A Poem a Sunday - June 14

In preparation for Worship:

A Poem a Sunday - June 14, 2015

Pentecost III - St. Mark 4:26-34

26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Seedy Story

Seeds not creeds or deeds,

Jesus tells tales of seeds.

‘Kingdom speak’ is the language of simile:

The Kingdom of God is as if…

Attention to creation

Yields revelation of God’s rule.

Seeds not creeds or deeds,

Jesus tells tales of seeds.

Scattered seed sprouts and grows

Inch by inch and row by row

And the one who scatters

Does not know.

Imagine the mustard seed

A plant that ancients call a weed

Annoying farmers and hard to tell

From the good seed that fell.

Imagine the Kingdom

Annoying all of us

Like a weed, a prickly shrub

That becomes a bush

A refuge for birds

A place for their nests

The hidden love of God

That never will rest.

Mysterious as a seed,

Persistent as a weed -

God’s loving way

Sprouts and grows.

The Kingdom comes

We do not know how

But annoyed and amazed

We furrow our brows.

Seeds not creeds or deeds,

Jesus tells tales of seeds.

Kenn Storck - June 9, 2015