise and put a yellow compass decal on it. Now I love it even more. To add to the joy it brings me, I am quite entertained by the people who walk in and open the compass on their smart phone to see if it is calibrated to true north! (It is.)

I think the reason there is so much anger and anxiety and hate and fear in our world is that we’ve mis-calibrated our compasses. Deep in the core of our being is the image of God and we are all created for the purpose of bearing God’s image in this world. I believe that this it what Jesus meant when he taught us to pray, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” From the very beginning, though, human beings decided we can know better than God what is good for us and how we should behave and so we shifted our compass away from true north.

To legitimize our way of doing things, we’ve tried to recreate the truth of who we are and who God is. We go to scripture looking to justify our own behavior and we find what we are looking for and paint a god of our own image.

But when we go to scripture looking to discover who God is and who we are in relation to him we will find what we are looking for and discover the image of God in us. And our compass is set straight. This is what Jesus means when he says, “follow me.” “Follow me to the true God of love and forgiveness and compassion.”

We need to be aware of allowing our compass being pulled off true north. We have to pay attention to who we are letting lead us.

A true hero does not lift a select few up by putting other people down.
A real leader does not turn one group against another as a means of gaining power.
A true savior does not belittle or degrade a person or group of people but offers salvation to all.

Choose to follow those who have a moral compass based on love and compassion and kindness rather than an immoral compass of fear and shame and hate.

Be cautious of anyone who encourages hate rather than love. And if you are following someone who spreads hate in the name of god, you can be certain they’ve created a god in their own image and that they are not following The God who sent Jesus to save us all and lead everyone into the Kingdom built on love and forgiveness and grace.

Check your surroundings to see if there is any magnetic field that might be distracting you from true north. What are you spending time doing that pulls you away from following Jesus toward God’s Kingdom?

“God of power and might, God of compassion and grace, enable me to courageously point my compass toward you so that my life reflects your love for all people in all places. As I daily celebrate with gratitude your love for me, give me the wisdom to know that there is not, never has been, or ever will be a person that you don’t love as much as you love me. Amen.”

It Matters

Originally posted on September 13, 2019

My previous post for “What then shall we do” on the day after the shooting in Odessa had a tone of exasperation, with more than a touch of frustration and desperation. And in my compulsion to withdraw into myself I was reminded of the parable of the little boy and the starfish: a man saw a small boy walking on the beach where hundreds and hundreds of starfish were washing ashore. The boy was picking them up one at a time and throwing them back in deeper water. It’s seemed a hopeless task and so the man said to the boy, “there is so many of them and more keep washing up. You can’t save them all so why waste your efforts.” The boy picked up another starfish and as he tossed it back to safety said, “maybe I can’t get to all of them, but what I’m doing matters to this one.”

I can’t save the world and neither can you. But it’s going to be ok because saving the world isn’t our job. That’s God’s thing to do, in God’s way, in God’s time. We are called by Jesus to do things that point to God and that reveal the God of love to the world. I can’t fix you and you can’t fix me but together with God we can all become more and more like Jesus every day. We can learn so see the world as Jesus does and respond with compassion. And it is worth it and it matters.

Last evening I went to a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events training. It was so difficult to sit through two hours of being told how dangerous and unpredictable this world is. But the take-away was that we can all do something. We don’t have to passively accept that this is the way things are. We talked about how fear can paralyze us in the moment so we don’t respond and ways we can overcome that. The most important thing to do is to think it through ahead of time. Although we can’t predict what exactly will happen we can prepare by thinking through our possible actions so that we able to respond and not just react.

And so as I do the hard work of helping churches in my diocese, and my parish especially, prepare for the possibility of such an event I am reminded how important this work of helping all of us become more compassionate really is. Every preparedness plan involves both prevention and recovery. I believe that by becoming more compassionate we can prevent violence and that we can help those who experience violence to recover. It is steady, continuous, and intentional work. It is the life Jesus calls us to live, a life of ongoing soul development as we follow him.

When we pray ‘God help’ we must also pray ‘God show me what is mine to do in this situation.’ And we must be willing to do it. Christianity is an active faith, an incarnational faith. God is alive in us working through us to make it on earth as it is on heaven. All that we think, say, and do is to reflect the God we serve. Spend time in stillness and silence with God asking “what is mine to do to help make the world better?” And then do it. Together with God’s help we can shine the light of the loving, liberating, and life-giving God into the darkest corners of this world.

“Lord God, shape and form our hearts and minds so that we can be like the boy with the starfish. Prepare us to do what is ours to do to shine your light in the darkness and give us the strength and courage to do it. Amen.”

Who will do the Father’s Will?

September 27, 2020
17th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 21

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32

Remember last week we said that the time for Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was coming soon? Well, it happened in between last week’s gospel reading and today’s. Even though in the church calendar we save that reading until the Sunday before Easter.

So, let’s just take a moment to remember, shall we, because it will help us understand what we read today – Jesus and his disciples have made their way back to Jerusalem for the last time. As they entered, he rode on a donkey with people spreading their coats and palm branches on the road before him. They went to the Temple with people cheering and praising God as they passed by.

And when he got to the Temple, what Jesus saw infuriated him. Some were attempting to make a profit with the holy and sacrificial gifts people brought to God. The Temple leaders weren’t even trying to hide their love of money over God. And instead of looking the other way, Jesus cleared them out.

And then he began to heal the people who had come to the temple not for power or prestige but to be made well. The children witnessing these loving acts of healing cried out in praise and glorified God. They couldn’t help themselves. And Jesus says we should all be like children, seeing God with clear eyes for who God is and not who we’d like God to be for our own comfort.

When Jesus returns to the temple the next day, we get the exchange with the Temple leaders we read today: The chief priests and elders are angry with him. He had received the praise and glory that they so desperately desired for themselves and they wanted him gone. And so they attempt to question Jesus’ authority to teach and heal, to discredit him before the people whom he had healed.

True to his nature, Jesus doesn’t give them pat answers or platitudes to make them feel better about themselves, but he gives them the questions to enable them, if they choose, to look within themselves to the real issues. Jesus knows that true healing begins within us, in our hearts and souls, regardless of the outward image we attempt to put up.

What Jesus’ question reveals in them is their ego-driven need for power over others, that need that causes us to twist the narrative away from the truth in an attempt to keep our outward image of power and prestige in tact. Instead of taking a stand about what they might truly believe, they skirt the whole issue of what Jesus asks and say “we don’t know” to save their image.

Now, We need to be careful when we read of Jesus calling out the religious leaders of his day. We can’t use their sins to make ourselves feel more righteous. We must instead ask ourselves the very questions Jesus asks of them, working out our faith in the fear and trembling that comes with looking deep within, knowing that we will be changed. Changed for the good, changed for the better because we will be transformed into who God intends for us to be. That is how we find true peace and confidence and freedom, knowing God is with us always, loving us.

After confronting them with their lack of commitment in their self-proclaimed faith, Jesus tells them a parable of two sons. One son who says yes to his father and does nothing and one son who says no to his father and then has a change of heart.

Notice there isn’t a third son who does it perfectly – saying yes and doing it. If there were, we could easily say “of course I’d do it like that” and go on our merry way never having looked inwardly to ask ourselves which one am I. If there were the perfect son, we’d miss the whole point of the parable.

And the point of Jesus telling parables isn’t to help us point fingers at others or to enforce our false image of ourselves but to encourage us to do the difficult work of looking inside ourselves to see, with God’s help, where we need to change and grow, where we need to let God transform us.

So, which son are you? Do you say “yes” to God in the words we profess in worship each week and then attempt to leave God out of everything you do all week long?

Or do you start with “no” because you don’t feel worthy or equipped or strong enough to do what God is asking but then change your heart and mind because you know that it is in God that you will be made worthy, equipped, and strong enough?

What causes us to change our minds?
What blocks us from allowing ourselves to be changed?
What allows for our hardened hearts to be broken open?
Do we respond to to change and invitations to grow deeper in relationship with Jesus with resistance or acceptance?
Do our behaviors all week long reflect the words we speak when we come to worship in community?

The good news is that there is always the opportunity to change our mind, to ask God to change our hearts and souls. So even if we’ve been the son saying yes with our lips and no with our lives, we can come to the vineyard to work at any time. And, as we talked about last week, we’ll be welcomed and provided for in the same way as those who arrived before us.

We are all equally un-worthy and un-entitled when it comes to God’s kingdom, and God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. We are all equally welcomed into the kingdom if we are willing to do the difficult work of letting God transform our hearts and minds into who God intends for us to be.

The gospel doesn’t make us comfortable in our own way of doing things but brings us comfort as we learn to love others as God loves us, not the sentimental warm and fuzzy love of greeting cards, but the enduring, doing-the-right-thing-for-others-even-when-it-makes-us-uncomfortable, opening-ourselves-up-to-be-transformed-through-the-discomfort kind of love. Love as God loves is always other-focused, never self-centered or self-serving.

Our behavior really does reveal what is in our hearts and souls, regardless of what we may say or the image we may try to project.

True righteousness, God’s righteousness in us, is reflected more in our doing than in our confessing.

In other words, our behavior does reveal what we truly believe. Our actions speak louder than words.

What we say on Sundays isn’t about making ourselves worthy. It is only when we acknowledge that it is God who makes us worthy that we can come together to praise and glorify God for the healing work God does in us. Only then can we go out and reveal the God of Love with all that we are and all that we have and in everything we do. Amen.

Jesus the Equalizer

September 20, 2020
16th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 20

Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

Before we get to the meat of today’s scripture reading, I’d like to set the stage a bit: Jesus is getting near the end of his public ministry. After traveling outside of their home territory to share the good news of God’s love for everyone, they have returned to Judaea and soon will begin their final journey to Jerusalem and Jesus’ death.

Just prior to telling this parable of the land owner, Jesus has an encounter with a rich man who asks “what good deeds must I do to have eternal life?” And their conversation and what the disciples say in response are key to understanding the message of today’s parable.

So, let me tell you the story before the story: This man comes to Jesus with the question of how to possess, how to “have,” eternal life, to live forever. Remember that in most Jewish understanding of the day, there wasn’t life after death. To have eternal life would mean to never die.

Jesus responds by telling the man, “if you wish to enter into life – not eternal life, but just life, the life God intends for us here and now, living on earth as it is in heaven – If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

And the man, in the spirit of Abraham, tries to negotiate – Which commandments, he asks. Jesus summarizes the Commandments that have to do with our relationships with each other, leaving out the parts about having no other gods but The God.

This isn’t an error on Jesus’ part, he isn’t being forgetful or absent minded or trying to soften the message in any way. He knows the true obstacle for this man is his ego that has lead him to attempt to build his own eternal kingdom through earthly riches.

Jesus instructs this man, in very concrete action, to keep the first commandment: to have no other gods but God. He tells him to sell all he has and to distribute his wealth for the greater good of all, living for the benefit of others. And this grieves the man deeply, because as Jesus responds, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

This encounter prompts the disciples to ask in astonishment, “who then can be saved?” Jesus looks at them and says, “for mortals it is impossible but for God all things are possible.” In other words, we cannot save ourselves but God can.

Jesus comforts his astounded disciples with assurance that by following him, they will receive a gift greater and more glorious than any human idea of reward – they will discover the real purpose of the life God gives us.

And then he says, “but many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” before introducing the parable we read today with “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner….” which he ends with the same “first shall be last, last shall be first” phrase to set our worldview straight.

The word translated as “landowner” would have carried the connotation of “a wise and generous authority” for Matthew’s listeners, in stark contrast to the man with whom Jesus had just had a live conversation.

This landowner hires day laborers for a fair and proper wage. As the day progresses, he hires more and more people, enabling them to care for their families as well and paying them “what is right.”

This wise and generous landowner isn’t thinking about what’s the least he can get away with in paying these laborers, he’s helping them care for their families in the best way possible, to do his best for them.

When the day ends and their wages are distributed, they all get what they were promised, a day’s wage, and still not everyone is happy. Those who arrived to work first grumble, not because they didn’t receive more than they were promised but because they felt the “late comers” should have been paid less, saying “you have made them equal to us.”

There is a work-reward ethos expressed in their grumbling that still is with us today – you get what you put in. Life is about earning and deserving, in our work and in our relationships. We live in a transactional world.

This goes far beyond the illustrated employer/employee relationship. It is about every human interaction we have – work, family, friends, business, how we see every human being who Jesus would call our neighbor. This story is about changing the worldview that says we enter into relationship with others because of what’s in it for us, that teaches us we should feel threatened when others who we perceive as not working as hard as us get anything for their efforts.

Jesus’ story of the wise and generous landowner turns the work-reward worldview upside down, or better yet, right side up. The kingdom of heaven isn’t about earning and deserving, it isn’t transactional, it is relational. The kingdom of heaven is about gifts and gratitude.

God’s gifts of unconditional love and forgiveness have nothing to do with our earning or deserving but about the divine and generous will of the one who created us.

In God’s kingdom we learn to live by the ethos of gift-gratitude. And this ethos eliminates any possibility of an “us” versus “them” mentality. It reframes our worldview to one of relationship and camaraderie, not competition.

Eternal life – life as God intends for us to live it here and now – isn’t about competing for all we can get but about lifting each other up so we all have what we need. Each and every one of us is the recipient of God’s gracious generosity and we are called to be graciously generous to others in return.

There is no reason to hold contempt for what anyone else has. We are all equal beneficiaries of God’s merciful gifts. We are all equally un-entitled and un-worthy of what God does for us. Our life in the Kingdom is a gift and not a reward.

Instead of grumbling “you have made them equal to us,” the early arrivers should be celebrating the ever growing, ever widening circle of “we” – children of God living in the image of the one who created us in abundant and generous love.

Changing our worldview isn’t easy nor is it comfortable. It can grieve us deeply. It can feel like death.

The good news, the gospel message, in Jesus’ statement the first shall be last and the last first is that EVERYONE is “first” in God’s Kingdom. There is no one who deserves less or more. We are all God’s beloved children. God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments – Love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. To enter into life, we must let go of the obstacles that keep us from seeing everything with a kingdom worldview. To enter into life, we must surrender our power to build our own kingdom and work along side each other with God’s help to build God’s kingdom, following Jesus as we learn to live a life worthy of the Gospel. Amen.