I know this gospel says the kingdom of heaven is like a vineyard, but when you are a kid, I think the kingdom of heaven is probably more like a candy store. I think about how my kids react to this place right down Broadway. I did not know the name of it until after I thought of this analogy, but I was not the first to draw this conclusion. The place is called “Heavenly Delights.”

This candy store has all these bins full of brightly colored morsels - chocolate things, chewy things, tarty things, but mostly just lots of sweet things. Whenever we walk by I hear, “Dad, can we stop. Pleeeeeeease.” Every now and then, when I am feeling particularly benevolent, I will give into these plaintive cries. “Okay,” I tell them, “You can get just a few small things.” Without hesitation they grab their plastic bags and metal scoops and head off, carefully inspecting each of the dozens of Plexiglas bins, hoping to find just the perfect mix of candy.

When I collect the bags when it is time to pay, there is an interesting phenomenon that I usually observe. One of the bags has significantly more candy than the other two. One of my children, who shall remain nameless, who possibly loves candy more than life itself, has leveraged this situation to its full advantage. The other two, who had happily gone about their collection, suddenly become aware of the apparent discrepancy. And then the famous childhood plea – “Hey- that’s not fair – she got more,” rings out on Broadway.

Hey that’s not fair, they got more. Although stated a bit more eloquently, this feels like the same plea that we hear from the laborers in today’s gospel. Hey, these bums who only worked one hour got as much as I did, and I worked all day. So with that plea, I want to explore what happened in the vineyard, our understanding of fairness and abundance, and how that guides us in our faith lives and the stewardship of our resources.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” Each of the laborers was offered the opportunity to work for a day’s wage. And through the day the landowner continued to hire. The landowner continued to invite people into the fold. The landowner continued to give the people what they needed. The landowner continued to reach out with compassion, caring and abundance. More than anything else, what landowner showed was generous abundance. He showed an abundance of opportunities to work and an abundance of pay for all who worked. I want to believe, I need to believe that that is what the kingdom of heaven is like - abundant.

But abundance is not an easy concept. We are good at understanding things that are more clear, things that are more finite. Abundance goes beyond that. We are good at understanding that if there are three cookies, and three people, each person should get one. That’s fair. But abundance is a completely different concept, almost an opposite concept. Abundance shows us that there are virtually unlimited resources. Abundance allows for people to get a portion, and some more than they might expect. Abundance allows us to offer the blessings of the world to anyone and everyone. Abundance allows people who we think shouldn’t get anything to get something. Abundance is overflowing. Abundance is how we should think of God. And abundance is not fair.

Now, we are all pretty good at calling out what we think is fair and is not fair. It seems to happen from an early age as my children demonstrated. We understand fair as people getting what they deserve in some nice, equally doled out portion. But if we hold fairness as a measure of faith we are not going to get very far. We know life is unfair. The devastation from Katrina, the war in Iraq, the poverty in our city, and the great wealth in our city. The list goes on and it is nothing new. Read the Psalms – they lament these same conditions. Our lives today are full of events that are unfair. As much as we are brought up to play fair and be fair, we have to recognize that we live in a world that is frequently, and painfully unfair As we strive for fairness above all things we just hold on tight to a concept that only constrains us.

But this Gospel, this story that makes an analogy about the kingdom of heaven, teaches us about a whole new concept, it teaches us about abundance. Counter-fairness, if you will. Think of how the workers reacted to the generous landowner. They were not grateful for the opportunity. They were not happy to be paid. They recognized the inequality of abundance and were bitter about what they perceived as unfair. We make the same mistake when we operate out of fairness rather than abundance. We look at our time and our possessions and try so carefully to manage them. We grip them so we can divide them up carefully. Fairness is based on only having so much and only being able to do what is possible with that. Fairness is based on spreading things thin, and abundance is based on laying it on thick.

And that is what our God does. That is what the Bible teaches us nearly every time we open it up. It happens from the Old through the New Testament. God, this transcendent being, continues to reach out to us and give us what we need whether we recognize it or not. And through Jesus, God reaches out in places that we don’t expect, or don’t want, or don’t think is right or fair, to people that we don’t expect God to embrace. We saw it with the loaves and fishes, the people whom Jesus invites into his ministry, we hear about it in Paul’s letters, and we have it in this Gospel. The kingdom of heaven is like this landowner, unfair, but abundant, offering opportunity and rewards to all comers – here and now.

The question that this really raises is how we are supposed to react in response to this message of abundance. What behaviors are we supposed to model to get to know God better, to be more Christ like, to live into God’s call, to feel this abundant love?

The Gospel of abundance gives us a whole new way of thinking about our gifts and our resources than a gospel of fairness. The kingdom of heaven can be right here – right in this place – our call is to be like the landowner. We need to live into the abundance with which God has graced our lives. We need to let go, not hold tightly. We need to be generous, almost to a fault. Not everyone in this church has the same resources, but everyone has the same opportunity to be open to God. Our call, as stewards of the gifts God has given us, is to readily share like the landowner did. Let the generosity flow as openly as possible to as many people as possible. This is a challenge to trust God. To trust God’s abundance and exercise it through our generosity.

The love that is at the heart of the Gospel can’t be reached with a fist tightly closed around what we think is ours, but can with the outstretched fingers of an open hand. It is interesting that the open hand motion of receiving and giving is the same, while a clenched fist can participate in neither. It is in giving that we receive.

So what I am asking, and challenging all of us to do is to open our hands in giving however we can. A clear and obvious way is through our stewardship pledges and our commitment to the community of our time and talents. Our pledges say yes to God’s love, our pledges say yes to God’s abundance. Our pledges say yes, we are blessed abundantly by God.

It is through that same open hand that gives these gifts that we open ourselves to receive God’s love through Jesus Christ. We need to give; we need to be generous to share in the love of Christ. We need to give, more than the church, or any organization, needs us to give. The act of giving opens our hands and our hearts to the abundance of God’s love.

This is a call to be unfair in our sharing of our abundance. Believe me; it is more fun, more rewarding, to stop at the candy store than to walk by with my fist clenched tightly around my wallet. As we recognize our stewardship pledges as acts of abundance, and let go to the possibilities with Christ, we can work to redefine our world. We can be like the landowner. We can be part of the kingdom of heaven.

What is Stewardship?
Why do I give?
Memorials & In Honor Gifts
Methods of Giving
Planned Giving
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Biblical Reflection on Abundance