To Plant a Mustard Seed--May 21, 2017

[From May 10, 2015 archive]

Lord God,

You have remembered us in our low estate,

for your steadfast love endures forever,

and everything you created is good.

Teach us to receive with thanksgiving,

and--to those in need--give with open hand.

From small beginnings like these

your kingdom grows

and grows.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 93; 150; 136; 117

Deut. 15:1-11

1 Tim. 3:14-4:5

Matt. 13:24-34a

Selected Verses

Ps. 136:23

It is [the LORD] who remembered us in our low estate,
          for his steadfast love endures forever…

Deut. 15:7-8

If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.  You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.

1 Tim. 4:4-5

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

Matt. 13:31-32

[Jesus] put before [the crowds] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”