Unfruitful Anonymous (UA)
Unfruitful Anonymous (UA)
Homily for October 4, 2026
Isaiah 5:1-7, Ps.80, Phi. 4:6-9, Mat. 21:33-43
On social media we often see the acronym FAFO. The polite way of unpacking the acronym is Fool Around Find Out. Another acronym that I’d like to propose is UA for Unfruitful Anonymous. UA is a vision of what a church would look like if it were run like an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) Meeting. In UA we would start with the Serenity Prayer and introduce ourselves with our first name and our humbly openly admit our unfruitful status as a disciple before others. We would read from the Big Book and share updates of our struggles and possibly wisdom of our recovery. We would remind each other of our need for our higher power and the need to work the steps. The personal moral inventory would be a frequent reminder of our own personal shortcomings to keep us humble that we still have work to do. We would remind each other of our sickness or sin and that this is a lifelong journey. We would keep an eye out for each other when we missed meetings or when we were behaving selfishly again. The level of personal sharing would at times move us to tears yet all sharing would always be kept confidential. We would all be peers, no leader other than God. We would recognize that we are our own worst enemy.
Church, we do nothing this personal and life changing in our version of church worship. At best we may come a little close in a small discipleship group. Church, we are sick, we are fooling around with a very serious issue, sin. We are far too flowering and sugarcoat our condition. We are honestly codependent in our half hearted action. At least an alcoholic in AA can admit it. Could a Christian be so brave?
This weekend's readings are about fruitless vineyards and ungrateful stewards. Golly gee, could that be us? Please show me the evidence that we are fruitful and grateful. In AA we would humbly admit it, seek support, and take action towards accountability. Maybe too harsh for us to admit. The greatest spiritual fruit that I have seen is in and through AA. At this point I’d much more encourage a church goer to experience AA than someone in AA experience church. We are FAFO’ing. We will find out someday. I’m thinking we won’t like what we hear then. We might as well be warned. Pray for the courage to follow the 12-steps of UA (Unfruitful Anonymous). I promise you that you will much prefer the result and our companions on the journey. This is the church I selfishly want to participate in and experience.