A sermon on Isaiah 5:1-7 by the Revd Dr Christine Redwood
Pastor of the Seaforth Baptist Church in Sydney NSW
A video recording of the whole liturgy, including this sermon, is available here.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
One Comment
I am rather late in adding my comment to the thoughtful sermon from Dr Redwood on “rupture”. But having listened to Alison Sampson’s sermon on Philippians 4:6ff and its contradictions, the sermon on “rupture” has so much more relevance and requires me to praise Dr Redwood for it. Not only is her message relevant but her medium of using the Nick Cave song and life situation is a relevantly emotive way to pierce our hearts with an understanding of the text. Having been brought into existence by a father afflicted with alcoholism ( who I loved and always will) my first impression of rupture was the inappropriateness of contrasting Cave’s loss of his son with the loss of a few bottles of wine! But of course the text of Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew are not about wine per se but about a rupture within Israel and us. We are the fermented product of the grape; but not a grape of wrath that puts our teeth on edge. No, we are the project of a totally loving Creator who did everything he could to provide the fertility and conditions for our success. Grapes are grapes. It is to the recipients of the Vineyard, and their vicarious liabilty to provide care, to which the blame for rupture must belong. Rupture changes us, for the better and for the worse. Much like Paul is both supportive and dismissive of care that is overly self interested. Dr Christine takes us through this experience both psychologically and biblically. Thank you.