26th Sunday Year A

Twenty Sixth Sunday – With which brother do you identify?

This week’s gospel makes me think about the question I received from the eight-year-old -girl a few weeks back: the one that asked what a Christian was and looked like – do you remember? One who goes to church and prays a lot but is then not a nice person in their daily lives OR one who doesn’t go to church or pray at all but is loved by everyone because of how she treats them and lives her life?

From today’s gospel, with which brother do you identify? Who is the one that you feel is most like you? This reading is so relevant to us in our world today. We are people who say one thing and quite often will do another: all of us, at some time or other.

Whether it is saying that we are not fervent believers or actual practising Catholics, because we are embarrassed – when in fact we are and we do. Or in the opposite, saying that we are true believers, true and honest practitioners of our faith when all we do at best is pay lip-service and then seek any opportunity to dip out.

Or maybe the truth is that we are that mix of both brothers. We are a bit Yes and No at all times and in all situations.  This may be true – but is it healthy? Is it healthy for us as individuals or for us as a community in Christ? We come to church each weekend but is this enough? Is that really saying Yes to God?

We maybe attend Confession seeking forgiveness and reconciliation once or twice a year but does that cover everything? Does that fulfil our requirements as Christians? What is the question that God is putting to us that we are considering saying Yes or No to? We need to be clear in our minds and hearts about this before we start deciding which brother we are like: they at least heard and understood the question.

God calls us to come and follow him. To be like his son in all things, loving others as he loved his son; being part of his church community on earth, with all that that entails.

Being part of a community that lives up to the name of Christian. That is active in its showing of love for each other and care for the downhearted and downtrodden. That does not restrict itself to shouting at others, telling them what they should or should not be doing; berating them when they do things that are not fully in line with what we want or with what we do. A community of care, of love, of active and constant demonstration of concern for each other that invites, welcomes, supports, comforts and embraces figuratively and literally when possible.

What sort of community do people see when look at us here in St John’s and St Luke’s, especially the young. What do you think they see?

We are an aging community that is tied in with old ways of worship that, while offering comfort and security in their old if not ancient ways of prayer and faith-service, offer little in the way of attraction, interest or engagement for the young. We need to be asking ourselves some serious and heartfelt questions about what it is that we are offering as a community in Christ. Our young people are dispirited, disengaged and maybe a degree of disappointed too. They are lost and confused. And when I say young, I don’t just mean our children: look around you in church theses days and count the young adults, the young parents, count the children too. I know that we are still building our attendances after the pandemic but even so, where are these younger people in this time of crisis, in these times of concern and worry; where are they if not here?

I think that what these people see when they look into our churches today is other-worldly. It is at best cool and maybe at worst, it is cold. There is nothing to show that we are saying, “Come in and join us. Be a part of this community that celebrates its family status through our shared rejoicing, our shared, open, complete happiness in being there: our love and care for each and for all; our recognition that we are family – all family together, looking to smile and rejoice in this shared knowledge.” Looking to smile and show our happiness at being here.

We are asking our children to come to the vineyard and to work as part of this community to spread and increase the faith in the Lord. We need to look at what we are offering them when they get there. We need to show that we are committed to our community of faith; that we are one family in Christ and that every member can see, hear and feel something in how this family operates that allows and enables them to be fully paid up and active members in their own right: to stand up and shout out, “Your church needs and wants you!”

God is asking us to come and follow him. When we say Yes to this, we say it as part of his family, part of his church community. We say it with joyful rejoicing and seek out how we can attract others to share in that joy. We say yes in celebration. We say yes as family. We say yes as community. We say yes in open and considered invitation, one community to all and all to each one. We are family, come on everybody, sing! Please come!

Bidding Prayers

1.      That we listen for God’s call for us to come and work with Him and for Him and respond immediately with joy and full commitment. Lord in your mercy

2.      That we seek every opportunity to spread God’s word in and through our daily lives with every person that we meet. Lord in your mercy

3.      That political and church leaders respond in honesty and action to the needs of all peoples within their care, especially those on the edges of society. Lord in your mercy

4.      That our parish communities continue to grow together to become one strong and interactive family seeking to emphasise the things that we share and to reduce our areas of difference, Lord in your mercy

5.      That our young people preparing for their Confirmation are supported by our prayers and that those making their First Forgiveness and Holy Communion this weekend, feel welcomed into our parish community. Lord in your mercy

6.      That those  who are sick, lonely, housebound or feeling lost and forgotten are supported and comforted by our prayers and our loving actions. Lord in your mercy

7.      That those who have died recently or whose anniversaries occur at this time are welcomed into the loving arms of their Father in heaven. Lord in your mercy

8.      That Mary joins her prayers with ours as we now say together – Hail Mary