The Sower Keeps on Sowing

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13 July 2014 Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost1

Emmanuel Church, Greenwood Parish (The Rev.) Christopher Garcia

The Sower Keeps on Sowing What seeds will you nurture? What story will you tell? It is somewhat challenging as a preacher to be faced with today’s Gospel passage. Jesus, who is a much story teller than I am, tells the crowd a story, a parable. Eight verses, sower, soils, good soil, bad soil, rocky ground, shallow soil, weedy soil, good soil. We understand the metaphor, the allegory. Got it, thanks. Done. Then, just in case we have any questions, the editors skip down a few verses and cut to the scene where Jesus is with his friends, in a more intimate, private setting. Jesus himself, who is a much better teacher than I am, explains what the parable means. We learn about the evil one coming to snatch the seed away, those who hear the word with joy but have no root, those who hear the word but are overcome by the cares of the world or the lure of wealth, and at last the good soil, those who hear the word and bear fruit, a hundred fold, or sixty, or even thirty. So Jesus himself explains what it means. What is a preacher left to do? What seeds will you nurture? What story will you tell? What message does your life speak? I think all of us, when we hear a story like this, immediately try to fit ourselves into one of the categories. We all want to be the good soil, right? We want to feel good about ourselves and our lives, and so we try to fit ourselves into the category of those who bear fruit, thirty, or sixty or a hundred times over. When we think about the seed scattered on the path, or on the shallow soil, we aren’t quite as quick to own that. And that bit about “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the care of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing”? Well, Mr. Preacher Proper 8A, Revised Common Lectionary: Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. “O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” 1

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Man, don’t get to meddling now and push too hard there, especially to comfortably well off Episcopalians. After all, this isn’t stewardship season yet! For a moment I would like us to pull back the focus. Let’s stop trying to fit ourselves into one of the soil types. Let’s listen to Jesus. We often think about this parable as the parable of the soils. What does Jesus call this story? What does Jesus call this parable? “Listen! A sower went out to sow.” A few verses later, when Jesus is with his disciples, he explains, “Hear then the parable of the sower.” The parable is not about the soil, at least not directly. The parable is about the sower, the one who broadcasts the seed, the Word. If you or I were to plant a garden, what would we do? First, we would carefully prepare the garden. We would pull up all the weeds, or zap them with Roundup. Then we would till the soil, probably going to Walmart or Home Depot first to buy a cart of soil additives, or working in compost or if we have access to a farm, some well-rotted manure. And ideally, after the soil was all ready, and we had done all the prep, and the temperature was right and the moisture conditions were right, we would open our little packet of seeds, and carefully follow the packet directions. Home many seeds to plant per inch, how deep, how to cover them, how much water to add, etc. We hoard our efforts and want to see predictable results, preferably right away, right? But this parable isn’t about you or me or the way we might choose to garden, thanks be to God. The parable is about a much better Gardener. Listen, a Sower went out to sow! What happened? The Sower throws seeds everywhere! The Sower is willing to scatter seeds luxuriantly, widely, even on ground that we think might never bear fruit. The Sower is willing to let his good seeds go everywhere. The Sower broadcasts the Word. It doesn’t seem to bother the Sower that the Word might end up on the path, or rocky ground, or in a weedy, thorny patch, or in less than ideal conditions. The Sower just keeps on sowing. Here is the Word; here is the Word; here is the Word. The Sower just keeps on sowing. God’s love, God’s sovereign Grace; God’s hope for you and for me doesn’t require that we be ready for it. This parable isn’t about how God is preparing us to hear the Gospel. It’s about the miracle of God’s love, strewn out extravagantly. God isn’t afraid to love recklessly. God doesn’t care if we’re ready to receive the Word or not, the Word is coming at us regardless. God’s love just keeps on coming. The Sower just keeps on sowing.

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What seeds will you nurture? What story will you tell? What message does your life speak? Many of you know that my family and I have just moved into our new home. That house came with a fenced garden that the previous owners had tended lovingly, complete with an 8-foot deer fence, and carefully secured hardware cloth down low to keep out rabbits. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the previous owners moved out in December 2012. The garden has received almost no care in the past 19 months. So you know that bit in the parable about weedy soil, chocked by thorns? A friend had to call us up and say, “Hey, do you know you have blackberries growing in that mess?” Standing on the outside, looking in, you almost can’t tell what’s in there. Over the next few days and weeks and months, Cheryl and I hope to get into that garden and do some weeding. We want to get rid of the nettles and the grass and the junk, so that we can find the blackberries and the asparagus and herbs that were once planted there and carefully tended. Until we get rid of some of the mess, we won’t know what we have, and we can’t go about being selective about what we plant and nurture. What seeds will we nurture as a congregation? What story will Emmanuel tell as a church family? What message does our life together speak about God’s amazing, reckless, unlimited love? Will we hoard our resources, or will we nurture the good seed that God is scattering before us? For the past 15 months, we have let a patch of soil get awfully choked by thorns. That patch is called Ledford House. Ledford House has been rather weedy – both literally weedy outside and neglected inside. But God’s love keeps on raining down. The Sower keeps on sowing. The Word keeps on coming. And parishioners have stepped forward to get rid of some of the weeds. The first weeders were our youth group, who said, “Hey, can’t we clean up this basement? Let’s paint this place to make it more inviting. Let’s get the carpet cleaned, and throw out some of the junky furniture.” And they did just that. And God’s love keeps on raining down. The Sower keeps on sowing. The Word keeps on coming. When we prepared for our Vacation Bible School program, Camp Emmanuel, we hoped for thirty children. Privately, I was prepared to push on and encourage out volunteers to go forward even if we only had fifteen kids sign up. But God sowed 50 kids into that program, twice as many as we dared to hope for. The Sower keeps on sowing.

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During Camp Emmanuel, we realized that we’re going to need more classroom space come this fall, and we realized that the classroom space was waiting, up on the second floor of Ledford House. God’s love keeps on raining down. The Sower keeps on sowing. The Word keeps on coming. So our Wardens and Vestry are organizing Tiger Teams to go in, rip out old carpet, freshen up rooms, clean, paint, fix up, and make some rooms clean, inviting, and safe for classroom use this fall. God’s love keeps on raining down. The Sower keeps on sowing. The Word keeps on coming. If you want to be part of this story, you can find out more on the announcement sheet in today’s your service bulletin, or read more about it on our weekly e-mail or on our website. What about you? How is the Sower sowing love and grace and truth into your life? Will you make room for God’s amazing love, or will you let the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word? What seeds will you nurture? What story will you tell? What message does your life speak? Amen.