This Sunday’s Old Testament texts (Jeremiah 17 and Psalm 1) depict images of trees planted by streams of water and call to mind our theme of Forming Faith from Roots to Fruit. In the scriptures, the roots receive the nutrients they need, helping the trees remain strong and steady in difficult times. We too live in anxious and uncertain times, and as we hear in the Beatitudes, the teachings of Jesus are countercultural to our understanding of “successful” growth. What then keeps us rooted and nourished so that we can branch out and bear good fruit? Perhaps our worship provides a blueprint – gathering with one another, hearing and studying God’s word, feeding on Christ’s love in the meal, wading in the waters of our baptism, and returning to the world to share the gospel. The first step is not to be overlooked – gathering. Gathering is essential to our growth, and the pandemic has made that apparent (sometimes painfully so). Yet, even in the depths of the pandemic when we couldn’t physically gather together, we still found ways to be united around the word and water, wine and wheat. Join us this Sunday as we examine how our Forming Faith journey is not a solo situation, but rather we support one another’s growth from roots to fruit along the way.
The scriptures for this Sunday are Jeremiah 17;5-10, Psalm 1, and Luke 5:17-26. The songs for this Sunday are #858 “Praise to the Lord” vs. 1, 3 & 4, #550 “On What Has Now Been Sown” and #723 “Canticle of the Turning” vs 1-2.