We held virtual worship on Sunday, July 12, 2020. You can watch a recording below, or by visiting our Facebook page by clicking here.
Spiritual growth is not a matter of chronology alone.
It’s a matter of spirit. Of heart.
Of who you are to the next person you meet.
In the next crisis you face.
In the next moment you live.Lloyd John Ogilvie
WELCOME Cheryl Lawrie, mod.
God’s realm doesn’t emerge from sanitized cleanness.
It’s born out of the dirt of the world
– from that which we wish we didn’t have to touch.
God’s realm doesn’t fall down on us from the sky.
It grows among us.
God’s realm doesn’t come out of nowhere, in a shape we don’t recognize.
It’s made of the stuff of everyday life.
Which means there’s every chance it will grow among us, right here and now.
Within the dirt and the compost of the world
lies a realm of possibility and promise.
OPENING TO GOD Doug Gray, mod.
Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth and Calvary
We celebrate your birth
Come and be born in us
Jesus of the manger and the inn
Jesus of the workshop and the temple
Jesus of the lakeside and the city
Jesus of the fireside and the roadside
We celebrate your life
Come and live in us
Jesus of Mary and Joseph
Jesus of shepherds and angels
Jesus of children and animals
Jesus of fishers and priests
Jesus of women and men
Jesus of tax collectors and prostitutes
Jesus of all who will receive you
We celebrate your resurrection
Come and complete us.
GOSPEL Matthew 13:1-9, 19-23 (Barnstone transl.)
On that day Yeshua went out of the house and sat by the sea. And a great multitude gathered before him, so that he got into a boat and sat there, and all the crowd stood on the shore. And he told them many things in parables.
He said,
Look, a sower went out to sow
And as he was scattering the seed.
Some of the grain fell on the path
And some birds came and ate it.
Other seed fell on stony ground
Where there was not much soil
And the grain sprang up quickly,
For the soil had no depth.
But when the sun came up
The seedlings were parched
And, having no roots, withered.
Some fell among the thorns
And the thorns grew and choked them.
But some fell on good earth and bore fruit.
A hundredfold and sixty and thirty.
Whoever has ears to hear, hear . . .
Now listen to the parable of the sower.
When someone hears the word of the kingdom
And does not understand it,
The evil one comes and seizes what was sown in the heart.
That is what was scattered on the path.
The one who received seed dropped into the stony ground is the one
Who hears the word and at once accepts it with joy.
But since he has no roots within himself,
All is brief and transitory,
And when affliction or persecution comes because of the word.
That sower weakens and falls away.
Now the seed dropped among the thorns is the one
Who hears the word, but the worries of the age
And the lure of riches choke the word and it gives no fruit.
But the seed sown in the good earth is the one
Who hears the word and understands
And who bears fruit a hundredfold and sixty and thirty.
REFLECTION Mandatory Composting Barb & Mitch
MUSIC Blessed Be the Name music & photos
by Kathryn Parker
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK Steve Garnaas-Holmes, mod.
O God, you will sow the seed of Yourself in us
and sometimes we won’t know it.
Sometimes we’ll suspect but not trust.
Sometimes we’ll believe but chicken out.
Sometimes we’ll do your best to receive but fail.
And sometimes your grace will bear fruit in us.
We’ll need to forgive
and sometimes we won’t try,
or try and get hung up on our own deserving,
or get discouraged when the other doesn’t get it.
And sometimes forgiveness will set us free.
O God, You will sow us in the world
and sometimes we won’t belong.
Sometimes people will misunderstand.
Sometimes they’ll dislike us or use us.
And sometimes we blossom.
Sometimes we’ll try to sow seeds of justice
but we’ll do a lousy job.
Or do it well, but folks will resist.
Or they’ll care but they’ll be overwhelmed by an unjust society.
And sometimes our witness will bear fruit.
Failure,
failure,
failure,
fruit.
All of it grace. All of it You. All of it.
SHARING PRAYERS
LORD’S PRAYER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE A Song of Peace music & photos
by Kathryn Parker
