Proper 10A + Fertile ground + 7.16.23
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Saints, Oxnard
(Genesis
25:19-34; Psalm
119:105-112; Romans
8:1-11; Matthew
13:1-9,18-23)
As many of you know, this past week I spent six days at Camp
Stevens in Julian, a tiny place in the mountains of San Diego County, being a
chaplain to about 100 kids from the ages of 8-15 years of age and also trying
to be present to staff and counselors of various ages. I got to serve alongside
another chaplain who is a priest in the Diocese of San Diego and who had
brought many kids to camp via a program to bring kids of refugee families to camp.
One of the things about being a camp chaplain is simply being
present to the needs of the moment. We have a schedule, and then there is the
reality of what the kids need at any given time. So one afternoon it was not my
turn to lead the patio activity during free time as the other chaplain was on,
but I happened to be around and I was asked to take a couple of kids to the
tree house, which is basically a climbing area with a bunch of platforms set up
in a large tree not far from the chapel and labyrinth area of the camp. They
wanted to read in the tree house, which was totally up my alley, and I brought
my Sunday paper which I had not yet read. One of the kids finished her book and
started on my Sunday comics. I pointed out that when she got to “Pearls before
Swine” I might need to explain an overly complicated and not entirely funny
pun. But instead, the comic surprised me.
It showed Pig talking to his neighbor Nancy, perhaps at a
bar. She is mad because a man cut her off in the parking lot and expresses a
desire to throw a drink on his head. Pig says “Uh-oh, sounds like you need the
understanderer” and he presents her with a little box with a smiley face on it
and a red button on the top. When Nancy presses it, the small box explains what
the man has been going through - that he lost a cousin but couldn’t go to the
funeral because he got laid off and then usually talks to his wife about hard
stuff, but they are separated. Instead of fuming, Nancy goes to the man and
says “Everything will be okay.” In the last scene, a slightly cynical one, Pig
is selling the “understanderer” to someone but is hopeful, saying, “I think it
can save the world.” (https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/07/09.)
As I explained the comic to the child I realized that this comic made me think
of so many of us. How much we have going on inside that may prevent us from
being fully present to others, or that may make us less understanding of or
thoughtful towards others. And sometimes just knowing a little about another
person’s inner battle helps us understand them a bit also.
Today’s passage, the parable of the soil and the sower, is an
interesting one if read from this lens. So often we might judge those who don’t
seem like they have fertile ground in their heart for receiving God’s word.
Those who may be resistant to God’s message of love. Those who don’t seem to be
open to faith. And it is true that each of us is on a journey to make our own
inner ground fertile to the word of God. Open to the movement of the Spirit in
our lives.
But we must remember that many folks have rocks in their
inner ground that prevent them from following God. They may have been hurt by
the church or someone else that they trusted and they are struggling. It is our
job as Christians to gently go and ask to help move those rocks as folks will
allow us to. Sometimes only they can move the rocks, but hearing a message of
God’s love might send a little water and soften soil that has been hardened by
hurt and disillusionment. We must be grateful for folks’ enthusiasm when it
happens and when someone is new to our community. And a big part of our job is
helping folks find a way to sustain their faith journey long term. This happens
through developing a personal faith practice such as daily prayers- individual
quiet time with God, reading the scriptures daily at some level or listening to
praise music, whatever helps you connect. Coming to church regularly also helps
but if you aren’t doing something to connect on the daily, you will still feel
disconnected and it will be hard to feel supported and nourished enough to
continue. You will seek spiritual fast food, that which does not sustain,
rather than allowing yourself to be replenished. Sabbath time, time to let your
land lay fallow, even if it is half a day or a full evening of rest for those
who are still working on accessing a whole day off, can be tremendously
helpful.
Because if we prepare the soil, we know, God is already out
there sowing. I loved these words from Pastor Alene about this: “You see, God
is a gambler. Not with seed or water,
but with something far more precious—the word of hope and promise. The Word who became flesh. The Spirit who lives and moves among us. God throws the word out to be gobbled up,
choked, burned, or even crucified. God
showers us with abundance. In every
moment of our lives, the Spirit is there—nudging, encouraging, whispering of
God’s love for us and everyone we meet.
But, God is confident of the outcome. Isaiah has God promise, “My word…shall not
return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed
in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). “Instead of the thorn shall come up the
cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle” (55:13). Some cypress trees live to be over a thousand
years old, and the myrtle is symbolic of immortality.[1] “There is…no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The seed
produces a hundredfold. These statements
are too big. We can’t comprehend
them. Talitha Arnold writes, ‘Even if
the harvest were only thirtyfold, this story would end with a miracle. Sevenfold meant a good year for a farmer, and
tenfold meant true abundance. Thirtyfold
would feed a village for a year and a hundredfold would let the farmer retire
to a villa by the Sea of Galilee.’”[2]
The harvest is crazy! And when we are open to God’s word
being planted in our lives and in those of others, it can be wild. So let us seek to understand others and know
that everyone is on their own journey. Let us tend to our own inner terrain so
that we are open to God’s guidance in our life. And let us be willing to be a
loving and understanding presence, ready to go up to someone and say
“Everything will be okay,” even if we know it may take a little time to get
there.
Amen.
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