People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: To See What We Cannot See ~ 3rd Sunday after Pentecost '21 Yr B

For Sunday, June 13, 2021; Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalm 92: 1-4, 11-14; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, [11-13], 14-17; Mark 4:26:34

Thus says the Lord GOD, I…will take a sprig…I myself will plant it…that it may produce 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. [Ezekiel 17:22-23]

It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praise to your Name, O Most High…The righteous shall flourish…and shall spread like a cedar of Lebanon…Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God; They shall still bear fruit in old age… [Psalm 92:1, 11-13a]

We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight…For the love of Christ urges us on…[2 Cor 5:6-7, 14a]

With what can we compare the kingdom of God...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." [Mark 4:30-32]

As priest and prophet to the exiles in Babylon, Ezekiel gave hope of the restoration ahead to the hopeless and helpless. Not always an easy read, Ezekiel, according to an editor in an edition of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, brings an unparalled synthesis of the terrestrial and the celestial in Israel’s religion. Certainly, the earthly and the heavenly are present in this lovely image of God planting a cedar that will be noble, bear fruit, and all the birds will live and nest in this gift from God’s own hand. The Psalmist continues this theme of being planted and bearing fruit in old age.

Paul suddenly shifts our attention in his assertion in the beginning of this 2nd Corinthians passage, that “We are always confident…” I am far from confident in my faith at times. In retreating to the passage just before this one, I was able to find a bit of internal footing, that is, Paul tells us just before that we [are to] look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. [2 Cor 4:18] It all seems very cryptic, but it then weaves into Paul's reminder this week that being at home in this earthly body, that is seen and also temporary, is life away from the Lord. We are called to seek our eternal, and not yet seen, home with our Lord God, to walk by faith, not by sight. In so doing, we rejoin the imagery of Ezekiel and the Psalmist as we become a new creation in Christ.

Jesus, who of course would know the writings of Ezekiel, carries it further in his likening the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, a very tiny seed that grows into a shrub or tree so large that birds can nest in its branches. The parable of the mustard seed appears in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, and has always resonated with me, especially later on in Luke [17:6] and in Matthew [17:20] when Jesus says that all we need is faith the size of one of these very tiny seeds and mountains can be moved. Just how small is that exactly? Some varieties yield seeds the size of the period that ends this sentence. Only that much, or rather that little faith? Ok then, I can do that with a good heart and a little more confidence. Through noble cedars bearing fruit, birds of every kind nesting, mountains moving, tiny seeds that scatter and grow until the harvest ~ the love of Christ urges us on toward our home in the eternal Kingdom of God. All we have to do is keep our eyes on what we cannot see.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, You have given each of us the means to blossom into eternal life from our earthly existence. Grant us the willingness to consciously tend the ground of our beings to be the fertile soil to grow as a new creation in Christ.

O LORD, our God

RESPONSE: Help us walk by faith, not sight

~ Master Sower, Creator of the Seeds of Life, open the hearts and souls of all who govern in this world, whether by legitimate rule or reign of fear, and plant the sprigs of noble change needed to bring about the full and equal flowering of all Your people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O LORD, our God