In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     As you know, last Sunday, we began the more public phase of our capital stewardship appeal, titled "On This Rock, I Will Build." as we seek to raise funds to expand our church building to finally have a fellowship hall, adult class and more Sunday School spaces, space for youth activities, increased room for our Children's Center, now with an infant room, and of course, an elevator to make our building truly accessible, upstairs and down. If you haven't picked up your information packet--the bright red ones--please do so today--they provide a lot of helpful information, as well as a neat DVD. Part of the public phase of the capital appeal is a series of "quote" inspirational sermons that are supposed to teach, lead, challenge, and of course, "inspire". Today is the first of the inspirational sermons. And having said that, I can just hear the inward groaning. I can hear, some of you thinking, "Darn, I didn't come today to hear an inspirational sermon--at least, not related to the capital appeal." I think I can even hear a few of you wondering, "Is there any way I can sneak out of here without anyone seeing me?" But before you go, before you get all worked up, before you turn me off and turn your thoughts to football games and golf and homework and the mall, I'd like you to hear this one thing. If you hear nothing else today, or throughout the rest of the capital appeal, I want you to hear this, and take it to heart. Remember, it's all about grace! It's all about grace!

     I realize, as any pastor should, that some folks get turned off by talk of money in church, and some get down-right offended when you talk about the need to raise funds to expand the church building. And I also realize some pastors, in their fervor to grow the church, can get caught up in arm-twisting, and pressuring folks to give, leaning, almost, toward the medieval danger of making it appear, that the more you give, the more you get from God, as if God's love and mercy are dependent upon how much you put in the offering plate, how much you sacrifice, how generous you are with your income and assets. We all know some of us well-meaning pastors get carried away and leave people feeling guilty, or unappreciated, or unwelcome in the church, just because they are unable to give at a certain level. We try to make it clear that this is not the case--that what you give, whether in your regular offering, or in the capital appeal, is between you and God--a spiritual journey that you are on as you seek God's will for your life. We try to make it clear that your salvation and place in the Church has nothing to do with how much you put in the plate, how often you show up for church, how much time you spend volunteering at church. We try to say that--I try to say that regularly--but, who listens to the pastor anyway? So, if you haven't heard it from me before, then today, you can hear it from Jesus himself, because today, in our gospel lesson, Jesus proclaims, "It's all God's grace!"

     Our lesson from Matthew 20 is part of the fifth teaching discourse of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, and here, Jesus is speaking with his disciples about the kingdom of heaven, which on earth is present in the Church. And what Jesus is aiming at, is the very real situation that arose in the Church, about who should get into the Church, and who shouldn't. In other words, who is acceptable and who isn't. The situation that Jesus speaks to, is that which was already an issue at the time that Matthew was writing his gospel, toward the end of the first century, around 85-90 A.D. The situation was, there were certain disciples who had been around for some time, had been Christians for a long time now, and felt, in a certain way, that they were "insiders". Most had been Jews before becoming Christians, so they felt truly chosen, and in a way, doubly-blessed. Now comes along these Gentiles, never circumcised, not part of the Jewish community first, before conversion. These Gentiles were complete pagans, yet through Baptism, they were allowed into the Church--the Kingdom of God, almost too easily some thought. The longer-term Christians, the Jewish-Christians, the seasoned Christians, saw the rapid influx of these new Christians as something of an insult upon their integrity. They has learned and studied and lived for years as Jews, before being accepted into Christianity. As Jewish-Christians, they had known some of the apostles and learned from their preaching--well, they had put a lot into their faith and discipleship--and now, along come these upstarts, these pagan converts to Christianity--and are they to receive the same gifts and privileges as the "long-timers"? Are these new converts to be accepted as, well, equal, to Jewish-Christians? This is the situation Jesus is addressing in our gospel lesson for today, and his answer is a resounding, "Yes! Yes, all are to receive the same gifts and privileges! Yes, all disciples are to be accepted and treated equally--in spite of when they came into the church, or how hard they've worked in the church, or we might add, how much they've contributed--because--it is all about--God's grace!"

     Jesus makes this clear by telling his disciples a parable about a generous landowner. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The first laborers he hired worked a whole day, and received the agreed-upon daily wage. But then, as the day wore on, the landowner hired others, some working a very short part of the day, but receivng the same daily wage, in it's entirety. When all the workers were paid equally, the ones who worked longer, naturally, complained--I mean, who wouldn't? Whereupon the landowner replies, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Or am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? So, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

     The moral of the story, then, is that it's all about God's grace. Being in the kingdom is not about who worked longest, or hardest, or sweated more in the fields of the Lord. Being in the kingdom is not about who gets more and who gets less, nor is it about who gives more, or who gives less. The Kingdom of God, is about God's grace, given freely, as He chooses, to whomever He chooses. And in fact, sometimes the ones who think they will end up ahead of the game, end up last, whereas those who feel outcast and at the bottom of the heap, end up on top. That's how it works in the Kingdom of God--and it is that which Jesus is trying to communicate to his disciples--his disciples then, and his disciples now. That it's all about God's unmerited, unwarranted, unearned, undeserved grace. So that no matter what we give, no matter how sacrificial the offering, even if we were to write a check and pay for the new building altogether--our place in the Kingdom of God--our seat in the Church, will look like that of all the others. Because God loves all, equally--in spite of us. Truly, that's what St. Augustine was saying when he said, "God loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us." In spite of what you pledge to the capital appeal, in spite of how godly and righteous a person you are, in spite of how often you may fail to live up to God's will for you, still, God loves you, as if you were the only person in the universe--he cherishes you, he forgives you, he tries to lead you, he gives you the gift of eternal life, with him. So that now, everything else, is simply response. Our actions, our giving, our offerings, our service and sacrifice, do not cause God to love us, or to be gracious to us. God loves us and cares for us, because He is our loving, generous God. We add nothing to that--we can only respond with our thanks and praise--expressed in whatever way we can.however we are able. And we begin, by saying, "Thank you!" Thank you, God, for your generosity and grace. Thank you, God, for your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you, for making it all about your grace.

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.