Sermon

Pentecost VIYear A

16/7/17

Vision/Planned Giving IV

Eltham

Readings

Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11(**); Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

+FSHS

The Parable of the Sower. We think we know what it’s about. But do we? At first glance, given that it’s one of the few parables Jesus tells to which he gives a deciphering key, it seems pretty straightforward: the different kinds of soils the seeds land on represent different people’s responses to the gospel. We could use the parable as though it were a litmus test for faith, for who’s kosher and “in” and who’s not so kosher and “out”, who’s good soil, or a profound disappointment. OR: maybe you’re like I was as a younger person, anxious about whether my heart is good soil or rocky soil, and whether what God wants me to do has really taken root in my life, or whether the birds have come and scooped up the seed off the path, and what if it’s withering because the roots don’t go deep enough? Either way, it would be all too easy to fall into the trap of using the parable as a stick to beat others or beat ourselves, with all the judgment it implies of others, or ourselves, “not being good enough”. And that’s a mistake, because God’s not like that, and it’s a misnomer to think that was Jesus’ intention in telling this parable.

The parable is not about where the wheat falls, in the end. It’s not about the different kinds of soils the seed falls on – well, not directly, only incidentally. Every so often I get a hankering to try my (black thumbed) hand at growing veges from seed. If you’ve ever tried that, you know that seeds cost money, and some of them are quite expensive. You usually dig a hole to the right depth, cover the seed, and dig the next hole the right distance from the first hole. You intentionally sow the seed in good soil, water it, and give it every opportunity to grow. Growing foodcrops is an intentional exercise involving labour, time, effort, and resources. You don’t generally take precious seeds (especially those designed for food crops) and chuck them randomly everywhere. The parable is not about where the seeds fall, but about the Sower who chucks them randomly everywhere, as though he/she has more than enough seed, isn’t worried about beancounting or economic forecasts or birds or stones or weeds, and not only trusts that the seeds will grow, but will grow in the most unlikely places. This Sower sows profligately, knowing that the seed will land, and hoping that it will produce a crop in the good soil (and maybe in some unlikely places too). Who is the Sower? The Sower is multivalent: God the Sower sows unconditional love in the hearts of all – who will respond? Jesus the Sower sows the seeds of the kingdom of God that those with ears to hear will listen. He hands the bag of seed to his disciples – Jesus’ Disciples as Sowers sow the seeds of good news, and we too take our part as Sowers made in the image of God the Sower of seed.

What does that mean for us? Learning to live by the principle of dependence on God. It’s God who gives the seed, and God who gives the growth – whether in our hearts or in the hearts of others. Our job is to be faithful in profligately and without limit casting the seed of good news of God’s love as far as we can in any way we can. We each have been given gifts – sown in our lives by God the Sower – to enable that sowing.

Abundance. God is a God of abundance and hope. God gives more than we can imagine, desire or deserve. Yesterday as part of our Vision Day we began by exploring the question “What are God’s hopes for us?” Some of the things we listed from the bible passages we looked at were: God hopes we will trust God, God hopes we will not be strangers to God, God hopes that we as a community will share unity in diversity, that we will share the hope we have been given, that we will be holy and grow ever more and more into the likeness of Christ. Listen to that hope: only a God who is abundance could hope so profligately, and with such intention for us. We also spent time reflecting on the challenges facing not just us as a parish, but the wider church of which we are a part in the context of our world and society. It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of bemoaning the way the world is. Reflecting on God’s hope for people yesterday was a necessary correction to this tendency to despair and fear the future. Our abundant God is hope-full: and invites us to live in and learn to see ourselves, our church community, and our world through eyes of tender hope.

Risk. The Sower sows with joy, willing to take a risk. I wonder whether the crop would have been as fruitful (30, 60, 100fold) if the Sower had painstakingly counted each grain and sown it individually. Instead, they took a risk, deeming the rocky ground, the path, and the area that hadn’t yet been cleared of weeds, not beneath having seed sown on them… And look what happened: a riot of abundant growth. Jesus is encouraging his disciples in this parable to be willing to take risks in planting the seed of the kingdom, the seed of God’s abundant love, and to TRUST God to give the growth.

Yesterday we finished our day with four growth intentions. I can’t share exactly what they are, because Jan is going to write up the notes from yesterday. But they deal with three dimensions of our life together: how we connect with our wider community, how we connect with each other, and how we connect with God. I’ll share more about them next week.

We’re shifting our focus in these next three-four weeks from vision discernment to how we resource that vision in our planned giving. As we do so, we need to allow our imaginations to be shaped by these things we learn from the Parable of the Sower: to grow our minds into the realization of God’s abundance: God’s abundant love, God’s abundant provision, God’s abundant forgiveness, God’s abundant acceptance; to be willing to take risks to see God’s hopes for us realized; and to learn to trust God completely – that it’s not we who make growth happen, but us working in partnership as sowers with God who brings the growth.

As we begin to think about how we’re being invited to participate in the growth initiatives set yesterday, think about five gifts God has given you, personally, to sow seeds of hope.

(five minutes to scribe)

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Question: Five gifts God has given you to sow seeds of hope

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