Follow the extended link to the sermon I preached yesterday morning at North Shore. It went well.
The scripture used was Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 and Isaiah 55:10-13
In the beginning, O God,
When the firm earth emerged from the waters of life
You saw that it was good.
The fertile ground was moist
The seed was strong
And earth’s profusion of color and scent was born.
Awaken our senses this day
To the goodness that stems from Eden.
Awaken our senses
To the goodness that can still spring forth
In us and in all that has life.
Amen.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Hear what? What are we listening for?
The parable of the sower and the seed…well, I have to confess that this is a parable I have been dreading preaching about for a long time. It is rich. It is powerful. And so many people have preached on this scripture time and time again. It is well known.
Can I see a show of hands? Who has heard this parable before?
Here everyone in the congregation raised their hands.
Can anyone tell me what it means?
There are many reasons I love preaching at North Shore. The fact that I had to cut off conversation lest we spend all day responding to one another is one. Maybe I should have let it go. Responses included: "the passage is an alegory on spiritual growth for those who are saved," "the passage reminds us to seek out our mission fields carefully," "the passage is about how you have to learn to hear before you learn to listen." It was fun. I encourage you all to give it a shot.
This is a great passage. The writer of Matthew has even given us the interpretation. The seed sown on the path is the Word that is not heeded. The seed sown on rocky ground is someone who “receives the Word with joy” responds immediately and then peters out as their fervor wanes. The seed that is sewn among weeds is someone who succumbs to the cares of the world…”the lure of wealth”…and that seed produces no fruit.
Then there is the seed that is sewn in fertile soil…this is the person who hears, receives and is grown in the Word of the Kingdom of God. The fruit from this harvest is beyond measure.
Great. Okay. Thank you for your time this morning. I guess my work is done here.
Well, sadly for you, there may actually be something else to say here. You see, there is a bit of scripture that falls between these two passages that is not included in the lectionary. I would like to share it with you. Listen to Matthew again. These are verses ten through seventeen from the same chapter.
Follow along in your pew Bible or simply listen to the translation by Eugene Peterson.
The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understanding flow freely. But if there is no readiness, and trace of receptivity soon disappears. That is why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again.
Your ears are open but you won’t hear a thing,
Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won’t have to look,
so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.
But you have God-blessed eyes – eyes that see. And God-blessed ears – ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never have the chance.”
The community stands divided. Matthew’s community is banging its head against a wall. Their story seems to be falling on deaf ears.
The parable is about a community divided.
It is a response to an unheeded tale of faith and salvation.
We can draw some parallels here between Matthew’s community and our own denomination and life here at North Shore. We are in the midst of a denomination that stands divided between liberal and conservative (whatever that means anymore), where neither side feels heard…hearts are being broken, friendships and collegial relationships are fractured. This is the kind pain I hear in this story from Matthew’s gospel.
I also feel some frustration when I read this parable. Here we are in this thriving neighborhood and we seem to struggle to engage new members…to create new disciples. We struggle to tell the stories of Christ and when we do tell the stories, they seem to go unheeded. This is, at least, my experience here in Andersonville. Maybe it is not yours.
And maybe it is because I am helping to grow a new church start. I was taught that a preacher also preaches to themselves. Evangelism is a difficult work and sometimes I just get tired of the struggle. But in this parable, by sharing it at all, Jesus gives us all hope. He shows us a way to be evangelical, kind, gentle and generous.
Be patient…sometimes we have to let a field lie fallow so that it may once again be made fertile. Cultivating a vineyard takes time…a lot of time.
As much as the parable is about how some people simply cannot hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, it is also a great example of how Jesus is concerned that all are led to a place where they can have their ears opened to hear the Word of God. He is showing us how to share the Good News.
Jesus, understands how difficult it is at times to hear the Gospel, the truth of God. This is one parable in the midst of many. Jesus wishes to lead us gently into understanding. He knows that we all hear differently…some of us must learn to listen before we can hear. Jesus knows this. Thus, he is gentle and generous. God knows His own creation.
He knows that some of us simply cannot hear the stories of God until our own story is heard…until we believe that we are known.
Here is another way to think about it.
Paul Westermeyer is a professor of church music at a Lutheran seminary in the Twin Cities. He has written several books on the subject and is regarded quite the authority on the history and theology of church music.
What has always amazed me about Professor Westermeyer’s work is how pastoral he is. He is concerned about performance of music for the sake of the gathered and not for the sake of the music. He is aware that there are many, many means through which the Word of God is communicated and music is one of the more powerful. The church musician should always be aware of this reality. He or she should understand their job as sacred storytelling.
But for Westermeyer, before the church musician can tell the story, the church musician must learn to listen. He or she needs to spend time with the members of the church, getting to know them and to hear their stories. The members of a congregation have stories of salvation, of how God has worked in their lives. They have parables.
The church musician must learn to listen for what Westermeyer calls “the people’s song.” This is the song that the gathered community sings about God and their relationships with God and with one another.
To tell the story, to sing the song, one must first learn to listen. This takes time and patience. It is not done in an instant. In fact, it can be the work of years.
As I am sure many of you are aware by now, there is a bit of work being done here at North Shore to tell our story. We have one hundred years of stories to share and to remember. It is a grand thing to do so. It is a good thing. It is important to recall where we have been, to remind ourselves of who we are and who we have been. But to what end?
As Christ strings parables together, links story upon story to gently lead people to the Kingdom, we too must tell our stories of God, our own parables. We are asked to tell the stories that are about God in our lives, about our own salvation and our growing relationship with one another and with Christ.
We are asked to lead people to the Kingdom by telling our stories…but only after we have learned to listen to their stories.
We must learn to listen to their stories as someone once listened to our own.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Whoever has ears should hear.
Listen for the stories of God in the lives of our neighbors and one another, to the goodness that stems from Eden. Awaken your senses to the goodness that can still spring forth in all that has life.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and so not return their until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall God’s Word be that goes forth from God’s mouth; it shall not return to God empty, but it shall accomplish that which God purposes, and succeeds in the thing for which God sent it.
The Word is shared here in Andersonville…every day in its coffee shops, public houses and restaurants. We need only to listen. It is shared in the life of this community that gathers on Sunday mornings.
Tell your story.
Amen.