In Matthew, Jesus tells the story of a landowner needing workers for his vineyard. Before dawn, he strikes a deal with some workers, promising to pay a full day’s wage for a full day’s work. Apparently needing more help, he finds more laborers midmorning, assuring them that they’ll also be paid fairly. By lunchtime, he’s returned for more help. He goes out again midafternoon for workers and then again, with only an hour before closing time. At dusk, the last to begin working are the first to get paid — and instead of receiving the rate for one hour, they receive enough for a full day. They are ecstatic! The only people happier are those early birds — the first workers of the day — whose imaginations go wild dreaming about what they might do with the pay they will be getting. They might also be thinking that they’ll never show up for work that early again. Their dreams crash when they get paid what they had agreed to at the breaking of dawn’s first light. They shout, “It’s not fair!”
I recently learned a new word that I thought was appropriate for the year we have all just navigated together:
Tohubohu
toh-hoo-BOH-hoo
a state of chaos; utter confusion.
A recent cartoon in our Sunday newspaper depicted an exhausted mother, sprawled in a chair surrounded by typical birthday party chaos: torn wrapping paper, balloons, toys spread everywhere. Standing next to her, a little boy with a party hat tilted on his head asks, “When’s the next birthday?”
In his online presentation Tuesday, the Rev. Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins welcomed Rethinking Evangelism conference participants into the dining room of his home in southwest Atlanta.
Add prayer and guided meditation to the activities for which Presbyterians are now using online platforms to engage.
During a recent Zoom call, the Revs. Jeff Eddings, coaching and spiritual formation associate for 1001 New Worshiping Communities, and Ayana Teter, director of vocation and placement at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, took about 30 participants through liturgy, prayer and a guided meditation designed to get them to use their imaginations to place themselves in the midst of the disciples as Jesus washed their grimy feet as depicted in John 13:1–17.
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a small-group Bible study with other Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-workers serving throughout Africa. We were invited to read closely Matthew 25:31–46, where Jesus speaks of when he comes again and is like a shepherd separating “sheep from goats” at the final judgment. We were also invited to ask the questions: “What word or phrase stands out? How does the text resonate with or challenge you? What might the text be calling you to do, be or change?”
“This is our stone-cold moment to be like Jesus, our rock and our redeemer,” Dr. Brian K. Blount told the recent NEXT Church national gathering at the close of a sermon. The president and professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary called on worshipers to “stand on God’s promise … and rock out our world.”
Of the 12 entries in our Book of Confessions, odds are you’re most familiar with the Apostles’ Creed. Every branch of Christianity’s family tree accepts it. It’s often recited at baptisms. But of its 110 words, four have tripped up Christians for centuries: He descended into hell.
The medieval church in the 4th century set Dec. 25 as Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In the years that followed, the church expanded the celebration of Christmas to a 12-day festival, running from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6, the observance of Epiphany. For Presbyterians, Epiphany is key to our discipleship of Jesus in the world God so loves.
