Saint John's Weekly Congregational

Newsletter Care and Prayers Details

September 16, 2021

We are quite confident that if we ask anything of God, and if it is in accord with God’s will, it will be heard. And knowing that whatever we ask, we are heard, we understand that the request is already granted in the asking. 1 John 5:14-15 The Inclusive Bible

Prayers of Comfort

Prayers of comfort for Carolyn and Rick Beaird and family at the passing of Carolyn’s sister Marilyn Bohm on September 11, 2021, in Illinois.

Prayers of comfort for family and friends of Rev. John Yeaman who passed away September 13, 2021.

Prayers of Joy and Thanks

We are grateful for this new day: for morning sun and evening star, for flowering trees and flowing tides, for life-giving rains and warm breezes.

Prayers for Hope, Help & Healing

We pray for hope, help and healing for all who are dealing with the effects of Covid-19.

We pray for healing for those who are in treatment for serious illness.

We pray for those who had surgery and hospitalization and are now recovering.

Jim C.

Tommie U.

Sharon L.

Jack M.

Hilton M.

Michelle G.

Chris A.

Kristi D.

Weafer

Scripture for this week: Matthew 13:1-19

13 Later that day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeshore to teach the people. 2 Soon, there were so many people surrounding him that he had to teach sitting in a boat while the large crowd stood on the shore. 3 He taught them many things by using stories, parables to illustrate spiritual truths, saying: “Consider this: There was a farmer who went out to sow seeds. 4 As he cast his seeds, some fell along the beaten path and the birds came and ate them. 5 Others fell onto gravel that had no topsoil.

They quickly shot up, 6 but when the days grew hot, they were scorched and withered because they had insufficient roots. 7 Others fell among the thorns, so when they sprouted, the thorns choked them. 8 But other seeds fell on good, rich soil that kept producing a good harvest. Some yielded thirty, some sixty, and some even one hundred times as much as he planted! 9 If you’re able to understand this, then you need to respond.” 10 Then his disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Why do you always speak to people in these hard-to-understand parables?”

11 He explained, “You’ve been given the intimate experience of insight into the hidden mysteries of the realm of heaven’s kingdom, but they have not. 12 For everyone who listens with an open heart will receive progressively more revelation until he has more than enough. But those who don’t listen with an open, teachable heart, even the understanding that they think they have will be taken from them. 13 That’s why I teach the people using parables, because they think they’re looking for truth, yet because their hearts are unteachable, they never discover it. Although they will listen to me, they never fully perceive the message I speak. 14 The prophecy of Isaiah describes them perfectly:

Although they listen carefully to everything I speak, they don’t understand a thing I say. They look and pretend to see, but the eyes of their hearts are closed.

15 Their minds are dull and slow to perceive, their ears are plugged and are hard of hearing, and they have deliberately shut their eyes to the truth. Otherwise, they would open their eyes to see, and open their ears to hear, and open their minds to understand. Then they would turn to me and I would instantly heal them.

16 “But blissful are your eyes, for they see. Delighted are your ears, for they are open to hear all these things. 17 Many prophets and godly people yearned to see these days of miracles that you’ve been favored to see. They would have given everything to hear the revelation you’ve been favored to hear. 18 “Now you are ready to hear the explanation of the parable of the sower: 19 “What was sown along the path represents the one who listens to the message of the kingdom but doesn’t understand it. The Adversary then comes and snatches away what was sown into his heart.

Let us pray:

God, our Mother and Father, we come to you as children.

Be with us as we learn to see one another with new eyes,

hear one another with new hearts,

and treat one another in a new way.

Amen.

To protect the privacy and confidentiality of those you have entrusted to our prayers we will use only first name and last initial with a few exceptions (like in the case of births and deaths). For updates or questions,

please contact Congregational Care Pastor Cheryl Broome ( ), 512-452-5737 ext. 228 or Congregational Prayer Outreach Minister Jonathan Hoyle ( ) Please include your name and phone number.