When seed that is scattered, updated

When seed that is scattered is growing and blooming

While we are at rest or at work in the day – 

First stalk and then flower, full grain in due hour – 

We see how the kingdom moves out in this way.

 

When seed of such small size spreads out and finds nurture, 

Now growing and casting its shade far and wide,

We learn how the kingdom comes, fruitful and winsome,

With shelter for all of creation inside.

 

Now this is the kingdom of God in our living;

It flourishes even as we do not know.

Praise God, our Creator, whose giving is greater,

Whose kingdom gives courage to flourish and grow.

 

 

TEXT: Charies Spence Freeman, June 2021, after Mark 4:26-34.

MUSIC: Tune KREMSER, Neder-landisch Gedenck-Clanck; 1626; harm. Eduard Kremser, 1877.

 

 

The lectionary reading for Ordinary 11B offers up seed metaphors for our reflection. Somehow this time around the image of birds being able to take shelter in the shade of the mustard-seed shrub jumped out. (The words of each stanza may fit to the final phrase slightly differently than the usual texts paired with this tune.)

The nations will gather

The nations will gather when the Son of Man comes, 

From high mighty places, from shelters and slums. 

The Son will then part them on his left and his right, 

They will all stand before him in his endless sight.

 

To those on the right he will call them to come,

"O blest of my Father, come all, not just some!

You fed me and gave me drink to me, welcomed me in! 

The kingdom is for you now; let new life begin!"

 

But those on the left now found the opposite true:

"Get out of my sight now, for you did not do

What those on my right did when you saw me in need!

Begone, you unrepentant in your selfish greed."

 

When do we see Jesus bound in hunger or thirst?

No clothing nor shelter and suffering the worst?

Our Christ bids us listen and he tells us to see:

"What you do unto those is what you do to me."

 

How then shall we live now and what then shall we do? 

Make hunger a relic and homelessness too; 

Care for the imprisoned and the sick whom we see, 

In Christ's own holy name for all eternity.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2023, after Matthew 25:31-46.

MUSIC: Tune COLUMCILLE, Irish melody. (See Glory to God #101.)

 

 

The third of the Matthew 25 parables is in place, though (as with any of these hymns) revision is somewhere between possible and likely. It's a loaded parable, and some streamlining seemed to help the hymn live. This tune was not one with which I was familiar, but it shares a propulsive quality with a number of traditional tunes that will hopefully help keep any singing of this test moving and energetic.  

The reign of Christ compels us, four-part version

The reign of Christ compels us to bear a witness true

To glorify our Savior in all we say and do.

The Lord, who in our living is sovereign above all, 

Compels and draws us always to live into this call. 

 

As Christ first bore good witness to God’s almighty power, 

So we are charged to sound forth in this and every hour.

With calls to truth and justice, with words of peace and love,

We give our testimony to our good God above.

 

By Spirit’s power unyielding we bear that witness true,

Not just with words but actions that we are called to do.

In work that lifts up God’s own that this world calls “the least,” 

We call the world to gather at God’s own holy feast.

 

For God our king and ruler, all that we have, we give. 

Our witness is embodied in every way we live.

So let us join our living to words of love and grace,

That Christ’s own holy justice may reign in every place.

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2021.

MUSIC: Tune AURELIA, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864.

 

 

This text was provoked by a sermon by Rev. Cecilia Armstrong and service given at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians Worship and Music Conference at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina on June 29, 2021. The scripture from Revelation 1:4b-8, in particular the reference to Christ as “the faithful witness” in verse 5, provided the starting point for the sermon (at least as I understood it) and this hymn as well. With some references to the Parable of the Sheep and Goats added as the hymn kept developing, it also can be used for Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday, Year A.