Reverend Mary Beth Morgan, preaching
Mark 4:1-20
Turning the Soil
In the late 1980’s, I was fortunate to be teaching in multi-age classrooms with mainly 4th-6th graders. At that time, the Choose Your Own Adventure books were very popular with this age group. There was not one set ending for each book. The reader was given an opportunity choose among paths to take. The chosen path would lead to a particular continuation of the story and its ultimate ending. It could end well for the reader, or even have a dire ending. (And, yes, there was a temptation to sometimes look ahead to have a better outcome . . .). While there were challenges with these books, they also nudged open a door to remind the reader that the stories of our lives are not static. Storying is a process.
This Sunday, we have the opportunity to enter into, what may seem for many, a familiar story from the Bible: The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20). Jesus shares this parable about a sower, seed and soil with the invitation for us to enter into it from the context of its telling and our context today. As Amy-Jill Levine and Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso remind us, “A parable casts two images side by side: the story in the text and the story of our own lives. When we explore the connection, we think about our relationships and our place in the world; we consider how we can be better people.” Together, we will have an opportunity to reflect together on “Turning the Soil” in this time and place that we share as a community and world.
We will also have a children’s moment, share in a time of prayer, hear the scripture reading from the Davis family, and be blessed by our music leadership with some wonderful and moving pieces and hymns this week. If this will be your first time joining us, or if you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for decades, we look forward to connecting together on the livestream this Sunday!