Hazelwell Weekly Contact July 30th 2023
28 Jul 2023 • Weekly Notices
Hazelwell Weekly Contact July 30th 2023
(Trinity 7 ) 10.00am
Hazelwell morning worship
Led by Rev’d Barbara Calvert
- All victims of wildfires worldwide especially those in Greece
- The summer fair total has now risen to a very creditable £90
Food Bank - The Parables of the Mustard Seed and Yeast contrast small beginnings with their great effects, emphasizing the power of God’s action. They are addressed to the crowds. We expect to find the kingdom in cathedrals and mega-churches —in massed choirs and pipe organs—but these parables suggest that the real kingdom-power is to be found in the humblest places among the least likely people—a cup of cold water given to a beggar—a soup kitchen in a church basement—church folk visiting a shut-in—a nun walking the streets of Calcutta—two young American women showing the Jesus film in Afghanistan. These look like nothing, but Jesus promises that there is veiled power here.
We continue to collect food for The Spearhead Trust. Please consider bringing donations with you on Sunday and leave on the table at the back of church.
Alternatively, consider donating to a local foodbank in the course of your
weekly shop via local supermarket collection.
Reflection on Matthew 13 31-33, 44-52These are parables of the Kingdom— each including the words, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…...”
“Kingdom of Heaven” is synonymous with “Kingdom of God.” Matthew uses the former out of a respect for the holiness of God’s name.
And, over the past two millennia, we have seen the proof. Today, the Roman Empire appears only in history books and crumbling ruins, but people sing praise to Jesus all over the world. The Thousand-Year Reich lasted only a decade, but the church keeps marching on. Communism spent the better part of a century trying to kill the church, but then Communism collapsed—and Christians are building churches on its ruins.
Not that the church and the kingdom are synonymous—but the church is a manifestation of the kingdom. Not that we should expect the kingdom to conquer all—”the kingdom’s form is perpetually little, always seed-sized, divinely designed to be a treasure in earthen, not golden, vessels so that the exceeding greatness of the gospel’s power might always be God’s, not human beings’ (2 Cor 4:7)” (Bruner, 504).
MATTHEW 13:31-32. THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
This parable offers hope, promising great outcomes from small beginnings. Jesus intended to encourage the first disciples, who faced daunting odds, and this parable continues to encourage disciples today. Most of the church’s work gets done in inauspicious circumstances. Our mission seems overwhelming, and our resources seem too few. But Jesus promises that God’s power makes everything possible.
MATTHEW 13:33. THE PARABLE OF THE YEAST
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast”(v. 33a). This parable encourages us, not to seclusion, but to involvement in the world. Leaven can do its work only when mixed into a large quantity of raw dough. Otherwise it is useless. So it is with those who would serve Jesus. He calls us to go into all the world, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching (28:19-20).
