Listen

“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.’”

Matthew 20:1-7

Think

Our church had a project that needed to get done: we needed to write a new vision statement. There was a general announcement about it in worship – “Can anyone help?” As I sat in my pew, I thought “Yes, that’s an important job. Someone should get on that.”

A week or so later, a leader in our church approached me. “Will you be part of this project?” she asked me. “This seems like something you’d be good at.”

As soon as she spoke, I realized that, yes, I would be good at helping to write a vision statement! “Yes, I will,” I said.

Like those latecomer workers in the Matthew passage, at first, I did not hear the invitation to work in the vineyard of my church. But when I was personally invited, I joined willingly. The experience reminded me that people yearn to be invited to do work that matters for God’s Kingdom.

Jane Claspy Nesmith

Question to Ponder:

When have you been invited to do meaningful work?

Pray

Loving God, open my ears so that I may hear you calling me to meaningful work.

Make me more aware of the skills and interests of others so that I can invite them to do your work, too.

Amen.

Go

Here’s the story I’ll tell my friends when they come to worship, and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:

Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel.

God has never let you down.

from Psalm 22:22-24 (The Message)