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St Clement Church Third Sunday after Trinity Community Service

Good morning

Today we’re back to gardening and Jesus’ parables – or are we?

There are root systems and root systems. I’ve just had Martin’s two ‘pride and joy’ fir trees removed because of their closeness to the bungalow foundations – I do feel bad – but I’ve also seen the damage tree roots can do when they are too close to walls.

Our Gospel reading is about a mustard seed – hardly relevant to the above, surely … or is it?

With love to you all

Liz

Let us be still for a moment as we draw near to worship God. Let us take a few seconds to remind ourselves of why we are gathered -together today.

Listen – God speaks even through the background noise of the world around us.

Lord God, in this short time together, open our ears and our eyes to see your vision for this place and our part within it.

Teach us, hear our prayers, and enable us for service wherever you might take us, to your praise and glory.

We say together

Heavenly Father, we gather in your presence today with open hearts and minds, ready to worship and praise your holy name. We ask that you bless this time of worship so that we may be uplifted and inspired by your presence. Fill us with your love and grace, and help us to honour you in all that we do. Amen

Hymn: 495 God is working his purpose out

Prayer of Penitence

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy,

slow to anger and of great kindness.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his mercy upon those who fear him.

Holy God,

Holy and strong,

Holy and immortal,

Have mercy on us.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he set our sins from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

Amen

Collect for Third Sunday after Trinity

Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and you have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Readings:

Ezekiel 17. 22 – 24

2 Corinthians 5. 6 – 17

Hymn: 339 Be thou my vision

Gospel: Mark 4. 26 - 34

(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord’)

Such a large crowd gathered around Jesus that he got into a boat and began to teach them using many parables. Jesus 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.

Jesus also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? Upon the ground

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.’

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.)

Reflection

Oh dear, we’re back to Jesus’ teaching and parables again.

No, that didn’t come out right – what I really mean is – parables are such a challenge … well, to me, they are. We all know what a parable is - a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson and Jesus uses them to teach.

When Jesus tells a parable there’s definitely more to it than just what one hears. One can’t skim it and then move on. It’s intended to challenge one, it’s intended to make one stop and think: ‘What does it mean?’

To unbelievers, Jesus only speaks in parables. To his believing disciples, however, he explains everything.

To those who have already hardened their hearts against Jesus, they conceal a truth about the kingdom of God. To believers they reveal a truth about that same kingdom.

So, it should be simple, shouldn’t it? We’re all believers, after all.

Well, it maybe for you, but for me each parable is a challenge every time I read it.

Why?

Well, when I look back at my life today, what’s different compared to my life a year ago, three, five, twenty years ago? Think about yours. I’m not asking about circumstances or events, rather, I’m asking about you. In what way have you changed? Have your values changed, the things that guide and direct your life? Are your priorities different? Has your spirituality changed, your concerns for the world and others? What troubles your soul and breaks your heart these days? Has your self- image changed or the way you view the world? What seeds have germinated and taken root in you? What new sprouts are coming up in you? Where is growth taking place and what does that look like?

And, how did that happen?

I suspect, like me, if you think about it, you will have changed, grown perhaps, and often, without being aware of when or why. There is a dynamism about our lives, a spirit moving within us. Everyone of us has been seeded and something is growing within us. Sometimes we don’t see it, believe it or trust it. But it’s there. Sometimes we wait years, hoping, looking, wondering when, and then one day we see the first green blade shoot up. Other times we wake up one day and are surprised by what has changed within us. How did that happen? When did it happen? I don’t know, but Jesus says it’s always been there. It’s not dependent upon us, but we participate in it.

This parable is not about gardening or farming. Jesus is using gardening or farming images to talk about your life and my life. His parable is a metaphor for the way God works in our lives. It’s meant to offer encouragement and hope.

Our lives are like a garden that has been planted with seeds. And you know how that works. It takes time. A lot happens underground, hidden within the soil of our lives. There’s a lot of waiting.

‘It’s as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,’ Jesus says.

I wonder who are those ‘someones’ in your life? Who has scattered seeds on the ground of your life? What were those seeds?

What barren ground is waiting to be seeded and planted with your life, gifts, passions, presence, and concerns. Maybe it’s the barren ground of racism, violence, poverty. Maybe it’s the barren ground across which migrant families walk seeking a new life. Maybe it’s the barren ground of loneliness, fear or despair. Maybe it’s the barren ground of grief, pain, or heartbreak. How might you scatter seeds in those places and a thousand others like them?

Parables ask questions, they don’t give answers. They give us work to do. They offer a different lens through which to see ourselves, others, and the world. Maybe seeing differently is the beginning of being different. What is this parable showing you about your life and the world? What do you see today? What will you do with what you see? Celebrate and give thanks? Water, fertilize, prune, pull some weeds?

Make some changes?

Did you know? The mustard seed, according to Pliny the elder (who lived between 23/24 – 79AD) was the most invasive of all garden plants. It wasn’t illegal, as some would have us believe, but it certainly wasn’t popular. It could get over walls, into neighbouring fields … anywhere and everywhere. Once in, you couldn’t get it out. This parable is to show the invasive properties of this seed.

When Jesus speaks of the mustard seed that grows into a plant so large that the birds can nest being like the kingdom of heaven, I suspect we think of something like an apple tree, all nicely pruned. No, the reality of the plant Jesus speaks of is a huge plant that has runners going off everywhere that you can’t get out no matter how hard you try.

It's a nuisance that benefits God’s creation. How can it do that?

Well, when you think of the mustard seed, think about how the birds of the air, that nest in its tree, are completely looked after by God. In which case, why should we, who God cares about even more than the birds, have any worries. So, the kingdom of heaven is invasive and is evidence of God’s caring.

Which would you rather be part of: a ‘nice little pruned tree’ … or a radical invasive part of God’s provision for the whole of his creation?

I know which I’m going for!

Amen

Let us declare our faith in God

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high.

We believe in one God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen

Hymn: 408 Love divine, all loves excelling

Intercessions by Daphne Hawkins

In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ let us pray to the Father.

Merciful Father, we thank you for bringing us together in the peace and beauty of our spiritual home; for enabling us to share our time with you, and beyond these walls with those who cannot join us but are with us in spirit.