10/22/2026
Communion Meditation
At the communion table on Sunday, October 11, elder Matthew Swarthout offered a profound meditation that reflected both the struggle and the hope of our scripture for the day (Matthew 20:1-15). We wanted to share it with you here:
I think most of us have a pretty strong sense of when something is fair. If we work harder, we should get more. If we give more of ourselves, we should get more in return. And if we do everything we possibly can for someone we love, we should at least be able to expect things to turn out okay. Right? Well, life certainly has a funny way of reminding us that it doesn’t always work that way. As a caregiver for someone with an incurable disease, I’ve had to wrestle with that last one more than I ever wanted. There is something incredibly difficult about giving so much of yourself to help someone you love, while knowing that no amount of effort, no matter how much love goes into it, can change the ultimate outcome. You show up. You do your best. You keep going. And still, there are things you simply cannot fix. To me, that just doesn’t seem fair. But… maybe that’s part of what makes Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard so challenging. We hear about people who work all day and others who show up at the very end, yet everyone receives the same pay. Wait, what? Totally not fair! I know that’s where my mind goes. But… maybe God isn’t asking us to measure grace with the same yardstick we use to measure fairness. Maybe the point isn’t what we’ve earned, how long we’ve worked, or how much we’ve given. Maybe the point is that God’s love was never ours to earn in the first place. And thank goodness for that, because there are days when I don’t have anything left to give. Days when I’m tired, frustrated, scared, or just plain sad. On those days, I need to remember that God’s grace isn’t a paycheck for a job well done. It’s a gift. Freely given, even when I don’t feel particularly strong, faithful, or deserving.
As we gather at this sacred table, let us remember that Christ’s invitation is not a reward for the hardest workers or the people who have everything figured out. It is an invitation for all of us, exactly as we are, to receive the gift of a love that asks nothing in return. As we go forward faithfully through another week, may we find the grace to give freely, the humility to receive freely, and the faith to trust that even when life doesn’t feel fair, we are never beyond the reach of God’s Love and Light.
