DWELL
He
also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the
ground, and
would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does
not know how. The
earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain
in the head. But
when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest
has come."
He
also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable
will we use for it? It
is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of
all the seeds on earth; yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade." With
many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear
it; he
did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in
private to his disciples." Mark 4
REFLECT
Scattered and sown---these verbs describe how the
Kingdom of God moves into our lives.
Sowing is a bit more intentional than scattering, though they have the
same effect, right? Some sort of growth,
reproduction, multiplication, and maturation. Tiny, buried seeds germinate and
grow into visible plants that grow and produce fruit and habitat and more
seeds! Germination takes time. One waits to see if the seeds that were sown
or scattered will emerge. And then they
do. With water, soil, sun, and a little time.
IN my garden the first plants to emerge this year
were pumpkin plants, all over the garden.
As if I’d tossed pumpkin seeds everywhere. Countless pumpkin sprouts popped up. Thing is, I didn’t plant them. I didn’t sow or scatter them, really. What we did was toss our pumpkins onto the
garden in the Fall. We toss yard autumn
leaves and other yard waste in there for composting. So, in a sense I did scatter seeds. As the pumpkins rotted, the seeds fell into
the ground and spent a harsh winter there.
Dormant. Lifeless. And then, the
spring sun and rains came. I cleaned up the composted garden, removed the
remaining pumpkins and added soil. That’s
all it took. Now they grow. We’re letting them grow. Maybe this year we’ll grow our own pumpkin
patch. Right now they seem to be growing
better than anything else we planted. Scattered
seeds will grow without intention, without work, without assistance. It is the way of things. Death and resurrection. Burial and growth. Seed and fruit. The scattering of the seeds indiscriminately
leads to a future harvest.
Tiny seeds in the right conditions become plants
with the DNA to mature and reproduce.
Mustard plants are not the tiniest, nor are they the biggest
shrubs. But they do spread. Mustard spreads in a field, like mint. Though we planted mint in our 4 X 4 raised
beds, they jumped out and spread everywhere, invading the larger garden area,
too. You can’t control it. It’s everywhere. Mustard plants grow and spread and
persist. It’s hard to kill. Just keeps on growing and moving.
The Kingdom of God is like this. It’s not an institution or a program or an
organization with a board of directors.
It is not managed. Jesus suggests that His work ,words, and ways are
being sown and scattered in a way that cannot be controlled or undone. It’s already out there, like the pumpkin seeds
in my garden. His healing, his
teachings, his powerful forgiveness are already being sown into the hearts and
minds of people like you and me, who scatter and sow with our own lives, our
own words and actions. The church is
like a farm or a garden plot or garden box.
It has good soil, starter seeds, a history of growth and
reproduction. But it is not the only
place the seeds grow. And, contrary to
what so many are saying about the church, it is not dying. Containers do not die. The church is a container. That's all. And sometimes not a very good container. The church is not itself the Kingdom of God or the Word
of God. It is, at best, vessel, instrument, container garden of faith. 2,000 years of the Spirit wind
blowing the seeds of faith around the globe. It’s not everywhere, though. So the wind continues to blow. This week I was a sower of Kingdom seeds in
the lives of a family or two. I told them about God’s love for them, God’s
promised provision for them, God’s desire for them to be part of the family of
God. I listened to their story with
empathy and compassion. They were grateful.
And I believe the kingdom of God broke into that household this week,
the kingdom of God invaded the untilled soil of their broken hearts. They emailed me a note saying that out encounter may have restored some faith. I don’t know how or when germination might
take place. I don’t know if I’ll see
them to water the seeds. But I trust the
power of the Word to take root and grow in places we do not expect, with people
who have never been in church or have left church behind. So the good news is the growth of the church
or the kingdom of God is not all up to us.
You can have great soil and a nice container for it, but without the
seeds you have nothing. So wasting
efforts on the church building makes no sense if the seeds of Christ’s
teachings are not planted there.
Sown and scattered.
God has planted the DNA of the kingdom in you; they are the gifts of the
spirit, faith and hope and love. You are
the seeds scattered and sown. You are
sown into a neighborhood, a school, a retirement community. We have bee sown onto main Street in
Akron. God intends for you to visibly
embody the life of Jesus where you live.
And scattered, the places you travel, the people you meet along the way,
every journey and resting place is a place to scatter the seeds of faith. May you be scattered and sown as the seeds of
Christ’s love and may you plant the seed in others. Amen.
PRAY
Lord Jesus, your kingdom moves and grows and multiplies around us, through us, within us, in spite of us, and for us. We see it and feel it and taste your forgiveness. Scatter us like seeds that we might sow the word of salvation, the word of love and compassion every where we go. Amen.
