The Table
where we feast and are formed
Plan a meal each week (breakfast, lunch, or dinner--whichever works best for that week) to all sit down together to eat, share a sacred story, wonder, and give thanks for one another. Suggested: place a candle in the middle of the table for this meal. Printable Version of the Prayers, Story, and Questions Found Here - or simply use the website on your phone!
The Meal
Special Foods of the Week: Grapes & Wine (for those 21 years+ 😉)
Light the candle.
Bless.
Use this or create your own blessing.
Gracious God, bless this food, the gifts of your creation, and all the hands that played a part in bringing it to this table.
Bless this table, around which we gather, and bless all those we wish were with us today.
Help us to listen to your word and to each other so that we might hear the Good News in this story.
Read.
Readers in the household take turns reading.
September 20 - September 26
Matthew 20:1-16 ┃ Fairness
Let us hear the Good News of God:
The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion, he sent them into his vineyard.
“Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ And they went.
“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’ “‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied. “He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion.
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’
“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”
Thanks be to God!
Question.
Use some or all of these questions as you wish. If you have younger children in your household, you might invite them to make up their own question to ask!
- Are there any words you really like in this story? Are there any words you don’t understand?
- Have you ever been in a situation like this one before?
- Are there any people that remind you of this story?
- What is the Good News in this story?
- What do you need to learn from this story?
- Now that you’ve heard this story, what might God need you to do?
Bless.
Gracious God, we thank you for all we have been given, the blessings of this table, and the blessings of our daily lives.
Thank you for all we have heard, your voice in both scripture and in the words of those we love.
We pray for the courage to speak the Good News in the world around us either by word or action, that we may play our part in the sacred story.