16-July-23 (Matthew 13:1-9, 16-23)

In Jesus Parable of the Sower, the seed goes everywhere, into all kinds of likely and unlikely places.  As you look around the Table today, you probably see some unlikely people in whom the seeds of faith have grown and flourished.  You probably saw one such in the mirror this morning as well.  As we join together in remembering our Host, who has called all of us unlikely ones in every time and place, praise God that the call is so wide and open and free.

Let us pray.

Prayer:

God of us all, we thank you that you love all of us and welcome all of us to the Table.  We thank you that you see beyond our faults and failures to the children of God we can become and are already becoming.  Help us to be as open and inviting as you were to us, that your Table and your Church could be filled with your children and that we could be one Church.  Thank you for these symbols of bread and cup that remind us of the One who died that we might be called.

In Jesus name, AMEN.