Lectionary Links: Sunday, September 18, 2011
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A: September 18th, 2011
First Reading: Exodus 16:2-15
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
(Written for ages 4-8 )
Comment: The Israelites complain that what they ate in Egypt would be better than where they are now, with no food in sight! Moses tells them to cry out to God, and God listens and satisfies them. Frances in Bread and Jam for Frances, like many children (or badgers!), complains about her food, too. All of her complaints are heard by her mother, and through some interesting methods, is able to get Frances both to eat—and be satisfied with her food!
Second Reading: Philippians 1:21-30
The Fire Cat by Esther Holden Averill
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: Paul writes that the Philippians share “the same struggle” as urges them all the same to “live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”. Doing so means great reward for them, even as there are struggles on the way. Pickles the cat, in The Fire Cat, also struggles and only finds mischief to do—that is, until he finds that he can help the firefighters because of his unique-sized paws! He begins to live a life of helping, one that could be considered ‘worthy of the gospel’, and finds that his struggles are rewarded.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 20:1-16
It’s Not Fair! By Amy Rosenthal
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: The first laborers in the story of the vineyard workers come to the end of their day and grumble, “these last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us…” It’s a roundabout way of saying “It’s not fair!” The vineyard owner assures them that “the first will be last and the last will be first”—that they who received their pay last could still be first at other times. These feelings of unfairness resonate with everyone, though, and the book It’s Not Fair and its great illustrations bring home the idea that we all feel that way—and that we’ll all get our chance for fairness, that the first and last aren’t stuck in those places.
This Lectionary Links post was written by recent Union Presbyterian Seminary graduate Sara Anne Berger.
Lectionary Links: Sunday, September 18, 2011 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
