Good Fruit - The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

The other morning, I got into my nice dependable car, it's a Toyota, but it has leather seats. And I drove to the grocery store and I hit zero potholes on Paxton avenue and I rolled the windows down and I played some Louie Armstrong on the radio and I filled my car with gas, and I didn't even calculate how many miles I'm getting to the gallon these days. I rolled on over to that Kroger entrance. And it just so happened that the best parking spot in the whole lot was open right there waiting for me. I mean, man, I must be living right? Then there were frappuccino samples at the Starbucks counter, right when I walked in the door, streams in the desert. I mean, seriously, you guys, am I a saint or something? ... I love that Luke is there to let us wonder more deeply about what makes for good fruit. Because without the parable, it's easy to assume that we're the good guys and they're the bad guys and good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. And the world is really pretty black and white. And I like that narrative because it's so safe for me. It's safe for me to think like that. Because things can get really messy in the Gospel. Things can get messy when I have to admit that my dad was friends with that salesman at the Toyota dealership and the potholes on Paxton avenue got fixed right after a rich guy made a call. And I can feel like I totally get Louie Armstrong, even though I have never walked a day in this city with black skin. Things can get messy when gas prices soar, and we have to contemplate our dependence on a non-renewable foreign source. Things can get really messy when pure dumb luck got me that parking spot at Kroger, when a single mom with five kids and three jobs will never get that spot because she does not have the luxury of going to the grocery store at 2:00 PM on a Tuesday.