Parable of the Sower Luke 8:4-8

Welcome

An opportunity to welcome people to the gathering

Responses & Gathering Prayer

Jesus the sower invites us to;
Come and sow seeds of goodness.
Listen for words of hope and peace
Receive good things that bring forth life and abundance.

Come Jesus the sower of life and love

Jesus the sower
bless the seeds that fall on hard and rocky places in our lives that they may be transformed into places of good news.

Bless the seeds that fall in places of goodness
that they be transformed into a harvest of hope, peace and faith.
Amen.

Music for Reflection

Suggested Song: Yellow Flowers

John Coleman © 2008 Slow Action Of Love

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 8: 4-8

When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

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

The sower sows the seed and it falls upon the ground.

Lord of the earth,
Goodness and soil,
Hardness and rocky places,
The dry and drought, the rain and new life,
You send us out into the world.

Let us be as sowers of life,
Planters of faith,
Nurturers of good.

Lord, bless us and the people we meet along the way.

Father,
Son
And Holy Spirit. Amen.