Praying Together 2021

63 Gather Light a candle as a sign of God’s presence and sit quietly. Ring a bell or chime to start the prayer. The Lord be with you. Alleluia! And with your spirit. Alleluia! COLLECT Saint Mark proclaimed the good news about Jesus and gave us the earliest of the Gospels. We give thanks for the people who bring God’s word to life in our lives. (pause ) God our Creator, fill us with the spirit of the gospel and strengthen us to spread the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. SCRIPTURE A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 1:21-27 Jesus used stories to teach the people many things. “A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil was not very deep. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. Some other seeds fell where thorn bushes grew up and choked out the plants. So they did not produce any grain. But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants grew and produced thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was scattered.” Then Jesus said, “If you have ears, pay attention.” The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. RESPONSE Many of the people who were listening to Jesus were farmers. Jesus wanted to teach them with images that they would understand so he talked about planting seeds in different kinds of ground. It would be helpful to have an image or set of images which capture the story. The seeds represent the word of God and the different kinds of ground describe different types of people. The seeds that fell on the road were eaten by birds and couldn’t grow. This is what happens when people hear Jesus’ word but don’t really listen. The seeds that fell on rocky ground and among the thorns show what happens when people hear the message of Jesus but become distracted by other things and stop following God’s word. These people quickly forget the teachings of Jesus and do not grow. God wants us to be like good ground that helps seeds to grow well, spreading Jesus’ message in the world. What sort of ground are you? DISMISSAL May the peace of Christ dwell in our hearts. Alleluia! Alleluia! May God bless us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Ring the bell or chime to signal the end of the prayer. Extinguish the candle. Monday St Mark 26 April 2021 “A few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants grew.”