A brief service for a cold Sunday

Sunday, January 14, 2024
Second Sunday after Epiphany

Click here to watch this service online

The weather outside is frightful, but hopefully a brief little live stream will be delightful! Conditions are too cold and icy for our usual worship gathering, but I pray this may at least be a little God moment for the start of your week.

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Hymn: Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil (ELW 512)

Lord, let my heart be good soil,

open to the seed of your word.

Lord, let my heart be good soil

where love can grow and peace is understood.

When my heart is hard, break the stone away.

When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.

When my heart is lost, lead me on your way.

Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart,

Lord, let my heart be good soil.

Reading: Mark 4:1-34
¹Again [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”

¹⁰ When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables, ¹² in order that

‘they may indeed look but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ ”

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But they have no root and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²⁰ And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. ²³ If you have ears to hear, then hear!” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you. ²⁵ For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

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.

Reading: “Fueled” – poem by Marcie Hans
Fueled
by a million
man-made
wings of fire,
the rocket tore a tunnel
through the sky
and everybody cheered.
Fueled
only by a thought from God,
the seedling urged its way
through the thickness of black,
and as it pierced
the heavy ceiling of the soil
and launched itself up into outer space,
no
one
even
clapped.

Reflection / ramblings on the reading(s)

Hymn: We Plow the Fields and Scatter / Aramos nuestros campos (ELW 680)

We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God’s almighty hand.
God sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes, and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.

You only are the maker
of all things near and far.
You paint the wayside flower,
you light the evening star.
The winds and waves obey you,
by you the birds are fed;
much more to us, your children,
you give our daily bread.

We thank you, our creator,
for all things bright and good,
the seed-time, and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food.
No gifts have we to offer
for what your love imparts,
but what you most would treasure:
our humble, thankful hearts.

Prayers

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Hymn: On What Has Now Been Sown (ELW 550)

On what has now been sown, your blessing, Lord, bestow;

the pow’r is yours alone to make it sprout and grow.

O Lord, in grace, the harvest raise, 

and yours alone shall be the praise!



To you our wants are known, from you are all our pow’rs;

accept what is your own and pardon what is ours.

Our praises, Lord, and prayers receive 

and to your word a blessing give.



Oh, grant that each of us, now met before you here,

may meet together thus when you and yours appear,

and follow you to heav’n our home.

E’en so, Amen! Lord Jesus, come!

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Thanks be to God!

Thanks for joining me – stay warm and safe out there, everyone! Blessings on your week.