[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 10A: “A Sower Went out to Sow” or “What Soil Do You Provide for the Sower?” or “Plastic Bags”

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-------- Original message --------From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 7/15/17  5:31 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 10A: “A Sower Went out to Sow” or “What Soil Do You Provide for the Sower?” or “Plastic Bags” 


Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “A Sower Went out to
Sow” or “What Soil Do You Provide for the Sower?” or “Plastic Bags” and deals
with the Gospel (Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23). 
Here it is:

 

We just heard Jesus tell the story of the farmer who went out to sow
his seed.  In those days, as you probably
know, seed was planted by broadcasting it- tossing it across the ground.  Wherever it landed, that’s where the farmer
hoped it would sprout.  Jesus told of
four kinds of soil that received the broadcast seed: a soil on a road; thin,
rocky ground; soil full of weeds, especially thornbushes; and good ground. It’s
easy to see that each type of soil represents a kind of human heart hearing the
Word of God.  If you’ve been at St.
Paul’s for a while, you’ve seen all of these types of reception of the Word.  You’ve seen people like the soil on a road-
hard and unyielding.  The seed lands but
doesn’t sink in, so Satan (represented by the birds) snatches it away.  People like this come once or twice, but
don’t ever seem to “get it.”  You’ve also
seen people like the thin, rocky ground (shallow and warms easily).  The seed really seems to take root.  They come for a while and are very
enthusiastic about the Lord and St. Paul’s. 
Then the hard work of living like a Christian can’t be avoided, and they
fall away.  Maybe a drug or alcohol habit
drags them down.  Maybe the message of
the Gospel convicts them of sin. 
Whatever- following Jesus gets increasingly difficult, so they opt for
an easier Gospel.  You’ve also seen
people who start out fine, but get bogged down (Jesus uses the word “choked”)
by the needs of life and fooled by the desire to get rich.  Finally there are those- the good ground, who
nourish the seed (the Word) and produce amazing results.  A seven to ten fold increase would be a nice
yield.  Even the USA using all the
benefits of modern farming methods shows a yield of 15 to 20 fold.  So a yield of 30, 60, or 100 fold is
miraculous!

 

I started by telling about other people, but it’s really not about
them- it’s about us.  The nice thing is,
we can become the kind of soil we choose. 
We choose the reception we give God as he comes into our hearts.  Maybe we’re so heard-hearted that we don’t
even consider living His way.  Maybe we
are excited about being a Christian for a while, but when it gets hard- we fall
away.  Perhaps worries about our
families, money, cars, friends choke out Jesus’ call to follow Him.  But perhaps- even if we started out weakly,
we change and grow and fertilize our soil until we produce amazing results for
the Lord.

 

I’d like to close with a story that represents most of us at one time
or another.  A family had been renting
for years and finally saved up enough money for a down-payment on a house- a
home of their own.  After moving in, they
decided to renovate the yard, since it had been neglected for years.  They planted and watered, so the flowers grew
and the grass became green and lush. 
Everything responded to their loving care- everything that is, except
the row of bushes that separated their yard from the neighbor’s property.  The family gave those bushes lots of
attention, watered and fertilized them regularly, and hoped they would thrive;
but all their work seemed useless. No matter what they did, the bushes remained
spindly and nearly lifeless.  They finally
lost patience and decided to uproot those pitiful, unresponsive bushes. When they
pulled the first one up, to their amazement- they found it still had a plastic
bag from the nursery wrapped around its roots! 
Would you believe- each plant was this way.  With great care, they removed the plastic and
replanted each bush.  In a few years, the
bushes were the most beautiful in the neighborhood.

 

What’s the message for us?  Don’t
be hardhearted with God.  Don’t let cares
or worries or desires or fears or as Paul says in Romans 8 “anything else in
all creation” separate you from God like that plastic separated the plants from
the moisture and nutrients in the soil. 
My prayer for all of us is that we stay open to Jesus and his Word all
the days of our lives.

 

For anyone who is
interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are
posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan





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