“Mustard Seed Moments: Small, Insignificant, Overlooked Life-Changers"

Over and over again in the Bible, God seeks out the small. God values the insignificant. God chooses the overlooked. And uses them to bring the kingdom of heaven more fully among us.

Remember the rag tag group of Hebrews? Or the ridiculously ill-equipped shepherd boy named David? Or the no-status, uneducated teenage girl named Mary?

God has a big imagination. And maybe that is the point. All it takes is a tiny start because the results don't depend on us. God knows how to use the ordinary places, simple gestures and everyday folks. God knows how to use ordinary places, simple gestures and everyday folks. God know how to turn to mustard see moments into kingdom of heaven momentum. And maybe God starts small so we don't confuse big plans with holy ones.

Week 1: October 13: “Rebekah and Holy Hospitality.” Genesis 24:10-21

Start with an unnamed servant on a quest to find a partner for Isaac. So that God could fulfill a promise made to Abraham and Sarah for more family than stars in the night sky. How will this servant recognize the right woman? Add a simple, ordinary act of hospitality by a young woman named Rebekah. She offered water to a stranger and his livestock. An ordinary task. Done extravagantly. Then see if you can trace that blessing for all the people of earth unfolded through God’s style of hospitality.

Week 2: October 20: “Leavening the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 13: 31-33

Start with a yearning for God’s transforming presence. Right here among us. Right now. Add the hop named by Jesus that it’s already here. And quietly at work among us. Like leavening hidden in flour. Starting small. Changing everything as it goes. Cell by living cell. Then see if you can recognize the transformation. And anticipate the abundance feast ahead. 

Week 3: October 27: “The Prophet Girl and the Servant Commander” 2 Kings 5:1-27

Start with Naaman, a powerful general of an enemy army. He knows wealth, strategy and privilege. But he suffers from a terrible skin disease. Add an unnamed Israelite girl, captured from her home to serve Naaman’s wife. She has nothing but an abundant faith. And shares what she knows--that God’s prophet Elisha can heal. Then see if you can guess the rest of this messy story that moves from the testimony of a slave girl to the conversion of a commander into a servant of God.

Week 4: November 3: All Saints "And Many Others: Cheering Us On, Welcoming Us Home: Luke 8: 1-3

Start with the hope of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Where the blind see, the lame leap, the lepers are healed, the dead are raised and the poor receive God’s honored hospitality. Add in all the witnesses to this hope. All significant. Named and unnamed. Those willing to help. With whatever they had. One ordinary life at a time. One small task at a time. And ready to join in one big hallelujah with all creation.

                                                                  Welcome