"Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits." — Matthew 21:43
This month we are turning our attention to stewardship and giving. Instead of seeing this as a fundraising season, maybe we can use it to ask a deeper question: What are we doing with what's been entrusted to us?
Jesus' parable of the wicked tenants is a hard one. A landowner plants a vineyard, does all the work of preparing it, and then hands it over to tenants to tend. All he asks in return is a share of the harvest. But the tenants forget whose vineyard it is. They start treating the produce, and eventually the vineyard itself, as though it belongs to them alone.
It's an uncomfortable parable to read during a stewardship season, because it asks us to look at our own hands and ask: what have I been holding onto as if it were mine to keep, rather than mine to tend?
Everything we have; our time, our money, our gifts, this church, even our lives, is on loan. We are the tenants, not the owners. The fruit we are asked to produce is not for our own sake. It is meant to go back to the One who planted the vineyard in the first place.
This is not meant to be a guilt trip. It is actually good news. It means giving is not about depletion - it's about participation. When we give, we are not losing something that was ours. We are returning a share of what was always God's, and in doing so we get to take part in what God is growing.
As you move through this week, notice one place where you've been gripping something tightly; time, money, control, and ask what it might look like to hold it with open hand..
What fruit is God inviting you to produce this season?
May God’s Peace Surround you, Pastor Erin
