O good and gracious God, heavenly Father + Grant us Your Spirit of Truth and Peace, that we may understand Your holy Will and follow Your Directions and trust Your Promises from the bottom of our heart all our life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit – one God – now + forever. 

Amen

Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem. 

He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.

Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them,  and they went on to another village.

Luke 9:51-57

Preach you the word and plant it home
to those who like or like it not.
The word that shall endure and stand
when flowers and mortals are forgot.

We know how hard, O Lord, the task
your servant bade us undertake:
to preach your word and never ask
what prideful profit it may make.

The sower sows his reckless love
scatters abroad the goodly seed,
intent alone that all may have
the wholesome loaves that all men need.

Though some be snatched and some be scorched
and some be choked and matted flat,
the sower sows; his heart cries out,
“Oh, what of that, and what of that?”

Preach you the word and plant it home
and never faint; the Harvest Lord
who gave the sower seed to sow
will watch and tend his planted word.

Martin H. Franzmann (1907-1976)