Important coronavirus update - the Isles of Scilly
are currently in partial lockdown and we will hold limited
services in our churches. Click on the links for the
churches news to find the plans for each church.
This page will be updated as things improve.
Here is a link to video messages from our chair of
district during this time:
Revd Steve Wild.
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on the scillymethodists
facebook page 
.
The Revd Michael Pullan gives us this June 13th
message:
Readings
Mark4 v 26-34, Ezekiel 17 v 22-24,
2Corinthians 5 v 6-10 and14-17
Seeds
- sowing and growing - pictures of God's kingdom.
In
my student days a book we were recommended to read was
"Parables of the Kingdom" by C .H. Dodd.
Here
in Mark, Jesus is telling the parables of the Kingdom
... They are simple analogies and comparisons taken
from familiar, everyday life experiences - each had
an essential meaning and reflected a facet of the kingdom's
mystery.
A
seed's growth or the size of its harvest is not controlled
by the farmer who plants it. Its growth is secret and
yet almost certain.
God
alone controls the process
The
mustard seed's growth is by God's power, it may reach
3 metres high but remains a shrub (and not a tree).
Birds may perch on its branches, but never nest there
(Mark reflecting perhaps the universal nature of the
church). Its growth from a microscopic seed to this
mirrors the Kingdom's growth from its small beginnings
in Galilee.
Our
own experience may question this, religious practice
has declined in the west over the last 70 years with
an obsession with materialism etc. but the Christian
church continues to grow in Africa, South America, the
Far East and Russia and this is the church militant
(The church triumphant does not lose members and so
keeps on growing). Growth is dependent on serving the
Kingdom. The Kingdom and the church are not identical
It's possible to serve the Kingdom without belonging
to the church and to be a church member and not a servant
of the kingdom.
Ezekiel
reminds us of Israel's exaltation and God's power in
all growth. Paul reminds us of what Christ can do for
and with individuals who trust in Him, give them a new
start, a new perspective on God, others and themselves.
The basis for a growing kingdom through service (great
or small).
