Rev. George Miller
January 19, 2020
Mark 4:1-9, 21-32
Hear these words from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he writes about his journey into non-violence.
As you listen, pay attention to how the images he uses are similar to today’s reading.
“I do not want to give the impression that nonviolence will work miracles overnight. Men are not easily moved from their mental ruts or purged of their prejudice and irrational feelings.
When the underprivileged demand freedom, the privileged first react with bitterness and resistance…The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it.
It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.
Finally, it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.”
Can you hear some of the parable-like language Dr. King used- overnight, ruts, changed hearts, souls, stirs?
Replace those words with sleep, rocky ground, brought forth, soil, and sow, and we could say that Dr. King is using parabolic language to discuss his particular pilgrimage.
Today we enter into the world of the parables of Jesus.
Parables are not sown to point out clear morals, or to make us feel comfortable.
Parables are meant to make us uneasy, to think on our own, to sew together ways to view God, ourselves, and the world.
Jesus uses parables to illuminate and surprise, relying upon images from his day that people would have understood.
As an agricultural community, his hearers understood about soil, and seasons, and how mustard was a weed.
As modern-day Americans we may not understand these concepts as well. As one author noted, Americans no longer view life through agriculture, but through the lens of production and manufacturing.
We don’t believe we “grow”, but that we “make”- we make time, we make friends, we make a living, we make love. (Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer, 2000, pp. 95-97)
This got me thinking. How do we approach our life and our communal relationship with God?
How do we, as a church, approach sharing the Kingdom of Heaven with others?
The other day I said to someone “I’m about to work on my sermon.”
Was “work” the right word, and was it really “my” sermon?
Could other words be used?
Maybe saying I was about to “grow”, “water” or “get muddy with” the message would have been better.
And whose sermon is it really? Mine? Yours? Ours? The Holy Spirit’s?
Think of the words we would use if we lived in a different kind of culture.
What if our country was purely a culinary based society- we’d talk about ingredients, kneading, and marinating.
What if we were the United States of Sit-N-Stitch? We use words like basting, clipping, and seam allowance.
Think of the what Jesus would use if it was the 1950’s, 80’s, or 2020’s- he’d tell parables that involved hot rods, Donkey Kong and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”!
Parables are like tiny appetizers, one-of-a-kind garments that no one can really tell you how they’re supposed to taste, or what they should look like.
They can feel or taste uncomfortable or bitter, scratchy or sweet, ungathered or overcooked.
Parables can feed your soul or cling too tight, but they will make you think, and in the process, flavor your faith, grow your relationship with God, and weave together ways to experience the world.
So, it is not really my place, or anyone elses, to tell you what these parables are about or how you are to think of them. That is why we omitted verses 10-20, as some people feel they are not the authentic words of Christ.
What we can do, though, is share an idea that sprouted from the soil of my mind- how much seed is sown.
We see a tiny mustard seed that grows into a great shrub. Seed that sprouts while an unnamed someone sleeps.
A sower, so generous with the seeds, throwing them here, throwing them there. They go everywhere- cascading upon paths and rocky ground, falling among thorns, landing upon good soil.
It’s like these sowers, with reckless abandon, just allow the seeds to scatter in the wind.
Letting go, lavishly.
But did you notice- most of the seeds do not grow into what we would classify as a success.
Mustard is a weed- who really wants that? The sickle separates the grain that is unripe.
¾ of the seed in the first parable did not yield what was expected- some were eaten, some shot up fast and burned out quickly, while others were choked.
Only ¼ of the seed did do what they were anticipated to do.
Is that what we, as Americans, would consider a success?
Is 25% success rate a good ratio?
Would you rehire the sower? Would we approve their budget for 2021?
Is this is what the Kingdom of God is supposed to look like?
A wild weed that houses noisy birds?
Someone napping with no idea why things happen the way they do?
Is the Kingdom supposed to have a 75% failure rate?
…It all depends on how you view failure; how you define success; and what you call seeds, soil, and harvest.
Going back to Dr. King, he wrote that nonviolence does not work miracles overnight, move men from mental ruts or immediately change hearts.
But he did say that nonviolence does something to the hearts of those committed to it, gives self- respect, calls up resources of strength, and reaches out to opponents.
It’s as if Dr. King is talking about seeds and soil and sleep.
It’s interesting, when thinking about the ministry of Dr. King- he traveled 6 million miles, spoke over 2,000 times.
Yet, if you were asked “What did he say?”, you may recall his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, his claim to have been to the mountaintop, and that he had a dream.
If you were asked to visually recall Dr. King, you may “see” him marching in Selma, speaking in DC or standing on a balcony.
Yet he had been all over the world and spoke so many times. But none of us would say that since we don’t remember every word he said, or recall every place he has been, that Dr. King’s life and ministry was a failure.
We wouldn’t say “3 seeds out of 2,000 messages was a waste of time.”
We would say “Dr. King abundantly, bravely, sowed seeds wherever he could. And though not every seed fell on good soil, those that did…helped to reshape our world.”
Maybe that’s one way we can look at today’s parables.
That we are being encouraged to be generous and daring in what we can do as a church and as a people.
Maureen gave a great example this morning with the gifts we’re giving to our visitors.
The Service Committee is continuing to discover new ground and cast out seeds into the Sebring community.
Council, with their current restructuring and “Pop-Up Ministries” is creating soil so we can all be sowers, scattering seed of new ideas.
Some will not take, some will grow quick and wither away, some will lay dormant and germinate while we sleep, some will yield 100 fold, and some will seem so, so tiny, yet surprise us most of all.
And all will be dependent on God.
Today’s parables are an encouragement for us in 2020.
That the very American manufacturing way of seeing life and success may not be the best way for us, as Christians, to view things.
Perhaps we are being challenged, nudged to be a bit daring, a bit reckless, a bit generous like the sower.
To scatter. To cast out in all directions.
To see what takes. To see what surprises. To see what grows, to see what burns out. To see who will make their nests.
To even see what happens when we are willing to rest for a bit and let the mystery of God does its thing.
Today’s reading nudges us, creating fresh images of God’s Kingdom.
It creates new recipes for us to share, stitching together unique garments to try on.
Think of the seeds that can be sown.
Even if we fail 75% of the time, imagine what that 25% can do, for the glory of Christ and for the benefit of God’s Heavenly Kingdom.
Amen and amen.
A UCC Pastor's walk through the spiritual waters of Scripture, pop culture and life.
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