13th June 2021 Trinity2
All Saints Church, Childwall
READ: Mark 4. 26-34 The Parable of the Growing Seed 26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed 30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” 33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
REFLECT: I am sure lots of you have planted seeds many times throughout your life, it is something that is very easy to do! It always amazes me how small some of them are, and how big the plants can become that grow from them. It is staggering when you look at some of our biggest trees and realise that even they have come from very small seeds relatively. The question that comes to mind is the one that is raised in our reading. How do they do that? We know a seed needs good soil to nourish it and light and water to enable it to grow. But the process of growth itself is still in my opinion an amazing miracle.
The Kingdom of God is likened to a seed that is planted. It grows and provides refuge and nurture and produces a harvest. For anything to grow though a seed has to be planted first. This is essential for growth to happen. God calls us all to be planters of seeds, something that is as easy as planting a seed in a pot. The miracle of growth comes from God himself not us. Our task is simply to be people of faith who plant spiritual seeds in our daily lives. A word of encouragement that we give to a work colleague, a prayer that we share with someone in need, hospitality that we share with others, simply telling our Christian story to someone else.
The Kingdom of God starts small with an individual but then grows to include and affect the whole of society.
RESPOND: What is your earliest memory of someone else talking to you about faith? Who was the person who planted the first spiritual seeds in your life? How much have you grown spiritually over the years? What has helped your faith to grow and what has hindered it? Has your faith grown to a point, so that now you are nurturing others in their faith and helping them to grow? Ask God to help you this week to plant spiritual seeds in the life of someone else.
PRAY: Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and the source of all life and growth. Help me to grow in my faith daily and direct and guide me to sow spiritual seeds in the life of others. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Rev Andrew Colmer (Vicar of All Saints, Childwall)
Church Services
Sunday 13th June – 9.15am Service with Holy Communion 11am – Service of the Word
Thursday 17th June – 10.45am BCP Holy Communion
Social distancing measures will be in place and masks will still have to be worn.
Children’s work – Rock Club
If you would like to receive specific information about our Children’s and Youth work please email Gypsey, our Youth and children’s worker directly, who will add your email to her master list for youth and children. gypsey.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com Unfortunately, we are still currently not able to re-open our Crèche.
Online Church Services – We are continuing to record our Sunday morning service in church. It will be uploaded to our website to be viewed each week soon after 11am. www.allsaintschildwall.org.uk
Zoom Sunday Coffee – Every Sunday at 10.45am – Meeting ID:842 767 1496 Password: 4allsaintshttps://us04web.zoom.us/j/8427671496?pwd=K2dMMnlvTHpwTkxDNEV6bDYwQXBDQT09
Morning Prayer– Monday and Friday at 8:00am – Common Worship Morning prayer service with words on screen. Optional Chat after the service. Meeting ID: 865 694 0214 Passcode: mprayer
Evening Prayer – Every Sunday evening at 6pm led by the Readers. The liturgy and the readings will be on the screen and there will be a short reflection on the New Testament passage which has been set for the day. Please join us. Meeting ID: 789 873 7449 Passcode:Newsman1
Pastoral visiting – If you would value a visit or know anyone who would please let Helen or me know, our phone numbers and emails are below.
Weekly prayer meeting – Thursday 6.30pm on Zoom. Why not join a group of us at All Saints that pray regularly. It lasts 40 minutes, you can pray, sit and listen or just contemplate. – Aidan Holmes
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8802380315?pwd=cGxQTnQ0QVRjU1gyUnBrYnJMMzZldz09
Please note new joining ID. Meeting ID: 880 238 0315 Passcode: yt76bq
NEW… All Saints’ book and documentary study group. Be inspired by testimonies of lives transformed. See the attached flyer for further details and contact Gary Vyse, gary_vyse@hotmail.com, to register your interest.
Christian Aid total this year was £429 with a lot of people giving additionally online.
Thank you to all of you that have supported the vital work of Christian Aid this year and given so generously to their work, and thank you to Kerry Marson for organising the collection.
Men’s Breakfast meeting – Monday June 14th at 8pm – Adeyinka is the speaker, please join us on Zoom.
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76289661936?pwd=UnBFc2krejhWc01mOFlOMFFQeVFXQT09
Meeting ID: 762 8966 1936 Passcode: NXb5km
Weekly Prayer requests – If you would like other members of our church family to pray for you or a family member, please send me their names for this sheet, please ask permission from the person. Please pray for all those who are unwell at this time particularly praying for Nicoli Gray (Carole Turner’s daughter), David Miller, Shirley Powelland Patricia Horne. Also, please pray for all those being ordained to Holy Orders this year, among them Helen Deegan, who is to be ordained priest on Saturday 12th of June at 10:30am.
With our prayers for you all at this time
Andrew Colmer – Vicar – Tel: 07305 842257 – vicar.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Helen Deegan – Curate – Tel: 07984 933467 – curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Gypsey Tait – Youth & Children’s Worker – Tel: 07961 793435 –gypsey.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Bill Forster – Associate Minister – william.forster1@btinternet.com
Adeyinka Olushonde – Ordinand – adeyinka.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
