Image by Drago Gazdik from Pixabay.com.

Suggested Spiritual Practice:

Plant something this week. Think about the gardener in the parable of the barren fig tree. What does it mean to be fruitful? What does it mean to tend beauty?

Music Links:

• “O God, you are my God” (Choral arrangement)
• “Your love is better than life”  (Acapella)
• “Come Ye” (Sweet Honey in the Rock)

Call to Worship:

God, you are my God.
I seek you. My soul thirsts for you.
And you invite me to the waters.
I come in my poverty, and you provide from your abundance.
For your steadfast love is better than life.
I seek you, trusting that you are a God who can be found.
I call upon you, trusting that you are a God who will answer.
Hear now my prayers and have mercy on me.

Scripture readings:

• Monday: Psalm 105:1-11, 43-45
• Tuesday: Luke 13:1-9
• Wednesday: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
• Thursday: Isaiah 55:1-9
• Friday: Exodus 3:1-15
• Saturday: Psalm 63:1-8

 Time for silent, written, and/or spoken reflections

 Further Reflections

• Monday: Interview with Barbara Brown Taylor 
• Tuesday: “The Value of a Barren Fig Tree” by Joanna
• Wednesday: “Walter Brueggemann on Idolatry” (video)
• Thursday: “Unlimited Hope, Expansive Mercy, Abundant Pardon” by Jill Clingan
• Friday: “Hero Complex” by Joanna
• Saturday: “Hope is a Woman who has Lost her Fear” by Alice Walker

 Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Offer your own prayers of intercession and thanksgiving, concluding with the prayer below.

 Holy God,
For myself, for those I love, for this beautiful and broken world—
I offer this prayer.
Tend to us as a loving, skilled gardener tends to her plants,
Giving more care to those most vulnerable.
And with this petition receive my praise:
For axes halted,
For compost applied,
For all that nourishes,
For all good that grows.
Thanks be to you,
Great giver of Life.
Amen.

 Closing Quote

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

–From “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry

Benediction

Let your soul cling to God, for God is your help.
In the shadow of the Divine wings, may you sing for joy.