Thanks to your liturgy team for the honour of opening scriptures for you. I am honoured to have an opportunity to address the congregation, for which I have such respect and to stand with Fr. Andy who we have been so pleased to welcome into Sandy Hill; I like to brag about the good working relationship amongst churches and faith communities in this neighbourhood… I like to think we are fertile soil for the sower’s seeds, but it is worth thinking about what the fertile soil would be that provides abundant harvest
In his response to the questions of his disciples, Jesus tells them parables are for those who know beyond knowledge. They hear and see beyond the obvious.
It’s an invitation to look again at the familiar image –prodigal sower, casting seed not just on the prepared ground, but also on the path, on rocky ground and amongst the thorns. No self-respecting farmer would do that.
I grew up on a farm. One of our jobs as children was to turn the crank on the seed mill that took the weed seeds out of some last year’s grain for next year’s sowing. Seed was carefully saved from one year to another and in Jesus’ day probably hand sorted. Grain kept for seed was precious–not available for eating.
So for those who know about the economics of subsistence farming, a sower flinging seed over hard packed paths in thickets of weeds seems irresponsible.
But that’s what Jesus says God does with the seeds of the kingdom–casts them out over everything–the stony and the thorny as well as the prepared and receptive. Jesus attracted such a crowd by the sea of Galilee that they had to put him in a boat to be seen and heard. And he told everyone that the kingdom of God was here for them. It didn’t seem to matter to him that some would seem receptive at the first and then fall away–that others would fall prey to forces beyond their control. He kept putting out the word–the word that in our first reading (addressed to disheartened exiles) God assures shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
Jesus knows that in his generation and ours there are those whose hearts have grown dull, ears hard of hearing, eyes shut… to his message. But, he says, I would heal them. (Matt 13:15)
And so the seed of the word must be sown extravagantly–not just to those with ears to hear, but also onto what we might regard as rocky ground…
This is a tall order to those of us who see ourselves as a remnant church, stretched to maintain even the community life we once had. But our call is to keep reaching out … sharing the good news of god’s kingdom: that Christ wants to heal hard hearts, broken lives, damaged relationships, ineffective instutions….
At a conference I attended recently, one of the presenters put up three different slides:
1. A very attractive artificial flower arrangement
2. A vase of gerbera daisies–also attractive
3. A healthy dandelion
–then she coxed out of us which was the one which could reproduce, bear fruit…
Only the dandelion.
Then she invited us to think about our faith communities and ask ourselves–are we the real thing? Or are we just a manufactured imitation of the life Jesus offers us?
–are we cut off from our root–our source of life–or are our root sunk deep in the soil?
–are we vibrant enough to fling the seeds of the spirit far and wide, not worrying about where they fall?
Because haven’t we all seen those dandelions pushing out of the cracks in sidewalks or the most inhospitable looking locations? In fact at my church down the street, this week I’ve been enjoying a blue bell that somehow managed to push through between the stone foundation and the asphalt.
So, what does that mean to those of us who are the public face of the church in Sandy Hill on this warm Sunday morning?
Here I want to commend the work of this parish: through the Supper Table, Aboriginal Healing work, refugee support, Women’s Centre, and the other significant outreach you do in the community. I would also thank you for your support of the Open Table ministry which provides a supper and other programming for students and young adults at All Saints during the school year. We have collaborated effectively over the years in various ecumenical and interfaith and music ventures and offered seniors afternoon programs, a Blue Christmas Service and (recently) a funeral planning workshop. I am currently working with a member of this parish and St. Paul’s Eastern United on a women’s healing circle for the fall. (Hope there may be a men’s breakfast on the horizon.)
–Also ask for your support for Centre 454 as it returns to St. Albans at the end of the year.
(Open House next Sunday afternoon July 17)
Together, may we indeed provide good soil for the seeds of God’s spirit, so that
–there may be healing between us–and
–the harvest of blessing in this broken world may be abundant indeed!
Recent Comments