Letter from the clergy - Friday 18 September 2020

First published on: 18th September 2020

Dear All,

We welcome Bishop Chris Edmondson this weekend, as he comes to preach and preside on Sunday at our 9.30am Communion service, and he will also be preaching for our pre-recorded online service. I’m really grateful for Bishop Chris’s support, now that I am juggling clergy cover for two churches (St Wilfrid’s and St John’s), and Rodley is planning to open for 11am services next Sunday (27th) too! Looking ahead, Shirley and I will be covering the Rodley services twice a month; do pray for the congregation there as they begin to gather again in person on Sundays.

Our Gospel reading this Sunday is the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20.1-16), a story that may at first seem to be rather unfair, as the workers recruited late in the day (‘at the eleventh hour’) got paid the same as those who had worked a full 12 hour day. The workers were all paid the normal day’s wage, whatever time they started, and some of them started grumbling. This is often the response of our society too, when there can be an unspoken assumption that some people deserve more pay than others, and we compare ourselves with each other, without considering why it is that some people get a look in earlier than others. We associate hard work and commitment with reward, but some of these workers didn’t have the opportunity to be part of the reward system earlier in the day. There may also have been committed disciples (perhaps like Peter, or James and John) listening in to this parable who assumed they’d get a greater reward because they’d been with Jesus for longer. There’s a lot in this parable!

Jesus begins the parable by saying ‘the kingdom of heaven is like….’ inviting his hearers to consider the scenario from a different perspective. For day labourers in his day, as in present day Sudan as we heard a few weeks ago, if you don’t work you don’t eat, and neither will your family. The landowner was very aware of that, and he generously decided to look with compassion on those who had been overlooked initially, and to offer them work from the abundance of his resources as an act of grace, so that they would eat that night. This is the character of our loving God, whose ways are not the same as our ways. This parable is part of a whole narrative where Jesus challenges any sense of entitlement that the disciples might have had; his kingdom is not about pecking order, but is about grace. And the message is that grace will not only be given to those first on the scene, perhaps like Peter, James and John, but to those who come to faith later. The disciples are very human, they do squabble about who will be the most important in the kingdom, but Jesus says to them open your eyes, think again, my ways are very different.

In a few weeks’ time we will have our APCM, and we are looking for two new Churchwardens for 2021, who will work alongside Janet and Lorna in the coming months, so that they are ready to take on greater responsibility in future. Can I encourage you all to pray about this, to ask if God might be calling you, even if you aren’t one of the ‘usual suspects’?

A Prayer

Lord of all grace,
thank you that you see our needs, and our potential,
that you give generously and often in unexpected ways.
Help us to open our eyes, and our hearts to receive your blessing,
and to rejoice when others are blessed too. Amen.

With grace and peace,
Sue McWhinney         
sue@stjohnsfarsley.org.uk         
07484 181699

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