worship this Sunday…

It’s a game that is evidently played in almost every culture and society. In some languages it's called el escondite, in others jeu de cache-cache or maybe kakurenbo. It’s a game with simple rules, played with no equipment and by children and adults alike; and other than tag, it may be the one universal game shared by human beings across vast differences of culture, time, and language. You may already know what it is. You probably grew up calling it “Hide and Seek.”

There is a joy to the game in that, whether you are hiding or seeking, it can be deeply engaging and always lots of fun. I think all of us know the whimsy of hiding in a perfect Owen Meany-esque spot, and doing our best to control our giggles as friends pass by without knowing we are there. Or alternatively, that moment of enthusiasm when you see a friend hiding in a location you thought to check. Playing hide and seek means that every single game is different and unique, according to who is playing and where they are playing the game. No matter, it’s forever fresh and unique.

Our scripture passage for this week is Jesus telling two stories (called parables) that also ask us to think about hiding and seeking. They're short stories, one of them being only a single sentence long. But there is much to be “found” in both of them. Both parables ask us to think about the questions “What are we looking for in this life?” “What are we searching for or hoping to find?” and “What do we feel is hidden from us that we would give our lives to find?” These are not frivolous questions. They aren’t rhetorical, intended only to make a point. Sometimes they are the questions that drive our entire lives, though sometimes we aren’t even conscious that we are asking them.

See you on Sunday as we ask some questions perhaps hidden from us, but that may reveal to us what or who we are truly looking for in this life.

See you Sunday,

Brent

Matthew 13: 31-35

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet:
‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’