Sermon by Amelia Nugent:

"This Sunday we will look together at a passage often referred to as the "Parable of the Wicked Tenants" in Matthew (Matthew 21: 33-44). It is one of a series of parables that Jesus tells the religious leaders of his day, and each story is more confusing than the last. In these tales Jesus describes God as angry king settling accounts, a capricious employer, an aggrieved father, a violent, revengeful landowner, and host with anger management issues. This week especially, when violence has struck once again so close to home, it can be disconcerting to imagine God this way. This Sunday I hope to think together about these wicked tenants, and to read this story with fresh eyes. Perhaps, through closer examination, we will see that it is not God who harbors revenge and anger, but the interpreters-the listeners of Jesus's day and the readers of our own. These unnerving stories challenge us to move beyond the endless cycle of violence, into a new reality- and perhaps in doing so move closer to kingdom of God."