Opening Prayer

God of small seeds and mighty plants, you take our meager lives and with Your love cause them to produce acts of loving kindness for You in this world.

You hear our cries and find us when we are lost and wandering in fear. You bring us home with You so that we may be made whole, rejoicing in your goodness.

Help us to joyfully serve You all our days, knowing that You are always watching over us. Prepare our hearts to receive Your word and our spirits to respond in eagerness to serve You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Children’s Time

The kingdom of heaven is like…

Confession & Words of Assurance

 

God of forgiveness,

we confess the times we fail to involve ourselves in planting any seeds of faith in the lives of others; 
the times when our personal agendas become more important than Yours; the times when we have denied others the opportunity to expand their faith through our lack of interest or involvement; the times when our lives become so entangled with the values of the world that we forget what You have said and done and promised. 

Lord Jesus Christ, we know that when we become disconnected from You, our lives becomes parched and unfruitful and our faith becomes stunted and dry.  Bless and renew our lives, we pray, so that we remain connected to You at all times and in all places,  strengthening our faith to expand and, growing strongly and vigorously,  to bear the fruit of Your mercy, Your love, Your undying life.  Amen.

Jesus reminds us that the little things make the biggest difference. One small act of contrition can make huge impacts in both our lives and those around us. Forgiveness is a challenge to seek but easy to receive. Don’t dwell. Your sins are forgiven when you ask in honesty.

Scripture

 

Stories about a mustard seed and yeast

Matthew 13³¹ Jesus told them another story:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. ³² Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.

³³ Jesus also said:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.

A Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴ The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.

A Valuable Pearl

⁴⁵ The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.

A Fish Net

⁴⁷ The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When the net is full, it is dragged to the shore, and the fishermen sit down to separate the fish. They keep the good ones, but throw the bad ones away. ⁴⁹ That’s how it will be at the end of time. Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right. ⁵⁰ Then those evil people will be thrown into a flaming furnace, where they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.

New and Old Treasures

⁵¹ Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, “Yes, we do.”

⁵² So he told them, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom.”

 

Sermon

 

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Prayers of the People

(Please add your prayers aloud and in the comment in section below)

God of hope, we have so many things to pray for its hard to know where to begin. We know You are already involved in all of these situations and so much more, and we add our prayers to those of Your children throughout the world.

We pray for countries that are facing both the tyranny of their own governments and the devastating effects of Covid-19. So many around the world don’t have safe places to keep clean or avoid infection. Open the minds and hearts of those who mock this virus, and strengthen Your people to push governments to respond in ways that help all of the vulnerable.

We pray for parents, teachers and students struggling with decisions for this upcoming school year, for youth and young adults as more of their peers become infected. Help them with wisdom to know what is best for their situation and to not be mired in fear of the unknown or false assumptions of invincibility.

We pray for all people struggling with unemployment, family upset, illness, heartache and loss. Help them hear the hope in Your message and the love that You have promised to all of Your children.

We pray for our farmers and food producers, for our clerks and attendants, for our servers and chefs, for our medical teams and first responders, for all those providing service in our community.

Gathering all of these prayers along with those we have deep in our hearts, we pray the prayer that tradition has taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Benediction & Commission

 

As you leave this time of worship

Take the smallest seed and produce life.
Add yeast to the bread of life and it will grow.

Find the hidden treasure in your life, invest all you have in living for God. Cast wide your net and haul in the catch.

All these blessings and more are yours from God,
Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,
there for you today and always.