TEACHING

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2022
10:30 AM (kids! + communion)
SUMMER SERIES: Storytelling 
The Hedge & Vineyard, Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80, John 15:1-17
with Shel Boese
The parable of the Hedge and Vineyard is a repeating theme in the Bible. Some of us were taught to pray a “hedge of protection” around people, but what is the story behind this kind of prayer? What is the “hedge” and who or what is the “vineyard”? How can we apply this in our thinking and praying today?

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Reading the Bible Together: 
Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:8-14, John 15:1-17
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Some basics:

• How Analogies Work

Hebrew Bible

• Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-14
• Original Situation
  • Isaiah 5: During the Syro-Ephraimite war in 734 BCE.
    • “Isaiah understands all political success or failure to be directly related to the moral condition of the society. The present crisis is directly attributable to the injustice and unrighteousness” (Anna Case-Winters, FOTW C:3, 344).
• Who is the Vine/Vineyard?
• Who is the Hedge or Hedgekeeper?
• What is the story telling us?

“We have been dealing with a parable. The parable in our text functions much like the story that Nathan tells David following the king’s adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12). In that case, Nathan’s story maneuvers David into pronouncing judgment on himself. In the case in our text, the parable of the vineyard is designed to lead the people to recognize their guilt and responsibility” (Michael L. Ruffin, WP,2022).

"The bad news is we can have love sung endlessly over us, and still be useless and a lethal danger to the world and to ourselves. The good news is that Someone still sings, plows, plants, guards, and looks for good fruit. In this is enough hope to set us humming bits of the song at least, and living toward toward its true ending, Love's own harvest: Sweet justice, festive righteousness, a cup of joy in the lifted hand of all" (Paul Simpson Duke, FOTW C:3, 345).
New Testament 

• Matthew 20:1-11; 21:33-43
• John 15:1-17
  • How have the stock characters and relationships changed from Hebrew Bible usage?
  • What is the teaching telling us?

What Can We Take Away?

• The Vine is not ___________________. This is a living plant. So...
• Circle Prayers

Last Word: The hedge torn down?

• Romans 8:35-39 
• Maybe our prayers when anxious or fearful should be less about protection, and hedges, and more about __________________________________________?
• Say yes to the Love of Christ today. Become a believer in the One who already believes in you.

Sources: Feasting on the Word, WorkingPreacher, IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, Various Commentaries.