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This is the 2nd part of a dialogue between Pastor Fran and Rev. Kirk Baker of the Williamson Presbyterian Church.

This is the first of 2 sermons that Pastor Fran and Rev. Kirk Baker of the Williamson Presbyterian Church wrote and delivered together. Unfortunately we do not have the video for this sermon, so I’ve provided the text below:

Fran:  The Gospel reading for today comes from the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew, chapter 20 verses 1-16.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This is the Word of the Lord!   (Thanks be to God!)

Kirk:  Fran, what kind of crazy stuff are you reading to my people?  This parable doesn’t make any sense!  Everybody knows, people deserve to get paid according to the work they do.  Those who do more, get paid more; those with more responsibility, get paid more.  It’s the only way you can motivate people.  It’s the only way that’s fair!  It’s the foundation of our capitalist system – what are you, a Communist?
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