Sermons
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 Old Testament Reading Isaiah 5: 1-7
The Gospel: Luke 12: 49-56 Just over two years ago, Russ and I planted a peach tree in our yard. When we bought the three-foot tall tree, it already had tiny peaches on it. That first harvest a few months later, produced about 20 small peaches that were deliciously sweet. We were so excited for the expected abundance of future harvests! The second year, Peachy, as we affectionately call her, grew two feet and produced about the same number of sweet peaches. This year, Peachy is about eight feet tall. Early in the spring, I counted 26 peaches, but when we returned from a two-week vacation, only 2 remained. We assumed an animal - squirrel or deer - had eaten them. As of last week, no peaches remained. In doing some research, I learned that we were lucky to get peaches those first two years, it often takes up to four, and we need to do some pruning, feeding and protecting to help Peachy along. In another part of our yard, I have tried for years to establish a perennial flower garden. We dug out the grass and planted a variety of perennials the first year, only to see the majority of it swallowed by invasive plants the next year. I cleared it out again, adding new perennials and mulch hoping to hold the invasives at bay. The next year, the majority of the perennials were gone again, with the weeds logging another win. Gardening is hard, patient work that rarely lets one sit back on one’s laurels. There is just too much work to be done. My problem as a gardener and sometimes our problem as humans, is that we often want instant gratification rather than putting in the sustained effort. Psalm 80 and the Isaiah scripture from today use the metaphor of God the Creator as a gardener bringing the vine of the Israelites out of enslavement in Egypt and planting them in the promised land, like grapes vines in a fertile vineyard. God turned the fertile land over to the people, passing the gardening hoe, so to speak, so that both they and the land could grow and be fruitful. It was time for the people to nurture the land and the freedom God gave them, but they became distracted by worldly things and became like wild grapes: small and bitter. God saw Judah, the Israeli people, as his pleasant planting, and "expected justice but saw bloodshed”. Despite the perfect soil, sunlight and growing conditions, the people’s goodness was taken over by the weeds of invasive division, hatred, and greed. No wonder God sent Jesus to deliver the hard message of the need for change. “I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it was already kindled!” Jesus tells the people in our Luke scripture today. As we would say today, Jesus was trying to light a fire among the people to ignite change. It was time to take better care of God’s garden of creation. “Do you think that I came to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you but rather division!” This is a hard part of scripture to hear: Jesus, the peacemaker, talking of bringing division. But it was not that Jesus wanted to divide people but that he knew his message was divisive. Not all people would follow his way of peace, but, like a good gardener, he had to plant the seeds of change - even if it meant slash and burn agriculture in some places- in order for new growth to begin. He had to break down the garden walls, to clear the soil of all the weeds and begin anew. He knew some would join him in this new endeavour, and others would cling to the status quo - weeds, predators and all. Jesus goes on to say that the people can predict the weather, but cannot interpret the challenges of the present day and what they should do. Sound familiar? It may seem ironic that Jesus is decrying the challenges of the present, divisive time 2000 years ago and that we can easily relate to that in our present, divisive time, but is it? Sadly, God is still looking for justice and we as humanity, are still responding with bloodshed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and so many more places. God is seeking gardeners to tend the land and share its abundance in peaceful unity and mutual caring and we see nationalism, hatred, prejudice, and bullying instead. Jesus is still waiting: waiting for the fire of change to be kindled in us, waiting for us to roll up our sleeves, get out the hoes or get on our knees and start pulling out the weeds of division and hatred and to plant the seeds of love and caring. It will not be an easy job, the sowers of discord will continue their work even as we work to sow kindness. Some will think we are crazy - what profit is there in caring for others, in fighting for the hungry, the sick, and the voiceless? We will respond as Jesus would, not worrying about what others think but leading with love. Many churches find one or more of these tasks as their mission. Some offer a weekly food shelf and a monthly community meal like the United Church of Newport that I attended while on vacation last week or the Rutland United Methodist Church that through its Companions in Wholeness program offers two meals a day four days a week, in addition to a food shelf, clothing and a place to rest during the morning. Some speak up for migrants or Asylum Seekers like Grace Church in Rutland and the many UCC pastors who marched for the release of legal U.S. resident Palestinian Mohsen Mawdahi when he was detained by ICE during his citizenship interview. Some churches support missions abroad such as ours supporting the Malaka House for orphans and others supporting schools in other places on the African continent. Some even go on mission trips to support places in need like youth from Brattleboro churches did this spring in helping clean up after the hurricanes and provide poverty relief in Asheville, North Carolina. Other churches march in Pride Parades and work to provide a safe space for all in the LGBTQIA community. Some churches also band together to seek justice in the world such as happened at the General Synod of the United Church of Christ when they passed a resolution called the Declaration for an End to Genocide in Palestine. VT Conference Minister Rev. Dr. Lynn Bujnak said the following of that resolution in a recent newsletter, “One of our Vermont Conference delegates, Dave Schilling, was assigned to the committee that brought this resolution to the floor. The discussion and debate of this resolution was passionate, complicated and respectful. There were those that felt the Resolution should also denounce Hamas. Others pointed to several previous General Synod Resolutions where that was done. Some objected to the use of the word, genocide. Others told heartbreaking stories of those who were suffering from hunger, starvation, the death of loved ones and children and an unending war on the people of Palestine.” The Charlotte Congregational Church responded by sending a press release noting the challenge of getting food into Gaza but listing possible places for people to make donations to try to help. They also ring their bell every Friday at noon in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Here is a portion of the Resolution that offers churches ways to engage: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all settings of the United Church of Christ be encouraged to receive this Resolution as a prophetic call and commit to: 1. Stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to denounce the ongoing genocide whether that be through the context of public witness, legislative advocacy, legal action, or non-violent direct action. 2. Call on our government to cease providing financial sponsorship, military arms, and political cover to the State of Israel for acts of genocide. 3. Denounce hate and violence in all its forms including that rooted in Islamophobia, anti- Palestinian and anti-Arab bias, and antisemitism, as contrary to the teachings of Jesus and the love of God for all humanity. 4. Share this declaration, pray, and speak and speak within our congregations and 108 communities about the genocide in Palestine. I share all of these examples as different ways to grow Jesus’ garden of hope and love. But what type of gardeners are we, as the United Church of Ludlow and we as individuals called to be? Which seeds of justice shall we plant? Are we called to help people find food or shelter? Are we called to help the sick or fight injustice in our state, nation, or world? We cannot do it all, but we can make a difference and Jesus is calling us to be reignited: to stand up for all of God’s people and God’s planet. In a time of division, we as Christians, are called to unite to follow in Jesus’ footsteps leading with love and patience as we carefully tend God’s garden. It will take the fertilization of our commitment, work to pull out the weeds of indifference and hatred that will try to stop us and patience to give our garden of love and caring time to grow but it is time to start. What kind of good fruit shall we grow? Pastor Michelle Fountain
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 Old Testament Reading: Hosea 11: 1-11
The Gospel: Luke 12: 13-21 Last week, we discussed the prayer that Jesus taught us, The Lord’s Prayer that begins with “Our Father”. While some think that Jesus was the first to speak of God as a parent and to invite us to do so as well, that is not the case. As Biblical Scholar N.T. Wright reminds us, “The first occurrence in the Hebrew Bible of the idea of God as the father comes when Moses marches in boldly to stand before the Pharaoh, and says “Thus says YHWH: Israel is my son, my firstborn: let my people go, that they may serve me” (Exodus 4: 22-23). The image of God as parent continues in our Hosea scripture today. In fact, it is the image of a frustrated parent whose children continue not to listen despite the love shown to them. Sound familiar? The scripture refers to Israel as a child, a son whom God loved, fed, and taught to walk. Later God sent Moses to lead Israel by human kindness and bands of heavenly love as God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. However, the child Israel grew up and forgot about what God did for them. They began sacrificing to idols and following other rulers. God, as a parent, had a right to be frustrated. This image of God as a parent is so compelling. Can’t all of us who are parents relate to it? We work hard to take care of our children, nurture them with love, teach them right from wrong, and sometimes, when they are young, the “cords of human kindness” might even be a literal cord, connecting a wandering toddler to her mother or father to keep her safe. For the child it will feel limiting and frustrating, but to a parent it is a way to keep the child close and safe from all the hazards in the world that they do not yet understand. Although most of us would admit to being imperfect parents, we try our best to set boundaries that are both safe and fair and to help our children learn and grow. Yet, it still seems that at one point or another while children are growing they push against those boundaries. They might refuse to do a chore, stay out past a curfew, make unhealthy choices or hang out somewhere or with someone we parents may not feel is safe. They might choose a different path in life than we might hope for them, but through all of this, we parents still love our children, even through moments where we might not like their actions or attitudes. And you don’t even have to be someone’s parent to love and care for them, even when they go astray. Dr. Gulbransen is a pediatrician in New York who uses what little spare time he has to help some people living on the streets. He regularly checked in with Red and some of his friends, bringing them socks, taking them out for breakfast or helping as he could. He encouraged them to get treatment for their addictions and was there to drive them to rehab when they were ready. And when they made excuses and did not make it, he was still there to help. (The New Yorker, July 21, 2025) Now imagine being God who has led the Israelites out of enslavement to their own fertile land and within a mere 700 years, they have forgotten all of that and started worshipping idols. While 700 years may seem long to us, it is the blink of an eye to God. And God’s initial reaction, like ours as parents, is to be frustrated and angry. And we know what God can do when God is angry - think flood, famine, war etc. But God, like a good parent, can also focus on the love, “How can I give you up Ephraim?” (note that Ephraim was the largest tribe in the Northern Kingdom of Israel) “How can I hand you over Israel?...my heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger” God proclaims through the Prophet Hosea. So instead God, like any good parent, plays the long game. God will wait for the Israelites to come around and it will take a long time including the assasination of many rulers, attacks by Assyria, futile alliances with Syria and Egypt and much struggle, but they did come around. And when they did, God, like a loving parent, was waiting to welcome them home much like the Prodigal father. The long game worked for Dr. Gulbransen as well. One day he got a voicemail from Red saying, “Hey, G, it’s Red. Just wanted to tell you, I’m calling from rehab. I finally made it –I’ve landed. I am currently clean. I just wanted you to know where I was. I’ll call back again to try and get in touch with you. I just didn’t want you to worry.” Parents and caring people lead with love. God’s first instinct towards us is love, even when we are distracted, selfish, greedy, mean, or angry. And while it would be nice to think that God’s love will solve all of our problems - that’s not how parenting works is it? Parents are there to love and support their children through their struggles because the reality is that struggle cannot be avoided. God is with us through it all, suffering with us when we are sick or hurt or sad, as a loving parental presence to sustain us through it but not there to arbitrate all of life’s challenges just a parents cannot arbitrate all challenges for their children. So when the man in the crowd asked Jesus to make his brother fork over his half of the family’s inheritance, Jesus answered kindly, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” This was not a matter for God to weigh in on; there are judges for that. Jesus further emphasized this point with a parable of a rich farmer who wished to store his wealth so that he could then sit back and relax but then finds out that he will die that night. Here Jesus is emphasizing that life is not all about stuff. Now this does not mean that people do not have the right to work hard and enjoy the comforts that come with that. It was a matter of where this man’s priorities were as Jesus says, “So it is for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” The key is in the “but”. The man was selfish, he was not showing love for God by sharing his wealth with those in need. So what do we as humans really need? Well, the Beatles were right when they said it, “All you need is love.” And the good news is we already have it! God is an adoring parent who loves us through our selfishness, our sadness, our sickness, our wandering and our mistakes. God, like a loving parent, will always welcome us home. But God, like any parent, also wants the best for us. God wants us to learn and grow, to work hard, to share, to lead with kindness, to inspire, to help and to hope always. He gave us a model of how to do this in his son Jesus. By following God and Jesus’ model in leading with love, we will be rich towards God and humanity. We will truly show that we are God’s children. Pastor Michelle Fountain |
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