Growing Together

for July 19, 2026

Opening Prayer

Note to leader: invite worshipers to settle into their seats and take a breath before beginning.

Holy God,
we come from scattered places—
from homes and highways, worries and wonders,
carrying what the week has given us.

Here, we pause.
Here, we set down what we clutch too tightly.
Here, we remember we are not alone.

You meet us in this moment,
not demanding perfection,
but welcoming us as we are—
wheat and weeds tangled together.

Open our ears to your Word.
Open our hearts to your wisdom.
Open our lives to the mystery
that you are still at work among us.

We trust that what you plant will grow
in ways we cannot always see or understand.
Root us in your grace.

Through Jesus Christ, who sows seeds of hope in every season.
Amen.

Call to Worship

Based on Psalm 105:1-11
selected verses

Give thanks to the Holy One and call upon God’s name.
We will make known what God has done among the peoples.

Sing to God, sing praises, tell of all God’s wonderful works.
We glory in God’s holy name; our hearts rejoice as we seek the Lord.

Remember the wonderful works God has done, the miracles and judgments God has uttered.
We are offspring of Abraham and Sarah, children of Jacob and Rebecca, chosen ones of God.

The Lord is our God, whose judgments reach all the earth.
God remembers the covenant forever, the promise made for a thousand generations.

God remembers the covenant with Abraham and Sarah, the oath sworn to Isaac and Rebecca.
The Lord confirmed it to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant.

Come, let us worship the God who keeps every promise.

Hymn of Praise

O Worship the King, All Glorious Above!, GTG #41

Grace Spoken

Hear the good news:
In Christ, God does not uproot us in our failure.
In Christ, God tends us, even when we grow wild and tangled.

We are loved before we confess.

We are forgiven before we ask.

We are claimed as God’s own.

We are held in God’s mercy.

We belong to Christ, who knows our roots and sees our fruit.

We are tended by grace, now and always.

Trusting in God’s grace and mercy, let us confess our sins and brokenness together.

Responding to God’s Grace

Unison Prayer of Confession

God of the wheat field and the weedy ground,
we confess we have rushed to judgment
when you have asked us to wait.
We have named who is in and who is out,
drawing lines you did not draw.

We have demanded immediate answers
when your wisdom unfolds slowly.
We have uprooted what seemed wrong to us,
damaging tender roots you were tending.
We have trusted our own sight over your patient knowing.

We have labeled others as beyond your reach,
forgetting we all grow in the same soil.
We have hoarded grace as if it were scarce,
when you scatter it with a generous hand.

(A time of silent prayer)

Through Jesus Christ, who trusts the harvest to your keeping.
Amen.

Sharing the Peace of Christ

An Embodied Sign of God’s Grace in Christ Jesus

Friends, we have been reminded that God’s grace extends to all. We have confessed our tendency to judge and uproot what God may still be growing, knowing that we have been forgiven and that God is making us a new creation.

In this spirit, let us share the peace of Christ.

The peace of Christ be with you.

And also with you.

(Share Christ’s peace in ways fitting to your community.)

The Written Word

A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures

Genesis 28:10–19

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold, there was a stairway set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Jacob Sent to Paddan-aram

1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham.”
5Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8So when Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father,
9Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold, there was a stairway set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,
22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

Notes

v12The stairway (or “ladder”) functions as a symbolic axis between heaven and earth, emphasizing divine accessibility.
v13–15The covenant promise is reaffirmed with three elements: land, offspring, and universal blessing, now attached to Jacob.
v15Divine presence (“I am with you”) becomes the dominant assurance, especially in exile.
v16–17Jacob’s recognition reframes ordinary space as sacred; awareness, not location, defines holiness.
v18–19The stone becomes a memorial marker, transforming a place of rest into a place of encounter.

Notes

v01–04The Abrahamic blessing is explicitly transferred, emphasizing continuity through Jacob rather than Esau.
v08–09Esau’s action is reactive and partial—he recognizes the issue but does not fully align with covenantal intent.
v12The stairway (or “ladder”) functions as a symbolic axis between heaven and earth, emphasizing divine accessibility.
v13–15The covenant promise is reaffirmed with three elements: land, offspring, and universal blessing, now attached to Jacob.
v15Divine presence (“I am with you”) becomes the dominant assurance, especially in exile.
v16–17Jacob’s recognition reframes ordinary space as sacred; awareness, not location, defines holiness.
v18–19The stone becomes a memorial marker, transforming a place of rest into a place of encounter.
v20–22Jacob’s vow is conditional, reflecting a developing faith rather than settled trust.

Vocabulary

v11מָקוֹם (māqôm)
v12סֻלָּם (sullām)
v13נָתַן (nāṯan)
v14זֶרַע (zeraʿ)
v15שָׁמַר (šāmar)
v17יָרֵא (yārēʾ)
v18מַצֵּבָה (maṣṣēḇāh)
v19בֵּית־אֵל (Bêt-ʾēl)

Vocabulary

v03פָּרָה (pārāh)
v03קָהָל (qāhāl)
v04בְּרָכָה (bᵉrāḵāh)
v11מָקוֹם (māqôm)
v12סֻלָּם (sullām)
v13נָתַן (nāṯan)
v14זֶרַע (zeraʿ)
v15שָׁמַר (šāmar)
v17יָרֵא (yārēʾ)
v18מַצֵּבָה (maṣṣēḇāh)
v19בֵּית־אֵל (Bêt-ʾēl)
v20נֶדֶר (neder)
v22מַעֲשֵׂר (maʿăśēr)

Gospel Reading

Matthew 13:24–30

The Parable of the Weeds

24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’
28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Parable of the Sower

1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
2And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9He who has ears, let him hear.”

The Purpose of Parables

10Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
‘You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

18“Hear then the parable of the sower:
19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
23As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’
28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

31He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
32It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

34All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
35This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”
37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
42and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Net

47Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
48When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.
49So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
50and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

51“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.”
52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Rejection at Nazareth

53And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
54and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
56And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
58And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Notes

v24–30Coexistence of good and evil is permitted temporarily; separation is deferred.

Notes

v03–09The sower parable centers not on seed but reception; variability lies in response.
v11“Mysteries” indicates revealed realities, not hidden puzzles.
v12Possession is dynamic; receptivity increases capacity.
v13–15Perception failure is moral as well as cognitive.
v19–23Interpretation identifies hearing as insufficient without understanding and endurance.
v24–30Coexistence of good and evil is permitted temporarily; separation is deferred.
v31–33Kingdom growth is disproportionate and often hidden.
v35Parables disclose by concealing; revelation is mediated.
v38Field universalized—scope extends beyond Israel.
v41–43Judgment framed as removal from the kingdom, not merely punishment.
v44–46Value recognition leads to total reorientation of possession.
v47–50Sorting is inevitable; inclusion now does not guarantee final status.
v52Continuity and innovation are held together in kingdom teaching.
v57–58Familiarity obstructs recognition; unbelief limits reception, not power itself.

Vocabulary

v24ζιζάνια (*zizania*) — “Weeds” (tares). Indistinguishable until maturity.
v30θερισμός (*therismos*) — “Harvest.” Time of final separation.

Vocabulary

v03παραβολή (*parabolē*) — “Parable.” Comparison that reveals and conceals.
v11μυστήρια (*mystēria*) — “Mysteries.” Revealed divine realities.
v15καρδία (*kardia*) — “Heart.” Center of perception and response.
v19ὁ πονηρός (*ho ponēros*) — “The evil one.” Personal agent opposing the word.
v21θλῖψις (*thlipsis*) — “Tribulation.” Pressure testing endurance.
v22μέριμνα (*merimna*) — “Care,” “anxiety.” Divided attention.
v24ζιζάνια (*zizania*) — “Weeds” (tares). Indistinguishable until maturity.
v30θερισμός (*therismos*) — “Harvest.” Time of final separation.
v32δένδρον (*dendron*) — “Tree.” Image of expanded growth beyond expectation.
v33ζύμη (*zymē*) — “Leaven.” Hidden permeating influence.
v38κόσμος (*kosmos*) — “World.” Ordered human sphere.
v42κάμινος (*kaminos*) — “Furnace.” Image of judgment.
v44θησαυρός (*thēsauros*) — “Treasure.” Stored value.
v46μαργαρίτης (*margaritēs*) — “Pearl.” Object of high worth.
v47σαγήνη (*sagēnē*) — “Net.” Dragnet gathering indiscriminately.
v52καινός / παλαιός (*kainos / palaios*) — “New / old.” Distinct yet held together.
v57σκανδαλίζω (*skandalizō*) — “To take offense,” “to stumble.” Obstruction to belief.

Growing Together

1. The weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest. Where in your life right now do you see good and difficult things tangled up, impossible to separate cleanly?

2. The laborers want to pull the weeds immediately, but the landowner says to wait. When have you been too quick to judge a situation — or a person — before the full story emerged?

3. Jesus tells this parable to a crowd that includes Pharisees, tax collectors, fishermen, and doubters. Who in your community do you struggle to see as part of the same field?

4. The psalm says God “remembers his covenant forever.” What promise of God feels hardest to trust when things are tangled and unclear?

5. Jacob wakes from his dream and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it.” Where this week might God be present in a place or moment you have been overlooking?

6. This week, resist the urge to fix or judge one messy situation too quickly. Instead, ask one question and listen. Come back ready to share what you heard.

Hymn of Reflection

For the Fruit of All Creation, GTG #36

Affirmation of Faith

Spoken together.

We believe in God,
who sows good seed in the world
and promises a harvest we cannot yet see.
We trust the wisdom of the patient Gardener.

We believe in Jesus Christ,
who teaches us to live in the tension,
to leave judgment to God,
and to grow alongside all God plants.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who tends the field of our lives,
who weaves wheat and weeds into lessons of mercy,
and who forms us into a people who trust more than we control.

We believe the church is God’s planting,
rooted in grace,
called to grow together in messy, faithful community.

We trust that God’s kingdom comes
not by our purging or perfecting,
but by God’s patient, mysterious work among us.

Amen.

Prayers of the People

God of wheat and weeds,
hear the prayers of your people.

For the earth you have made,
where wheat and thistles grow side by side,
where beauty and brokenness share the same soil—
give us patience with what we cannot fix
and wisdom to tend what you have planted.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For places torn by violence and fear,
where judgment comes swift and mercy seems slow,
where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty—
stay the hands that would uproot too soon,
and let your justice ripen in its time.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For leaders and teachers, parents and guides,
who must live with uncertainty,
who cannot always tell the wheat from the weeds—
grant them discernment without arrogance,
conviction without cruelty,
the courage to act and the humility to wait.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For our own tangled lives,
where good intentions yield bitter fruit,
where we are blind to the weeds we’ve sown
and quick to judge the growth in others—
teach us the patience you show us,
the mercy that lets us grow.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For those who suffer—
the sick, the grieving, the despairing—
for those labeled and dismissed,
pulled up before their time—
tend them with gentleness,
shelter them in your care,
let them know they are not weeds to you.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For those we overlook,
those whose growth is quiet,
whose goodness goes unnoticed—
the faithful in small acts,
the steady in hidden places—
may we honor what you are growing in them.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

For this community,
wheat and weeds together,
saints and sinners in the same soil—
make us patient with one another,
generous in our judgments,
trusting that you will bring the harvest in your time.
In trust and hope, we pray:
Grow us in your wisdom.
(pause)

(A time of silent prayer)

Holy God,
you see what we cannot see,
you know what we cannot know,
you grow what we cannot grow.
Gather these prayers like grain,
and in your time, bring forth the harvest.
Through Christ, who sows in hope,
Amen.

We pray together, saying:
(The Lord’s Prayer is prayed in the words familiar to the community.)

Hymn of Sending

Go, My Children, with My Blessing, GTG #547

Sending

Go now into fields
where wheat and weeds grow side by side,
trusting God’s patient wisdom
more than your own swift judgment.

Speak words that build up,
not words that tear down too soon.
Leave room for grace to work
in soil you cannot see.

Notice the slow work of God—
in neighbors you dismissed,
in children still becoming,
in your own unfinished faith.

Walk humbly among those
whose roots run deeper than you know.
The harvest belongs to God alone,
and God sees what you cannot.

Trust the One who knows
which seed will bear good fruit,
who tends the field with mercy,
who gathers all things home.

And may the God who plants in patience,
the Christ who grows alongside us,
and the Spirit who guards the harvest
go with you now and always.
Amen.

Reflections for Later

Sharing God’s Word Together

For Newcomers

If you’re here today wondering whether you belong, welcome. Churches can feel like places where everyone else already knows the answers, where the weeds have already been identified and pulled. But today’s story suggests something different: God’s way of growing a community is slower and messier than our instinct to sort everything out right now.

Jesus tells a parable about a farmer who lets weeds and wheat grow together until harvest. It’s a strange patience—one that resists our desire for clarity, for knowing who’s in and who’s out, what’s right and what’s wrong, immediately. If you’re here with questions, with doubts, with a faith that feels more like confusion than certainty, this parable makes space for you. God’s kingdom, it turns out, grows in the tension of not-yet-knowing. The farmer trusts that something true is taking root even when he can’t see it clearly yet.

You don’t need to have it all figured out to be here. You don’t need to believe the right things or feel the right way. The story today suggests that God is more patient with our growing than we are—that the Spirit is at work in ways we can’t measure or manage. If you’re wondering whether there’s room for you in this community, the answer is yes. Keep showing up. Keep asking your questions. Let yourself grow alongside the rest of us, trusting that God sees what we cannot yet see.

For Those Rooted in This Community

You know the parable. You’ve heard it preached a dozen times. Wheat and weeds, patience and trust, God’s final harvest. And maybe that’s the problem. Because when we know the story too well, we stop hearing the confrontation in it. We nod along, assuming we’re the wheat, assuming the weeds are out there — in the world, in the other political party, in the people who left the church or never came. We forget that Jesus told this parable to people who were absolutely certain they could spot the difference.

The truth is harder. We want to pull weeds. We want the church to look pure, to feel righteous, to be rid of the people who complicate things or slow us down. We’ve been here long enough to have opinions about who belongs and who’s holding us back. And Jesus says: wait. Not because judgment never comes, but because you are not the one qualified to make it. You’ve spent years in this community. You’ve served and sacrificed and shown up. But that doesn’t mean you can see what God sees. It doesn’t mean your patience has outlasted your certainty.

So here’s the question for those of us rooted deep: Have we grown so familiar with grace that we’ve forgotten how to extend it? Do we trust God’s timing, or only our own assessment of who’s worthy of more time?

For Churches Without a Pastor

The parable of the wheat and weeds speaks directly to the anxiety many of us carry in this season. We want to pull the weeds — to fix what’s broken, to rush toward clarity, to have someone tell us exactly what comes next. But Jesus invites a different posture: patience, trust, and recognition that God’s wisdom operates on a different timeline than our urgency. A congregation without a pastor often feels like a field in need of tending. But the truth this parable offers is that God is already at work among you. The good seed has been sown. The harvest is God’s to gather. Your task is to remain rooted together, to trust the growth you cannot yet see, and to resist the temptation to solve everything before its time.

Jacob’s dream at Bethel reminds us that holy ground is not confined to buildings or offices or ordained voices. “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it!” Jacob was alone, vulnerable, fleeing his past. And God met him there. God spoke. God promised. The same Spirit who met Jacob in the wilderness meets you now in your sanctuary, in your fellowship hall, in your committee meetings and your uncertainty. You do not need a single voice at the front to hear God’s voice among you. You have the Word. You have each other. You have the tradition that has carried God’s people through far longer seasons of waiting than this one.

This is not to say pastoral vacancy is easy or ideal. It is hard. It is disorienting. But it is not emptiness. You are the body of Christ, and the Spirit has not abandoned you. Tend to one another. Read scripture together. Pray honestly. Ask the hard questions. Let the weeds grow alongside the wheat for now — not because you are passive, but because you trust that God sees what you cannot yet see. The One who gives growth is faithful. And the harvest, when it comes, will be richer than you imagined.

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© Church Commons. 2026

Written by Rev. Matthew J. Skolnik unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

These materials may be used and adapted for worship and educational purposes within Christian communities. They may not be sold or redistributed for commercial purposes without permission.

Resource Details

Date: July 19, 2026

Scripture: Genesis 28:10-19

Theme: Growing Together (Psalm 105:1-11, Genesis 28:10-19, Matthew 13:24-30)

Lectionary: RCL Year A

Scripture on this page is from The Shared Word Translation (SWT), an ongoing translation project within ChurchCommons.org.

Scripture on this page is from The Shared Word Translation (SWT), an ongoing translation project within ChurchCommons.org.

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