The Third Sunday after Pentecost, At-Home Service for June 13th
The passage read today from the Gospel according to Mark contained two parables as well as a saying about Jesus. Those things can look and function a little bit like a picture frame. Some frames are simple (like this one). Other frames are more elaborate. Some frames can be works of art by themselves, apart from anything inside of them, but the purpose of most frames is to support and display what is inside.
Click here to view the at-home version of the service.
Pastor Rike’s Sermon
The beginning and the end of the parable of “the seed growing secretly,” the first of the parables heard today, functioned a bit like a frame. At the beginning of that parable, we heard that the seed was sown on the ground. At the end of the parable, we heard that the earth produced of itself a harvest from that seed. The stuff in the middle of the frame, how the earth produced a harvest from the seed, was not clear. There was no mention in that first parable of plowing the ground, cultivating, watering, or any other kind of tending. The person in the parable simply slept and woke night and day. The parable emphasized how passive humanity must be in obtaining the kingdom of God. Martin Luther echoed the idea in what he wrote about the kingdom of God in the Small Catechism. Concerning the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come,” he taught, “God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us… God’s kingdom comes whenever our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that through the Holy Spirit’s grace we believe God’s holy word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.”
Click here to read Pastor Rike’s sermon.
Video Options
Follow along with the service on video led by Pastor Rike, with music performed by Randy Broker.
The Third Sunday After Pentecost for June 13th includes: Intro Hymn - Almighty God, Your Word is Cast performed by Randy Broker First Reading- Ezekiel 17:22-24 Gospel- Mark 4:26-34 Sermon by Pastor Rike Hymn - The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve, performed by Randy Broker Prayers Blessing