Sermon - 9/24/23

<p><strong><u>Pentecost 17 – A -09/24/2023</u></strong></p> <p>It is so easy to plan out how something should happen. Often we don’t consider all of the variables. There will be different approaches when we work with one or more people other than ourselves. Each one of us processes differently. All of us have different skill sets and experience.</p> <p>Yet as human beings we have our set of expectations that we think are the right way to accomplish something. What have we learned and experienced about our expectations? The more set-in stone our expectations, the more disappointments and frustration that we may experience.</p> <p>So often we want someone to do something differently than they have ever done it before. When it doesn’t happen, the way want it to, we become frustrated and irritated with the person. In reality, we have set ourselves up for failure.</p> <p>It says that we have not paid attention to this person to see how they work, how they process. We have not really listened to them and considered their skill sets and experience. I’m not trying to place judgement on the other person as they are who they are.</p> <p>The healthy way of getting something accomplished is guiding the process to the completion of the desired task. For me part of the fun is to experience other people and their way of thinking and processing. How we actually get there is not as important as the participation and the richness of what people bring to the table.</p> <p>In our Gospel lesson today, the landowner had a task that needed to be accomplished, work done in the vineyard. He went out and collected workers throughout the day. He was very clear on his expectations and their pay. The workers also had their expectations.</p> <p>When the workers first heard what was expected and their pay, they agreed to it. One scholar has said that every parable has an absurdity to it. The absurdity in this parable is the fact that at the end of the day everyone got paid the same amount. It didn’t make any difference if they had worked an ho