The Rev Moira Jamieson writes: As you prepare for worship this morning, you might like to take a few moments to think about your faith and how its strength has helped you through the difficulties of the past 18 months or so. Even faith that seems to us to be so little or so insignificant can grow into something larger and more visible. The readings set for today show us that with the help and encouragement of our God, our faith can bear fruit and flourish.
Listen now as David plays for us ‘All My Hope On God Is Founded’. Sing along if you wish.
All my hope on God is founded; he doth still my trust renew.
Me through change and chance he guideth, only good and only true.
God unknown, he alone calls my heart to be his own.
Pride of man and earthly glory, sword and crown betray his trust;
what with care and toil he buildeth, tower and temple fall to dust.
But God’s power, hour by hour, is my temple and my tower.
God’s great goodness aye endureth, deep his wisdom, passing thought:
splendour, light and life attend him, beauty springeth out of naught.
Evermore from his store new-born worlds rise and adore.
Daily doth th’Almighty giver bounteous gifts on us bestow;
his desire our soul delighteth, pleasure leads us where we go.
Love doth stand at his hand; joy doth wait on his command.
Still from man to God eternal sacrifice of praise be done,
high above all praises praising for the gift of Christ, his Son.
Christ doth call one and all: ye who follow shall not fall.
Robert Bridges
In the first reading from Ezekiel 17 vs 22-24, God sets out how from a small twig he will grow a large tree under which many will seek shade and will know that God is their Lord and that Gods faith in His people will accomplish all that He sets out to do. Listen now as Martin reads this passage.
During this pandemic, many people have had to step up and endure difficult situations, putting others before themselves and reaching out a helping hand. None more so than those working at the forefront of the NHS and those caring for families and friends. During Carer’s Week it was a great opportunity to pray for those who care for others quietly and in the background. I like to think that our prayers, as they ascend to God, provide a shelter over carers and those they care for and help to give them strength to continue the loving care they provide each day.
The parable of the mustard seed in our Gospel passage is a well known story, but until I began preaching on this passage I hadn’t realised just how enormous a mustard plant can grow to. Just look at the size of this plant compared to the height of the man standing in front of it! It really does look like a tree that the birds of the air could shelter under and find shade, and it does seem strange that in this passage, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God with a tiny mustard seed. However, when we realise just how large this plant can grow, it makes more sense. Listen now to June reading the Gospel passage from Mark 4 vs 26-34 and think about why it is that Jesus chose to speak to people in parables and only explained later in private to his disciples what they meant.
In his ministry, Jesus always tried to sew small seeds of faith, hope and love into the people, to allow them to seek things out for themselves and to let their faith grow gradually into something big. If you love nature and like to grow things in your garden, you will know the joy of planting seeds, waiting for them to germinate and with nurturing, turn into beautiful plants. When we decide to plant seeds, we need to research the best ways to encourage germination. In other words, we need to gain knowledge. Then after we plant the seeds we have to have faith that they will indeed begin to sprout and grow. Once they are established, we hope that with love and care they will flourish and grow to their own potential. Such was Jesus’ ministry. He told the people just enough to get them interested in what he was saying, then he gave them time to think about what he said so that their faith would begin to grow. Jesus gave them hope for the future and encouraged them to grow in love for one another. The ministry of Jesus was a time of sowing; a time that would lead to the seed which he sowed growing to a glorious harvest. Jesus was sowing the seeds of the harvest for God, and His disciples would be harvesting those hearts long after His death and resurrection.
In the parable of the mustard seed, its tiny beginnings were compared with the tiny beginnings of the kingship of God. The preaching of an unknown prophet (Jesus) in a corner of Palestine is compared with the greatness of the end result; and I wonder of the birds in this parable are meant to symbolize the Gentiles, those whom Jesus is welcoming into the fold? Then again, they may just simply be meant to indicate the great size of the tree, big enough to make nests in it! Small things – small events – hidden forces and insignificant things, these are the things that often bring about deeply significant results, so why can’t we trust in the things we cannot see? We seem helpless to resist our obsession with the important, the highly visible, the fast and the dramatic in this world! The message is challenging and difficult for us to grasp; God’s reign is sown into the hidden places as a small seed that slowly and quietly grows until it finally becomes large enough to provide shelter or a harvest. It is the small and hidden things that God loves to use far more than the loud and visible, it would seem. Like farmers, we can nurture the soil of our hearts and our communities, and we can watch for the signs of growth, but we cannot make God’s reign come into being. That’s God’s work, not ours! We are invited to turn our eyes away from the obvious, the strong, the wealthy, the loud, the large and to search out the hidden, the small, the insignificant and the silent places where the seeds of God’s reign are sown and are growing almost without us noticing.
As we pause now to bring our prayers to God, you might like to say these verses from Psalm 92 set for today.
“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Amen.
Pray today for those who are at the beginning of their faith journey, that they would flourish and grow in God’s love.
Pray for those who have lost faith and are struggling to find God’s peace in their lives.
Pray for all who care for others in whatever capacity that they would find rest and support when they need it.
Pray for those who are on our minds this day and entrust them to God’s care and His love.
Listen now to David playing ‘Now the Green Blade Riseth’ and join in if you wish.
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
In the grave they laid him, Love whom we had slain, thinking that never he would wake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain, he that for three days in the grave had lain;
quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain, your touch can call us back to life again;
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
J. M. C. Crum
May God bless you and your family this coming week as you seek to follow Him in faith, in hope and in love. Amen.
