The sky was a little dark, but it isn't supposed to rain today.
Before I can start on this week's message, I need to let go of last week's message. It was still working on me, in me, and even through me yesterday afternoon and evening.
Yesterday I preached on the Matthew 13 passage from the lectionary (1-9, 18-23). The focus that came to me over the week was the indiscriminatory scattering of seeds, so that is the direction I took.
We recently did a series on building relationships for real life and I made a connection to that. You can read yesterday's sermon below, noting that not everything is said and other things are added.
"Discipleship: Growth"
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (CEB) [Common English Bible]
July 16, 2017 (6th Sunday
after Pentecost)
Flintstone
UMC [United Methodist Church]
1That day Jesus went out of the house
and sat down beside the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered
around him that he climbed into a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was
standing on the shore. 3 He said many things to them in
parables: “A farmer went out to scatter seed. 4 As
he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They
sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But
when the sun came up, it scorched the plants, and they dried up because they
had no roots. 7
Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants
grew and choked them. 8 Other seed fell on good
soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case
a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.
9 Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”
18 “Consider then the parable of the
farmer. 19 Whenever people hear the
word about the kingdom and don’t understand it, the evil one comes and carries
off what was planted in their hearts. This is the seed that was sown on the
path. 20 As for the seed that was spread on rocky ground, this refers to
people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully. 21 Because
they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience
distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away.
22 As for the seed that was spread among thorny plants, this refers to
those who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the false appeal of
wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit. 23 As for what was planted
on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and
produce—in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of
sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.”
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THIS
IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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Three
weeks ago I started a series on discipleship from Matthew with the sermon title
"Be Like Jesus". Last week's
title was "Come To Jesus". Today's
title is "Growth". It's been a
little different preaching a series when I've been at a different church each
week, but for me it's still a series.
And, even if you don't hear every lesson, each of the parables points us
to Jesus and teaches us about discipleship.
We
know from the overall Gospel message that we are called to live, love, lead,
and serve like Jesus. That comes from
our relationship with Jesus and our discipleship. There is a cost to that discipleship as we
follow the ways that Jesus taught us.
Today's
passage is a parable and has been labeled many things over the years: that of
the farmer, the sower, the seeds, or the soil, depending on how you look at it.
As
the passage worked on me this week, I ended up focusing on the abundant hope
and opportunity of the scattered seeds.
Looking
back to verses 3-8: “A
farmer went out to scatter seed. 4 As
he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They
sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But
when the sun came up, it scorched the plants, and they dried up because they
had no roots. 7
Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants
grew and choked them. 8 Other seed fell on good
soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case
a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one."
Notice where the farmer scattered the seed-- everywhere: on the
path, rocky ground, some on shallow soil, other on deep soil, some among thorny
plants, other on good soil.
The farmer's position was to scatter the seed and he did, without discrimination.
This is counter intuitive for us. We
would want to prepare the land, do everything we are supposed to for the
planting. But he simply scattered the
seed.
There is a time and place to do all the preparation, but there is
also something to be said for a willingness to scatter the seed, the good news
and allow it to grow. We aren't in
charge of its growth. God is.
We have tools to help us till the land demographically, such as
MissionInsite, so we can know our people. I used it when I first got here. I have also started asking people in
community what they think the greatest need is here in the community. We can learn much from these tools and
conversations and adjust our mission and ministry.
However, are we not still called to scatter the seed of the good
news, the gospel, in all places? If it
grows and produces fruit, super. If it
gets grabbed up and taken away by the birds, maybe it will grow elsewhere. Ours is to scatter the seeds.
Brennan Manning wrote the Ragamuffins Gospel. In another book, Reflections for
Ragamuffins, he writes, "What the world longs for from the Christian
religion is the witness of men and women daring enough to be different, humble
enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burned in the fire of love, real enough
to make others see how unreal they are." (Quoted in A Guide to Prayer
for All Who Seek God, p.278)
Are we willing to be this type of Christian? Are we willing to share the good news of Jesus
Christ wherever we are, with whomever we find ourselves?
I know it's awkward and it's risky.
We spent a month on learning how to talk about God moments and
share our faith stories in order to help us engage in conversations with others
so we might better listen to their stories and build relationships for real
life. It takes time. It takes vulnerability. It takes a willingness to get out of our
comfort zone.
I came across another quote in my studies this week:
"The gospel calls us to count up the cost of our witness. Part of this process is the assessing of our
power as well. In God's grace the Church
discovers that its members are not helpless victims of aliens powers but
bearers of gifts, competencies, and influence for effecting change. Just as Moses was told to use the rod in his
hand and the disciples were bidden to feed the multitude with the lunch they
had, so we are expected to use what we have. (James Forbes in A Guide to Prayer
for All God's People, p.232)
What do YOU have? You have
your life, your stories, your history, your faith, your witness.
Example: Vivien. Because of Vivien having gone through the
surgery, she was asked to speak to a woman who was about to go through the same
surgery. Vivien shared with me that she
could tell this woman was afraid. Vivien
shared with her from her experience, upon request, showed the woman her scar,
listened to the woman. Because of
Vivien's experience, she was able to come along side another person and speak
love and life into them. Each of you is
part of that story because you spoke love and life into Vivien, you have
prayed, you encouraged her faith in worship, through emails, texts, and calls.
On Friday we explored the Raccoon Mountain Caverns and then drove on
up 41 to a place where I had heard they had good pizza and views. And, they did! Delicious wood fired pizza and a spectacular
view of the river. What I wasn't
expecting was the conversation with the young lady who worked there. She was an art teacher, taking a break from
teaching, hoping to go back if she can recover from burn out. She would like to be at Rossville Middle or Chattanooga
Valley Middle. We talk teaching for a
moment, then there's that awkward moment for me when I wonder if I really want
to scatter seeds of the gospel and build relationships for real life or not. I jumped in.
And what a blessing it was. I
learned she grew up with Carey Forrester and had a nickname for Carmen,
"the smiling lady". She
remembered that the Forresters attended 'the little rock church' and had
recently driven down the back road, saw the church, and thought about them. I mentioned that Gary plays piano and they
are here. Later in the conversation, I
asked a harder question (for me): where do you worship? and I learned that she
worships at home these days. We talked
about how that is good, yet worship in community is also needed for strength
and growth. I invited her and her family.
I also gave her my contact information if she wanted to talk about faith
stuff. Whew.
Scattering seeds. That is
what we are called to do. Building relationships for real life so that we can
share the good news of our faith. It takes willingness, intentionality, and getting
out of our comfort zones.
[Share about the seed packet from Courtney and Justin's wedding.]
The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable of the farmer and
he did, in the second portion of today's reading, verses 18-23. He explained where each seed fell, what that
meant, etc.
But we don't need to worry where the seeds fall. God will work on the growth of the seeds. We are called to scatter the seeds and allow
God to grow them, to trust that God will grow them.
As we obediently scatter seeds, God will work on our growth. It's a basic principal of discipleship as we
live into who God is calling us to be in following Jesus.
The more seeds we are willing to scatter, the more conversations we
are willing to have with others, we will notice the growth that takes place in
us.
I want to close with a portion of a prayer I found:
"Lord, I already know the best way to alter my life-style to
the best advantage for all-- live like Jesus. The Christian existence ideally is to imitate
what you do. You send the sun and rain
on everyone, you want me to get back to the basic facts of life, to love
without reservation, to distinguish between life's needs and life itself, and
seek first your kingdom knowing you will meet all my other needs." (Thomas
Pettepiece, quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants,
p. 235)
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On the way home I read an article several people had shared and commented on about one pastor's experience in Waffle House. It was somewhat long, at least reading it in a phone, but well worth the read. It reminded me that we are called to love folks in community, to be available to them, and meet them where they are. We show up, we live life, we share life, we listen, and we love. God takes care of the rest. Like the example in this blog post, there may come a time to do more than that. We might learn the deeper reasons of the behaviors of people. If not, we continue to show up, listen, share life, and love.
Here is a link to that article by Gary Liederbach at One Direction Community (North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church), "He's My F*cking Pastor!." Yes, it has the "f" bomb in it (and some others), but they aren't in full word form. As I posted on Facebook, move beyond that. If you can and do, you will see the bigger picture.
A week or so ago, a colleague of mine posted about her experience in community. Because she takes the time to get to know folks in the store where she shops, she knew this employee was having a difficult day. Though I can't recall the exact details in how the dialogue began, a conversation took place and the employee shared what was going on. My colleague is this employee's pastor without her ever having been to the physical church.
Scattering seeds of love and life into those we meet daily. That is the task of a follower of Christ. This packet of seeds is from the first wedding I officiated at Flintstone UMC and made its way into yesterday's message.
Scatter those seeds folks.
Blessings on the journey,
Debra
Great reminder Debra. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Penny.
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