There is a fundamental tension in the faithful life, and the lessons today really bring that up, and bring it out.

Start with the reading from Isaiah. that lovely imagery of love and abundance. Isaiah speaks of God as a lover, and sings for God a love song to creation: " My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines ..."

It's an image of love and abundance, an image of what God has given us, an image that *resonates* on this incredibly glorious August weekend in Washington ( this is *August* in Washington - what a surprise, what a total gift out of the blue to have a day like this!) Remember back in Genesis when God created the world and all that is in it, and pronounced it: Very good? That's what the image in Isaiah and this day in Washington speak to.

But the vineyard produces "wild grapes" Read "bitter grapes". Wild grapes are bitter. And suddenly God's wrath is upon us, God's frustrated rage at the mess God's people have made of the gift of life: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard the cries of distress."

God gives us love and abundant life - but God also has high hopes for us, and is often disappointed.

If you go back to last Sunday's gospel reading from Luke (which precedes today's reading), and combine the two, you get the same kind of progression - from comfort to demand. First, in Luke 12:32, Jesus gave us the assurance of God's gentle love, and the promise of care and protection ("Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom"). His words became stronger as he reminded us to be accountable. ("Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. . . . You . . . must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming . . .) In the next verses, between that reading in Luke and today's, Jesus' s rhetoric grows progressively stronger, more intense, more demanding .. you can almost hear his voice rising, see his demeanor changing - this Jesus is no longer reaching out his arms in gentle love. This Jesus is raising his fists in a kind of passionate fury of frustration. "I haven't come to bring peace. I've come to bring FIRE?"