One Wild And Precious Live

Sermon-4 Pentecost-Proper 10-July 10, 2011
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Listen, we are part of the Diocese of Michigan, 82 Episcopal Church in southeastern Michigan. And because that is rather a large number, the diocese is broken down into smaller “subgroupings” called “deaneries”. So we are one of the 11 churches of the Downriver Deanery. Many of the other churches (not all) of the deanery are small and because they are small, they sometimes feel as though they are failures –disappointments-losers. We had a deanery meeting last year and several of these small churches were angry, feeling defeated, and they said, “WE NEED A PROGRAM ON CHURCH GROWTH”. So, I said that I would do it-even though I know almost nothing about growing a church.
Pease keep in mind, at this meeting were two very active Trinity members, Virg Stoltz and Patti Gearns, who have witnessed some of my more “interesting” attempts over the years at evangelism. So I wrote out for this meeting 20 concrete things a church could do to grow. And each time that I made a suggestion on growth, I told a story where I had tried something-and how it had failed. I wanted these churches to know 2 things: every success was built on several ideas, GOOD ideas, that had borne no fruit-what we call FAILURES; and that you never stop trying to grow-no matter how many disappointments, failures, or defeats. People look at Trinity and they see a wonderful church full of enthusiasm, energy and the Holy Spirit. And so it is. They see a community of faith that seems to spin gold out of straw-but what they don’t always realize is how many times we fall, how often we struggle, how frequently we are frustrated with out defeats.
Chapter 13 in the gospel of Matthew is the first time that Jesus begins using parables as teaching tools. He has used sermons, healings, exorcisms. And now he begins using parables. It says that he is so popular he has to sit in a boat out on the water to speak to the crowds that are following him. And he uses this wonderful story that most of the people, this agricultural people, would have understood. He tells them that most of his words, most of his teachings, most of his message-will not bear fruit. People will hear Jesus-and will misunderstand. Or they will get excited-but then soon leave. Or folks will hear and believe, but then life will get in their way, and they will get distracted and promise to come back later when they have more time, more energy, more resources.
Every minister I know has a million examples of people who walk into their office, or show up one Sunday in church, or even talk to them in Meijer’s saying, “I really want to come to your church, I am ready to follow Jesus, I will be there from now on.” And then you never see them again. I’ve been in groups of clergy where someone will start off with, “I had a guy once who…” And then each clergy will top that story with one of their own about someone who was so excited, or so committed-only to disappear or fall away. It doesn’t just happen, it happens all the time. And Jesus, a practical man, a worldly teacher, understood this.
Jesus feeds 5000 with little bread, he heals scores, raise many from the dead, he is Hosannaed into Jerusalem-and how many are there at the Cross? Jesus knows what it is to be loved, followed and obeyed by the people-for awhile-and then to watch them wander away.
So I was at one of these clergy gatherings many years ago, when this parable came up for discussion. And everyone was telling their stories of people who were excited by the word, or made promises, or committed themselves-only to fall away. And a long time priest, turned to us and said, “have you never been this person?” And we, stopped our stories in embarrassment. Of course we had. All of us at one time or another had been one of these people-initially excited, or superficially committed, or way in over our heads. Each of us knew that there had been times when we had been each of these soils. And there was this great silence in the ministers. And finally the old priest said, “and yet God keeps throwing seed on us.” Almost everyone here sees ourselves as the good soil in this parable, the fruitful soil. I mean, we’re here right? But we have all been each of these. And, to a degree, we still are. Our natural tendency is to look at our life now and believe that we are there. We are the mature ones, we are the ones with deep character and solid foundations. WE are the people of faith and good soil. Right?
Anna Carter Florence writes: “Maybe this isn’t about us at all—what we do, or what we see, or what kind of soil we are. Maybe it’s about what God does and what God sees. Because I look around, and I see parts of the seed that fell into the good earth, and they are yielding fruit, they are coming up and growing, and they are bearing thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold, beyond what anyone ever expected. I see seeds that some in the church believed had no right to exist, yet they do, and they thrive! And I don’t think the point is to shame us into listening—they that have ears to hear, let them hear! I think the point is to shout about the good we see, and not care who hears it—they that have ears to hear, let them hear! This is not about what good soil we are, and how well we understand the divine mysteries. This is about what God is doing in staggering numbers.” And I would add-“in spite of us.”
You can look at this parable as an allegory about the church-which it is. And you can look at it as a story about each of us individually-how often we seem ready to follow, commit, pledge-only to look back years later and wonder why we were ever so enthusiastic. Thomas Merton writes in his book on this parable, “The Seeds of Contemplation”: “Every moment and every event of every person’s life on earth plants something in her or his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men and women. “
But what I like about this parable is that God is constantly wasting himself on us. God is throwing out endless seeds on us, planting, scattering, sowing, placing in us day after day his good news, his hope, his power. No matter what kind of soil we are. No matter how often we fail. No matter how small, how immature, how childish. God keeps planting the gospel in us. When we are there and when we think we’re there.
Two last quotes that I found very powerful about this parable: Thomas Long writes: "Therefore, the church is called to 'waste itself,' to throw grace around like there is no tomorrow, precisely because there is a tomorrow, and it belongs to God" (Matthew, The Westminster Bible Companion). And Kate Huey adds “To whom does your "tomorrow" belong?”
Listen, David Lose a teacher of preachers, says that this is a mosaic that is hanging on a house in his neighborhood that says: "Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.” David Lose
God wastes his love on us, because there is a chance that someday we will have a small piece of good soil and that good news will grow and flourish and thrive. Until then, God will keep throwing seeds at us, until our one wild and precious life bears fruit 30, and 60, and 100fold. Amen