Prelude
Lighting the Candles
Centering Prayer
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Opening Litany*
Children of God, what has God done for you?
God saves, provides, and holds us in God’s steadfast love.
Consider and remember: in the joyful times and in the sorrowful times, what has God done for you?
God covers us and lifts us up, protecting and empowering us with steadfast love.
When you have been like the fig tree in Jesus’ story that seems unable to produce and that everyone has given up on, what has God done for you?
God tends the soil and waters the ground, nurturing us into life with steadfast love.
Children of God, come, let us worship God who never gives up on us!
We come to worship and cling to God, for God’s steadfast love never fails!
Prayer of Confession*
Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your judgment. For our sake, and the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways that lead to glory. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon*
Almighty God our heavenly father, who of his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all who with hearty repentance and true faith turn to him: have mercy on you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Affirmation of Faith*
Apostles Creed, #881
Hymn*
#381 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Scripture Lessons
Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
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 have 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.'"
Young Christians’ Time
Hymn *
#301 Jesus, Keep Us Near the Cross
Message
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Today Jesus does something that should be very familiar to us, he talks about current events. There were two gruesome events that were on everybody’s minds. First, some worshippers at the Temple were murdered by the Roman Temple guards while making sacrifices to God. The blood of the worshippers’ blood was mixed with the animal sacrifices they were making. Second, Jesus brings up the eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them.
I am not exempt from being intrigued by the tragedies of others. Many people are entertained by true crime stories. When we pass a car accident on the road, we can’t resist the urge to slow down traffic and look at the wreckage. I’m not sure what the fascination is about. I hope that it signifies some movement of our hearts to empathy. I hope it is an occasion for prayer. After all, as Christians we are called to bring good news and liberation to all people. Isn’t a tragedy exactly what we are called to respond to? What can I do to ease the pain of the families and survivors of the slaughter in the Temple and the accident at Siloam? Who will mourn with them? Who will bury the dead? Who will seek justice? Who will take care of the widows and orphans? Isn’t that a list of our jobs?
I’m afraid that our interest in the unhappier aspects of life on Earth might come from the less Christian motivations. We are morbidly curious. We like a good story. Worse yet, we really like to judge those who experience tragedy. We like to use our hands not to help, but to point fingers. We like to rub salt in the wounds of others.
Because we believe that the world is or should be a just place, we are pulled to find out why victims are, well, victimized. Butch, a schoolmate that my wife keeps up with on Facebook, recently had his knee replaced. He put up a picture of his scar on his page. Most of the comments were empathetic. But one of Butch’s friends took the opportunity to point out that knee replacements could be avoided with proper diet, exercise and weight management. She, of course, practices all of these virtues. When we hear of people slowly dying of some loathsome disease like lung cancer or emphysema, the first thing we can think of is, “Did they smoke?” We ask each other when someone turns yellow and dies of liver failure, “Did they drink?” Until fairly recently, we wondered how a rape victim was dressed when she was attacked. We criticize the poor life choices made by the single welfare mother who has to eke out a living for herself and her children on the paltry amount she gets in food stamps and other relief. Years ago Jerry Falwell posited that the AIDS epidemic was God's Holy Judgement against homosexuality, forgetting, I suppose, that, following that logic, God really must love lesbians because they rarely suffered HIV infections.
We, on the other hand, like to brag about the good things that a virtuous life has given us. There are those among us, certainly not me, who always eat the things, exercise regularly and abstain from alcohol and tobacco.
There are those among us, not me, who claim they are blessed with all the things that money can buy and claim that it’s all due to hard work. There once was a very successful business owner who bought a new Ferrari. It was beautiful: cherry red, V-8 engine, premium sound system, the works. He parked it in the parking spot right next to the building, the building and the parking spot which both had his name on them, and carefully wiped off the little road dust from his short drive from home. One of his workers happened to be passing by and complimented his boss on such a fine vehicle. “Well,” said the boss, “if you work really hard, come in early, stay late and work weekends, I’ll be able to get another one of these in blue next year.”
You know what? Life is not fair, and we do little to make it more fair. We hold onto the advantages we have: a healthy body, a good upbringing and money in the bank, and claim that it’s all due to virtuous living. Well then, explain why the well toned athlete can drop dead on his morning run. Tell me why the most virtuous people are not born to the wealthiest families. What great sin caused a good loving couple to lose a child? This is the great mystery of the ages.
Remember Job. Job was the most virtuous man that you can possibly imagine. And then he loses everything. His children are killed in a freak accident. His livestock and crops are destroyed. His body is infected with itchy boils and he sits in an ash pile in filthy rags scratching himself with potsherds to get some speck of relief when his friends show up to give him comfort. But they do not comfort him at all. Three supposed friends spend hour upon hour trying to convince Job that all of his woes must be due to some sin that he has committed. This is what these friends want to believe. They aren’t worried about Job, they’re worried about themselves. They want to believe that since they are, they believe, righteous then they are protected from all of the calamities of life. They are not, and we aren’t either.
I don’t know why bad things happen to good people. God knows. But today God, Jesus, does not answer the question, does He? He changes the subject. He changes the subject to something God has given us to know and to do:
Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.
We can all repent. Repent from being so self focussed. Repent for our judgement of others. Because, there are worse sinners than all of the victims of the slaughter in the Temple and the collapse of the tower of Siloam. Maybe our business is to look at our sins and not the sins of others.
And then Jesus tells us a story of repentance. There is this fig tree that is not bearing any fruit. It stopped bearing figs three years ago. It’s become purely ornamental, so the landowner orders that it be destroyed. But the gardener convinces him to give the tree one more chance. The gardener says he will loosen up the soil around it and give it some manure. If it gives us some figs next year, that’s great. If not, go ahead and cut it down.
There is a classic interpretation of this parable, and it is a good one. The fig tree is us. We refuse to give good fruit. We are just taking up space, refusing to do what we are supposed to do. The landowner is God. The axe is in His hands to pronounce our final Judgement. The gardener is Jesus. Jesus is aware that the time is short to save this useless sinner, but He asks that God hold off for just a short while while he cares for and encourages us.
John the Baptist preached something very similar using the same images:
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
It occurred to me, though, that there may be another way to look at this parable.
It seems to me that the people who Jesus is addressing today have fashioned themselves as innocent bystanders. They are in no way involved in the tragedies around them except to be armchair theologians. The same thing could be said of the friends of Job. All of these people are way too wrapped up in their own theories and interests to look beyond the ends of their noses or to be of any use to anybody else. Maybe this makes them worse sinners. Maybe their sins of judgement are just a symptom of a worse sin: the sin of being disengaged and uninvolved.
It seems to me that our world is an orchard of empty trees. They are fruitless because nobody takes care of them. Nobody prunes the dead branches. Nobody checks them for pests and diseases. Nobody waters them when they are dry. Nobody puts out smudge pots and fans when frost threatens. Nobody digs around them and puts down a nice layer of manure.
Maybe Jesus is not meant to be the only gardener in the parable. Maybe we are all called to take care of the orchard. Our call to take care of the garden is an ancient one. It dates from creation. Genesis tells us:
The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work the soil and take care of the garden.
Maybe God had something bigger in mind than a garden, and maybe Jesus was talking about more than a fig tree. Maybe the landowner was wrong to say:
Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?
Isn’t that what we think about other people sometimes? Don’t we often stand at a distance and take on the role of God by judging others and proclaiming that they are just wastes of space? That’s not our business. Our business is to be gardeners. And this is how we will be judged:
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”...Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.”
The hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the sick, and even prisoners. Fig trees without hope. When we see nothing but the empty trees left by the Temple slaughters and tower collapses of our time, don’t waste time asking why. Get to work like Jesus:
Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, make us mindful of the wisdom, judgements and other powers that you reserve for Yourself. Help us to repent from our inclinations to judge and not get involved. Send down your Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the tragedies around us and to inspire us to help those who need our nurturing and care. And when the only thing we can do to help is to pray, remind us to do that. We ask this in the name of the one who calls us to repent, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Tithes and Offerings
Doxology*
#95
Prayer of Dedication*
Faithful God, our guide and sustainer, as we offer these gifts, may they bear fruit for your kingdom. In this solemn season of Lent, we remember your call to repentance and renewal. Help us tend the soil of our hearts so that we may grow in faith and bear witness to your grace. Use these offerings to bring hope to those in need and light to those in darkness. May we live as your fruitful servants, trusting in your abundant mercy. In the name of Christ who calls us to new life, we pray. Amen.
Joys and Concerns/Pastoral Prayer
Generous and loving God, we come to you in thanksgiving, knowing that all we are and all that we have is a gift from you. In faith and love, help us to do your will. We are listening. Speak your words into the depth of our souls, that we may hear you clearly. We offer to you this day all the facets of our lives, whether it be at home, at work, or at school. We seek to be patient, to be merciful, to be generous, to be holy. Give us the wisdom and insight to understand your will for us and the fervor to carry out our good intentions. We offer our gifts of time, talent and possessions to you as a true act of faith, to reflect our love for you and our neighbors. Help us to reach out to others as you have reached out to us. We pray this in the Name of Your Greatest Gift to us, Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn*
#419 I Am Thine, O Lord
Benediction*
May God bless you with the hope to cling to God, knowing that in the highs and lows, the joys and the sorrows, the known and unknown of this life, God’s love never fails.and the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Postlude*
*Stand, as you are able.
Grace*
Loving God, bless all those gathered here today as we come together in friendship and fellowship. Thank you for the blessings of our individual and collective God-given gifts. Place in our hearts the desire to make a difference to our families, to our community, to our country, and to the many cultures and peoples worldwide. Give us balance in times of distraction and uncertainty. Help us move towards our goals with determination and always with an abundant sense of humor. Thank you for food in a world where many know only hunger; for our faith in a world where many know fear; for friends in a world where many know only loneliness. Please bless this food we are about to share, those who prepared it, those who serve it, and those who have worked to make today the special occasion that it is. For all of this we give you thanks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.