Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

Jan 12 2025

God the Gardener

On this day of honor for St. Francis of Assisi, the prophet Isaiah describes how much God the gardener cherishes the vineyard—such care, such choice vines the divine hand has planted! That image naturally turns my thoughts to my relationship with my garden. I too get attached to my plants. I start my lavender and tomatoes from seed. I place them into soil that I have composted and manured. But my attachment is only a semblance of the devotion that God has for the human vineyard.

Last summer when I came back from vacation, the bunnies had chewed all my pole beans at ground level. The deer had chomped the tops off the sunflowers. Oh, I was exasperated. Imagine the angst when the stone fence around your vineyard is allowed to crumble so that wild beasts trample and eat all your grapevines. When you deeply care about something, you are more deeply hurt when it is not cared for.

Jesus’ parable mirrors the Old Testament prophets’ solemn warnings to the leaders of Israel. The “Great-I-Am” is looking for fruit. But there is no fruit. God’s distress is with caregivers who do not give care. Leadership means to cherish and tend the vineyard, to do everything necessary to bring it to fruition.

As we read this series of vineyard parables in Matthew, we might question whether God is very “nice.” We hear death and destruction, the wrath of the landowner and handing the stewardship to another— Jesus’ ending is not “nice.” Though American culture places a high value on “niceness,” there is no “nice” in the Bible. God is merciful. God is kind. God also wants justice. God intends for this vineyard to be treated right. Woe to those who do not.

Consider/Discuss

We throw our whole heart into many things in life—gardens, children, relationships, parish, school, job, business, and so on. What does it feel like when something we care about yields “rotten grapes”? What role does (or doesn’t) “righteous indignation” play in the Christian life?
In my early days of gardening, I was too “nice” to thin overgrown perennials and throw out diseased tomatoes. As a result, the whole garden suffered. What are the challenges to “just letting things go”? How do we balance that with pruning for the “greater good”?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord our God, you are true. You are honorable. You are good. Thank you for caring for each of us and all of us so deeply. In whatever role you give us in life, send us your grace to discern how we are to lead and care for those whom you entrust to us. Help us to listen carefully to your warnings and not be so self-assured that we do not hear your correction. Not to us, but to you, is the glory when our efforts bear good fruit.

Jan 12 2025

Can You Be Coached?

I recall a blue sky, a hot grassy field at Sand Run field, and a dozen twelve- to thirteen-year-old boys in their red WASA soccer jerseys. “Out on the field,” I called to the team. “Sure, Coach,” a short-haired athletic boy yelled out as he jogged toward the goal. A bigger lad stood by the sideline with his arms crossed. He didn’t move. He didn’t look at me. His body language exuded “No.” What was I supposed to do? “Please? We want you out there.” He looked me in the eye, shrugged, and lumbered onto the field.

As the season went on, the first “willing” player was skilled and he let the other twelve-year-olds know that he was good—and that he didn’t feel that he could learn anything from me about soccer. He didn’t get any better.

The second “unwilling” player endured ridicule for being a little chunky and a little slow, but he paid attention. He had never played soccer before. But he learned. He got better. He never became a soccer legend, but he was a delight to coach.

Sometimes we may be tempted to get a little spiritually cocky. We know that we are loved. We know that we matter. We may be the first to jog out onto the field.

But sometimes we avoid looking God in the eye because we don’t think that we quite measure up. “Nah, I don’t really think so,” may be our response when someone tells us, “God loves you.” How could God be pleased with us? Want a relationship with us? Care about us?

Coachability—it makes all the difference. Jesus told the Pharisees that “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” The Lord wasn’t looking for the perfect. He was looking for the coachable.

Consider/Discuss

When is it hard to “look God in the eye”? In what ways do you (or do you not) feel that you have to be perfect in order to measure up to God?
Have you ever felt like you told God, “No”? What happened when that turned around to “Yes”? In what ways would you hope to be more coachable?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, I’m tired. I don’t want to pray. I want to go to bed. I want to curl up under the comforter and shut the world out. What’s that you say? You want my “no” to be “yes”? You’ll be listening to my breathing? Counting the hairs on my head? Moving within me even when I sleep? Oh. Okay. Well, come on then, let’s pray.

Jan 12 2025

Expectations Turned Upside Down

In a tight job market, ideal candidates may be handpicked—those with the best grade point average or the most personable smile, those who carry themselves as though they came from money, those with perfect teeth. The others don’t even get called for an interview, as if implicitly sending the message, “Don’t bother; we’re not hiring your kind.”

Who got picked early in the morning in Jesus’ vineyard story? A savvy winegrower would probably have told his foreman to choose the younger men first: the tall, the sturdy, and the strong—that is who we want to work in our fields. Who waited all day and got picked last? Maybe it was the old. Maybe it was the one-armed or the crippled. Property owners who sought for success might suggest to these workers, “Don’t bother; we don’t need your kind.”

This parable reminds me of gym class. We used to pick teams. (Do schools still do that?) I hate to admit it, but as a super-athletic kid, it was a buzz to be selected first. Maybe these guys who had worked all day in the vineyard carried that same swagger: “I’m good, I’m tough, I was picked first to work. And who are these losers? And why are you paying them the same wage as me?”

Jesus flips our expectations of success upside down in this parable. When the Lord rewards his team, he values more than outer appearance. He prizes the heart. He is open-handed with the late-bloomers. Certainly God’s ways are not our ways. Imagine God saying, “You, you, and you—you are wanted. You, you, and you—you are chosen.” Can you hear it? “Who, me? You want me?” God says, “Yes, yes, and yes! Good salary. Great benefits. I do want your kind. Come!”

Consider/Discuss

When have you been picked last (or first) for something? What did that feel like? How did that affect how you saw yourself? How does that influence the way that you feel about the marginalized?
“God wants you. God has chosen you.” Does that statement land differently depending on the successes that life has dealt you? Do the privileges that have come your way or the hardships you have endured affect how you see God’s innermost desire for you?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, you continually chose surprising friends. The broken, the outcast, the unwanted—they all found a home in you. Your way of seeing people turns our imagination upside down, for your ways of measuring are not what we are used to. When we are stuck in certain patterns of thinking about the values of success and power, change our hearts. Help us to be merciful as you are merciful.

Jan 12 2025

Reflecting God’s Abundance

There is a creek behind the house where my daughter Maria used to live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. In spring, water generously cascades down from the mountaintops; the river sparkles and crashes and seems almost alive. Huge cedar logs float downstream upon that rush of water. You could hear the bubbling of flowing water when her kitchen window was open.

The mercy of God flows upon us like that river of generosity. The psalmist sings of that bounty: The Lord “redeems your life from destruction, and crowns you with kindness and compassion.” Jesus tells of the lavishness of a king who forgives his servant a huge debt. You can hear the bubbling of flowing water.

But today’s Gospel story doesn’t stay with abundance. It devolves rapidly to the servant’s forgetfulness of generosity, which leads him to such meanness and malice that he chokes his fellow servant, demanding immediate repayment. Instead of passing on that generosity, he nourishes anger and holds onto wrath. That is an abomination to the Giver of the river of life!

I was surprised when I’d visit Maria again in September. Her creek had shrunk to a silent trickle. Big logs were stuck in the rocks. Sticks and leaves were trapped behind the logs. Masses of gunk choked off the water. What had flowed in such a lively way in the spring was clogged in the fall.

When we refuse mercy to another, how can we expect to be healed ourselves? We choke off God’s generosity. Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There are no limits to the cascading of God’s mercy. Jesus tells us that there should be no limits to our forgiveness as well. Flow, river, flow!

Consider/Discuss

In this season of harvest, take some time to look around and be grateful for God’s abundance. How does immersing ourselves in God’s generosity set us free to pour out mercy to others?
The resentments of earth may pull us down, but the Holy Spirit wants to bubble up and sparkle within you and me. What is blocking us? Where do we find pollution in our lives, the cedar logs of unforgiveness that dam(n) up our souls?

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, we open our hearts to you. Fill us with your courage to love so that time after time, even when we’ve been hurt, we forgive. We pain you often. You have forgiven us so many times. Don’t let hard-heartedness choke us. We offer you those people and those issues that bother us. Please put them on a log and let them float down your river. Then bubble up within us and restore our joy.

Jan 12 2025

Go and Tell—Carefully!

A watchman’s duty is well-defined: if an enemy ship is seen in the harbor, sound the alarm; if you don’t disclose the danger, then you are the one responsible for your city’s destruction. Jesus’ mandate to call out “a brother” is also clear: when there is a shining love between you and a fellow child of God, by all means, go and talk to him or her about the misdeed and try to set things straight.

But what if the relationship involves power? As we strive toward a climate of transparency in our church and in our culture, how to enact this Gospel grows murkier. Should you surface management mistakes to your boss? Must you speak to a parent about dishonesty? Do you disclose a superior’s misdeeds? Power stays in power by fear. When do you speak up? If you reveal “wickedness,” because of the power imbalance you may have to put up with anger, retribution, and the loss of your good name. “Go and tell” is a tricky directive in an environment of dominance. Those on the underside of power have been silent for centuries.

How do we determine what the Lord is calling us to say and do? John the Baptist spoke truth to power and was beheaded. Jesus remained silent before Herod and was crucified anyway. How much risk can we take? How do we find clear direction when we feel as though we’re walking in a fog?

In prayer and discernment with others, we ask: What does God want me to do? What is my motive for opening this conversation? Will speaking up worsen the situation? Like Ezekiel, if God is unmistakably calling you to “be a sentinel,” then proceed carefully, but in courage do proceed. Jesus himself suggests that we have a back-up plan ready.

Consider/Discuss

Think of situations when you have said nothing about wrongs that you have endured. What was the reason for your silence? In hindsight, what could you have done differently? As you talk this through with others, how might that discussion help you to handle a sticky situation that you are in right now?
St. Paul says to “owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.” That is a real challenge. How can we grow into that inner freedom, that degree of boundlessness when we totally release our fear of others? How can we grow to be indebted only to God?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord Jesus, you found yourself in many sticky situations. You know how tangled human life can be. As we gather together in your name, be here in our midst and give us clarity. Over and over again, you said in the Gospels, “Do not be afraid.” But sometimes we are afraid to speak up. Sometimes it is right to be cautious about speaking up. Send us your Holy Spirit in abundance to reveal to us the best direction to take. Mother Mary, untangler of knots, pray for us!