The Mighty Mustard Seed

 

 

 

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

7"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? 8Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"

Luke 17:5-10 *

Shepherd Tending His Flock

MILLET, Jean François

1860-1865

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn

New York

United States

 

https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20221001262192429&code=ACT&RC=57156&Row=12

 

Jean-François Millet dedicated his career to heroic and bleak depictions of the peasants of Barbizon, where he lived. Here, he endows a shepherd with an imposing monumentality, head haloed against the sky as he stands among his flock like a Christ figure. Such images were widely perceived in France and the United States as reflecting the inherent spirituality of peasants. 



Conservative critics scorned his work, viewing his subjects as ugly, animal-like figures prone to revolution. Referring to similar paintings by Millet and other Barbizon artists, one government art official in the 1860s said, “This is the painting of democrats, of men who don’t change their underwear.”



https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/11703

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad things do happen in the world,

like war, natural disasters, disease.

But out of those situations always arise

stories of ordinary people

doing extraordinary things.

~ Daryn Kagan

 

 

 

 

Despair can be infectious. 

But so can hope. 

Hope should always be tempered by reality, 

but it also should not be underestimated. 

~ Dan Rather

 

 

 

 

 

Liftoff!

At our church last Sunday

Rev. Richard Aylor

 

Alan Lebsock

 

Ron Klusman

 

 

Chew and Chat

Marilee Ross, Karla Byrd, Sondra Kellogg

 

The Big Boy elk are providing a lot of bugling.

Especially in the wee small hours!!!

 

Bunco

Only two tables this week … just as noisy as ever! 

Jan Schoonveld, Carla McFadden, Heidi Smithson, Linda LaGrange, Nancy Grant, Dianne Lebsock, Kelly Selva

 

 

Greg Podd, a member of our own Rotary Club, was our speaker on Friday.

Greg currently serves as one of the Trustees for The Rotary Foundation (2022-2026), Chair of the Pay-It-Forward-Foundation Board of Directors, Member of the Rotary Action Group for Family Health & Aids Prevention Board of Directors, Chair of the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona, Inc. Board of Directors, and incoming Vice Chair of the Rotary Foundation Trustees.

He helped us understand the Rotary International structure and gave an overview of the Foundation and its opportunities and challenges.

 

Pam and Greg Podd

 

Greg and Pam also shared with us some of the successes of

Rotary International’s Gift of Life Program.

Our MissionHealing Little Hearts Around the WorldOur mission is to provide lifesaving cardiac treatment to children in need from developing countries regardless of gender, creed, or national origin. Our goal is to develop sustainable pediatric cardiac programs by implementing screening, surgical and training missions which are supported by autonomous Gift of Life programs, Rotary Global Grants and generous donors from around the world.https://www.giftoflifeinternational.org

 

 

 

We should celebrate all that is good and sweet in life. 

We should work to improve ourselves and help others. 

And we should remember, with humility, 

that it is our responsibility to leave this world better off 

in any way we can with whatever time we have. 

~ Elliot Kirschner

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2, 2022  Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost - Year C

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

* The two images on which Jesus is building in this parable of the mustard seed are a therapeutic image of life and healing, and a fast-growing weed. What a strange thing for Jesus to say: “I’m planting a weed in the world!” Jesus’ teachings of nonviolence and simplicity are planted and they’re going to flourish, even wildly so. The old world is over.

The virtue for living in the in-between times Jesus calls “faith.” He is talking about the grace and the freedom to live God’s dream for the world now—while not rejecting the world as it is. That’s a mighty tension that is not easily resolved.

There are always two worlds. The world as it is usually operates on power, ego, and success. The world as it could be operates out of love. One is founded on dominative power, and the other is a continual call to right relationship and reciprocal power. The secret of this Kingdom life is discovering how we can live in both worlds simultaneously.

~ Richard Rohr  

The Kingdom Is like a Mustard Seed
Monday,  November 16, 2020

 

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

World's Smallest Seed•  40"X30"   •  oil/canvas   •  by James B. Janknegt

http://www.bcartfarm.com/newparables/seed2.html

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it  would obey you.          

Luke 17:5-10

 

 

Hurricane Ian

 

Getty Images

We Pray ...

 

 

 

 

LECTIONARY

 

Lamentations 1:1–6 

Lamentations 3:19–26 or Psalm 137 

2 Timothy 1:1–14 

Luke 17:5–10

 

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you . . .
“When you have done all you have been commanded, say ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we are obliged to do.’”
Luke 17: 5-10

THE WORD:

Faith is not something that is won, bought or earned.  Faith only becomes genuine in our lives when we realize in all humility that faith is a gift freely given by God.  The two images in today’s Gospel point to this mystery of faith:

The gift of faith is like the mustard seed, among the tiniest of seeds.  The seed of faith needs to be nurtured or else it will wither and die; but allowed to grow, it yields the greatest of harvests.

In the light of real faith, we realize our total dependence on the providence of God.  To God’s graciousness we owe everything.  We recognize ourselves as God’s “useless servants,” deserving nothing by our own account.  The only adequate response we can make to God's unfathomable and immeasurable goodness is to live lives of joyful gratitude and humble servanthood.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#oct2

 

 

First Reading Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26

1How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.

2She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

3Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

4The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.

5Her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper, because the LORD has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.

6From daughter Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like stags that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.

19The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! 20My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. 21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

25The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Psalm 137:1-9

1By the rivers of Babylon-

there we sat down and there we wept

when we remembered Zion.

2On the willows there

we hung up our harps.

3For there our captors

asked us for songs,

and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4How could we sing the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

6Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

7Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem's fall,

how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down!

Down to its foundations!"

8O daughter Babylon, you devastator!

Happy shall they be who pay you back

what you have done to us!

9Happy shall they be who take your little ones

and dash them against the rock!

Second Reading 2 Timothy 1:1-14

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

2To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3I am grateful to God-whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did-when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

8Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Gospel Luke 17:5-10

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

7"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? 8Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"