In our end is our beginning;
in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing;
in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection;
at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
~In the Bulb There is a Flower,
Natalie Sleeth, 1986
 
Telling the difference between what we consider good and evil is sometimes no simple thing. Consider the characters that inhabit today’s readings. Laban tricking the trickster Jacob in Genesis. In Matthew, a thief and a merchant. Fish both desired and rejected. Yeast in a batch that is properly without leaven. A weed masquerading as a plant that is intentionally sown in a field. Shady, subversive, corrupting, confounding stories all, yet Jesus offers them up, and, along with the disciples we are so confident: “Yes, we understand.”
 
Do we?
 
Here is a counter-cultural good word. Wisdom is fleeting, although it is there in abundance for the harvest, found in unexpected and surprising places. Like baptism, it takes a lifetime to achieve. It takes ears to hear, eyes to see. Perhaps that is why it is so valuable! Humility is a beginning, to be sure. Navigating amidst masquerading either/or realities so familiar in our current kingdoms is harder than we might think, and yet, it may be the way to this kindom we both long for and proclaim. Poking around the edges of Jacob and Rachel and Leah’s stories we discover just how important this is. And perhaps around our own stories as well. The poking, the prodding, the searching, the sorting. Is there a pearl of great price waiting to be found?
 
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. There’s food for thought! Open yourself up to the Love from which nothing can separate us. Listen for that Spirit of truth. Be transformed. Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 29:15-28 † Psalm 105:1-11, 45b † Romans 8:26-39 † Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
 
About the Art: Egger-Lienz, Albin, 1868-1926. Sower and the Devil, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55000 [retrieved July 1, 2026]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egger-Lienz_-_S%C3%A4hmann_und_Teufel.jpg.

And [Jacob] dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
~Genesis 28:12
 
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 
~Matthew 13:24-25
 
These ancient stories! How they hold us with tales of lives twisting, turning, unfolding, growing. Herein lie stories of calling, of promise, of purpose, of blessing. It turns out they are not simply tales. They speak to our own lives and to the twists and turns, the unfolding and growing, the mixed metaphors of our spiritual lives, and most astonishing of all, to the deep roots that nourish us—even us!—in nurturing love.
 
We welcome Rev. Daniel Wolpert to worship this Sunday. Dan, a healer and student of the spiritual life, worked as a research scientist, psychologist, spiritual director, farmer, teacher, and construction worker before earning his Masters of Divinity degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS). Over the past forty years he has taught in the fields of psychology and spiritual formation, led retreats, and delivered talks in such settings as the Art of Spiritual Direction Program at SFTS, the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, Luther Seminary, and the 5-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation. His most recent book is Looking Inward, Living Outward: The Spiritual Practice of Social Transformation.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 28:10-19a † Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 † Romans 8:12-25 † Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
 
About the Art: Wheat and Weeds. Photo taken at the Minnesota Institute of Contemplation and Healing Retreat Center. Dan Wolpert.

“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path,… Other seeds fell on rocky ground, … Other seeds fell among thorns, … Other seeds fell on good soil …. Let anyone with ears listen!”…
~Matthew 13:3-9 (excerpts)
 
This familiar parable of the sower and the seeds falls right in the heart of the summer growing season. Knee-high corn and its lessons of well-being and maturation are tilled together with the story of Jacob the heel-grabber and his hungry brother Esau.
 
The long season of Ordinary Time provides us with ample opportunities to reap wisdom and understanding from these ancient stories and parables that speak through time to humanity of humanity.
 
Let anyone with ears listen!
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 25:19-34 † Psalm 119:105-112 † Romans 8:1-11 † Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
 
About the Art: Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890. The Sower III (version 2), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58327 [retrieved June 30, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_The_sower_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am [nonviolent] and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is [kind], and my burden is light.
​~Matthew 11:29-30
 
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.
~George Saunders
 
One of the central images for Christian discipleship is that of the yoke Jesus invites his followers to willingly take on. This is, of course, typically understood as an image of burden. But it is the contrast of this burden, traditionally translated as “easy” but, perhaps better as “kind,” to the burdens of other cultural expectations that Jesus seems to be emphasizing here. There is no such thing as an unburdened life. The question is what kind of burdens will we take on. For some lead to life.
 
The novelist and teacher George Saunders had something of a viral moment when, speaking to the 2013 graduate class of Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, he made a distinction between being kind and being nice. There’s something here that connects closely to the invitation of Jesus to put on his yoke.
 
And it speaks to not only the nature of the Christian life, but the leadership into which we are invited within the church. Apropos to be sure, on a day we welcome new leaders we have called into our ministry.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings:  Zechariah 9:9-12  † Psalm 145 † Romans 7:15-25a † Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
 
About the Art: William Cumming. Worker Lifting a Rock, 1940. Personal photo. Seattle Art Museum, March 2026.
 
About the Artist: Largely self-taught Cumming came into the orbit of other depression-era artists while employed by the WPA. Inspired by Kenneth Callahan, Cumming applied the broad forms and clear delineation of Mexican mural painting to his pictures of workers. Highly skilled as a draftsman, Cumming specialized in capturing the human body in motion; his work-life vignettes are dynamic renditions of the physical effort, daily drudgery, and economic challenges of labor in Depression-era Seattle. Here, he captures the toil of clearing the rough terrain around the Puget Sound to make room for development. A broad-shouldered rock picker braces himself as he prepares to move a massive boulder, and a second, larger rock awaits the grueling cycle of excavation (adapted from accompanying commentary at the Seattle Art Museum, March 2026).