Proper 21 | Ordinary Time 26 - A

A woman who works at Weight Watchers said that a new client had begun her diet. When she came in to be weighed after the first stressful week, she stepped on the scale and found that she had lost a couple of pounds. The dieter wasn’t too happy, however. She complained, “My friend comes here to Weight Watchers, and she said she lost ten pounds her first week! She told me I’d lose ten pounds in the first week too! But look at this!”

Helen’s picked up her phone to look at the new message.

“Charlie!” she yelled. “Bobby says that he wants to video call us. Are you available and could you bring the laptop?”

Charlie walked into the living room with the computer already opened up. “Helen, what do you think I’d be doing?”

Helen shrugged. “You have your hobbies.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and was about to say more when the chime sounded that Bobby was calling. Charlie sat the laptop down and snuggled next to Helen as their son’s face appeared on the screen.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. (v. 16)

Note: You might want to practice the activity to decide how long to set the alarm for; 3 to 4 minutes is probably enough. The instructions will explain who you are to be speaking too. Most of all, have fun with this!

If I were to catalog the most frequent expressions mouthed by hospital patients, at the top or near the top would be the expression: "It's not fair!" "Father, I exercised, I watched my diet, I did what I was supposed to do, and here I am with a heart attack. It's not fair!" "Father, he just retired, he finally had a chance to do all the things he wanted to do and now he's had a stroke and will probably never leave this bed. It's not fair!"