Sunday 14 May 2023 is the Sixth Sunday of Easter and also Christian Aid Sunday.

Organisations such as Christian Aid and partners, have supported Esther Saizi in Malawi. Esther describes her small, but significant, agricultural work as ‘a tree’. The pigeon peas she grows are the trunk, and the branches are the many ways in which she is supporting her children and grandchildren. Esther has grown from a place of grief, loss and exploitation to financial security. She has built up a herd of goats, started her own tailoring business, and supported her daughter Ziwone’s dreams of being a carpenter by purchasing tools.

Esther bakes and sells pigeon pea bread and feeds her beloved grandchildren Nespo and Emmanuel food that is delicious and nutritious – and she often has enough to share with the rest of her community.

This week’s main scripture is from Matthew’s Gospel – the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

Perhaps Esther – and communities like hers in Malawi – understand the metaphors of Jesus better than the disciples who first heard them – or indeed better than many of us in Britain and Ireland today.

You can view the video which is played during today’s service about Esther and her circumstances – from Christian Aid TV – here.

The week’s main Scripture in two different versions

Matthew 13:31-35 (New International Version)

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Matthew 13:31-35 (from The Message Bible Translation)

31-32 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like an acorn that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge oak tree, and eagles build nests in it.”

33 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.”

34-35 All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:

I will open my mouth and tell stories;
I will bring out into the open
things hidden since the world’s first day.

Video of today’s service from St. James’ Church, Lossiemouth