A Parable of a diner and the United States Congress
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2025 Blog #43
November 3, 2025
A Parable of a diner and the United States Congress
I have a parable for us to consider. It is similar, I think, to a parable that Jesus told about some wicked tenants. Here it goes. Please use your imagination.
For years I have dreamed about owning a diner if I ever retire, which doesn’t seem likely. Yet, I still have this dream. Where did this dream come from? I guess because during my college years I did a lot of work in cafeterias, diners, and catering halls. I really enjoyed it, and occasionally, considered doing food service as a career. Yet, God’s call to ministry was too strong to resist.
Just pretend with me that I did not enter ministry, and instead, purchased a diner. Rather than run it myself, I hired a team to run the day-to-day operations of my diner. The team that ran it, doesn’t own the diner, I do, and their job is to keep it running and profitable for me.
At first, the management team was doing well, and the diner functioned well, but after a while, the team let their egos get in the middle of things and the team could not agree on what must be done and how things must be run. Before long, things got so bad that the management team could not agree on anything. Eventually, the management team got into such a disagreement, they decided to close the diner down. They announced that it was closed, without even consulting the owner of the diner, me.
Of course, there is only one way for me to respond to the closing of my diner, I will fire my whole management team, take the keys away from them, boot the team members into the street and find new people to run my diner.
Ross Perot reminded us during the presidential campaign of 1992 that we are the owners of our country. Those who we elect to congress are our subordinate employees. It is their job to run the country that we own. Now, about a month ago, our employees shut down the government that we own. What should we do about that?
I think that the answer is clear. We must fire everyone who we hired and put into congress. The mid-term congressional election is only one year away. Maybe it is time to do a clean sweep and put everyone in congress on the unemployment line. That is what I plan to do.
I don’t expect that anyone else will join this quest. Most people I know will vote along party lines with each party blaming the other party for the shutdown. Also, memories are short. During the 2026 elections, most people will not remember that our subordinates shut our government down and caused a great deal of suffering.
My word to the members of congress is, “You’re Fired!” I hope that you will join me in making this happen.
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