Fourth Sunday after Pentecost B

The traditional Christian church calendar is comprised of seasons and special days. We are in the season of Pentecost. The season of Pentecost is the longest season of the church calendar and concludes with Christ the King Sunday. Let us consider how we are empowered to act for God this season.

Music to accompany this worship is on Spotify at:

Pentecost 4 B

O God, you are the tree of life, offering shelter to all the world. Graft us into yourself and nurture our growth, that we may bear your truth and love to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

22 Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind.

24 All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it.

1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,

3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.

4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.

14 In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,

15 showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—

7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.

12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.

13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.

15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.

17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Alleluia. Welcome with meekness the im- | planted word*

That has the power to | save your souls. Alleluia. (James 1:21)

26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,

27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?

31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

The Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version. I wish to thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA, and its predecessor bodies for all their teaching. I’ve used the Lectionary published on the ELCA website at elca.org to prepare this worship.

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