On the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 4, two vineyards were in the readings. Both asked the same question. What does God do when the people he planted and cared for give him nothing back? It was also LWML Sunday, so there was a lot of purple in the pews. LWML is short for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. Each year we set aside the first Sunday in October to thank God for its work.
From September through May we worship at 8:00 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings. Sunday school and Bible classes meet between them at 9:15. In the summer there is one service, at 9:00. We receive the Lord’s Supper on the first and third Sundays, so this was a Communion Sunday. The order was Divine Service, Setting One. It is in the red hymnal in the pew rack, and every word is also on the screens and the livestream. No one has to hunt for a page.
The readings: a love song, a ledger, and a parable
The opening hymn was Christ Is Our Cornerstone (LSB 912). The Introit, the psalm verses that open the service, came from Psalm 118: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” That stone kept coming back all morning.
Isaiah 5
A vineyard that gave only wild grapes
Philippians 3
Everything counted as loss to gain Christ
Matthew 21
The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone
Isaiah 5 is a love song that turns into a lament. A man plants a vineyard on a fertile hill. He clears out the stones, plants choice vines, builds a watchtower and cuts a wine vat. Then he waits for the harvest, and the vineyard gives him only wild grapes. At the end Isaiah names the vineyard. It is Israel, and the owner is the Lord.
In Philippians 3, Paul lists everything he once trusted. There was his family line, his training as a Pharisee, his zeal and his spotless record under the law. Then he writes this:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.
Philippians 3:8–9 (ESV)
In Matthew 21, Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants. A landowner leases his vineyard to tenants and sends servants to collect his share of the fruit. The tenants beat one, kill another and stone a third. Last of all he sends his son, and they kill him too. Jesus closes by quoting the same psalm about the rejected stone. We sang the Hymn of the Day, The Church’s One Foundation (LSB 644), and confessed the Nicene Creed.
The sermon on the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor Christopher Ramstad called it a tale of two vineyards. Both stories, he said, point to one truth: God is going to get his fruit from his vineyard. This was the third Sunday in a row with a vineyard parable, after the workers hired at different hours and the two sons. All of them reach back to Isaiah, where God himself is the one who planted.
In Isaiah’s song the owner does everything right and still gets wild grapes, which Pastor described as sour and bitter, on vines that choke out whatever grows nearby. The wild grapes are God’s own people. He made them, made promises to Abraham, brought them out of Egypt and gave them a land. They turned to other gods anyway. Luther’s explanation of the First Commandment says we should “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” This year’s confirmation class had just memorized it. Whatever holds your fear, love and trust, Luther taught, is your god.
Jesus told his parable in the temple during Holy Week. Palm Sunday had come and gone, and the cross was perhaps three days off. The chief priests and the elders were listening, and they knew Isaiah 5 well. This time, Pastor pointed out, the trouble is not the fruit. It is the tenants. The servants they beat and kill are the prophets God kept sending. A few days later Jesus would grieve over Jerusalem as “the city that kills the prophets” (Matthew 23:37). John the Baptist had only recently been beheaded.
The worst of it is that the tenants do not respect the son. Matthew adds a detail Pastor would not let pass. The leaders wanted to arrest Jesus, “but they feared the crowds.” Fear of losing their power had become their god, and they acted on it. They took the Son outside the city and crucified him. At the cross there was bloodshed, just as in Isaiah. There was an outcry too, when Jesus prayed for the men who put him there: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus ends the parable with a question, and his hearers answer it themselves. The owner will put those wretches to death and give the vineyard to others. Pastor compared it to the prophet Nathan telling King David, “You are the man.” It is a hard parable to hear, even now. But the fruit God is after begins with Christ’s own blood. In the upper room a few days later, Jesus gave his disciples the cup. “This cup is the new testament in my blood,” he said, “which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And God sends his Spirit into his people, so that they bear fruit of their own.
Pastor put the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer this way: we pray that God’s kingdom would come to us and through us. Then he pointed to that fruit close to home. He named the LWML, whose national goal for mission grants is $2.6 million. He named the first- through fourth-graders of Martin Luther School, who placed second of four schools at a Bible Knowledge Day in Lockwood on Friday, missing first by a single point. And he named the new members who would receive the Lord’s Supper with us for the first time that morning, and asked the congregation to welcome them with joy.
The children’s message: the stone that didn’t fit
Before the readings, DCE Jason Glaskey showed the children the start of a rock collection he had gathered around the church grounds. One rock was shaped a little like the letter L. One was granite, one held fossils, and one had been worn smooth by a river. Then he pointed to the stone wall at the front of the church. None of those stones are straight or perfect either, and that is what makes the wall beautiful.
Last he held up a brick, one of the spares from our own building, and it was the only one of the lot that was flat and square and smooth. He said he did not want it in his collection, because it was not like the others. That, he told them, is what happens in the Gospel. Jesus, the perfect one, was thrown away on Good Friday. On the third day God raised him and built his church on him. The rejected stone became the cornerstone, the one everything else rests on. After church, he said, go outside and find ours. Children are always welcome up front for this part of the service, and our children and families page has more.
LWML Sunday
Women of the LWML gather mites, small coins and gifts dropped into mite boxes, and the offerings fund mission work at home and around the world. Immanuel’s mite box sits in the narthex (the lobby), and Pastor admitted he loves how big it is. In the Prayer of the Church we thanked God for the LWML here at Immanuel, in our Southwest Missouri circuit, in our district and around the globe. We closed the service with For All the Faithful Women (LSB 855).
Every woman is welcome
Our LWML meets on the first Thursday of each month at 12:45. Pastor once served as the pastoral counselor for an LWML circuit in Nebraska, and he asked the question a newcomer would ask. What does a woman do if she wants to get involved? The answer from the pews was simple. Just come. The women of Immanuel also share a monthly Lutheran Ladies Lunch at a Joplin restaurant.
Coming up at Immanuel
All four of these are open to anyone. Everything else is on the church calendar.
Spaghetti Day · Friday, October 9
Lunch runs from 11 to 2. Dinner in the school gym runs from 4:30 to 7, with a silent auction. Every plate helps buy shade and mulch for the playground.
Worship and Picnic in the Park · Sunday, October 11
One service, at 10:00, outdoors at Landreth Park. There is no 8:00 or 10:30 at church that day. Bring a lawn chair and a friend. Last names A to M bring a side dish, and N to Z bring a dessert. If it storms, the service moves back to the church.
Help for the Hard Questions · Thursday, October 15
An evening for parents and grandparents, 6:30 to 8:00 in the Fellowship Hall, with activities for children. DCE Jason Glaskey and Principal Mollie Ramstad will share ways to answer kids truthfully and faithfully.
Trunk or Treat · Saturday, October 31
From 5:00 to 7:00 in our parking lot. More than a thousand children from around Joplin are expected. Candy donations go in the pumpkin barrel in the narthex all month.
The tenants threw the son out of the vineyard. God made him the cornerstone. The fruit God is looking for starts there, and on Sunday it was set on the altar for us to receive.
Read it again this week
- Isaiah 5:1–7 — the song of the vineyard that gave wild grapes.
- Philippians 3:4b–14 — Paul counts his whole record as loss to gain Christ.
- Matthew 21:33–46 — the wicked tenants and the rejected stone.
Three questions from the sermon:
- Luther says whatever holds your fear, love and trust is your god. What has been holding yours this week?
- The leaders knew Jesus was talking about them, and they still did not turn. Where is it hardest for you to hear “You are the man”?
- Pastor prayed that God’s kingdom would come to us and through us. Where could someone see that fruit in your life this month?
Luther’s Small Catechism is free to read online. For this Sunday, read his explanation of the First Commandment, the one this year’s confirmation students just memorized. We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.
In the service — Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 4, 2026
| Liturgy | Divine Service, Setting One, with Holy Communion (first Sunday) |
| First Reading | Isaiah 5:1–7 |
| Epistle | Philippians 3:4b–14 |
| Holy Gospel | Matthew 21:33–46 |
| Hymns | LSB 912 Christ Is Our Cornerstone · LSB 644 The Church’s One Foundation · LSB 637 Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord · LSB 566 By Grace I’m Saved · LSB 680 Thine the Amen, Thine the Praise · LSB 855 For All the Faithful Women |
| Creed | Nicene Creed |
| Preacher | Pastor Christopher Ramstad |
| Children’s message | DCE Jason Glaskey |
| Also in the service | LWML Sunday; new members received the Lord’s Supper with us for the first time |
Questions people ask
What is Divine Service, Setting One?
It is one of five orders of worship in our hymnal. It opens with a short sung litany of prayers. Each one ends with the people singing “Lord, have mercy” in reply. Its hymn of praise is “This Is the Feast” from the Book of Revelation. You can follow along in the red Lutheran Service Book in the pew rack, or on the screens. What Is Lutheran Worship? explains how the settings fit together.
What is LWML Sunday?
LWML stands for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. It is the women’s mission group of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Women give small offerings called mites, and the money funds mission work. Once a year, a Sunday is set aside to thank God for it. Ours is the first Sunday in October. The national LWML website tells the larger story.
Can visitors receive Communion?
We receive the Lord’s Supper on the first and third Sundays. We believe Christ gives his true body and blood in the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins. So we ask visitors to speak with Pastor Ramstad before the service. He is glad to talk. What We Believe says more.
Where do I park?
There are three lots. One is off 26th Street, north of the sanctuary. The main lot is off Connecticut Avenue. A smaller one sits near the Youth Center off 27th Street. Every lot has handicapped spaces, and all of them lead to the church building. Signs inside each door point the way, and greeters are there to help. See Where We Meet for a map.
What should I wear?
There is no right way to dress here. On a normal Sunday you will see high heels and wingtips sitting next to sneakers and sandals. Dress the way you would for something that matters. Casual is fine. Dressier is fine.
Should I bring my children into the service?
We hope you will. Children are not just allowed in worship here, they are encouraged in it. Wiggling and noise do not bother anyone. A nursery is available for families who need it, though it is only occasionally staffed. Changing tables are in the nursery and in the family restroom in the narthex (the lobby).
Thinking about visiting?
From September through May we worship at 8:00 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings, with the Christian Education Hour between them at 9:15. From June through August there is one service, at 9:00, with classes after it at 10:15. Holy Communion is on the first and third Sundays.
Park in any of the three lots and come in any door. Signs point the way, and someone will be there to help. Dress however you are comfortable. Bring your children with you.
More at Immanuel Lutheran
- What to Expect — a walk through a Sunday morning here
- Sunday Services — times through the whole year
- Where We Meet — campus map, parking, the buildings
- Who Is Jesus? — the shortest answer we know how to give
- Ministries — Bible study, youth, women, men and more
- Youth Ministry — Wednesday nights for grades 5–12
- Contact us — questions, or a prayer request
About Immanuel Lutheran Church
Immanuel Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod at 2616 S Connecticut Ave, Joplin, MO 64804. We are the home of Martin Luther School, which serves children from age 3 through 8th grade. Jesus brings life. Meet Him here.
More about us: About Us · Staff and Leaders · past services and sermons, including the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when Isaiah told us to look to the rock we were cut from.