This Week

But that is an egocentric (me in the center of the story) way of thinking about the story. Jesus blows this perspective out of the water by having the owner pay everyone the same wage. I would say that there is no good news in this story (only grumbling) if we look at it from a fair wages perspective. The good news is to be found in an owner who has a passion for people “standing around idle all day” in the “marketplace”. The owner is concerned about unemployment and idleness! And the desire of the owner is for people to be working in his vineyard and contributing to its productivity. And for this people receive enough to live on “the usual daily wage” or as the Lord ’s Prayer frames it “give us this day our daily bread”.

This is what the kingdom of heaven is about. Working in God’s vineyard and having enough to sustain us every day. It is not about you getting what you think you deserve from God, the Church, or your employer. It is about the joy of being employed in God’s work of service. If we insist on arguing and complaining about how we are not getting ours then we are stuck with the grumblers and complainers and miss the joy of the Lord.

Pastor Ron de Groot

 

Communion

We trust in God the Holy Spirit who feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation... These words from "A Brief Statement of Faith" reiterate the importance of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for Presbyterians. They affirm that the initial action of this divine meal begins with God. God in Jesus the Christ offers the bread and the cup and bids us come. Everyone who believes is welcome at the Lord's Supper, which is held on the first Sunday of the month. There are exceptions when yearly festivals are celebrated and during the Easter Season. See the church calendar for scheduled services.

We celebrate by intinction which means worshippers come forward to recieve the bread and then dip it in the cup before eating. We who come need not be concerned about our personal appearance or aptitude. What matters is that the love, the grace, and the hospitality of the host create the unanimity among us. This meal is provided, not because we have earned the right to eat  and drink with Jesus, but simply as an act of divine love. The service of thanksgiving  and praise includes thanks for God's creation, for deliverance from sin, for the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and for the privilege of participating in the  promised fullness of the kingdom.