Activity time: 25 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Handout 3, The Parable of the Vineyard
• Leader Resource 1, Average Hourly Wages by Profession in the United States
• Newsprint, markers, and tape
• Tape or glue sticks to share
• Paper and pens
• Optional: “American Slavery, Reinvented,” The Atlantic,  September 21, 2015
• Optional: Shocking Facts About the US Prison System- Animated Infographic (3:23)
• Optional: Computer with Internet connection, projector and speakers

Preparation for Activity

• Review Handout 3 and prepare to read this excerpt from Christian scripture to the group.
• Print two copies of Leader Resource 1. Keep one intact. Cut the other copy to create slips of paper with wages on them, and recycle the paper with occupations listed.
• On a sheet of newsprint, title two columns “Occupation” and “Salary.” Under “Occupation” list the occupations listed on the intact Leader Resource, but in a different, random order. Post the newsprint.
• Post a sheet of blank newsprint.
• Optional: Recruit one or two volunteer readers and provide them with Handout 3 in advance.
• Optional: Read "American Slavery, Reinvented" and prepare to distribute the article or share its contents.
• Optional: Set up and test video equipment, queue Shocking Facts About the US Prison System.

Description of Activity

Distribute Handout 3, The Parable of the Vineyard. Say:

We will hear a piece of Christian scripture. If it is familiar to you, please try to hear the story as if for the first time and be open to fresh interpretations. For example, the parable of the vineyard speaks to the idea of rewards in heaven, but also could speak to values about the just distribution of rewards in this world.

Read (or have volunteers read) the parable aloud. Then ask:

What principles and values does this text seem to support?

As values are named, record them on newsprint.

Next, ask the following questions, allowing participants a chance to respond to each one. Capture on newsprint any additional values that are named.

• Does the solution in the parable seem fair to you?
• How does this parable speak to social and economic support for those who have trouble finding work?
• Are there other values that are either supported by or in conflict with this parable that are important to you?
• Do any of the values we name come from our cultural or family experiences?

Add to the newsprint any other values named. Invite participants to keep this discussion in mind as they look at comparative compensation figures for the United States labor market. Call attention to the posted list of occupations and distribute cut slips of paper from Leader Resource 1.

Distribute tape or glue sticks. Invite participants to affix their slips of paper with hourly wage information next to the occupation they believe it represents. After everyone has made guesses, share the correct matches from the intact copy of Leader Resource 1.

Ask:

How did we do? Are there surprises here?

Then lead the group in discussion:

• Where do wages and true worth seem to radically diverge for you, and why?
• Does examination of comparative wages change your interpretation or response to the parable of the vineyard?

Summarize the contents of “American Slavery, Revisited” or show Shocking Facts about the US Prison System. Ask participants to consider how it changes their thinking about work to know that there are prisoners working for little or nothing whose production is part of our US economy. Ask: where do these next-to-no-wage workers fit into the job and wages statistics we have just looked at? What does it say that these workers are not even included in wage statistics?