(acapella choral music)
-: We welcome you to this service of worship
on the third Sunday of Lent.
We've been led in our worship
by the Charlotte Children's Choir at Queens College,
and their director, their new director,
Mrs. Sandy Holland, and we appreciate
these young musicians arising so early
to be with us from Charlotte this morning,
and to contribute to our worship.
Wednesday, this Wednesday, March 25th,
the distinguished Christian commentator
on the Church and contemporary culture,
Richard John Newhouse, will be speaking
as guest of the chapel, in York Chapel
at the divinity school at 7:30,
his topic being, "Being Christian, being American."
and we invite you to that public lecture.
We also remind you that we have a Sunday morning series,
which is proceeding on science, technology,
and the Christian faith.
Led by Dr. Ned Arnett, of our chemistry department
and pastor Hubert Beck, Lutheran campus Minister.
And that's each Sunday morning at 9:45 AM,
in room 211 of the divinity school.
This past week, we have had three mission work teams
from Duke chapel, in Honduras,
in Lumberton, North Carolina,
and in Washington DC.
Your generosity has made these work teams possible
and we thank you and your offering
and we pray God's blessing and safe return
upon these three groups of students
and campus ministers, who have been ministering
in various parts of the world
in areas of human need, in your name.
We're delighted that you're here this morning.
Now let us stand for the greeting.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
(congregation responds)
Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
and all that is within me, bless God's holy name.
(congregation responds)
who forgives all your sins
and heals all of your infirmities.
(congregation responds)
(organ music)
(congregation sings hymn)
-: Long have we been in the wilderness, Lord.
Searching for water, searching for food.
But now we have stumbled onto holy ground.
And the shadow of your mountain has fallen upon us.
If you are near, Lord, do not let your voice remain silent.
Do not let your face remain hidden.
But call to us, and we shall reply.
Give us a sign, and we shall take off our shoes.
Appear to us, and we shall cover our eyes.
For you are the great I Am,
in whom become who you mean us to be, amen.
-: Please join me in the prayer for illumination.
Entire Assembly: Open our hearts and minds, oh God,
by the power of your Holy Spirit.
So that as the Word is read and proclaimed,
we might hear with joy what you say to us
this Lenten season, amen.
-: Our Old Testament lesson comes
from the book of Exodus chapter three.
Moses was keeping the flock
of his father-in-law, Jethro, the Priest of Midian.
He led his flock beyond the wilderness,
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
in a flame of fire, out of a bush.
He looked, and the bush was blazing,
yet it was not consumed.
Then Moses said, "I must turn aside
and look at this great sight,
and see why the bush is not burned up."
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush,
"Moses, Moses," and he said, "Here I am."
then he said "Come no closer.
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
He said further, "I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery
of my people who are in Egypt,
I've heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.
Indeed, I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of the land,
to a good and broad land.
A land flowing with milk and honey,
to the country of the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perrizzites,
the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
The cry of the Israelites has come now to me,
I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
So come, I will send you to the Pharaoh,
to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God,
"Who am I, that I should go to the Pharaoh
and to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
He said, "I will be with you,
and this shall be the sign for you,
that it is I who sent you.
When you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you shall worship God on this mountain."
But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites
and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors
has sent me to you,' and they ask me,
'What is His name?'
What shall I say to them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am."
And He said further,
"Thus you shall say to the Israelites,
I Am Has sent me to you."
God also said to Moses,
"Thus you shall say to the Israelites,
The Lord, the God of your ancestors,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.
This is my name forever, and this, my title
for all generations."
This is the word of the Lord.
(congregation responds)
(organ plays)
(choir sings)
-: Our text from the New Testament comes from
the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13.
Then he told this parable.
A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,
and he came looking for fruit on it, and found none.
So he said to the gardener,
"See here, for three years I've come looking for fruit
on this fig tree, and still I find none, cut it down,
why should it be wasting the soil?"
He replied, "Sir, let it alone for one more year,
until I dig around it and put manure on it.
If it bears fruit next year, well and good,
but if not, you can cut it down."
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
-: The owner of a vineyard has a fig tree.
And he has come to the vineyard
looking for fruit from this fig tree for three years now,
but there has been no fruit.
Fig trees are supposed to bear every year.
But this tree appears to be hopelessly infertile.
"Cut it down", says the owner.
And perhaps with this talk of vineyard,
you remember other Bible talk about vineyards.
In the fifth chapter of Isaiah, the prophet says,
"Israel is the vineyard of the Lord,
and Judah is God's planting."
Israel is often spoken of as God's vineyard,
but if you've read much of the Bible,
you know that things have not always gone that well
in God's garden.
The prophet Joel lamented
the unfaithfulness of Israel in his day,
"The vine withers, the fig tree droops."
In John Wesley's commentary on this parable
of the infertile fig tree,
he notes that either we may understand,
we may understand that God, of course,
is the owner of this vineyard,
but either we may understand the pleading servant,
the servant pleading for the fig tree,
as either Christ, or as Christ's ministers.
Those ministers of the Church.
And this makes sense.
For later on in Luke,
when Jesus tells another story about a vineyard,
a man who rented out his vineyard to some tenants,
and he comes back looking for his rent,
and these tenants treat his son shamefully,
Luke says, the Scribes and the Pharisees,
the leaders of Israel, perceive
that he had told this parable against them.
We are Christ's ministers, his stewards of the vineyard.
God's people, Israel, the Church,
we are God's vineyard.
And the owner of the vineyard, God,
has come, calling to collect.
But, alas, there's no fruit.
Now the keepers of the vineyard, now those Church officials,
are going to have some explaining to do,
why there has been so little fruitfulness.
Now the keepers of the vineyard
the Scribes the Pharisees, the Bishops, the Pastors,
the Sunday school teachers, the Church stewards,
are gonna have some explaining to do.
I think this parable is an assault against
the leadership, fruitless leadership,
in Israel, and the Church.
Plenty of time has passed for these stewards to have acted,
but now, after three years,
the owner of the vineyard has had it,
and he says, "Cut it down."
In Isaiah five, the owner of the unfruitful vineyard
gets so upset, he says,
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do with my vineyard,
I'm going to remove the hedges,
I'm going to knock down the walls,
I'm going to let briars and thistles
grow up in this vineyard.
I'm going to command the rain not to rain upon it,
that's what I'll do to this vineyard."
The owner of the vineyard has been coming here
for three years, been coming here Easter,
Pentecost, Christmas Eve, there has been no fruit.
Cut it down, time is up.
Few years ago I had a friend,
who is a Pastor in Africa, visit.
My friend's church has had a tough time in Africa.
Persecution by the government,
bitter persecution by their Muslim neighbors,
they've had a tough time.
I thought it would be good for him to visit here
in America, where we have freedom to be religious.
But as it turns out, according to my friend,
not too religious.
For my friend asked me, he asked me one day,
"How many baptisms do you do a year?"
And I said, "Well, let's see, baptisms, let's see,
I guess, I don't know, five, six, eight?"
And he said to me, in astonishment,
"Six or eight baptisms in an entire year, that's all?"
And I said, "Well it's a university chapel,
we don't do much of that."
He said, "No, my word!"
I said, " Well, how many baptisms do you do a year?"
He said, "Well, we had an off year last year,
I only did about 600."
and then he said "I am, going to tell my friends
when I return to Africa,
that I have met a brother in Christ over there,
who keeps preaching, and who keeps serving the Eucharist,
Sunday after Sunday, with so little results,
I think that's amazing!
I respect you so much, you just get up every Sunday
and keep preaching, six baptisms?
I respect you so much!"
And on that day, the owner of the vineyard
came looking for figs.
He said to those who were supposed to be
looking after the vineyard,
"Time's up, cut it down."
"Master," plead the servant,
"Master, let it be, let it alone.
Master, I'll dig around it, I'll throw some dung on it.
Give it more time, and if the dung doesn't work,
then you can cut it down.
Master, give me just one more chance
with this barren fig tree.
Dig around the roots, a little dung ought to do it.
Fertilize it, dung it, manure it."
By the way, the Greek word here for dung, caprion,
is a crude, impolite word,
as much so in the Greek as it is in the English,
to my knowledge it's only used one place
in the New Testament, and that's here.
It's a crude, impolite word for church conversation,
and of course, I would not have used it
in front of a dignified group of people like you,
had not Jesus used it first.
If I, rather than Jesus, had been telling this little story,
I would have said,
"Master, let me put a little fresh soil upon it,
just a tad of water", that's what I would have said.
No, Jesus said in the story,
"Spread some manure on it, some dung."
Manure, now I know that there are some of you
who've actually worked with these substances,
and know from existential experience what this means.
Manure, dung, I'll admit that this is not
polite church type speech, manure.
But look, it's been three years,
now it's time for drastic, earthy measures,
manure.
Will Rogers once said,
"Methodist preachers are a lot like manure."
(congregation laughs)
You pile them all together in one place
at annual conference, they get to stinking."
(congregation laughs)
"If you spread them around the world,
they do a lot of good."
This tree ought to be cut down.
Who would blame the master
for his perfectly justified judgements?
Cut it down, and yet in the story, surprise,
due to the pleading of this servant,
there is still time, for the fig tree, there is still time.
There's still time, let's just spread a little dung on it,
and give it a little more time.
And thus, there is mercy here in this story,
but it's not the polite kind of church mercy,
it is not the "Oh Lord, have mercy upon us,
and our manifold sins and wickedness",
No, no, it's not that kind of mercy,
it's the spread a little dung on it kind of mercy.
It's cow stable variety mercy.
What do you do for a church?
A church like mine, the United Methodist,
that appears to be dead in the water?
What do you do for a church that's got leaders
that seem to be more interested in keeping house,
and keeping the machinery oiled,
than in producing fruit?
Well, Jesus says, "Spread a little dung on them,
that might help."
I know I have sometimes said that laypeople,
who do a lot of complaining
about the sorry preaching they hear,
that sometimes you laypeople get the preaching you deserve.
When's the last time when your preacher
has stuck his or her neck out and preached the Gospel
with unbelievable clarity and boldness?
When have you praised that preacher for that effort?
"That was the most brilliant sermon
I have ever heard in all my life."
Well, be careful, don't spread it on too thick.
But there is still time, and that's merciful.
And maybe with the right amount of mercy,
there is still hope we shall bear fruit.
Because of the steward's pleading, his pleading,
there is still time for this fig tree
to be fruitful, there is still time.
I know as a pastor, how many time, have I seen in marriages,
in my own church,
where a couple comes to me as pastor,
and they say that they want to throw in the towel,
they want to call it quits, they want to cut it down?
And what they often mean is,
"We're going through a period of incredible unhappiness,"
or, "We found out that marriage is very tough."
They're miserable.
And they lack the imagination to know
how to do anything imaginative with their misery,
other than say, "Cut it down.
it's just time's up, quit."
And the sad thing, the thing I hate as a pastor,
is that on so many of these occasions,
I think that that couple may be on the verge
of some painful, but so fruitful, self discovery.
They may be just right at the point of working through
their unhappiness, to discover some painful,
though truthful, facts about themselves, to develop into
interesting persons of depth and commitment.
And it's on those occasions, that I wish as a pastor
that I had more courage to say to the couple,
"Give it more time, put some manure on it."
"What was that pastor?"
"Give it more time."
But there's more here.
Cause John Wesley said of this parable,
"You can take it two ways,
you can see this pleading steward as the ministers,
the leaders of the vineyard, us.
Or you can see this pleading steward as Christ."
We can go deeper here.
I believe we are witnessing in this parable,
we are listening in on a debate,
an internal debate between
justified judgment, cut it down,
and miraculous mercy,
leave it alone, let it be, give it more time.
I think that this parable is letting us in
on a debate in the very mind of God.
God against God, a debate
between divine judgment, and divine mercy.
Between a God
who gives us what we fully deserve, cut it down,
and a God who gives us what we do not deserve,
leave it alone, give it more time.
Mercy and judgment are given voices
in this parable of the barren fig tree.
One that is perfectly justified, cut it down,
and the other, amazingly forbearing and pleading,
"Oh, master, let it alone,"
I think that this parable reports on an agony
that is going on in the very mind of God
over what to do about us.
Hosea heard that divine debate.
Hosea heard God threaten,
"Israel, I am going to pour out my wrath like water on you."
And then just a chapter later, God says,
"Oh Ephraim, how can I let you go,
my compassion grows warm and tender."
We are listening in, people listen, this is holy,
we are listening in on a conflicted struggle
deep, deep within the very mind of God.
The struggle, repent now!
And then, let it alone, give it time.
And between the two hangs the Church.
Hangs your life and mine,
deep over divine mercy.
It's a struggle.
One Sunday I preached on the parable in Matthew
of the laborers and the vineyard.
You've heard that story about a vineyard.
There was a man needed work to do in his vineyard,
he went out early in the morning, he hired some people,
he went out later in the morning, and hired some people,
and in the afternoon, and just one hour
before quitting time, he hired these people,
and then at the end of the day,
he paid everybody the same wage.
Which I think means in part, that there's still time.
I don't care if you've been a member
of the Church all your life,
if you just walk in here this morning, that's okay.
God welcomes the 11th hour workers,
just as graciously as those who've been here
all their lives, there is still time.
It doesn't matter when you get your head straight
on the Christian faith, you come on in
whenever you want to, whenever you can,
because of the graciousness of the owner of the vineyard,
there's still time.
Two Sundays later, scarcely five chapters
separating them in the gospel of Matthew,
I had another parable on my hands,
told by the same Jesus about these bridesmaids,
and they'd intended to get oil for their lamps,
but there was just one thing and then another,
and when they got to the party, the door was latched shut.
And the gavel had come down, and time was up.
And it was over.
And both of those parables are in the same gospel.
Well, how does this story end?
Did the tree bear fruit?
How effective was that manure?
Well if you will note, in the story we are not told.
Jesus, as Jesus so often does, leaves this thing open-ended.
Did a miracle occur?
It leaves us asking, did the dung do it?
Well we aren't told.
In the parable of the seed, you remember that story,
just a few little seed produced miraculous fruitful harvest.
Or then there was that time the disciples
had been fishing all night.
They had fished all night, they hadn't caught a thing.
They saw Jesus, he says, "Give it more time,
cast your net on the other side of the boat."
and when the disciples did that,
it was such a fruitful harvest,
they could hardly pull the fish up into the boat.
But in this story, we don't know.
All we do know, is that for the time being,
there is still time.
And the story ends, and the fig tree is still there.
There's still time.
Course we know in the Bible,
that barrenness has been overturned before,
infertility has been overcome before,
old Sarah was in her 80s, she'd never had a child,
but she laughed all the way from the geriatric ward
to the maternity ward,
(congregation laughs)
Rachel was old, she hadn't had any children,
and she bore twins.
So maybe there will be a time
when you and I will be fruitful, when we will give birth.
Maybe one day, if we've still got time,
maybe I will preach so well, that Sunday morning
will be like a Saturday night at Baskin Robbin.
There'll be so many people at the end of the sermon
wanting to sign up and be baptized,
I'll say, "Well, take a number, get in line."
For now there is still time,
because of this pleading, pleading servant
with the master, there is still time.
Time. Remember how you felt?
Remember that morning after the operation
when the surgeon came back into your room,
and you could see the words on her face
before she spoke, "It was a success.
"Congratulations, you got time."
Or when the professor called you in,
and you expected the gavel to come down on your head,
but the professor said, "Look, I know this has been
a tough semester for you, and this paper means a lot.
I'm gonna give you time, go ahead
and take time you need to finish."
Do you remember how that felt?
There's a Greek word here in this parable: aphes.
Aphes, which is translated in this parable
as let it alone, let it alone.
"Master, aphes, master aphes, let it alone,
give it more time.
I'll put some manure on it, dig around it, let it alone."
And the interesting thing is the word aphes
is translated elsewhere in the New Testament
as the New Testament word for forgiveness.
But here it's translated as just, more earthily,
let it alone, aphes.
And thus the story makes a link
between time and forgiveness.
We were staying at a little inn
in Innsbruck, Austria, a little chalet.
And one afternoon we were admiring these
unbelievably red and beautiful geraniums
that they had growing all along the face of this chalet.
I had never seen such beautiful red geraniums.
And I asked our landlady, I said, (speaks in German)
"How red these flowers are, how do you do it?"
I asked her, "What's sort of, what is the German word,
fertilizer, do you use to have such flowers?"
"Blut", she replied.
"Blut, blood?"
She says, "Yes, my man, every week
he brings me a gallon of blood from the slaughterhouse,
and I put it on these flowers,
these flowers bloom best with blood."
I was sorry I asked.
(congregation laughs)
Jesus came preaching,
"People, the hour has come,
it is time, repent, the time has come
for you to bear fruit that befits repentance."
He came looking for fruit;
instead he found barrenness.
Hard hearted, sterile, thin barrenness.
He came looking for fruit saying,
"Look, I didn't come to judge the world,
I came to save the world."
And we nailed him on a Cross.
And that Friday afternoon, at the barren place of the skull,
heaven heaved, and earth shook,
ready at last to burst forth now,
in a much deserved flood of divine judgment.
And from the cross he said,
"Father, aphes,
let it alone."
And his blood dripped down drop by fruitful drop,
upon the hard hearted soil.
Seeping deep into our roots,
so that in time,
we might bear fruit.
(organ music)
(congregation sings hymn)
-: The Lord be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
-: Let us pray.
Oh, God, in the shadow of your Cross,
do we take our place before you this morning.
And it is by the power of your Cross,
that we pray to you in this moment.
Hear us for the sake of your son,
our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Oh Savior of the world, by your cross and passion,
you have redeemed us.
But in the afflictions of your people,
you are yourself afflicted.
We pray for those who suffer,
for all those whose livelihood is insecure,
for the hungry, the homeless, the jobless,
for those who are downtrodden by the pressures of life,
for those who work many jobs to make ends meet,
for those who despair of ever knowing security.
Hear our prayers, gracious Lord.
For all who are hindered in the race of life,
for the weak, for the delicate, the impaired,
and the handicapped, hear our prayers, merciful Lord.
For children whose surroundings hide from them
knowledge of your love, and vision of creations beauty,
for the fatherless and the motherless,
for the unwanted, the abandoned, and the abused,
hear us loving Lord.
For those who bear their burdens alone,
for those who are in doubt and anguish of soul,
for all those who lack the prayers of others,
and for all those who do not know the power of your love,
and the wonder of your compassion,
hear our prayers, kind Lord.
For all the sick of body, mind, or spirit,
in the hospitals, in homes,
or on the streets of our community,
hear our prayers, strong Lord.
Oh Savior of the world, give ear to these,
our prayers, and answer them in your compassion.
And grant that we who have been baptized
into your suffering and death,
be empowered by our baptisms,
and strengthened in love toward one another
and the whole world, that you may be served
as the one true living Lord of heaven and earth.
All this we pray in the name
of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
With joyful thanks, we give of ourselves
and of our gifts to God.
(organ music)
(choir sings)
(organ music)
(congregation sings the Doxology)
-: Let us pray.
Oh God, in Christ you remind us
that everyplace is your temple.
Every day your Sabbath, and every person your beloved.
Receive these, our gifts, we pray,
as ones given out of love for you,
and given because we know that you have given first to us.
Bless them, and use them and us
for the work of your kingdom,
and the glory of your name.
Loving God, you have set in our hearts a hunger for you,
and you have given us your peace.
You have redeemed us, and called us to a high calling
in Christ Jesus.
You have given us a place in the fellowship of your Spirit.
And the witness of your Church.
In darkness, you have been our light,
in adversity and temptation, a rock of strength.
In our joys, the very spirit of joy,
And in our labors, the all sufficient reward.
You have remembered us when we have forgotten you,
followed us when we fled from you,
met us with forgiveness, when we turned back to you.
For all your long-suffering with us,
and for the abundance of your grace,
sufficient to our every need,
we praise your holy name, Oh Lord,
and pray as our Lord Jesus Christ taught us, saying,
Entire Assembly: "Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory forever, amen."
-: As ones who are recipients of God's grace,
go forth into the world,
proclaiming the power of God's mercy.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the encouragement
of the Holy Spirit, be with you this day,
and forevermore, amen.
(organ music)
(congregation sings)
(organ music)