Dear La Côte Church family and friends,
I am looking forward to stepping into Jesus’ Kingdom parables over the coming summer Sundays. The exuberant green growth all around us matches stories of seeds sprouting, wilting and ripening into an abundant harvest. Let’s pray for our local farmers struggling to look after their crops in the current drought and fierce sun.
This coming Sunday’s story is the well-known tale of the careless or maybe generous Sower, scattering seed anywhere and everywhere, and the unfolding adventures of the seed landing in varying soils. Matthew 13.1-9.
Here is Malcolm Guite’s take on the story, which can guide our personal prayer or reflection during this summer season of growth.
The Sower / Good Ground (What title would you give this story?)
I love your simple story of the sower,
With all its close attention to the soil,
Its movement from the knowledge to the knower,
Its take on the tenacity of toil.
I feel the fall of seed a sower scatters,
So equally available to all,
Your story takes me straight to all that matters,
Yet understands the reasons why I fall.
Oh deepen me where I am thin and shallow,
Uproot in me the thistle and the thorn,
Keep far from me that swiftly snatching shadow,
That seizes on your seed to mock and scorn.
O break me open, Jesus, set me free,
Then find and keep your own good ground in me.
Used with permission of the poet, Malcolm Guite, from Parable and Paradox, 2016
Carolyn Cooke
