Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalm 80:7-14

Philippians 3:14-21

MATTHEW 21:33-43

We are citizens of heaven and ambassadors for Christ

This (I hold up my passport) is the passport I carry as an American citizen. I am proud to carry this passport and humbly proud to be an American – unlike those Americans who, when they are in other countries, pretend to be Canadians! This represents my earthly citizenship as far as countries go. It also binds me together with nearly 300 million other people in a shared identity and an important relationship.

This (I hold up my baptismal certificate) is my baptismal certificate. I am proud to have it and humbly proud to be a Christian, unlike those who were also baptized who pretend not to be Christians. This represents the possibility of heavenly citizenship through Jesus Christ – not a guarantee as some superstitious (rather than faith-filled) people may think, but proof that at a certain time my parents and godparents pledged to, with God’s help, get me started in that direction. What else it means, with me as with anyone else, depends upon my beliefs and behavior.

This baptismal certificate also binds me together with over one billion other people in a shared identity and an important relationship. My American passport is only good until 2014, when I would have to get it renewed, and it stops being valid at my death. This (baptismal certificate) is valid for life but the vows in it can always be renewed, and the identity and relationship it represents may be the beginning of an eternal identity and an eternal relationship – with God, and with all others, whoever they are, to whom God grants entrance into God’s heavenly kingdom.

All that is part of what St. Paul means, I think, when he says in today’s excerpt from his letter to the church in Philippi, Greece, that “our citizenship is in heaven.” But there’s more.

Anyone who carries this (I hold up my passport) is, like it or not, representing America – not just in other countries but also when we are in our own country! What we make of our own country says a lot about us as individuals and as a people.

Anyone who has one of these (I hold up my baptismal certificate) doesn’t have to carry it around, but, realize it or not, all baptized Christians are, in St. Paul’s phrase, “ambassadors for Christ”.

Apart from the view they get from the mass media, people in other countries who have never been here are heavily influenced by the Americans they meet. It’s true of any country, or even of an area far broader than one nation. Mahatma Gandhi was once asked, “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western Civilization?” to which he responded, “I think it would be a good idea!”

Apart from the view they get from the mass media, people who are not Christians (or who are not active Christians) can be heavily influenced in their impressions of a particular church, of Christianity in general and even of Christ himself by the active Christians they meet. We are all, realize it before now or not, ambassadors for Christ. And as his ambassadors, the One who we represent to the world is offering us guidance and encouragement – and evaluation.

So the first step for those who have this (baptismal certificate), even if it’s still in their mother’s bureau drawer or even mislaid, is to focus on the One who we represent every day. Check in with headquarters every day. It’s called praying.

Second, as an ambassador, we should understand the culture to which we’ve been sent (“earthly culture”) but not “go native.” St. Paul warns us, “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ…their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” This is the most succinct summary of self-centered materialism I know: “their god is the belly.” All some people live for is material things. Understand those people; have compassion on them; reach out to them with the offer of showing them a much finer way which can lead to their salvation; but don’t follow them!

Their motto might be, “Ask not what I can do for my country; ask what my new Mercedes can do for me.” Our motto must be, “Let us ask what we can do for God and for our fellow human beings.” Only so can we live out our identities as Christians and the relationship with God and with others that is an integral part of that identity (I hold up baptismal certificate).

What is expected of us is described in today’s Old Testament and Gospel readings. The great prophet Isaiah talks about the nation of ancient Israel as God’s vineyard: a growing, organic community which God owns and upon which God has lavished all the expert and caring attention which a good, responsible vineyard owner would give.

However, God’s vineyard was rebellious and instead of giving God a “harvest” of righteousness and social justice, the vineyard produced bloodshed and the cry of the oppressed. As a result, Isaiah says, God will withdraw his favor from the vineyard and let it be destroyed.

God is also the owner of the vineyard in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard and its tenants, in which the tenants rebel against the owner, refuse to give him his due rent, abuse the owner’s slaves (the Hebrew prophets) and finally kill the son of the owner of the vineyard (Jesus himself). Since God still owns the vineyard – the kingdom of God – God can wipe out rebellious tenants and find others who will, in Jesus’ words, “produce the fruits of the kingdom” of God.

This is serious stuff. This (baptismal certificate) isn’t just a piece of paper, is it? If this makes us one of God’s tenants on what The Book of Common Prayer calls “this fragile earth, our island home,” we have profound responsibilities as well as wondrous opportunities.

Thankfully, in the midst of the vast natural disasters which have hammered our country’s Gulf Coast in the last month, I see evidence of a Great Awakening in America. And “step one” in this Great Awakening is for each of us to recognize a profound truth: “IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ME.” Let’s say this together” It’s not all about me.”

This Great Awakening in America has taken the form of millions of people becoming far more aware of their kinship with people they had never met or perhaps thought much about in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and now Texas – as well as deeper bonds among those people themselves.

Not only that, millions of people have acted on that awareness, with time, talent and treasure.

The outpouring of generosity and personal involvement has crossed all boundaries of race, class and geography – pretty amazing in itself. Governmental leaders at all levels have followed, not led; the people – including many of the government employees – who are making things happen, and the “leaders” are scrambling to catch up. And the devastation of Katrina has revealed what the “apostles” of self-centered materialism never wanted us to know: that millions of Americans live lives that teeter on the brink of disaster even when there are no mega-hurricanes destroying what little they have. Self-centered materialism has made sure that many Americans have been left behind by prosperity, health and justice. The number of poor people in America has risen for four consecutive years even during this period of over-all economic growth.

In the midst of this great calamity, when we Americans have found out how many people care about other Americans who look, talk and live differently from them, we have also found ourselves in the unaccustomed position of being offered help from the rest of the world. The mighty United States of America received offers of help from over 100 countries after Hurricane Katrina. Community and relationship does not stop at the borders of any one country. We are all God’s children, called to help each other out. Right now, we’re all remembering that.

The most poignant contribution from abroad I have heard of came from a 90 year old woman who wished to remain anonymous who walked into an American embassy with a contribution of 1,000 Euros, about $1,200, for Katrina relief. She just wanted to say “thank you” to America when America needed help, because when she needed help, America helped her. In 1945, it was the American Army which liberated her from a Nazi concentration camp.

We are all God’s children, called to help each other out. Sometimes when conditions are at their worst, people can rise to their best.

As Christians we are part, and only part, of this Great Awakening. To be part of it is part of our mission as Christians. But we are “in business” for the long term. So if America is in a Great Awakening about the importance of community, the binds of our relationships as humans and as Americans and the opportunities we have to personally reach out and help people help themselves, then Christians among other like-minded people need to “brew the coffee to keep America awake.” Otherwise, after a flurry of charitable activity, America could revert to the “default setting” of self-centered materialism. We had a surge of “community” feeling after 9/11, and then it faded. Let’s not let this opportunity to change our nation slip away.

Keeping America awake and focused on the long term need to change how we understand “community” starts with us staying awake, focused and disciplined. It means re-examining our priorities – how we spend our time, how we spend our money, what we can do to make our love for God and for our neighbors (near and far) larger parts of our lives. That’s our mission as individuals and as a church community. We’ll hear a lot about it this month.

“Our citizenship is in heaven” (I hold up my baptismal certificate) – and our jobs as “ambassadors for Christ” include making this world a little more heavenly. We’ve done a lot. There’s more to do. Let’s get to work.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Monmouth Junction, New Jersey