As I reflected on this weekend’s scripture readings, I felt a bit of sadness because in many ways, they reflect our story, a story lived out in our lives and the lives of people throughout the world every day. The story of salvation involves what I like to call a Sacred Dance where God reaches out and humanity pushes away, twists and turns, before being drawn back in.  This Sacred Dance leads us closer to God’s loving embrace as we deepen our relationship.

Isaiah compares God’s tender love for humanity to that of an owner of a vineyard who spares no expense to create an ideal space so that his plants can grow and thrive.  Despite her best efforts, the crop yields only wild grapes.  It reflects the story of creation.  God showers us, God showers this world, with tender love, yet people turn away, they reject that love in a multitude of ways, but God never gives up.

The scene is similar in the parable where Jesus likens God to the owner of the vineyard who sent prophets and poets to teach us of God’s love and care, yet they continued to turn away, to go their own way.  Wars, violence, suffering, and greed thrived, and they still do.  Ultimately, God sent Jesus, God’s own son, to show the world a new way, a way that would lead to freedom, to justice for all people, and to peace, but like the prophets before him, Jesus was met with resistance and rejection, because he challenged the status quo.

This weekend’s scripture readings challenge us to examine our own response to God in our lives.  They call us to look at our own tendencies toward violence in thought, word, and deed.  Violence can take on many forms.  How we treat one another matters.  How we interact with people with whom we disagree matters.  How we respond to injustice around us and around the world matters.  How we treat one another is a defining reflection of our faith.  God is inviting us to live our faith in all we do. 

Despite our transgressions, God continues to reach out with loving arms inviting us to open our minds and our hearts to receive that love and to share it with one another.  We are not expected to be perfect, but God wants us to try to do better, to be more open, to be more loving, and to be more forgiving.  God gently invites us to continue our Sacred Dance, allowing ourselves to be drawn more closely into God’s loving embrace.

May God bless you and your loved ones today, tomorrow, and forevermore.

Fr. Harry