Today's story begins in the year of our Lord 1982.

I am swept up in the frantic pace of the parish priest of Ararat as we go to visit Aradale. A place for those who are not mentally well. The service is nothing like I have ever experienced before and never have since. There are clients wandering around the sanctuary while Fr. Ian, in that other dimension, sails magnificently through the chaos, the language and the unspeakable antics of those who are worshipping with him. There is one clever guy who stands directly behind Fr. Ian and to one side. He fluently repeats every word that the priest says. Even the homily.

There’s another lady who is accosting everyone else with naughty words and that's me being really polite and understating it. There's another couple at the sanctuary step locked in a passionate embrace. I can’t believe the pandemonium, the lack of reverence, the chaos.The recessional hymn is the Lord of the Dance and Fr. Ian in all his vestments, literally dances down the aisle with one of the clients; both are singing at the top of their uninhibited voices. We get into the car. Fr. Ian closes the door, looks at me and smirks. He can tell I’m a googly mess of disbelief. He grins mischievously and says Well Dave, you’ll never get a liturgy like that in college.

And … he .. was .. right!

It was a liturgy like no other and it was a party like no other. Now in case you were burdened by the misunderstanding that  Jesus spent all his time praying alone with his heavenly Father, or ticking off the scribes and Pharisees, might I encourage you to have another squiz at the gospels.

There you will discover a joyful and exciting fact. Jesus went to a lot of parties. From the wedding at Cana to the party at Simon's house which is gatecrashed by a lady of dubious character. From the upper room, to Levis' place to Zaccheus’ digs. In fact party going was one of the accusations levelled against the Master.

So much so that he has to counter;“John the baptist came fasting and you say he has a demon.The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

No wonder then that the party is often the backdrop for Jesus parables. Remember the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Both stories are about diligence in seeking out the lost. The farmer and the housewife do not give up. But right at the end of each story, when the lost sheep and the coin have been found, they round up their neighbours and  ask them over for a keg and a BBQ to share in their good fortune.

This mornings parable is also set against the backdrop of a wedding feast where there is so much love and joy and food and drink and celebration. However, its not all going to plan. Some of the guests turn down the invitation. In fact they shoot the messenger who brings them their invite. So part of the message is that we are to accept the invitation cheerfully and willingly.

But that still leaves lots of room at this wedding reception. Just some of the name cards at the table have to be redone. So the king sends his messengers out to gather every Maree, Cheree and Donna to come to the party. Bad and good alike. Now we’re getting somewhere. That sounds like us. That’s a picture I can relate to. Here we all are, a very odd collection of people having been dragged in unprepared, sometimes not quite knowing why we’re here and often feeling a bit uncomfortable about it anyway. Sometimes maybe wishing that God had left us undisturbed just to get on with our business.But it's the guy who gets dragged in at the last moment, that hasn’t had time to hire a tux, the guy that gets chucked out, that I feel sorry for. I mean, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t have time to smarten up. The message here is that we are supposed to have the right party clothes and to be continuously growing.

We do not remain static, where we were, when we were called, but should continuously and actively develop and enhance our relationship with the Living Christ. And part of the message is that we are not to take our place at the table for granted. Our Lord calls whoever he wants, whenever he wants. Our job is to say our prayers, read our bible and get to the altar whenever the health authorities allow us and as often as we can.

But back to Aradale in Ararat. At the age of 22 I crassly thought and so wrongly believed, that these clients were being disrespectful and irreverent. What I realised much later was that their sense of celebration was infectious and overwhelming. In their uninhibited sparkle and bliss they taught me that the party has already begun. It is already being celebrated and all we have to do is show up and join in. “Dance then wherever you may be….”

A friend taught something the other day. He pointed out that he finds himself getting grumpy when he ingests the news. Like eating something that gives you indigestion. Having watched the news I see what he means. Each story is carefully crafted to divide our community. It is inflammatory and infuriating.

I quickly point out that we are a bit spoilt with our local paper and community newsletters. They simply tell us what is going on in an informative and non biased way. This is not always the case with other publications.

But my friend has aroused some more questions that I don’t know the answer to. Why does anger sell? Why does division and argy bargy,  grab our attention and why is it that we hang onto these unhelpful emotions for far too long?

My friend, has chosen not to fuel his ‘indigestion’ with lashings of this unhelpful diet. He says he is feeling a lot happier for it and he certainly seems that way. He pointed out that every time we support the “Big media”  we are in fact perpetuating the cycle of grumpiness. We are supporting an industry that is provocative.

In a very cheeky moment, I wonder what would happen if for just one day, everyone chose not to support the “Big Media”. Would the world end if we chose not to buy one of their papers or watched a film instead of the news? We often need to be reorientated away from our ire.

Some of the words that have reorientated me from time to time are these.

Come Holy Spirit giver of life and love, grant for our hallowing thoughts that pass into words. Words that pass into deeds, deeds that pass into love and love that pass into life everlasting. Even so... come..

This is a macabre parable. The poor old owner invests heavily in the wine industry and leases his shiny new vineyard out to some villainous tenants. They trash the place and keep all the profits for themselves. The owner sends several real estate agents to inspect his vineyard and  sort it out. Each of them get punched to within an inch of their life. In exasperation the owner sends his son and he is killed.  But the lousy tenants get their comeuppance from the owner and the vineyard passes to new tenants.

So there are several characters for the preacher to choose from. There is the owner, the prophets, the naughty tenants and there are those who unsuspectingly and quite by surprise, have the vineyard given to them. It's the poor old prophets that I would like to think about this morning.

No-one actually applies cheerfully and willingly to be a prophet and there is a good reason why. Let me remind you of the abhorrent time that some of the Old Testament prophets had. Jeremiah is a good one to start with. Listen to the job advertisement.“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. I consecrated you. I have appointed you. I will make you into a fortified city. I am with you.”Jerry says “Well look that sounds very lovely, but I am too young for this job” and God replies

“Don’t say I am only a youth, for all to whom I send you, you shall go and whatever I command you, you shall speak. I have set you over nations to pluck up and to build and to plant.”

Sounds great doesn’t it. God will take care of everything. How hard can it be? But by chapter 20 Jerry is back and he is not at all happy.

“God you have seduced me and I have let myself be seduced”. Everything has gone wrong. He tells the people to do one thing and they do the opposite. The nation lurches from disaster to catastrophe to calamity. Jerry complains “I have become a laughing stock all the day long”.  And he is literally dropped into the mire by his enemies.

Exhibit B Jonah.

Jonah didn’t want the parish of Nineveh and despite his best efforts to run away on a boat and go in the opposite direction, God makes sure that Jonah gets to Nineveh after-all. Jonah tells God that the people will repent and that you God are far too soft. You’ll probably just forgive them anyway. Imagine Jonah’s fury when that is exactly what happens. Why did I bother God?

Or what about Moses. The guy with the stutter, the guy who is painfully introverted and shy. The guy who just wants to quietly mind his father in laws sheep. A very peaceful quiet lifestyle until the burning bush incident. Suddenly Moses finds himself confronting bully buy Pharaoh and asking in the nicest possible way to let the slaves go free. And even when Moses manages to free the slaves from Pharaoh after all the frightful plagues, the people whinge and complain against Moses for forty long years as they trudge around in Nullarbor.

Hosea is called and has to marry a prostitute. Amos is quite content pruning his sycamore tree  and ends up being accused of high treason. Daniel gets tossed into the lions den and his 3 best mates get thrown into the furnace. And Job… who we are told is blameless and upright gets a list of woes that goes on for 41 chapters.

A couple of things. First, none of these guys and none of us are in this business because we chose to be. God first chose us. God took the initiative. We only thought we had caught God. The reality is that He caught us a long time  ago.

Secondly there is a purpose to all this muck and suffering.  This is the way God works. He is most magnificent and most potent and most loving when his ministry is shown forth in His suffering. This is the way God operates. This is his vehicle to get us to heaven. Through the suffering of his own dear Son. This is why we pray. This is why we care, it is why we hurt, it is why we love. By doing these things we shall carry, push, shove, cajole and harangue our brothers and sisters along the rocky road to Calvary and through the pearly gates of heaven itself.

So the next time you get thrown into the pits, or fed to some lions, or you find yourself at the bedside of someone you love, or in tears before a crucifix, or even very much alone. Please remember that we are part of Christ's body. The body that was pierced and slapped, which died and rose to redeem the whole of creation. You and I simply do our part - gladly, trustingly, like the prophets before us and in the footsteps of Him who became what we are, so that we might become who He is.

Let me tell you this morning's parable  with a slightly different twist.

Vic the owner of the vineyard has done this little ritual of employing people each day to go to his vineyard for 32 years now. The ones that are up and about and eagerly looking for work at 7:30am he cheerfully employs and they have never let him down.  But not everyone is quite like that . The next wave when he goes out looking for employees will do the work, but they stop and yak half way down the row of vines, he knows that they eat some of the grapes and flirt with each other.

But the ones that are there at 10:00am are quite rightly those that no one wants to employ. When Vic asks Sheree “Why are you standing idle and not doing work?” He knows full well what the answer will be.

“Because no one has given us any work”. And… thinks Vic quietly to himself.. there is a good reason for that.

You see Sheree and Vic have a bit of a history. Vic knows what Sheree is going to do with her denarius even before they have formally signed the contract.. He knows that she has a nasty little addiction to the juice of the grapes that she is about to go and harvest. He knows that she was there late yesterday morning at the marketplace, hungover and looking for work. He knows that she enjoys a very single way of life. And he knows that she was there at 10am at the marketplace the day before and the day before that.

But today he has a point to make and his point is not directed to Sheree or her down and out mates. It’s directed to some of those who were in the first group of people he employed at the crack of the dawn. It’s towards Jungle John who is a self righteous git.

Notice in the parable that Vic always knows what he is going to do at the end of the day. He directs the Pete paymaster to pay the Sheree and her mates first in front of the diligent and the shiny, in front of Jungle John.. and he directs Pete to give them a denarius. A full days pay.

Why? Because Vic knows that Jungle John will sneer at Sheree and give her a hard time. So Vic the vigneron skilfully sets up the scenario where Jungle John sees that Sheree gets a full days pay and Jungle John wrongfully assumes that he is going to extra. Not so. Jungle John gets what is in his contract and he is pretty jolly cranky about it.

And it is Jungle John who says.

“How come Vic? We have worked hard all day and get a denarius and Sheree who is a gadabout and a soak gets the same pay as us. What gives Vic?" and at that point Vic gently points jungle John to the wording of his contract and gives him a passive aggressive flea in his ear.

I rather like Vic. For lots of reasons. The way he levels the playing field for one thing. The way that he gets Jungle John to have a good long hard look at himself. But perhaps most of all, the way that he is prepared to take yet another chance on Sheree. Just for that one single day Vic is prepared to give her an opportunity and just for that one single day she has some comfort, some reassurance that tonight she will not go hungry. Just for a few hours she has security.

It’s always fun to try and think of what happened after the parable.

‘What if’ as I am fond of saying.  What if….

The next morning when Vic has to go to the market place again and hire some workers, because the fruit really does need to come off the vine and quickly. The cause is urgent and will not wait.

You would like to think that Sheree would be there early and mended her ways and got her stuff together. You would like to think that Vic’s patient generosity has worked its magic. But no, sadly the Sheree rocks up late… again, hungover, looking disheveled and desperate… again.

My friends, the good news is Vic shows us how God loves us. Even though we can develop disappointing habits, even though we are flawed and fractured, even though we are recalcitrant.. it is to these little ones, the scoundrels, the tax collectors, the wine bibbers, the prostitutes and the ones who are slack and stuck in their ways. It is to these late in the morning folk, people like us, people who really don’t deserve yet another chance. It is precisely to people like this that  The Master of the vineyard still comes to us, looks straight through and knows us better than we know ourselves. And He still says to us “Come on. I want you to work in my vineyard. And your reward will be as promised. Nothing more nothing less. Come on there is work to do. The harvest is urgent and it is you I want.” Even so we come.

a reflection for Sunday 13th of September.

I hope that it might be helpful if I retold today's parable in a slightly different way.

A chap is in debt to the king to the tune of ten thousand talents.  I’ll call him Andy. Andy is your typical blue collar, working class man and lived in pre COVID times. For helping to put up the scaffolding so that the roof on the synagogue can be fixed, he gets 1 denarius a day. 6000 denarius equals 1 talent. Andy owes the King 10,000 talents. So  it would take Andy 200,000 years to pay back his debt.  That’s a very serious overdraft!

So the point that Jesus is making is that at one level, our debt to God  is insurmountable and it is incomprehensible.

But read on… there is good news. Andy throws himself on the mercy of the King and says that he is really, really sorry.  His wife is ill and one of his kids has a nasty addiction. The king wipes Andy’s debt and Andy goes off to the inn that night and shouts his mates a round or 7 to celebrate.

And you would have thought that was the end of the story and that they all lived happily ever after. Not so.Andy is owed a hundred denarii which is only 4 months wages, from Bruce who is the barman at the inn. A trifling amount compared to the debt Andy has just been forgiven. Andy’s had a few too many red cordials and at the end of the night demands Bruce pay up. Bruce of course does not just happen to have 4 months wages lying around and asks for an extension. Despite Bruce’s pleas to be given  more time to pay it back, this hard hearted  Andy, threateningly sneers… “Nup… no extensions” and Bruce is thrown into prison.

Enter Rob, Chad, Carly and Alice.  They have been there in the bar and all taken advantage of the pot and parma deal.

Again, it’s pre COVID days so they don’t have to do the take away option. But they have also noticed the goings on with Bruce and Andy. Bruce skiting ever more loudly about how he has been forgiven his enormous debt and his duplicitous, mean attitude to Andy.Now Rob, Chad, Carly and Alice have a choice.  They can let it all just slide and go home thinking “Well that was kind of unfortunate” or they can do something about it. They can choose to do nothing, or they can choose to do something. They do something.They make an appointment with the Kings P.A. Melissa for first thing on Monday morning. When they get in they tell the King the whole story. The pot, the parma, Bruce and Andy. The King is really pinged off and summons Bruce in for a tongue lashing and a prison sentence.

So there is a lesson about calling out injustice when we see it.

Another lesson is that while our God sized debt can be wiped, (because it is God we are dealing with after all), we ought to willingly practice the same forgiveness with those around us.

Now this is a very difficult thing to do. Particularly when Jesus issues the punch line right at the end. “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from… your… heart.”You see, any one can speak the words “I forgive you” but to mean it and to expunge the debt, is something quite different. The master sets the bar eye-wateringly high because He knows nothing less will work.

You can either choose to forgive from your heart or not.

And not to forgive from the heart will mean that your heart can turn very quickly to stone. It will be become heavy and lifeless and unable to feel. It’s why they call it hardness of heart.  So for our own sake, for the future of all our relationships, we should forgive from the heart. It’s a tough gig.Can it be done? Yes. There are two examples that come quickly to mind. One was the Master as he was dying at the brutal hands of others. “Father Forgive.. for they do not know what they are doing.”And in modern times I have seen it in a courtroom in New Zealand. The person doing the forgiving happened to grow up in a culture and faith with a different name to ours, but her words were the sort of Christian that I hope one day to be. Janna Ezat, whose son Hussein Al-Umari was murdered at Al Noor Mosque, told the gunman she forgives him."I decided to forgive you Mr Tarrant because I don't have hate. I don't have revenge," she said directly to the terrorist. "In our Muslim faith we say . . . we are able to forgive, forgive. "I forgive you. Damage was done and Hussein will never be here so I have only one choice to forgive you.”Now if that was me.. if that was you… Janna not only knew the truth, but she spoke the truth as did the Master. There is only one choice.

Have you noticed that when you  are wearing a mask your glasses fog up? This makes selecting the right papadums at the supermarket an extremely ambitious project. I squint, wriggle my glasses, adjust the mask and try not to breathe too heavily. It’s going to take me a little while to get used to this.But this business of seeing things and yet not seeing them has always been so. We see people, but we don’t See them. We see a situation, but we have no idea of the complexities and chemistry that make it what it is. A happy school yard of raucous children appears as one thing, but we never know what is going on inside each student, their family background or the frazzled teacher in the corner  who's trying to keep it all together. This murky vision also applies to the really big picture. Every so often we glimpse something that we cannot explain. Two people kiss and fall in love. The pursuant sense of vocation that will not go away, the sure and certain knowledge that we are mysteriously loved, warts and all.It's a bit like our developing perception of the people and world as we mature. Trust evaporates, budgets and tax become bull-nosed realities. People aren’t always as forgiving as Mum and Dad, or as well behaved.In time I shall not have to wear a mask, my glasses won’t fog up and I shall see clearly again.  My mate Paul put it all like this. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”

Due to COVID our Fete might well be a bit different this year. We could abandon it completely and just go for next year.
We could encourage folk if they were able to give a similar amount to what they gave /contributed last year.
and / or
have an internet auction
and / or things that are not listed above and which Fr. David has not thought of. He would encourage your wisdom and feedback about this. We do need to be sensitive to those businesses that have had a ghastly year.

These are the folk you nominated to be on Parish Council. There are exactly the right number so they are duly elected. Great choices people!

Stewart Otton (Rector's warden), Claire Hilsdon (People's warden), Peter Walsgott (People's warden)

Graeme Mustow, Jenny Rankin, Tony Roe, Jannie Ryan,

Gavin Wallis,

Elisabeth Cumming, Earlene Gellert,

Caroline Mills, Maree West

Observers Jason Tonisson, Liz Nichol, Nicole Kerr, Craig Everingham

Parish Nominators.. Hoorah. The following people have kindly said that they would be thrilled to become parish nominators in case Fr. David doesn't make it out from underneath the no. 9 bus.

Stewart Otton, Gavin Wallis and Betty Lacy. Supplementaries are David Hilsdon and Sue Mustow

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR FETE

Due to COVID our Fete might well be a bit different this year. We could abandon it completely and just go for next year.We could encourage folk if they were able to give a similar amount to what they gave  /contributed last year.and / or have an internet auction and / or things that are not listed above and which Fr. David has not thought of. He would encourage your wisdom and feedback about this. We do need to be sensitive to those businesses that have had a ghastly year.

And in more voting....

The results of the poll for the time of the Saturday night vigil.

5:00pm all year round  4
6:00pm all year round  2
5:00pm non daylight saving time / 6:00pm daylight saving time  8

Thank you very much to all who participated! Our first 6:00pm in daylight saving time will be Saturday 10th of October.

The message of the masks

Pretty ones, masculine ones, darlick ones, feminine ones, nondescript ones, hospital ones, funny ones, dotty ones, bandana ones. They are prolific and colourful. They are good for us and very good for others.

Yes, it is true that they hide a bit of us and we don’t see everything; but can I put it to you that this has been true well before Monday 3rd of August 2020.

There are parts of us that always lie hidden from others. Things that we consciously choose not to expose to the world. An unfortunate past, a pregnancy, the secret that a friend has shared with us. These are the things that should lie hidden and not be unmasked.

But there are other things that perhaps should come to light and be revealed for the greater good of all. The gift of compassion, a quirky sense of humour, a talent that we seldom use. Tears also come under this very wide heading. Why is it that we feel so embarrassed and apologetic about something that is so very natural, normal, healthy and healing?

Perhaps the message of the masks is to tighten our resolve to keep hidden that which needs to stay hidden and has been entrusted to us as a great privilege. But also to show forth those God given gifts that we are supposed to share, enjoy and reveal to a world that aches to see them. And maybe if, behind the masks we glimpse something of beauty in another, then we ought to be the agent of encouragement. To foster opportunities where that gift might be utilised for the healing and enhancement of all. To draw forth these hidden gifts which are not always obvious. The willing ear, the compassionate heart, the prayer that is offered in secret, the loyalty of friendship. The mask that says ‘I care about your health and I care about you.’