Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18

1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.

2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your strength and come to help us.

8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the nations and planted it.

9 You prepared the ground for it; it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered by its shadow and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.

11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea and its branches to the River.

12 Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?

13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.

14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.

15 They burn it with fire like rubbish; at the rebuke of your countenance let them perish.

16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, the son of man you have made so strong for yourself.

17 And so will we never turn away from you; give us life, that we may call upon your Name.

18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)

A couple weeks ago, I noted that wilderness is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. Here’s another recurring theme: vineyards. It shows up in a psalm you may have heard in church yesterday, but also in a bunch of other places. The fact is, the Bible begins and ends with gardens. In between, the vineyard emerges as a way of describing the synergy of God’s activity and our activity in the world.

The psalm before us (reprinted in this email) describes a vineyard which had been established by God. God had planted the vineyard in a marvelous, miraculous way, bringing a vine out of Egypt’s captivity, planting it with a prospect of new vitality. Apparently, the vineyard had become something of a mess. Walls broken down. Beasts of the field running all over the place, eating all the profits. The psalmist asks a question often heard in scripture: Where did you go, God? What on earth are you up to? Behold and tend your vineyard. Get to work. I’m wondering if you’ve ever asked those kinds of questions. A look at the daily news is enough to make you ask.

Jesus told stories about vineyards, stating that we are to see ourselves as those who take care of the vineyard. The vineyard is not our creation. We don’t own it. We’re meant to care for it. We’re meant to see the produce of the vineyard as belonging to God. In those parables, vineyard workers often get confused, imagining that the vineyard belongs to them, that they are entitled to all that it produces. As they buy into that perspective, it doesn’t end well. Do you know any vineyard workers like that?

There’s a richness to the image of the vineyard. The image has all kinds of interpretations and applications. This Monday morning, I’m wondering in what kind of vineyard do you find yourself. Maybe your vineyard is the household in which God has placed you. Maybe it’s the crisis you now are navigating. Maybe it’s the work you do, for compensation or as a volunteer. Maybe it’s your faith community. Maybe you can think of the vineyard as the society in which we all live. Maybe we are all part of a global vineyard.

From one point of view, all of them are God’s creation, and we look to God to restore them when they seem like they are a mess. I suspect we all know how households, families, workplaces, churches, nations can be a mess. We might look at any of those vineyards and echo the psalmist in thinking that the vineyard is in need of restoration, that God has taken a sabbatical, or as one friend recently put it, God does not seem so chatty at 3 in the morning when anxiety takes over. In Psalm 80, of which we only read a portion, this refrain is repeated: Restore us, O Lord God of hosts. We might even dare to imagine that it’s our job to tell the Holy One how to straighten things out.

There’s actually a wonderful synergy in the image of the vineyard. The vineyard is God’s creation. We are invited to participate in that creation, to go to work. It’s captured in a beautiful synopsis of the gospel in Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. Perhaps if we sense that the vineyard is in disrepair, we are being invited, or even challenged, to participate in restoration. To bring healing to our household. To be a light of integrity in our workplace. To foster growth through kindness. To stand against the rampant and random cruelty we read about in the news, taking place in our own nation and around the world.

Take time this week to think about whether you can see your current life, your current circumstances as one of God’s vineyards. How might God be calling you to serve in the vineyard in which you find yourself? And if that vineyard seems to be a mess, in disrepair, missing God’s attention, is there something you can do to help the garden grow?

-Jay Sidebotham

(For another image of growth, read I Corinthians 3 in which Paul says the church is really God’s field, and that it is God who gives the growth.)