Sermons:

• Changing the Scaffolding, all lessons, esp Ezek. 18:1-4,25-32; Mt. 21:28-32, by Bishop Susan Russell                          (see below)
   

• Playing the Blame Game, based on Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 and Matthew 21:23-32 by Rev. Karen Goltz                             
   

• Unexpected Intimacy, Exodus 17:1-7,   
  by Rev. Randy L. Quinn
   

• Saying "Yes" the second time around, Matthew 21:23-32, by Rev. Thomas Hall
   

• At the Name of Jesus, all lessons, by DG Bradley
   

• Flexibility, Matthew 21: 28-32, Jim from B.C
   

• Lost and Found, Mat 21:23-32, by Judith Freeman Clark
   

• Talk, and Walk the Talk, by Dave Peterson

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Changing the Scaffolding
all lessons, esp Ezek. 18:1-4,25-32; Mt. 21:28-32
Bishop Susan Russell

Next week is "Bring A Friend Sunday." Now, bringing a friend to church is ALWAYS a good idea, but next week we've been called to be intentional about it. We'll have special name tags, extra goodies at coffee hour, new displays on the bulletin boards; much like getting our home ready when company comes, we're getting St. Peter's ready to welcome visitors who will come to see what kind of church this is.

The lessons appointed for today tell us a lot about where we come from - as well as where I believe we're called to go. And before we can really welcome others into our tradition, it seems to me that it makes some sense to remind ourselves just who we are and were we come from; as well as how we got here! So this morning, I'd like to frame our thoughts around that question: just what kind of church is this?

First of all, it's the kind of church that believes in love. It's a church that celebrates its relationship with a God whose almighty power is declared "chiefly in showing mercy and pity"; in the words of the Collect of the Day - the prayer that opened our worship this morning. If you listen to Channel 40; check out the street corner preachers; or venture into the Y2K hysterics of some of the millenialists, you'll hear a lot about wrath, judgment and persecution - and not much talk of mercy and pity. A lot more about fear than about hope.

This is a church that believes that the essential quality of God is love; so what have we to fear? "Nothing can separate us from the love of God" the scripture assures us. Even our mistakes. Even when we get it "wrong."

"Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to our love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord."
Words from the Psalm this morning. Words of hope and encouragement to anyone who's ever needed a second chance. God forever offers us a second; and a third; and a fourth; a seven-times-seventieth. Our job is to trust God enough to take it! That, I believe, is Jesus' message in the story about the two sons in today's Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said: A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, "Son, go work in the vineyard today." And he answered , "I will not"; but afterward he repented and went." It doesn't say how long afterward. It doesn't say why he changed his mind. But he did. As Maya Angelou once told a woman who had come to her for spiritual direction, agonizing over past mistakes and decisions: "You did then what you knew how to do. When you knew better, you did better."
Like the first son in the parable, she had a second chance and took it.

This is a church for people who are looking for second - third - fourth chances. People who have been turned off by the rhetoric of judgment and exclusion and are looking for the Gospel of love and mercy. People who are looking for a church that has relevance for the lives they live and a community to support their journey into faith. That's what kind of church this is.

What else can we tell about this church from our lessons today? It's a church that inherits a tradition of challenging the tradition. Sound confusing? Let's look at Ezekiel for a moment. "The Word of the Lord came to me again: "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel,  "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?" As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel." [continue]