In Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus tells the parable of the evil tenets. The king leases a vineyard to sharecroppers, he sends representatives to get his share, they beat them up and send them back empty. He sends his son--whom they kill assuming they can take possession of the vineyard. But that's not the way it works. The action of the King is like the indestructible Rock; the one who falls on this rock will be broken to pieces, and he on whom it falls will be crushed. The Rock in the Bible is always a symbol of Christ: In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream it was the rock that destroyed the image of the King and became a mountain. In the wanderings of the Israelites the rock was the source of water and judgment. In the church the Altar at Church is like the Rock. It is the center of everything. A Church is a building built around the Altar.

In our series on the Instructed Eucharist it is time to talk about the Offertory. At the offertory we offer to God our money and the wine and the bread, by laying it on the Altar. Why the Altar? Because Altars are for what we offer to God. Before we get excited, however, let us remember that Altars are not for us, they are for God. God is always the initiator in our relationship. He provides what we have. He provides that which we give in gratitude for His goodness. And God is always the end of our interaction: He takes our gift, transforms it by infusing it with Himself, and gives it back. He sends us out into the world carrying that transformation.

So just what do we offer? (This is where it gets fun.)

Bread: What does it take to get bread? Farmers that grow wheat, equipment, manufacturing, transportation, sales, fertilizer, manufacturing, labor, I-9's, INS employees, the Social Security system, labor benefits, millers that make flour, mills, the energy industry, vehicles, warehouses, storage and moving equipment, highway laws, law enforcement, legislation, the fuel industry, bakers that make bread, nuns that make the wafers, the church hierarchy, home bakers that make our home-made bread, manufacturers that make yeast and salt and the other ingredients, energy to bake the bread, transportation to bring the bread to the church, the environment—weather, water, the larger issues of our climate, the altar guild, the purchaser of bread, transportation for the shipping of the wafers, and the list goes on and on.

Wine: What does it take to get wine? The grape grower, the workers, land--the real estate business, equipment, tractors, manufacturing, oil products, transportation, sales,
wholesale and retail, supplies, tools and the steel manufacturing, plastics--oil products, employees, fertilizer and the chemical industry, the wine making industry, presses, fermentation vats, filters and settlers, chemical cleaners, glass manufacturing, printing, and the paper industry, employees, altar guild members, purchaser of wine, fuel and time, and again, the list goes on and on.

Money: Money comes to us through employment, investments, family, gifts and talents, business, education, opportunity, relationships, time, and the list again, goes on and on.

Through six degrees of separation what we lay on the Altar encompasses all of creation, all of human existence, all that God seeks to redeem and transform. We lay our bread—the bread of human sustenance and life, and all that goes with it, our wine—the wine of the human spirit in song, dance and play, and our money—our employment, the whole of our socio-economic system. We also lay the announcements—the symbol of our common life, birthday and anniversary blessings—the symbol of our relationships, blessings for those who depart, for soldiers deploying or recently returned—the concerns of our community. In short, the Altar becomes the axis mundi, the center of the world, for the Christian, beginning with ourselves, our time, talent, and treasure—all that is our lives, and extending out throughout all creation; mountains and hills, rivers and streams, lakes, oceans, continents, cities and towns, roads, factories and cars, computers and the internet, all that is our environment. The Altar, then, is a symbol of the Cross, for on the Cross all was redeemed, and on the Altar all is transformed.

It is especially fitting that on this day we talk about the Altar. At 2:00 this afternoon we will be blessing pets in the empty lot of the church grounds. As we bring our friends of non-human nature to the presence of God, we offer them to Him, and He, in return, blesses them and returns them to us, just like at the Altar. May it be for us an extension of our offertory this morning and throughout the year.

Fr. Paul Moore+