Pentecost 3, June 14, 2015 (full size gallery)
We had 37 for Pentecost 3, a good number on a week that saw temperatures soar into the 90’s as we approach the beginning of summer. The rain on Saturday night brought only minor relief.
We thank those who brought food, especially spaghetti and sauce, for the Village Harvest this week on June 17. In particular, Roger, Woody and Susan.
Tucker has proposed fixing up the bench by the Parish House. A good youth project. Johnny seems to think it only needs a good power wash. Boards are in good shape.
About 10am the Osprey were circling around St. Peter’s. There is a nest in the sycamore in the front, the babies were visible only once today.
The day lilies are almost in full bloom. What a lovely sight in June! They are alll over Port Royal and other lilies.
Today we celebrated Becky and Chris anniversary. Catherine mentioned we should send cards when adding people to the prayer list. Cards and stamps donated will be in the back pew. This is in the bulletin
The lectionary this week is about the surprising and unexpected Revelations of God. The readings are here
Amid the concrete limitations of life, there is than meets the eye – and to search for it and praise it. In the Old Testament reading, Ezekiel describes God’s reign like a tree, a sprig of cedar plucked up and replanted upon the top of a mountain. God is doing something new, replanting twigs, so that they may grow into new trees, budding leaves and bearing fruit. The Psalm emphasizes we are to sing and make music to praise God, for we are created by God to be creative, and to use our creative gifts to praise God and further God’s work in the world. In the Epistle reading from Corinthians, Paul speaks to the dichotomy of the body here on earth and being with God beyond this life, and that this barrier that divides the two, death, is broken open by Christ. He urges the Corinthians to make it their aim to please the lord in the knowledge that their reward at the final judgment depends not upon faith alone, but also upon their deeds. In the Gospel, God goes beyond the superficial to see beauty hidden in geodes and wonders in a small seed.
The sermon concentrated on the Gospel. The key question – "So why would Jesus have compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed?"
1. "So first of all, the parable of the mustard seed reminds me that if I’m too busy looking for God’s kingdom in the trappings of success, in what to the world looks mighty and powerful, then I very well might miss seeing God’s kingdom hidden in the proverbial mustard seeds that are easy to ignore or walk right past and never even see."
2. "I’m relieved that the kingdom of God is an insignificant seed that grows into a shrub instead of into a mighty tree. I wonder what branches I’m going to put forth, and what birds of the air are going to come and make nests in the shade. And I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m excited to ask the question and be open to the possibilities that God has in mind for me, because those possibilities, if they are truly from God, will be life giving for me and for those around me." Because I want to be part of the kingdom of God, and I know I’ll never be a mighty tree—I’m just an ordinary person—an ordinary shrub. But when God gives the growth, I can grow into a shrub with large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.
"That’s what today’s parables about the kingdom of God are about for me this time around—having the faith to plant the seeds God gives me to plant, then having the confidence and the patience to leave the growth to God, and to make it my aim to please God every day in my sleeping and in my rising, as I wait for the kingdom of God to be fulfilled in my life; as I wait for everything old to pass away as God grows me into the new creation that God means for me to become."
Lectionary commentary, Canon Lance Ousley, Diocese of Olympia, Washington
"All things come from God, and of God’s own we give." Our readings this week remind us of God’s Providence and our call to partnership in establishing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. God creates, anoints and causes growth. And God calls us to attend to all Creation that there will be much fruit born. There is an ecological thread here to be found and developed, but I want to focus on the comprehensive point of our call to be avid partners in Kingdom establishment.
In Mark 4 Jesus states, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." This image is a little difficult for us in our mechanized agricultural reality today where one farmer can use a combine and do the work of many hands. But Jesus’ 1st Century image is one of a community effort sowing the God-created-seed and tending the crop, waiting for the divine mystery of growth and then harvesting grain to feed many. The partnership between the Divine and common humanity would have been clear to a non-scientific non-mechanized audience.
Mark’s version of the Parable of the Mustard Seed takes on a slightly different perspective than the version in Matthew and Luke when preceded by the above parable. Mark sets it in the context of the community partnership and how our efforts together empowered by the Holy Spirit bear much fruit for the good of all. God calls us together, blesses and multiplies our efforts in ways we can’t even ask for or imagine. This Divine partnership feeds us and deepens in community ministry.
The bottom line is we all are called to participate in the work of the Kingdom. This means with our lives and our resources. And as we pool our time, our abilities and our financial & material resources together we find our contributions make a huge difference in establishing God’s kingdom in our midst. There are no "mechanized versions" that can take the place of any one of these elements of our contribution to God’s kingdom. We must do this work in community and each person’s gifts are important. Every bit counts, even those things that we might consider the size of a mustard seed.
There is a saying, "You reap what you sow." If this is true, what will you reap? And if you do this in the Community of the Divine Partnership, what will your harvest look like?