The Family 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
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 27 - October 3
Matthew 21:23-32 ┃ Actions Not Words
Let us hear the Good News of God:
Parable of the Two Sons
When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?” They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” Then they replied, “We don’t know.” Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
“What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ “‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went. “The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go. “Which one of these two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first one.”
Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.
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!
- What do you think it might have smelled...tasted...felt...looked...sounded...like to have been there?
- If this story happened today, what might be different?
- Is there a place that reminds you of this story?
- Have you heard another story similar to this one (TV/movie/play, song, book)?
- Who would you be if you were in this story?
- Who might God want you to be like in this story?
- How can this story help you?
- Today’s parable reminds us that it isn’t what we say that counts as much as what we do. How would someone know you are a Christian through your actions?
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.