Sermon Title: "Seeds"
Date: June 14, 2009
Ministers: Rev. Susan Bjork

Lesson:  Mark 4:26-32

Jesus was a great teacher!  He knew how important it is to use familiar imagery, metaphor, and simile to speak to his followers about spiritual concepts and abstract ideas.  So, he often taught using parables.  Parables are short, easy-to-remember, stories that use familiar, commonplace images to illustrate an idea. 

In the gospels, one theological concept that was illustrated over and over through the use of parables was “the kingdom of God” or the “reign of God.”  We hear in the gospels many times “the kingdom of God is like”… or the question “with what shall we compare the kingdom of God?”

What follows, of course, is some symbolic and imaginative illustration.

Here’s the kicker, though…it’s not always immediately obvious to us what might be implied by these metaphors and some of these stories and images may be more obvious than others, partly because we come to the text with a modern, industrialized, western cultural perspective (as opposed to a first century, middle eastern, agrarian perspective). 

It might actually be a good thing, however, that we don’t immediately understand what all is indicated by these images because it encourages us to dig into the parables a little deeper, to engage these metaphors, and to consider that there may in fact be multiple interpretations and understandings of these stories, and that this is ok.

The beauty of metaphors and images, friends, is that metaphors and images allow for many layers of interpretation.

That being said, let’s take a look at these metaphors of seeds that we have before us in these two parables we just heard and consider some of the myriad possibilities for our understanding when we compare the kingdom of God to a seed that grows on its own and to a small mustard seed that grows into a large shrub.

Seeds…there is something about sowing seeds, watching them grow, and awaiting the harvest that can teach us about God’s reign. 

Seeds have such great propagating potential contained in such a small, unassuming yet potent package…we scatter them, we water them, we nurture them…but ultimately, though we may do the sowing, God does the growing.  We cannot control the sprouting, the leafing, the flowering, the production of new seeds…

In the first parable, the man who sowed the seeds, then stood back, went about his daily business, sleeping and rising, sleeping and rising, sleeping and rising…until it was time to harvest the grain.

Seeds…perhaps God’s reign is dynamic, not stagnant and growing, not yet fully grown…we scatter seeds and hope for the harvest…not knowing when or how exactly the seeds we’ve planted will grow to maturity in God’s care.

I think that perhaps we human beings sometimes think that we can bring about God’s reign on earth or secure our own future in God’s ultimate reign if we pray enough, if we work hard enough, if we do the right things and stay away from the wrong things…we hope that somehow we can hasten along the process, skip the waiting, and get to the harvest…and perhaps we forget about God’s grace in the process.

I know I have made this mistake before.  And then I have been disappointed when things haven’t gone my way…when injustice and violence are still far too prevalent in the world where I long to see equity and peace.

But perhaps, what we are really called to do in this life…is to simply keep planting…to keep scattering our seeds…seeds of compassion, seeds of prayer, seeds of justice, seeds of faith, seeds of peace, seeds of love…you get the idea.

You see, part of being human is to live in the sometimes uncomfortable, yet real, place between the planting and the harvest…the place of tension between “the kingdom of God is at hand” and “the kingdom of God is yet to be.”

And this is not always an easy place to be.  We wish that we could rush the seeds we plant to maturity, but we can’t.  All we can do is keep scattering our seeds, and nurture them with prayers that they will take root in the fertile soil of God’s grace, that they will sprout into new growth, that they will flourish and bloom, producing new seed, propagating the earth with more plants of promise…

Which brings me to our second parable…

The kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed planted in the ground that grows into a large shrub, capable of providing shady shelter for birds.

Seeds…this time a tiny mustard seed that grows into a mustard plant.

 

Now if the first parable didn’t spark the interest of Jesus’ followers, then this one surely perked their ears.

You see, it was common in 1st century Jewish culture to compare the powerful human kingdoms of the world to great trees.  In the Old Testament scriptures for example, Ezekiel refers to the Assyrian Empire as a mighty cedar of Lebanon.

So for the original hearers of this parable it might have been an unexpected contrast to hear Jesus compare the kingdom of God to a mustard plant. 

In 1st century Palestine, the mustard plant was common, just as it is now.  And it’s true: it grew into shrubs large enough to provide shade for birds that nested on the ground.  The mustard plant had its uses too.  Mustard seeds were ground up and used as seasoning for food…something we still do, of course.  There are also some historical documents that cite that mustard seeds were also used for medicinal purposes to treat anything from insect bites and fungi to toothaches and that the bitter, pungent taste of mustard was understood to clear the senses and the digestive system.  Pretty cool plant, huh?

Of course, the flip side of the mustard plant was that it was a bit pesky and hard to control.  It grew very fast and was viewed as a weed by many and you didn’t really want to plant it in your garden because it could take over and choke out other plants.  The mustard plant produced a lot of seeds and like most weeds, had a great ability to propagate itself.

So what does this say about the kingdom of God?

Well, one thing is for sure…the kingdom of God looks different from the kingdoms of the world…the kingdom of God is not like a mighty tree, but a common, useful and hospitable, but somewhat invasive plant.

In other words, God’s reign does not mimic the reign of human nations.

Perhaps, the kingdom of God is alive and growing…not easily controlled, somewhat wild and untamed, and certainly not easily destroyed…

Perhaps glimpses of the kingdom of God pop up around us in unexpected places on the roadside, on the hillside.  We may even wake up one morning and take a look out into the landscape of our own lives and realize that God’s mustard plant has grown overnight and taken over something we thought we needed, something we were holding on to…our own pride, perhaps…our own fear…old grudges…our own self doubt.

No, it’s true, the mustard plant has not taken over everything yet, God’s reign “on earth as it is in heaven” has not yet come and we still live between the planting and the harvest.

So what do we do in the mean time?

We sow seeds!  We sow seeds and we pray that God will grow them, though we do not know how.  We sow seeds and we pray that God will grow them into mustard plants that then produce more seeds… that then produce more plants… that then produce more seeds…that then produce more plants, and so on.

Last week at the Southern California Nevada Conference Annual Gathering, Dr. John Cobb, the process theologian and professor emeritus at Claremont School of Theology, sowed a provocative seed during his keynote address.  He argued that the United Church of Christ should focus its mission on saving the world, in particular, saving the planet from destruction and creation as we know it from annihilation.

I have been thinking about this quite a lot this week, not because this is anything particularly new.  I certainly agree that part of our responsibility as human beings who have faith in a God who called creation good is to be good stewards of the earth and concern ourselves with ecological justice.  And I know that we, as a species, have a lot of room for growth in this area.  And I know that the time to act is now.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about this because his comments were so pointed and direct.  His message was not “we should maybe think about possibly bumping up the environment a couple notches on our long priority list of mission concerns.”  His message was simply “you should do this, you should do it now, and you should be leaders on this front.”

And I responded, “what, who, me?”

You see, Dr. Cobb took the opportunity to sow a prophetic seed, praying that that seed would land in receptive soil and would flourish and flower in God’s care, and produce more seeds.

And guess what?!  It worked!  He succeeded in sowing a seed in my heart.  I’ve been thinking about it all week…and I’m trying to take a hard look at my own lifestyle to consider how I can be a better steward of God’s creation.  How can I reduce my use, reuse more, recycle more, drive less, walk more…and I’m really trying to work on that shorter shower thing!

And I’ve been thinking about this community of faith as well.  So, I’m taking an opportunity this morning to sow this seed: How can we collectively become a greener church?  We certainly are doing some things already to reduce our use…every week we use ceramic mugs rather than Styrofoam cups for our coffee, for example.  And our newsletter is available online for those of us who want to take ourselves off of the paper mailing list.  But, I wonder what more we could do because there’s always room to grow.  Perhaps some of you have some ideas about this…if you do, share them…we don’t know how God will grow the seeds we sow and we may even be surprised.  God willing, some of your good ideas might spread like a mustard plant!

On the back of your bulletin this morning, there is a brief story about a church’s experience in becoming greener.  I encourage you to read it later if you haven’t already.  And while you’re looking at your bulletin later, consider this…where will that piece of paper end up?

I’m just sowing one seed today…

Keep sowing yours!