As we continue to worry about our economy, we are forced to make choices between what we want and what we need. Suffering is not shared equally across the land. The unemployed do without. Young people defer their future. The poor do without services. Our church suffers because we are all stretched too thin. Beyond the political morass we need to find a way where we work together to build something different – something that is not bankrupt and something that respects the dignity of every citizen.

         You could say that Jesus proposes a job program. He tells a parable about a vineyard owner who goes out to hire day laborers. He gets some workers started and agrees to pay them a fair wage. He needs more workers. He goes out later in the day and again at the end of the day. The last workers only work about an hour. As the day is ending, he lines up the workers and begins to pay the last workers first. He gives them a full days wage. The first workers expect more, but he gives them only the regular daily wage and they grumble.

         This is the twist of the parable. The vineyard owner is not a fair businessman by our standards. We expect equal pay for equal work. In this case, we expect that those who work less should get less. It’s funny how outraged we are about someone getting something we think they don’t deserve. In the end the landowner justifies his actions by saying the he chooses to be generous. It’s his money. He can do what he wants with it.

         This is not a lesson in economics or job creation. Jesus says that this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. Our interest is in how God imagines a different world for us. We are very familiar with the cutthroat ways of business. Profit and making the most of our money is the way of the world. The way of the kingdom of God is much different. The vision at the end is a world where everyone gets what they need no matter what they were able to produce. It may be a lousy way to run a business, but it is based on different values.

         God does not care about our efficiency. God does not measure our value by what we can make or earn. God does not look at our financial assets or our earning potential. God looks at our hearts and our souls. God measures what we do, as an expression of what we truly believe. And even if we can only believe a little bit, God welcomes us to the work and will reward us all just the same.

         The parable of the generous landowner tells us about how God rewards us and it also helps us to look at our priorities. We’re disturbed by the outcome of this parable because it touches us at a very important part of our thinking. Jesus is talking about money. We’re obsessed with our position in the rat race. We want to know how we measure up against our neighbors. Are we doing better or worse than others? Is someone getting away with something and getting more than their share? Are we getting tricked out of something we are entitled to? God would have us step out of this vicious cycle and imagine the world a new way.

         We are not the only people to complain about our lot in the world. The people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. “If only we were still slaves in Egypt!” they said. “At least we had meat!” I wonder how good it really was. Before coming out into the wilderness, the people suffered greatly toiling for Pharaoh. We are apt to look at the past and remember only the good that happened and we quickly forget the unpleasant things. The truth is that moving to a new place, especially a new vision given to us by God; is often a difficult journey. God often calls us to a place we cannot yet imagine. God often calls us to something we have to discover along the way. We find that the journey is not just a place. We must become new people to live in the new place into which God is inviting us.

         The people were hungry. God caused something to fall on the

ground that could be made into bread. They looked at it and said, “What is it?” or Manna? And that’s what they called it. There was only enough for the day. In their anxiety, they would have liked more – but they didn’t need more. This is the lesson they needed to learn so that could stop being slaves and become free people choosing to live by the rules given by God. This is the lesson they needed to learn so that they could live in the Promised Land – not in the old anxiety but living with new joy and generosity and hope.

         This is the lesson for us. God did not create us to toil for a wage. God created us to live in freedom and joy. God did not create us so that we would be only worth what we can earn. God created each of us as a wonderful and beloved child. God does not call us to strive for the accumulation of wealth so that we can work our way out of anxiety. God calls us to live in faith and to learn to be content with what we need for each day and to trust that God will provide what we need for tomorrow.

         Finally, God does not call us as separate people to be in competition. We need one another and we are given to each other. The uneven suffering of the poor is not the will of God. Therefore, our work is to be the people who help to provide the needs of our neighbors each day. When each day comes to a close it is God’s will that everyone have enough. That is a good day’s work.

          This is Labor Day weekend. We treat it as a last chance to celebrate the summer. We don’t usually spend too much time thinking about the blessing of labor, or the rights and privileges that go along with labor. If we think about jobs at all, we have anxiety about the lack of jobs, or how we might lose ours soon. If we can look beyond our present difficulties maybe we can think about the blessing of work. It is good to use our gifts and skills to make a living. Some of us are blessed to be able to use our best skills in helping others. A few people can still say that they love their work (even if some parts of it are difficult).

         We live in other places besides our work. We have the work of this community to share the good news. Many of you work with me this morning in providing worship and leading each other in prayer and song. Throughout the week we have many people who visit or help other members. Some of us reach out to those who are in need. We try to live our lives as faithful Christians – even after we have left this place. I wonder how we would describe our Christian work as if it was our job.

         Many of us work at jobs that have job descriptions. Perhaps the place where you work has a human resource department and policy and procedures manuals. We all hate to read those sorts of things, but they become very interesting when there is a problem. What do we do when we have trouble working with someone else? We begin to think about what we must document and whom we can trust.

         The advice Jesus gives about reconciliation seems straightforward and a little daunting. How easy it would be to just walk right up to the person we have problem with and talk it over? How risky! What would happen? We are afraid that we might say something that could be used against us. We don’t know how the other person might react. We aren’t even sure it’s allowed. Are we using proper channels? Jesus sweeps aside all the ways that we hedge and dodge and asks us to speak truth directly to each other. Why would Jesus ask this?

         Our places of work exist to sell a product or to offer a service. The end toward which we work is profit or some positive outcome. In the workplace we don’t take risks. We don’t want to alienate a potential customer. We don’t want to offend. This is what gets in the way of healthy and strong relationships in the church. We are worried about offending others and we worry about breaking relationships. Jesus tells us to speak the truth face to face – even if it leads to the breaking of relationships and people being cast out of the church.

         This is not the kind of outcome that we should seek, and it shouldn’t happen at all. Jesus is not telling us how to punish and exclude. He is showing us how to restore relationships. He is showing us how to be reconciled. I can’t imagine a breakdown in the church that is all one sided where only one person is guilty of sin. More often we hurt each other. When there is a broken relationship there is always thoughtless words and faulty communication from both sides. If we have the courage to speak face to face, there is often the discovery that there is blame to share all around. If we have the courage to speak face to face, we can offer and find forgiveness. We can start fresh with a new relationship. It’s not that the past never happened. Instead, we find the freedom to try a new way of being together.

         Paul describes to the church in Rome the basis for how we are related in Christian community. We don’t have a policy manual. We know the laws that God has given us – Paul even begins to list them. Paul is looking for something more – something deeper. We are bound to each other by the law of love. God desires more for us than that we simply refrain from harming each other. God would have us seek to follow the leading of the Spirit in reaching out in positive ways. God would have us use all our gifts to care and encourage and support each other in our life in Christ.

         This is a higher calling than obedience to a set of rules – or the adoption of some sort of behavioral standard. Our standard is to love each other as we have been loved by God. It will take a lifetime to learn how to do this. It will take a higher level of accountability than we have grown accustomed to. The end is deeper love. The purpose is to know better how to love and what it costs. We will be able to speak truth and hear truth. We will be able to bear our true burdens. We will be able to live without our false masks that hide our true selves. We will be free.

         This is work that we can celebrate. No one can take it away from us no matter how dismal the economy gets. We never retire from this work. The rewards only increase as we continue to seek restoration. What we lose is the sense that we are always right and we owe nothing to others. We trade pride for humility. But we also lose isolation and fear. It is a small price to pay to win the love of those we seek to love.