When this song gets stuck in my head on repeat, it becomes a mantra, a prayer. If I’m honest, I probably need it on repeat! As Jesus describes in our Gospel text from Mark, the things that come out of us from our hearts are not always good. There’s lots of room for improvement when it comes to my heart. There are many things I need to work on – kindness, forgiveness, joy, mercy, love… I could fill the page! I often focus much energy on what I can do, what I can improve, but the song says, “Lord, let my heart be good soil.” As much as I need to do some good works, I also need to trust in God’s faithfulness to be working on me and in me. In other words, I am not doing this alone and neither are you! God is the Vinegrower and knows a thing or two about turning our hearts into good soil – ploughing with prayer, cultivating with kindness, fertilizing with faith. When I let God prepare the soil of my heart, goodness inevitably flows from it more readily and it looks like worship, prayer, service, hope, joy. Join us this Sunday… and let God prepare the soil of your heart for another week in a world that needs some good news sown in it!
The scriptures for this Sunday are Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, Janes 1:17-27, and Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23. Songs for this Sunday are #532 “Gather Us In” vs. 1, 2, 4, #512 “Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil”, and “How Great”. We give thanks to this week’s Worship Leaders, Production Crew, and Musicians!