To Plant a Mustard Seed--May 9, 2010

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.”