Greetings all, I know I have been a little lax in
the e-votional department recently, but I hope to
make amends over the coming weeks. I also wanted to
announce a special opportunity this Sunday, June 17.
Our executive presbyter, the Rev. Sue Krummel, is
running for moderator of the General Assembly (a big
deal!) and has asked us to help. After worship, she
would like us to stick around and ask her questions
about the church, faith or theology. Anything is
fair game since this exercise is meant to model what
will happen when she is questioned on the floor of
the General Assembly in Pittsburgh later this month.
I hope you all will be thinking of questions. Now,
on to the good stuff...
He also said, ‘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.’ He also said, ‘With what can we
compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we
use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when
sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the
seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and
becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth
large branches, so that the birds of the air can
make nests in its shade.’ -Mark 4: 26-34
I will be honest with you, I do not love the
"Kingdom of God is like..." passages. Often they
seem to me confusing and obscure. I feel like, not
being a first century Jew, I don't really understand
the images. And yet as the sower scatters his seeds
on the ground, Christ has scattered words about the
Kingdom of God all over the Gospels. And for what
purpose? The purpose, I think, is to remind us what
is going on around here. These lives we lead are
intended to direct us to the work of God in our
midst. Just as the farmer sows his crops and then
simply steps back and waits until the earth has done
his work, so too do we marvel at the works of God in
our midst, until it is time for us to do our work in
God's name.
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Further, the work we are doing often does not seem grand. Every
great thing, it is important to remember, starts small. And such is
the kingdom of God. Mustard seeds are tiny, yet they grow into
this..
You didn't expect that, did you? The Kingdom of God is an impressive
thing which is always happening amongst us. We may not full
understand it, but it is there.
Prayer: Holy God, on this day help me to perceive your kingdom. I
want to be a part of it. Help me to serve you today and to see you
in all of creation. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
[Phillip Blackburn, First Presbyterian Church] |
