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26[Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes …
In the chapters leading up to this week’s Gospel reading in Mark, Jesus has been breaking the rules and defying expectations. He has been teaching and healing people in the region around his hometown. Crowds are gathering around Jesus, eager for him to end their illness, deformity, or possession by evil spirits. The possibility of wholeness, healing, and new life …
O God, You defy our expectations. You bring healing in places I never imagined. You battle brokenness and evil to bring wholeness. Open my mind and my spirit to see your grace in new places. Help me to expand my understanding and my willingness to include. Show me your grace and help me extend grace, too. Remind me that your …
The Central PA Food Bank and YMCA of Centre County’s Anti-Hunger Programs offer community food distributions in the parking lot at Grace Lutheran on the second and fourth Thursdays each month. You can join other volunteers between 1:45 pm and 6 pm and help with with setup, pre-packing food items, check-in, or putting food into cars. Volunteers are welcome just …
[Jesus went home;] 20and the crowd came together again, so that [Jesus and the disciples] could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he …
I’ve been away from home last week and this week. I’m in Minnesota helping my daughter and son-in-law who just had a baby. I could go on and on about the wonders of new babies, but I’ll save that for another time. These days, as I’ve been with this new little family, I’ve noticed the neighbors, friends, health care staff, …
Thank you for the ways you have knit us all together. The gift of human community is sometimes challenging, yet you bless us through each other every day. Help me see ways I can care for someone and show your love. Help me to realize I have received your love in the actions of other people. Teach us how …
Nicodemus, a leader in the Jewish community, comes to talk with Jesus “by night.” It seems that, unlike many of the other religious leaders who want to entrap Jesus or turn the crowds against him, Nicodemus has actual questions and wants to know more. Jesus takes the conversation deeper, introducing complex topics that have puzzled people of faith through the …
O God, Sometimes I am confused by your teachings. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by what it means to follow you. Sometimes I do not understand what you are doing in this world or the next. Sometimes I don’t know what to do. Enfold me in your presence. Remind me that you love me and the entire world, even when we …
1Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can …
