I usually like to arrive pretty early to church on Sunday mornings. That gives me a chance to walk around the building looking for trash, get my notes together for the announcements and the sermon, warm up my singing voice, and basically do anything else that helps me prepare of the service. This morning that included doing a short meditation--I used the Jesus Prayer. This makes a lot of sense considering that I'm preaching about faith this morning to the kids. I even have a bowl of mustard seeds to use an example. Interestingly, Jesus was being clever when he used the mustard plant as an example for the kingdom of heaven. These were a weed in his day (and often in ours) and so he was suggesting that the Kingdom of Heaven is ubiquitous, spontaneous, and rather weed like. Compare this to the "Cedar of Lebanon" with its towering height and noble branches.
Cedar of Lebanon
Mustard PlantDid you know that Canada produces 90% of the international mustard market? Impressive. Not sure it's terribly relevant for my preaching this morning, but I may fit that nugget in somewhere if it feels right.
Actually, the meat of my sermon is going to be about how faith, like seeds, needs to be nourished in order to grow. Also, I'll probably do something with the invisibility of the nascent seeds under the soil--except for the faithful wood above that points to the reality beneath the surface. I hope that's not to abstract for the kids...
-t
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