Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore Canterbury

On Sunday, Sept. 20, the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran Church and St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will celebrate the 17th Sunday after Pentecost at 10:30 a.m. at 13564 St. Andrews Drive in Leisure World. The Rev. Murray D. Finck will preside.

Join the congregation after service for coffee, tea, cookies and snacks in the Fellowship Hall. The church is still collecting food for those in need. The congregation thanks those who participated in “God’s Works. Our Hands” on Sept. 13.

The weekly Bible study is currently on a break.

People meet every Monday downstairs in the Fellowship Hall at 10 a.m. to help the congregation prepare crafts for the next holiday bazaar.

The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 20:1-16, which is the parable of the generous landowner. God does not quantify his generosity. He is a God of abundance: abundant love, abundant grace, abundant faith, abundant forgiveness, abundant patience, abundant mercy and abundant justice.

God gave the gift of his son, Jesus, to all the world throughout all time for all people. There is not a limit on how much God can give. There is not a limit on how big heaven can be.

This parable is a reminder that believers who have been blessed with faith at an earlier time in life are still going to get their reward, but they do not have the power to limit who gets the reward.

The believer’s job is to work in God’s kingdom so others can join. The reward promised at baptism through the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not diminished by the sharing with others, rather, it is strengthened.