Food Insecurity: The theme for Season of Creation 2023 is “Let justice and peace flow like a river.” One of the areas of great injustice in our world is the global food crisis. It is estimated that 345 million people around the world are food unsecured, yet 17% of all food produced is dumped between harvest and retail.

Our modern food production practices are leading to increasing biodiversity loss, the alienation of people from food sources, and at the same time, increasing global hunger. The impact of climate change and war have also driven people off the land and have made more people food insecure. 

Justice and generosity are major themes in today’s Gospel. The primary characteristic of the landowner is not justice per se, but generosity – the landlord is generous, and that generosity feels unjust to some. But what if the landowner’s generosity is justice? What if that generosity, shared with everyone, is a symbol of a new way of life – a way of love, even – and an invitation to walk that way? What if the laborers, quite unknowingly, have bought into a system that is itself unjust; a system which enacts oppression in the name of fairness and too often conflates our worth with our work?

Do you agree that God’s generosity defines God’s justice? Why or why not?

What does the phrase, “The last will be first and the first will be last,” mean to you?

Prayer: God of Moses, who rained down bread on Israel’s wandering people: lead us to the food that never leaves us craving but fills our whole humanity with life enough for all; through Jesus Christ, the true bread of heaven. Amen. Prayers for an Inclusive Church (2009) alt