The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost fell on September 20. Out in the narthex (the lobby) before the 8:00 service, Pastor Christopher Ramstad asked a group of people whether anyone was looking for work. He said he needed laborers for the vineyard. Nobody volunteered. That question ran through the whole morning.
From September through May we worship twice on Sunday mornings, at 8:00 and 10:30. The Christian Education Hour meets between them at 9:15. In June, July and August there is one service, at 9:00. This particular Sunday was arranged differently. Classes were paused for the Better Together Breakfast in the gym. The families of Martin Luther School came for the 10:30 service, and Holy Communion was offered at 8:00 only.
The order was Divine Service, Setting Three. It is the setting most of our people learned first, and it is sung almost start to finish. Everything is printed in the red hymnal in the pew rack, and put up on the screens as well. No one has to hunt for a page number.
The readings, and a hymn that came back
The service opened with Great Is Thy Faithfulness, LSB 809 — the same hymn the 10:30 congregation had called out from the floor a week earlier at our hymn sing. Nobody planned the repeat. Isaiah came first, with an invitation and then a warning. God does not think the way we think.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)
Paul wrote the Epistle from prison and sounded almost cheerful about it, because his chains had made the gospel known through the whole imperial guard. Then came Matthew 20, the laborers in the vineyard: men hired at dawn, at nine, at noon, at three and at five, every one of them paid the same single coin. We confessed the Nicene Creed, and before the sermon we sang Gracious God, You Send Great Blessings, LSB 782.
The sermon on the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
During the hymn Pastor Ramstad stepped into the vestry, the small robing room at the front of the church on the right, and came back out as somebody else. Blue Hawaiian print shirt, straw hat hanging down his back on its cord, work gloves, a pair of lopper shears for cutting grape stalks, and a wooden stool he sat on when the story slowed down. He preached the whole thing in character, walking the front of the nave, as a man named Izzy who has lived his whole life in a place called Parable Town.
Parable Town is where the stories live. Izzy’s friend Farmer Frank once left ninety-nine sheep to go find the one that got out. Sally Sower had been out scattering seed carelessly, and some of it landed on good soil anyway. “Not everything is what it seems here,” Izzy warned the visitors. His neighbors were Lazy Lucy, Danny Do-Nothing and Sleepy Stan, who was usually asleep on his cot. They called him Idle Izzy, because he was always just sitting around in the marketplace.
Then the owner of the big vineyard on the hill came down to the marketplace. DCE Jason Glaskey played him, in a short speaking part, carrying the bag of coins. The owner looked right at Izzy and offered him a denarius for the day. A day’s wage for a day’s work sounded like a square deal, so they shook on it, and the owner said two words: follow me. Then, every time Izzy picked up his tools, a bell rang. Breakfast. Lunch. The ice cream truck at three. Dinner. He never actually worked.
Between the bells he watched the owner bring in Lucy, then Danny, then Stan, and he had something to say about each of them on the way past. At quitting time the workers were paid last to first. Stan went first and came back down the line hopping and skipping, holding a whole denarius, wearing a look Izzy had never seen on him before. Joy. Izzy did the math on twelve hours against one, started spending the money in his head, and held out his hands. The owner put one coin in them. He held them out twice more in case there had been a mistake.
The owner’s answer comes straight out of Matthew. “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” Izzy stopped on the one word and turned it over for the rest of the sermon. “Did you hear what he called me? He called me friend. After the way I treated my brothers and sisters, after the way I treated the master of the vineyard himself, he still called me friend.” He sat in the marketplace from sundown to sunup holding that coin, and finally admitted what he had been dodging all day. He had not earned it. If he was honest, he had hardly worked at all.
Some of us God calls very early, Izzy said, some in the middle years, and some near quitting time. The grace is the same in every case, given for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. So Izzy went and apologized to Danny and Lucy and Stan. He asked the owner’s forgiveness, got it, and was invited back into the vineyard. His neighbors have quit calling him Idle Izzy. They call him Insightful Izzy now.
The children’s message
At 10:30 DCE Jason Glaskey called the children to the front and lined them along the rail, then hired each group at a different hour of the day to pick grapes. The last group got hired with about a minute left and picked three. Everybody was paid the same coin, starting at the short end of the row. At 8:00, with the school children still to come, he gave the adults a preview of it instead and tied it to Isaiah: my ways are not your ways. Then he added Romans. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God does not pay us what we earned. He gives what is generous rather than what is fair.
Breakfast, and the school families
Sunday school and the adult Bible classes were paused for the morning. The gym was set for a hundred and forty, and the Better Together Breakfast filled the hour between the services. Martin Luther School families came in afterward, and fifty of the school’s students stood at the front of the church and sang at 10:30, after the sermon. The school has been part of this congregation since 1953, and it draws families from Immanuel, from other churches, and from no church at all. Behind them, the green banners on the chancel wall carry clusters of grapes.
The 10:30 broadcast did not survive the morning. The stream cut out about eighteen minutes in, during the children’s message, so the video on this page is the 8:00 service. The singing was not recorded. A photograph from the balcony is what we have of it.
After the service
Back in his own clothes, Pastor Ramstad asked his narthex question one more time. Were there any laborers ready for the vineyard? This time there were takers.
A study of the Lutheran Confessions begins Thursday, September 24, at 5:30 in the Fellowship Hall. It meets every other week and the book is included. Martin Luther School holds Spaghetti Day on Friday, October 9, in the gym.
Worship and Picnic in the Park is Sunday, October 11. There is one service that day, at 10:00, with a potluck after it. Smoked and roasted meats are provided. Bring a lawn chair, and a side dish or a dessert if you can. More is on the church calendar.
Birthdays, anniversaries and milestones get called out from the pews most weeks, and the congregation sings a blessing over whoever stands up. There were several this Sunday, including a thirty-second wedding anniversary and an eighty-fourth birthday.
The last thing Izzy said, on his way back to the marketplace, was that the coin in his pocket is not only his story. “It’s my story and it’s your story. Now that I’ve shared my story, it’s time for you to share yours.” He has still never spent it.
Read it again this week
- Isaiah 55:6–9 — the invitation to seek the Lord, and the reason his arithmetic will not match ours.
- Philippians 1:12–14, 19–30 — Paul in chains, counting the imprisonment as gain for the gospel.
- Matthew 20:1–16 — the laborers in the vineyard, and the one denarius.
Three questions from the sermon:
- Izzy had something to say about Lucy, Danny and Stan as each one came into the vineyard. Who is on that list for you? What changes if the master calls them friend too?
- The turning point is not the coin. It is Izzy admitting he had hardly worked at all. Why does the admission have to come first?
- “Do you begrudge my generosity?” When has God’s kindness to somebody else felt to you like unfairness?
Luther’s Small Catechism is free to read online. For this Sunday, take the Creed. Luther’s explanation of the Third Article says in one sentence what took Izzy all day in the vineyard to work out.
In the service — Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 20, 2026
| Liturgy | Divine Service, Setting Three (LSB p. 184). Holy Communion at 8:00 only. |
| First Reading | Isaiah 55:6–9 |
| Epistle | Philippians 1:12–14, 19–30 |
| Holy Gospel | Matthew 20:1–16 |
| Hymns | LSB 809 Great Is Thy Faithfulness · LSB 782 Gracious God, You Send Great Blessings · LSB 537 Beautiful Savior |
| Creed | Nicene Creed |
| Preacher | Pastor Christopher Ramstad, in character as Izzy of Parable Town |
| Children’s message | DCE Jason Glaskey |
| Also in the service | Better Together Breakfast between services · fifty Martin Luther School students sang at 10:30 |
Questions people ask
What is Divine Service, Setting Three?
It is one of five orders of worship in our hymnal. Setting Three is one of the older ones, and many of our members grew up with it. Nearly the whole service is sung. You can follow it in the red Lutheran Service Book in the pew rack, or on the screens. What to Expect walks through a Sunday morning step by step.
What does “Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost” mean?
The church year has two halves. The first follows the life of Christ, from Advent to Pentecost. The second runs from Pentecost to Advent and follows the life of the church. Those Sundays are counted in order, so this was the seventeenth. The color on the altar is green. You can read more about what shapes our worship on What We Believe.
Do you have Holy Communion every week?
We commune on the first and third Sundays of the month. This Sunday was the third, so the Lord’s Supper was part of the 8:00 service. It was not part of the 10:30 service, which was shaped around the school families and the children’s singing. If you are new and have questions about communing here, speak with Pastor Ramstad before the service. He is glad to talk.
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 just inside each door point you to the worship space, and greeters are there to help. See Where We Meet for a campus map.
What should I wear?
There is no right way to dress here. On any Sunday you will see high heels or wingtips sitting next to sneakers or sandals. Dress the way you would for something that matters. Casual is fine, dressier is fine. What God is looking for is a heart prepared to receive His Word. Come ready to worship with all of God’s people.
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.
- 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
- Mission & Vision — what we are here for
- Watch worship online — if you would rather start from home
- 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 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.