Yesterday I finally completed a draft of Sunday's reflections (we're not having a sermon per se) on three of the Matthean 'Kingdom of Heaven' parables set alongside the 'Sheep and Goats.'

The thing that struck me most as I was working with the texts was the significance of tiny things, things that seem at first insignificant.  Let's face it, two of the three Kingdom parables I'm using are so tiny you could miss them.  Tiny little seeds (wheat, weeds or mustard) tiny portions of leaven/yeast, or, in the Matthew 25 story seemingly insignifiant actions - a cup of water, a welcome, a visit, a meal (given or not given).  For good or for ill, done or left undone, tiny things matter.

In each of the three Kingdom parables, the original 'tiny thing' is both hidden and lost - seed is buried in the ground, yeast worked into the dough.  When the soil is again tilled, the seed is gone; when the bread is broken the yeast cannot be found, it has been killed in the baking.  There is something sacrificial about these tiny things, they are lost but the outworking of their influence continues (again, for good or ill).

Challenging texts - encouraging us that the unseen, seemingly insignificant, good things, God things, matter but at the same time cautioning that the unseen, seemingly insignificant, undone good or chosen bad things also matter.

One day we'll all be long gone and, grave stones notwithstanding, most of us will be 'forgotten as a dream' but the significance of who we are and what we do or don't do will survive us.  As I pondered the service, I was reminded of some of the people and actions that for me have been 'mustard seed' - people who would be startled to be recalled I'm sure:  Mr Cann, Mr & Mrs Higgs, 'Auntie' Biddie Burt (the formality reflects the age!) - if there were to be non-conformist 'Saints' these, long past Methodists and Congregationalists would be among my nominations (most of the Baptist ones I can think of are still very much alive in this world!).  These folk, and others, taught me much about what it means to be a disciple of Christ not with great speeches or learned exposition (though at least a couple of them could have done) but in the tiny things.  For that I'm truly thankful.