Last year my family began watching Survivor together. Although the show is over twenty years old, it feels brand new to us… “Have you seen Survivor this week?! (we are on season 31… everyone else is on season 46). The arc of the show is that twenty strangers have to work together to eliminate each other until there is one lone survivor. Whoever out wits, out plays, and out lasts, will win. Our favorite moments are usually at the “tribal counsel” where a person is voted off each episode, often completely blindsided. Their “friends” aren’t who they thought they were, because one person’s leaving means another day of survival for the remaining players.

One of the reasons why I think Survivor is such a popular show (for nearly a quarter century) is that it mirrors our felt experience in real life to a degree. How many of us feel “imposter syndrome,” or have to navigate in our communities with the thought of, “Who is in my tribe?” I have found that much of my anxiety is often an unconscious fear of being voted out of community. In any case, we all have a felt sense that we have to get ahead because it’s a survivor type of world out there.

The good news is that Jesus asks us to imagine a different kind of world. A world where people are not voted off, but invited in. I invite you to join us this Sunday as we continue our parable series. We will immerse ourselves into the world of the good vineyard owner from Matthew 20:1-16, who flips this competitive model of living up-side-down.