Daily Office Readings for Friday of Proper 3: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 31: Evening, Psalm 35:
Proverbs 23:19 to 21 and 29 to 24:2: 1st Timothy 5: 17 to 25: Matthew 13: 31 to 35.
“He put before them 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.’
The plan for the mustard seed was not just for the seed, or the tree that it will become, it includes potential housing for the birds of the air and sustenance for the wellbeing of other lives . So too, God’s plan for each of us is not for us only, but for our neighbors, and our planet. As believers, we must learn to think “outside the box.”
I think it was Albert Einstine who said, “All things are relative.” I think he was on to something. Given that the same God made all things, all matter of life are related through that same God. Therefore, all life is here for the benefit of life beyond itself.
As our scripture for today informs us, this is only one of many parables Jesus spoke of to the crowd. “Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing:” (Matthew 13:34). Though our souls may be the smallest of seeds, as our souls grow and develop, they, with our help, continue to do God’s plan.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom.
What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: For the Conservation of Natural Resources (BCP p.827)
Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
onewhoponders 