Collect for Trinity 16

Philippians 1: 21-30

Matthew 20: 1-16

Doesn’t seem fair, does it? We’re taught that hard work brings its rewards – and it does. The ones who worked all day go the reward they had agreed that morning – and no doubt they were delighted to be offered work for the whole day. Then at the day’s end, they saw the last workers being paid and thought they would get more. But they didn’t, and felt they were victims of injustice.

There are people who as young people confessed Jesus as Christ and Lord and gave their whole lives to His mission, often at great personal sacrifice. They will certainly receive their promised reward of a welcome into the Kingdom of Heaven. There are those who spent their lives without Him, and who only came to faith at the end of their lives. They too will share in that Kingdom.

Is God unjust to receive them? Should the latter group endure some form of purgatory – a sort of halfway house between earth and heaven – with a duration commensurate to the length of their secular lives? It would seem to be only fair.

Unfortunately for those who think so – and thankfully for sinners, that’s not what the Gospel says.

One of the criminals crucified next to Him asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’
Luke 23:42,43

Heavenly Father, help us to work to accomplish your will for us according to our individual gifts without comparing ourselves to others. Help us to acknowledge our own failures and avoid condemning others for theirs. And to know that the only reward we must seek is the knowledge that we do your will.

Teach us, good Lord,
To serve thee as thou deservest;
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not for seek for rest;
To labour and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that we do thy will.
St Ignatius Loyola

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Collect for Trinity 13

George VI, 3 September 1939, speaking after the Declaration of war

“In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in our history, for the second time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over again we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between ourselves and those who are now our enemies. But it has been in vain. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead and war is no longer confined to the battlefield.”

… but War has never been confined to the battlefield. It’s never the armed forces alone who will suffer the consequences. Families, communities, civilians, children and generations yet unborn – all of these will feel the long-term effects of conflict. Allegiances will be made and broken, loyalties tested and betrayed.

And the Satan feeds and grows fat on the human pain.

Essentially, I believe that the root cause of all conflict is personal greed; the desire to want more than a neighbour and to exercise power over them. And as a result of the struggle, revenge will feed revenge in an endless cycle through generations. Even though we know that in the end, there can never be a victory through violence. ‘Those who want to save their life will lose it’, said Jesus, but though people hear Him, they don’t actually listen. ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink’ ??? You’ve got to be joking!!!!

Let there be peace on Earth? We know the answer. I know it begins with me. But I’ll wait until someone else takes the first step. And so the wars will go on.

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