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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit, amen. Today is one of those

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Sundays with great many themes, far too many

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for us to ponder here in a sermon. For example,

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first the church is preparing us. for tomorrow's

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feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary. It's a

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birthday celebration of the Theotokos, and it's

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the first of the 12 great feasts of the church.

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So we'll have vespers at 4 today and liturgy

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tomorrow here in the cathedral at 9. We also

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had readings from the scriptures preparing us

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for next week's feast day. That's the second

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of the 12 great feasts of the church. the exaltation,

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or you can say the elevation of the precious

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cross. You know, the cross will be brought out,

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it will be decorated with basil and flowers,

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and we will sing before thy cross. So for that,

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we heard from the Gospel of John a very famous

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verse for football stadium end zones. Coincidentally,

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the NFL begins its season today. And that verse

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is, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

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even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that

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whoever believes in him should not perish but

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have eternal life. For God so loved the world

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that he gave his only begotten Son. You see in

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the end zone, John 3, 16. Maybe not anymore,

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but I simply offer those things for you to consider

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on your own. Now, just in time for the grape

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harvest in wine country, we're also given a parable

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told by our Savior that takes place in a vineyard.

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It's an autobiographical parable rather than

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one with a moral exhortation. Autobiographical.

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Takes place just after Palm Sunday when the Lord

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delivers it. Only a few days before his crucifixion,

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he describes what will happen and what had happened.

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He tells the story of a vineyard, God's vineyard,

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a precious, bountiful thing. The Lord builds

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his parable on that found in Isaiah chapter 5,

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which starts, My beloved had a vineyard on a

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very fertile hill. He dug it. and cleared it

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of stones, and planted it with choice vines.

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The story goes on. The vines made thorns and

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wild and sour grapes, and the vineyard owner,

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God, tore it out. The end of the parable that

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Jesus tells, the son of the vineyard owner, Jesus

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himself, obviously. The son of the father has

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been taken out of the vineyard as Golgotha is

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outside the walls of Jerusalem, and he's crucified.

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At the end, Jesus quotes the famous Psalm 117,

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where it's familiar to us all. The stone which

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the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

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of the building. I told Father, Damien, I wasn't

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going to talk about this last night, but I can't

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resist myself. Stone and sun, Eben and Ben in

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Hebrew, they sound the same. Jesus is saying,

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it's not the stone, it's the sun that is the

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cornerstone now. And not just a messenger of

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God, not just a prophet, not a religious teacher,

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but the divine sun. Of one essence with the Father.

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And by this Son, as we say, all things were made.

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This Son, says the epistle to the Colossians,

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is the icon, the image of the invisible God.

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Everybody hear that. The icon of the invisible

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God. He who sees Jesus, sees the Father. Jesus

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said that himself. Jesus is saying this because

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he's identifying himself with that story. And

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he's telling us, lo, I am with you even to the

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end of the age. Because the workers in the vineyard,

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they thought that the owner was gone. Because

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it says in the gospel, he went into a far country.

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He was gone, the owner of the vineyard. And he

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was expecting the harvest and the fruit. But

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the workers felt, he's gone. Let's kill the heir

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and we will have his inheritance. But of course,

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God is not absent. God is never absent. We offer

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unto him thine own of thine own. He is everywhere

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present and fill us all things. Though I am with

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you, says the Savior, even to the end of the

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age, he is not absent. It is I that am absent

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from God. How? I feel God's absence because of

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my absence of any heartfelt prayer. You know,

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there's no quality without quantity. You can't

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get good shooting a basketball. until you've

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shot that basketball many times. You can't get

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good hitting that golf ball, as I've learned

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recently, without going out there and trying

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with some instruction. You can't get good at

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playing scales and music without some practice.

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We can't develop and mature in the life of prayer

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without some quantity. Always directing our heart

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toward the Lord. God seems absent because of

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that, because of my faithlessness, my forgetfulness

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of the blessings that the inheritance belongs

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to God, not to me. I forget his goodness. I'm

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disobedient to the ways of the church, which

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many seem to think the church is somehow separate

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from Jesus Christ. He is the head. It is his

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body. The church is his. We can't say, I believe

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in Jesus, but what the church teaches, I can't

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accept that. It's the same. It's the Lord. And

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we focus on horrible things so often. How many

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times do I hear in confession anger at politicians

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and world leaders? And our hearts are filled

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with this kind of resentment and anger, which

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does you no good at all. We should be filled

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with sorrow, yes, and many, many prayers. But

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anger will not help you. What do we do then?

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What should we do? Well, you heard St. Paul.

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Watch. Stand fast in the faith. Be brave. Be

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strong, he says. Let all that you do be done

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with love. We heard St. Paul a moment ago say

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that. If we, workers in the vineyard of the church,

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we have been given that task, we have been blessed

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to share the fruits, to receive the fruits of

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the church, peace, love, joy, mercy, long -suffering,

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gentleness, self -control, all of these things.

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If we, the workers of the vineyard, betray the

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love of God because of our selfishness, because

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of our lack of faith, because we don't stand

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strong and fast, how are we different from the

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people described in the parable, the elders and

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the religious leaders? Think carefully. This

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story is not about them. It's about us. It's

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directed towards us. That we have been grafted

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on to the vine of Israel. We were just wild shoots.

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Now we've been grafted on to the house of God.

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And we are now told in this parable that there's

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an accountability that we have to give. I was

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in Turkey last year. How many churches? that

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I see destroyed, turned into mosques, piles of

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rubble, ancient churches in ancient places that

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we read about, St. Nicholas of Myra, Nicaea,

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Chalcedon, Constantinople. We are getting to

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the point where this church decoration is almost

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done. But the main decoration that we have to

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worry about is not decoration. It's the vineyard

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of our heart to nurture that vine so it is filled

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with prayer and love and mercy and works of alms

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and true belief. The church is often called God's

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vineyard. This is his vineyard. It's full of

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good fruit. planted by Christ himself through

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the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's hedged about

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with Christ's commandments and the holy sacraments

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that protect our life of intimacy with Jesus

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Christ from the chaos and the delusion in the

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world from anxiety, from fear, and from demons.

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It's our task, brothers and sisters, to nurture

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that vineyard in our heart and then to be able

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to just live what we know of God, which is different

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from the delusion of the world. The church is

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hedged about. It has a tower. It has a wine press.

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It has all those things that Jesus talked about

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in the parable, which are the commandments and

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the scriptures and the prayers and the liturgy

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and the fellowship. The garden is a hospital

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for those who are being saved. We cannot give

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them false, counterfeit medicine. That's what

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the world can give. We have something else from

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God, which is pure and holy and good. And the

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fruit will grow. We don't want this taken away

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from us. We don't want this to be destroyed.

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So let us, brothers and sisters, cleanse our

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hearts of anything that grows within that is

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not the vine with the true fruit. Let us tend

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it and let us give thanks and pay back. Give

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to the owner of that vineyard that which is due

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to him. To love God with all our heart. all our

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strength, all our mind, and our neighbor as ourself.

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Let's remember how much we have been given. To

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our Lord, our gracious Lord, be glory now and

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ever to ages of ages. Amen.