Lectionary Readings — Proper 22 — October 4, 2026
Exodus 20:1-4,7-9,12-30; Psalm 19; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46
Call to Worship (based on Matthew 21:33-46)
Leader: The Lord is the Landowner, and this whole earth is his vineyard.
People: He has planted us with care and entrusted us with all we need to bear fruit.
Leader: Yet how often have we lived as owners rather than tenants, forgetting the hand that planted us.
People: Lord, forgive our forgetfulness, and awaken in us grateful, listening hearts.
Leader: God sends his word to instruct us, his Spirit to convict us, his people to encourage us —
People: Give us hearts that receive correction rather than resist it.
Leader: The very stone the builders threw aside has become the cornerstone —
People: This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wondrous in our eyes.
All: We come this day not as owners, but as tenants entrusted with grace. Build our lives, O God, on the cornerstone you have set. Let us bear the fruit your kingdom is looking for. Amen.
Opening Prayer (based on Psalm 19)
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father,
Before a word is spoken this morning, the skies above us have already been preaching your glory — the sunrise, the quiet turning of the seasons, the vastness of the heavens all declaring what no human voice could fully say. We come into your presence aware that you have been speaking long before we arrived, and we ask now that you would speak again — not through the skies this time, but through your Word opened among us.
Lord, your law is perfect; it revives the soul. Your precepts are right, giving joy to the heart. Let us hunger for your Word more than fine gold, and treasure it more than any sweetness we could name. Search us, Lord, and reveal to us the faults we cannot see in ourselves. Keep us back from the sins we tell ourselves are harmless — the quiet presumptions that gain dominion over us before we even notice.
Make us whole this morning — undivided in our devotion, honest before you, and ready to receive what you have for us in your Word. Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
[NOTE to Paid subscribers — scroll down for the full manuscript sermon]
Sermon Outline: "WHOSE VINEYARD IS IT ANYWAY?"
Based on Matthew 21:33-46
I. The Privilege of the Vineyard (v. 33)
II. The Pattern of Rejection (vv. 34-39)
III. The Peril of Presumption (vv. 40-41)
IV. The Promise of the Cornerstone (vv. 42-46)
Full Manuscript Sermon Below for Paid Subscribers
