20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year 1: August 18, 2019

Preaching Text: Genesis 1:1-5 ; Matthew 6:30-34

The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: The Big Umbrella tells the story of an umbrella which is always big enough and spacious enough to cover everyone. The umbrella wants to cover more and more people, the narrator tells us. The umbrella will welcome any person, any creature. You don’t have to worry that you’re not welcome or that there is not enough space, because the umbrella welcomes you and has enough space for you. With the big umbrella, you don’t need to worry about being too much, because you’ll always be cared for. Rev. Karl Jacobson says of our two passages, “There is a profound theological claim in the idea that there is a Creator…The Creator cares for all, ALL of creation for every, EVERY creature. God clothes the grass (and the lilies) and will clothe us as well. Why? Because the Creator loves this creation, and this creature.” Our passages tell us that God is a Creator, and, furthermore, that the point of a Creator is to care. God, our Creator, cares enough to clothe even the grass of the field, and even more, cares about us in such a way that we need not worry. Like the umbrella expanding and welcoming and taking care of everyone who needs shelter, God cares about creation, and cares in such a way that we need not worry—we will be sheltered and welcomed and taken care of. Like the umbrella, taking care of everyone, God cares about us. God created us and loves that creation. So, we need not worry, because we will never be too much for God, who created and cares for us.

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Sara Anne Berger for writing the Year 1 Narrative Lectionary Links.

Lectionary Links (NL): August 18, 2019 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.