March 5
Laborers in the Vineyard
Year 1 ( 2022 – 2023 )
Text:
Matthew 20:1-16
Summary:
The parable of the laborers in the vineyard and the equal pay they are given.
Prayer of Confession
God of Incalculable Grace,
in this world of ours, we behave as if everything good must be earned –
we strive to get ahead of one another;
we work hard and expect to reap the rewards;
we compete and compare –
judging our own value, and the value of others,
by numbers, things, dollars, and cents.
In the world as you have dreamed it, this is not so.
Your goodness defies our metrics.
Your love can never be earned.
Your grace is freely given.
Forgive us our backwardness and brokenness.
Set us free from the patterns of this world,
that we might live as citizens
of the just and generous commonwealth of heaven.
Congregational Song Suggestions
“A Spendthrift Lover Is the Lord”
CP 177
“God Calls You Good”
VT 172
“How Much Am I Worth?”
by Colin Gibson (Hope Publishing)
“The Love of God”
VT 162
“There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”
(various)
“Till All the Jails Are Empty (God Has Work for Us To Do)”
by Carl Daw & Mark Miller
(Roll Down, Justice, Choristers Guild, 2015
Beyond the Hymnal
“Seasons of Love”
from the musical RENT, by Jonathan Larson