Fig Tree Luke 13:6-9

Welcome

An opportunity to welcome people to the gathering

Responses & Gathering Prayer

Gracious God
Dig Around, fertilise,
one more year to bear fruit
Shade
Place for the birds to nest
Figs – first trees
Sheep – first domesticated

Gracious God who invites us to bear fruit
Draw us to worship you.

Jesus the gardener who fertilises and encourages growth
Draw us to worship you.

Holy Spirit who creates nesting places for the birds and places of shade
Draw us to worship you.

Loving God who invites us to bear fruit
even when we feel barren and dry
Come revive us that we might bear fruit
reflecting your light and life for the world to see
Amen.

Music for Reflection

Suggested song: The Beautiful Earth
John Coleman © 1992 February 6, 2019

Passing the Peace

The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.

You are invited to turn to those around you and offer them a word of greeting and peace.

The Word around the Bush

Luke 13: 6-9

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8 He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The Message

From your Scattered Community Minister or another leader within your gathering.

Questions for conversation

• I wonder what you have heard and thought from the Word today?
• I wonder what you heard in the Word for our church?
• What one action can you or your church take in response to the Word today?

Silence in Two Ways

Spend some time in silence sitting still (suggested 5 minutes). Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert.

• You may like to say the prayer phrase “Mar-an-ath-a” (which means come Lord). Say this as four syllables. Do not try to think or imagine anything. If thoughts or distractions come simply return to saying the word.
• Or you may like “sitting with God” — a silent time in which we focus all our mind, heart and soul on the presence of God without trying to create it. Simply be still and open to God.

Prayers for Others

Eternal God,
where there is hope, you are there.
Where there is compassion and the desire for wholeness, you are there.
Where there is the struggle for peace, you are there.
Where the hungry are fed, and the poor empowered, you are there.
Where there is delight in the trees of the land, or the depths of the seas, you are there.
Wherever love is announced, you are there.

In you is such longing for your creation, and for humanity, and we thank you for that presence of you, in Spirit, in people, renewing, calling, and saving.

In that knowledge, and in our simple faith, we bring our prayers for your creation and for the people of this world.

• O Christ we open ourselves in prayer for:
[silence for personal prayer or invite others to open prayer in between each]

Your creation …
Silence

For others we have hear about throughout our world …
Silence

For other people we know and are close to …
Silence

For our church and our wider community …
Silence

For ourselves …
Silence

Closing Responses & Blessing

Let us go from here today as people of hope,
As people of grace,
As people of the way of Jesus Christ.

Let us take with us the way of Christ we have heard today.

Lord, giver of grace,
Gardener of hope,
Bringer of good news,
Send us out, a bearers of goodness,
Growers of love towards others,
And nurturers of the life you offer.

Let us take with us the word of life that we have heard today.

Bless us and the people we meet along the way.
Father,
Son
and Holy Spirit. Amen.