An Elliptical Glory: Grapes and Vines (Proper 22A Children's Mass)

Grapes and Vines

(Proper 22A)

10:00 a.m. Sung Children’s Mass

5 October 2014

Parish Church of Trinity Ashland (Oregon)
Isaiah 5:1-7 Psalm 80: 7-14 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46

God, give us hearts to feel and love,
take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.

First of all, I wanted to welcome you guys to the part of the Church service you usually don’t see. Usually, when you’re doing your work and worship at Godly Play, we are in here reading and talking. Since we really like it when you come in for the Communion, we thought that once in a while we’d like to have you in here with us for the reading and talking part too.

Today’s Bible readings are a little hard, like many of them. The first one, the one that Karolina read—what was that all about?

Vines are the plants that make grapes. Grapes are called the fruit of the vine. They can be sweet or sour, depending on whether they’re ripe, whether they’ve had good care and water, and what kind of vines they come from.   When grapes are ripe, sometimes they are red, sometimes green, and sometimes, like these, purple and almost black. They usually have seeds, which are bitter, but some don’t have seeds. Their skins can be thick, chewy and bitter, or they can be thin and crispy. We can eat them fresh, or crush them and drink the juice.

Try some of these seedless black grapes. Are they sweet or sour?

What kind of grapes do you like most of all? Do you like grape juice?

In the olden days, they didn’t have refrigerators or airplanes from warmer climates, so how did they store the grapes so they could enjoy their sweetness year round?

That’s right. They dried them and turned them into raisins. Raisin is just the French word for grape. It’s the word we use in English to talk about dried grapes.   The French call dried grapes raisins secs, or dried raisins.

What’s the difference between a grape and a raisin? Which one is tastier?

Grapes are juicy and raisins are dry. The only difference is the juice.

There was another way they kept grapes for later. They crushed them for juice, and then let the juice sit covered in a cool place. The juice would go sour, lose most of its sweetness, but turn into a drink that kept much longer without refrigeration. Does anyone know what that kind of juice is called?

That’s right. Wine.

The thing that keeps the wine from going completely bad is a chemical produced in the first little bit when the juice starts to sour, called alcohol. Alcohol does funny things with our brains. In small amounts, it relaxes us, makes us feel a little happy, and makes us more talkative. In the Bible, it says that God gave us the fruit of the grape vine for us to make wine, a drink that makes our hearts glad.

But in larger amounts alcohol is a poison. It makes you really dizzy, and throw up. You become unable to do simple things right. In really large amounts, it can kill you. If you drink it too much and too often, you might become addicted to it. That’s why other parts of the Bible say that wine makes people go crazy, lose their health, and do bad things. Because it is a happy thing in little amounts but so terrible when used too much, the Bible also says that wine is a mocker, that it just sits there making fun of us.
Have any of you worked in a garden?

Do you think it is easy or hard to get a vine to produce a lot of good grapes?
So that’s what that first story is about. It says that just like a gardener tries hard to get the plants in the garden to grow and produce, just like a farmer tries to get lots of sweet grapes from her vines, God is working with us, trying to help us do lots of good things, and be healthy and happy.    What are some of the ways God does that?

It says that God might just get tired of us if we don’t produce good fruit, and might pull us up and throw us out. Do you think God will do that?

You’re right. God won’t give up on us. It only feels like he has given up on us when we are stubborn and don’t let him help us.

The second story, the one read by Johanna, tells us that. We don’t get any closer to God by trying to do good things. God is already closer to us that we can imagine. So if we fail, it might feel we are far from God, but all we have to do is remember how much Jesus loves us. That’s what helps us not feel so lonely and away from God.

The third story, the one Deacon Meredith read, is really hard. It seems to say that we Christians are better than Jews. But if you remember that God never gives up on any of us, it makes more sense.   When Jesus first told this story, it wasn’t at all about Jews and Christians. It was about how hard it is for farmers to make a living, especially when someone else owns the farmland!   It’s about how desperate people become when they feel trapped by no money and no food.

One of the good things Jesus wants from us is for us to take care of each other, to help each other. So people don’t become desperate. What are the ways you think you can help take care off the people around you? What about at school? What about at home?

Jesus once said that each of us is a branch, and that Jesus is the vine. That’s one of the reasons we use wine to help us remember and reconnect to Jesus.

Remember the grapes and raisins? The difference between them is that grapes are juicy. The raisins have lost their juice. Jesus is our juiciness. When we try to remember how Jesus loves us and wants us to love other people, and be kind to them, that’s when we best see he is giving us his sweetness and juiciness. That’s when we don’t dry up and wither away.

Thanks be to God. Amen

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First Lesson Isaiah 5:1-7

A Reading from the Prophet Isaiah

The Song of the Grape-Field

Let me sing for the one I love

a love song about His grape-field:

The one I love had a grape-field

on a hill that grows much fruit.

He dug all around it and took away its stones,

and planted it with the best vine.

He built a lookout tower in the center of it,

and made a place in it for crushing grapes.

Then He expected it to give sweet grapes,

but it gave only sour ones.

And now, listen to me …

What do you think is going on

Between me and my grape-field?

What else could I do for my grape-field?

I did everything I could!

I expected it to give sweet grapes,

but it gave sour ones.

Now here is what I am going to do with my grape-field.

I will take down its fence…

I will break down its wall...

I will turn it into a patch of weeds.

No one will tend it, or care for it!

Sticker bushes and prickly weeds will be all that’s left.

I won’t even let the clouds rain on it.

The grape-field here stands for God’s people

And the farmer is God, the Ruler of All.

God looks for what is right and fair,

but all he sees is people being mean and nasty.

He looks for what is right and good,

but only hears cries for help from people being hurt.

(Adapted from the New Life Bible; Isaiah 5:1-7)

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Second Lesson Philippians 3:4b-14

A Reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians

If anyone can trust in what they have done for God to save them, I can. If anyone can trust in keeping religious rules, I can. I’ve always been religious and followed the rules. I punished those who didn’t! But I gave up all of that because of Jesus. I came to see it was all worthless! Now I know Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything for him! I want to be with him forever! Keeping rules did not help me to be close to God. Only trusting Jesus could do that!

I want to know Jesus better. God gave him power to rise from the dead. I want that same power in my life. To do that, I have to accept the kind of life Jesus lived, suffer what he suffered. Then I might, just might, be raised up from among the dead too.

I am not saying I’m already there, or anywhere near perfect. But I keep on trying to make Jesus mine just as he has already made me his. I may not yet have Jesus’ life, but I do have one thing. I don’t look back and worry about what is past. I look forward to what Jesus has in store for me, a first place prize in a race, and God is calling me to receive it!

(adapted from The New Life Bible; Philippians 3:4-14)

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The Holy Gospel Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said,“Listen to another picture-story. A man who owned land planted grapes in a field and put a fence around it. He made a place for making wine. He built a tower to look over the grape-field. He let farmers rent it and then he went into another country. The time came for gathering the grapes. He sent his servants to the farmers to get the grapes. The farmers took his servants and hit one. They killed another and threw stones at another. Again he sent other servants. He sent more than the first time. The farmers did the same to those servants. After this he sent his son to them. He said to himself, ‘They will respect my son.’ When the farmers saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the one who will get everything when the owner dies. Let us kill him and we will get it all.’ They took him and threw him out of the grape-field and killed him.When the owner of the grape-field comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

They said to Him, “He will put those bad men to death. Then he will rent the grape-field to other farmers who will give him the grapes when they are ready.”

Jesus said to them, “the holy nation of God will be taken from you. It will be given to a people that will give fruit.”

When the religious leaders and the proud religious law-keepers heard this picture-story, they knew He was talking about them. ⁴⁶But they didn’t dare lay their hands on him, because they were afraid of the crowds of people standing around. The people thought Jesus was One Who spoke for God.

(Adapted from the New Life Bible, Matthew 21:31-46)

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Children’s Creed (Standing)

Q: Do you trust in God, Parent of all, who made us

and all the world?

A: We trust in God.

Q: Do you trust in Jesus, God’s Son,

who was always God and yet became one of us,

to show us the way and make up for us with God

for the bad things we have done, who died for us,

then rose from the dead, now sits with God, and one

day will come back to set all things right?

A: We trust in Jesus.

Q: Do you trust in the Holy Spirit, God in daily life,

who makes all things alive, guides us and helps us

know what’s right, and gives us strength and

courage to do it?

A: We trust in the Holy Spirit.

Q: Do you trust in the Church, that has always taught

and teaches today about God, and that Baptism is

the way we accept God’s forgiveness, And that we

should have a hope that We will come alive again

like Jesus after we die, And live forever after.

A: We trust in the Church. Amen

Prayers of the People

for Children’s Eucharist

Prayer Leader: Let us give thanks to God for all the good things in our lives.

Sophie: For the world and the beautiful things on it.

Lucy: For brothers and sisters and everyone who cares for us and looks out for us.

Johanna: For our food and homes.

Sammie: For our family and friends.

Kekoa: For fun, good days, and calm nights.

Prayer Leader: Let us all name silently or aloud the things we are thankful for.

Silence

Prayer Leader: For this and every grace,

ALL: We give thanks to you, O God.

Prayer Leader: Let us pray for the Church and for the world. God, help everyone to have faith in you, hope for the future, and love for each other.