Scripture Reading August 13, 2023
The Word of God Proclaimed
Prayer of Illumination
Living God, as we listen to your word today
Give our hearts the wisdom to receive
the love that is offered.
Send your Spirit to fill us with hope and your resurrection promise.
Amen.
Reading: Psalm 139: Paragraph 1 (VU p. 861)
(Responsive)
O God, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
You discern my path and the places I rest;
You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it, O God, completely.
You guard me from behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
It is beyond my knowledge; it is a mystery; I cannot fathom it.
Matthew: 13: 24-30
New International Version
The Parable of the Weeds
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.