Ansai leads both Morning and Evening Prayer this week. Today’s Advent Morning Prayer – Ansai considers a passage from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, verse 44 to 58. This scripture describes how Jesus teaches his disciples and crowds of followers who had come to listen to him teach, by using parables to help their understanding. Until finally Jesus reaches the town where he was born – and the crowd shows disbelief and incredulity – refusing to listen to the parables Jesus uses to describe heaven; “‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.'”