Regardless of political affiliation, a memory many of us share from President Biden’s inauguration was the National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, reading her poem “The Hill We Climb”. The new National Youth Poet Laureate was announced last month. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, CA. She will be starting college at Stanford. What would you guess that she plans for her major- English Literature? Writing? Actually, she plans to study Engineering. In an interview with the Associated Press (May 21, 2021), Huynh said “she hopes to challenge herself to think in ways she hasn’t before and work out ideas ‘across disciplines’.”
The scripture passage this Sunday comes from Mark 4:26-34 in which Jesus shares two parables. Parables are not simple stories with clear answers or direction. As Biblical scholar, Karoline Lewis notes, “Jesus tells parables not for explanation but for exploration. Not for answers but so as to engage the imagination. Not for certainties about faith but for discoveries about how faith works.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org June 7, 2015)
Sometimes we choose what might appear to be straight paths. Other times we veer from what is expected, or we may take another direction out of necessity. As we celebrate our graduates this Sunday, we also include in our prayers and support those whose paths have led them to working in the world, serving our country, volunteering or working with NGO’s or other non-profits, and those figuring out next steps.
In reality, we are all figuring out next steps. This Sunday, we consider what that might mean for us as individuals, a community of faith and a greater world. What might we learn from these parables? In our time of worship, we will share inspiring music including hymns and musical offerings from our Sanctuary Singers (accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs), a children’s moment, a Celebration and Blessing of Graduates, prayer and reflection, and a reading of the scripture passage based on Mark 4:26-34 read by Regan Theile. The sermon title is “The Grace of Our Ever Unfolding Stories”.
If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for decades, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here or on the live stream at 10:30am this Sunday.