Readings:
Isaiah 5:1-7;
Psalm 80:9-19;
Hebrews 11:29-12:2;
Luke 12:49-56 

Collect:
To set the earth ablaze, O God,
your Son submitted to death on the cross,
and from his cup of suffering you call the Church to drink.
When we are tempted give us strength to run the race that lies before us,
and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Reflection

The last few weeks have given us wonderful sport. Tennis, rugby, cricket, golf, fantastic football – they brought it home, alright!! – and the compendium of Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to top them all. We’ve loved it in our house. I’ve become sofa-expert in all sorts … and grumbled when the events I wanted to watch were not on the telly.

The obvious illustrations we usually draw from sport at large is hard work and training. It is very hard. Dedication and clear focus are required. There is one guarantee though – no hard work means no prize. This illustration is well used and we know how it works. What we do not often draw from the sporting arena, however, is that there is no guarantee the hard work will pay off in competition. Trip on the hurdle, the race is lost. A lunge forward with the hand, a place on the podium is gained for one, and lost for another. A broken pole means there is no vault, and out. Participants cannot tell till the event is over.

We spectators revel in the competition between athletes, and even marvel in what little separates them. They seem to us to be in fierce competition with each other, and so they are if only one can win. Only one gold medal is handed out, and no one knows the outcome till it’s over, even if there were not that many surprises in Birmingham. What struck me in so many post-event interviews with those who did not win, however is the recognition that they had measured up to the hard work and focus required, and in some cases those little letters, SB (season’s best) are so highly prized, especially PB (personal best). Yes, each one competes to win. Though very few actually get gold, very many put in the effort, kept focus, and achieved.

What has led me to reflect on those who do not get gold, yet who participate at the highest level (and would run, jump, swing, kick, catch, dive, even trip me into a cocked hat!), is the passage in Isaiah this week, which is exactly the opposite. A vineyard tendered with dedication and care which then produces wild grapes that are good for nothing. Carefully planted in the best ground and given everything, but poor fruit is all that is produced. The prophet says to the people, they are these vines. They have been given the best, but have produced nothing.

Don’t be too hasty to say Isaiah blames the immediate community addressed and that this has nothing to do with us. That community is surely being addressed, but these words have been copied, preserved, meditated upon and cherished over millennia. This week they are presented to us, not to judge or blame the past, but to inform and challenge us and our ways.

Rightly read as encouragement, I also hear the words in the so-called Letter to the Hebrews with some trepidation: “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Words to inspire those who suffer to remember that others have gone before and wh o have endured what I cannot even imagine. They endured all that as determined witnesses with dedication and clear focus, to God’s presence and activity among them.

The readings this week remind us that happiness, achievement and winning are not what life is all about. Nor is casual participation.

Perseverance, determination and full engagement with each other, now we realize that we are not alone as Jesus instructs us to interpret the present, and to act.

Barry Lotz