The gospel texts in July give us an extended selection of parables. All of them put me in mind of this question:  “What have we missed?”  I’m often thinking this, I confess. What grabs the headlines about Christianity in America today is virtually unrecognizable to me: those who cozy up to power, those who bless violence and stoke end-times fears, those who spend an inordinate amount of energy on who can and can’t speak for God. It is worth asking, I think – what might we miss?

It’s a welcome word from Jesus: …my yoke is easy to bear (Matthew 11: 28, July 5). Who in your congregation might need to hear that? Who might be laboring under a false gospel of burden and restriction?

A sower went out to sow (Matthew 13:3, July 12). Our attention is usually on the seed; what have we missed about the nature of the sower, the sower who sows rather indiscriminately?

A farmer lets the weeds grow along with the wheat (Matthew 13:29, July 19). What might we miss when we prematurely sort people? Whose call is being denied when we preemptively say

“(insert group here)” isn’t able to serve God in this way? Whose faith development is blunted?

Mustard seeds, yeast, pearls of great price (Matthew 13:31-52, July 26) all suggest to us that the ways of God are hidden. What have we missed when we lack the patience or discernment to see or seek them?