Settled
by Kathy Matuschka
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I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God (Amos 9:15).
Read Amos 9:13–15
Some of my ancestors settled in South Australia’s Barossa Valley – which is known for vineyards and winemaking – after they emigrated from what is now Germany. Unfortunately, the place they chose to settle, Hoffnungsthal (Valley of Hope), flooded, and so they moved elsewhere and started again. Generations later, my parents moved into the Barossa, so I grew up back where our families began their time in Australia.
The vineyards in today’s texts are described as fruitful, just as in the readings we heard yesterday and the day before. After all, a vineyard’s purpose is to produce grapes.
Today’s vineyards are so productive that the reapers are said to overtake the sowers – obviously an exaggeration intended to highlight the vineyards’ fruitfulness and the delight this brings.
But ultimately, there is something more wondrous than the vineyard’s productivity: its location. This vineyard is back home, in Israel! It fulfils Yahweh’s promise through the prophet Amos that although the Hebrew people will be taken into exile in a foreign land, they will later return. Both the people and their vineyards will be planted in their own land again.
Settled.
I grew up in a time of rich harvest for my denomination. As the daughter of Lutheran teachers, I witnessed the growth of Lutheran schools and the effort it took to achieve this growth! I viewed the mission harvest God gave us as normal because I had never known anything different. I felt settled.
Things have changed in more recent decades, and I have felt unsettled; I’m not sure where we are as a church now, and what the future might hold. My questions are being answered in the increasing number of stories of congregation members turning up to share God’s love in practical ways with new generations. Have you noticed it, too?
Loving Creator, because your dear Son Jesus rose from death, I am settled in you – forever. Through the power of your Spirit, I praise and thank you – forever. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
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