Grits and the Gospel - October 4, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths, and it is good to be with you today I am Hopeful that all the sleeping animals will remain sleeping although. I can't guarantee it so hopefully we will Not be interrupted by some Animal wrestling, but anyway, I hope it's a good day where you are it is the 19th Sunday after Pentecost It is also World Communion Sunday and on this day when a lot of people around the world are coming together around the table I hope that you have a place to do that as well It is a beautiful thing to be a part of and I hope that you get to partake and the Lord's Supper today Let us come now to a time of worship the Lord be with you And also with you today's Old Testament lesson comes from the prophet Isaiah We are in the fifth chapter verses 1 through 7 Hear now the word of the Lord I Will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines He built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewn out a wine vat in it He expected it to yield grapes But it yielded rotten grapes and now inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah Judge between me and my vineyard What more was there to do from my vineyard that I had not done for it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield rotten grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down I will make it a wasteland. It shall not be pruned or hoed. It shall be overgrown with briers and thorns I will also command the clouds that they not rain No rain upon it For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the people of Judah are his cherished garden He expected justice But saw bloodshed Righteousness But he heard a cry Thus ends the first reading Let us now come together to say those words that are The tenants of our faith the things that we believe the things that make our vineyards grow and be fruitful Friends, what do we believe? I? Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day. He rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit The Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Let us pray dear Lord. We are so thankful that we get to tend your vineyards That we get the privilege in the honor of seeing your fruit grow and flourish help us to continue To do that practice help us to not be the ones that bear sour grapes Hear us now as we pray those words that your son our Lord and Savior taught us to pray our father You are in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen Today's gospel lesson is from the gospel according to Matthew We are in the 21st chapter verses 33 through 46 Hear now the word of the Lord Listen to another parable There was a landowner who planted a vineyard put a fence around it Dug out a winepress in it and build a watchtower Then he leased it to tenants and went away When the harvest time had come he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce but the tenants seized his slaves and beat one killed another and stoned another Again, he sent other slaves more than the first and they treated them in the same way Then he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son But when the tenants saw the son they said to them. This is the heir Come let us kill him and get his inheritance So they seized him threw him out of the vineyard and killed him Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants and they said to him He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to the other tenants who will give him produce at the harvest time and Jesus said to them have you never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone This was the Lord's doing and it is amazing in our eyes Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produce its fruits The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and it will crush Anyone on whom it falls When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this at his parables they realized that he was speaking about them They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds because they regarded him as a prophet The Word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God Would you pray with me? Dear Lord as we come to you today just humbled By your love and grace that you would trust us with your vineyards Help us to be good stewards of those vineyards so that we may produce fruit for you Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. I Am a subscriber of Garden and Gun magazine The name may be a little off-putting But it's a modernized version of Southern living it features artists and writers and southern makers of color They highlight new and upcoming restaurants and shops and cities on my bucket list to visit It has beautiful homes featured where I can dream of decorating future plans I don't usually read the editorials, but one of the drawings in this edition Caught my eye it was of a preacher with an Auburn football helmet on and It was written by an author that I have read before ace Atkins He typically writes novels about small town a small town sheriff fighting organized crime and solving murders So I was intrigued that he had seemingly written about church and after reading what he had to say I wish I had skipped it You see ace has an issue with ministers using football examples in their sermons the title of his editorial is Pigskin and the pulpit should a pastor rib his flock about football Notice it says his flock He says this in part the idea of any pastor minister priest or follower of Christ Stoking rivalry hate from the pulpit is a little crazy to me my late uncle Eli's restaurant in Birmingham hamburger Haven offers segregated seating for Auburn and Alabama fans You don't dare breathe the same air as those Bama Philistines While you're you savor your double cheeseburger and peanut butter milkshake But in church on Sunday Isn't that the time for all God's children to come together as one and cast away earthly concerns? Sure Many ministers love a good corny joke to start their sermons and what a better way to connect with your flock than talking about the big game, but I personally hope for something more contemplative or philosophical from my pastor Challenge accepted sir, but instead of football, I'm gonna use his editorial as an example. So thanks for that You may have editors that help you become more contemplative or philosophical in your writing but mine is the Holy Spirit and Maybe your pastors that have been that you've been listening to Should get the Holy Spirit to edit theirs as well Jesus was constantly battling with the church leaders of the time I'm sure that they would have loved segregated seating in the temple where they could sit and not be bothered by that pesky Jesus And I'm sure they would have loved for Jesus not to use the ancient texts against them It's easy to miss that the parable Jesus is using in Matthew is very similar to the passage from the prophet Isaiah in Both passages God or the landowner planted a vineyard put a fence around it dug a wine press in it and built a watchtower The people were given every opportunity to be successful In the Isaiah version the people of Israel squandered the opportunity and the Lord destroys the vine vineyard Verse 6 it says I will make it a wasteland It shall not be pruned or hoed it shall be overgrown with briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it When Jesus uses this same idea to try to get through to the church leaders Who have been very who would have been very familiar with this passage he adds to it Do you hear the story of Jesus and his words and the Matthew version it is the people Who destroy the vineyard by killing the people who work the land and then the vineyard owner sends his son Sound familiar It says this then he sent his son to them saying They will respect my son But when the tenants saw the son they said to themselves, this is the air Come let us kill him and get his inheritance. So they seized him threw him out of the vineyard And killed him not only was Jesus pointing out what was happening at that moment But he was telling these men that he knew What they wanted to do I've never written a letter to the editor and the one I wrote and submitted may never see the light of day But here is what I emailed the editors of Garden and Gunn As an author I understand that mr. Aiken Atkins is Critical of the pastoral writing and delivery that he has heard about the sport of football It may seem a little too lowbrow and less philosophical for his taste But not every week can be an academic study of the Greek language or reflection on a respected theologians take on scripture People would be bored to tears We want people to come hear our sermons and grow in their faith not get bored and sleep through a lecture Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of things being said in pulpits that are very Concerning and should be called out from the pages of your magazine and reviewed by governing boards of denominations For instance the preacher who said in the pulpit that women who are slapped down by their abusive Husbands and go on to divorce them are evil Or the pastor in Louisiana that boasts about his many private planes and the height of the fence around his house I would much rather him preach about LSU football than spread hateful ideas to his members Maybe the issue that you have is not what the actual use of football and is it as an example in sermons Maybe the issue is that you're listening to the male preachers that try to discuss it There are several of us that are women in ministry that use football as an example very successfully You should try listening to our perspective for a change Just know that if I choose to recruit people to play o-line for football o-line for auburn in the pulpit It is so I can watch a game for something other than the marching band for a change Because we sure could use some Goliath size david's up front Jesus was trying that day to point out that they had been teaching the wrong things and not following the way of god And not following the way of god but making the way of man He was warning them of things to come And maybe a lot of pastors should listen to that same idea today God is putting before us a fertile vineyard A place that needs tending and care Rows of people who want to bear fruit and are longing to be part of a beautiful part of the kingdom of god I think the problem was then and always is that there are those Who tend to the vineyard that only want to profit for themselves? They are yielding rotten grapes There's a lot of responsibility and the square three square feet of ground behind the pulpit I take that very seriously With every sermon I write I try hard to make the message timely without pushing an agenda I listen to the quiet voice that moves my soul and inspires my writing I'm getting used to the idea that not everyone will like what I say But more than that i'm working diligently to make sure that whatever I say is not for my own gain But for the furthering of the kingdom of god and inspired by the spirit I try my best to follow the call of john wesley to do No harm Unfortunately, that is not true for everyone that calls themselves a pastor The same chief priests and pharisees that jesus was calling out throughout the 21st chapter of matthew Were the same ones that would send him to his death What I hope for us today what I hope for pastors today what I especially hope for myself today Is that we are tenants of the vineyard that produce good grapes? That we are we expect And work for justice And we live in righteousness Just like the call for the people of israel and isaiah and just like the call to the church leaders by jesus Therefore I tell you he says the kingdom of god Will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit The one who falls on this stone will be broken into pieces and it will crush Anyone on whom it falls I don't know about all of you But I want to be the one that produces fruit and is not crushed by the broken pieces of the church And the god that I am called to serve I don't ever want god to feel like he needs to give this to someone else because I have gone rotten Um If he calls me to do it while preaching about football That I will follow wherever the spirit leads And let him be my only editor Sorry ace, but you are not mine And even if you never know it You are always welcome here No matter what i'm preaching about And all god's people said War eagle Amen As you go throughout your week It is my hope that you look for god and jesus in every place you go that there are vines and vineyards Needing to be tended And fruit that is ready to be ripened and not rotten I hope you look for it and find it and help it grow Because in life In death and life beyond death god is with us We are never alone Thanks be to god Amen