All Age Eucharist & Blessing of Pets
“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.’”
Summary
Both readings this morning use the image of something tiny and insignificant that, under God’s care, grows into something impressive: In Ezekiel 17:22-24, God plants a tender sprig that becomes a noble cedar, whilst in Mark 4:26-34, the mustard seed grows into a massive plant. In each case the resulting vegetation is remarkable not for its vitality and size but for the shelter and protection it provides for other creatures. In today’s service as we give thanks for and bless the creatures who share our lives and our homes, we reflect on our place in creation: we too are creatures, dependant on God to survive and thrive but we are also made in God’s image to share in God’s mission and ministry. We thrive, not just for our own well-being but in order to provide protection and care for the whole of creation. In the face of the royal mess that humanity have made of the earth, we may be tempted to despair at our ability to fulfil the task God has given us. Yet the seed in Mark’s gospel grows in secret without human effort, the sower does not know how it sprouts and grows. God’s kingdom, like our planet, is pure gift, it flourishes because God wills it not because we cajole it. Ezekiel’s Cedar is planted in the ruins of a conquered, ransacked land, a sign that, however ill equipped we feel ourselves to be, creation will be restored and life will flourish because God has promised it.
FIRST READING
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of a cedar;
I will set it out.
I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will plant it
on a high and lofty mountain.
On the mountain height of Israel
I will plant it,
in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit,
and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.
All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree,
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.
GOSPEL
Mark 4.26-34
‘He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 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.’
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
