Perhaps this is more the summer for the preacher to wrestle with Romans, study Romans than to preach a steady diet of Romans!
Today I want to focus mostly on the Gospel…“A sower went out to sow…”
A sower of course is someone who plants seeds so plants can grow. In this story from Matthew most people think the sower is God.
In a gardening book I love, (Bringing a Garden to Life, Carol Williams, p.82) it says about planting seeds, “Having drawn lines in the soil with a finger, I place the seeds—pressing each one firmly down in staggered rows with about four inches between seeds and four inches between rows. In the end there will be a patch of plants in a kind of honeycomb pattern.
“The general rule for covering seeds is twice the depth of their own thickness. I crumble the soil carefully between my fingers so that no heavy clod will bury a seed. Then, very gently, I tap the soil lightly down with the palms of my hands, the way one might tuck in a baby, securing the seeds in their bed.”
I’m reminded of a story I heard about a grandmother. She was showing her young granddaughter how to plant flower seeds—carefully in rows—not unlike my gardening book suggests. The granddaughter watched attentively. She obediently, painstakingly planted the first row or two. Then, without warning, the little girl just gleefully threw the rest of the seeds into the air, letting them fall where they would! Apparently the little girl wanted to garden, not so much like her grandmother, but more like God—with wild abandon! Somewhere between her grandmother’s careful training and the girl’s obedient row planting, she let go of the need to control where every seed fell. Like the sower, she let go of caring if the soil was rich and well-prepared; or too rocky, sandy, or poorly-drained.
Now even if the sower doesn’t plant by the book, there are many things in my gardening book the sower knows the truth of…like this:
“Making compost is rather like living. If you wait until you can do a perfect job, you’ll never get started. Better to make a start and learn as you go.” (Ann Mendenhall in Bringing a Garden to Life).
The sower has grace for us when we don’t do a perfect job. The sower knows we can actually live and learn and become more loving. The sower is Good and Wise.
The sower has Good Seed. The sower knows the spark of life that’s hidden in each seed, so the sower is always Hopeful. Expectant. The sower gives the spark of life to all, gives all a chance to learn, become richer, more fertile. The sower sows good seed with wild abandon. The sower’s supply of seed is abundant. ‘Seems unlimited. It’s out of this sower’s generosity and abundance that we are sustained physically and spiritually, day after day, year after year.
We say at the offertory, “All things come of thee, O God.” And they do!
ALL THINGS are from God…Not only the things that supply our physical needs but also the spiritual things we need.
Now that does take me back to today’s Romans! In Chapter 8 v. 2, The Message translation says, “The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.” Such freedom! Such lavish grace! Such forgiveness and new life offered, even when we don’t do it perfectly!
What are we to do in response to such generosity, abundance and grace?
Perhaps the sower can show us a way of sharing, giving and forgiving out of the great abundance God showers on us. There’s really no telling what God the Holy Spirit can grow in the soil of our souls, if we accept the seed, the compost, the watering, the tilling, and the Grace. And if we accept these with the humility that admits they are not from us but God, then perhaps we’ll know the truth of the rest of that offertory sentence, “And of thine own have we given thee.”
We can give generously of ourselves and our possessions. We can offer mercy, love, and forgiveness when someone needs it. We’re not meant to hoard our strengths, gifts and spiritual freedom but to share them with the community…
Perhaps in “random acts of kindness”. Perhaps in “giving someone who is wrong a soft place to land”. (James Alison) We, like the sower, are meant to scatter our seed with wild abandon…Not being too picky about who might receive it. With the Holy Spirit at work, there’s no telling what might spring up! Even in the most unlikely of places, we, like the sower, can be Hopeful and Expectant. Amen.
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