“The Growing Season”

Mark 4:26-34

June 18, 2006

St. Paul United Methodist Church of Little Rock

I want to plant a seed, literally, in your hearts this morning. No doubt you have had a little experience with seed sowing. Does this sound familiar to you? Somewhere in your history and in your memory is a styrofoam cup. It could have belonged to your son or daughter or one of your grandchildren. There it is, living on the window sill of your kitchen. The cup is filled with potting soil given to you, perhaps, by a kindergarten teacher or the teacher in the child care center. In my case, the cup was given to me by Mrs. Holbrook. She was my kindergarten teacher at the First Presbyterian Church in my hometown, Jackson, Tennessee.

Down deep in the cup, nestled there in the potting soil, trying it’s best to push through the soil and the threat of too much water and perhaps not enough sunlight, is the smallest of a seed. It was planted by me and given to my mother one Mother’s Day. On the outside of the cup were written the words, penned by Mrs. Holbrook, “Like this seed, my love for you grows everyday.” Near the words was a picture of a flower that I drew. I hoped that the down deep seed would soon and someday resemble my drawing. Church I want you to know that no other seed in a styrofoam cup received better treatment than mine (uh, I mean the one that I gave to my mother). It was a miracle (as much as I doused it with water) that the seed ever broke through the heavy soil. Somehow it did that. Today I find it much easier to go to a nursery and purchase flowers that are already blooming and beautiful and healthy. This was my first experience with seed sowing.

Even though the movie came out in 1977, I can still remember a line from the movie O God starring John Denver and George Burns. Maybe I remember it because I have watched the movie several times. You will remember that in the movie, God, in the person of George Burns comes to send a message to the world. He uses an assistant grocery store manager named Jerry (played by John Denver) to do that. Near the end of the movie, Jerry is lamenting to God that no one was listening to the message. He says to God that he thinks that he has failed, that they have all failed. God does not see it that way. He says, “Oh, I don’t think so. You never know; a seed her, a seed there, something will catch hold and grow.” Seeds, you see, aren’t just planted in soil. Sometimes they are planted in souls.

Think about the child as she grows up. What word will you put in her heart? Will you give her hope for her future. Will you sow faith in her heart? Will you tell him that he is dearly loved so that when something terrible happens, he will have a place to return? Will you tell him that he is your child and a child of God? Will you tell her that she can reach for the stars and be whoever she wants to be? Will you tell him that he will be successful and significant if he puts his mind to it? Will you encourage your children?

A seminary professor at the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City told of the time when his daughter was learning how to dive off of a diving board. She had mastered the side of the swimming pool, but the board was another story. She walked to the board, climbed the two of three steps to the board, and then walked towards the end of it. She was afraid. Her father was in the deep end of the pool, treading water, waiting for her to vie in. She looked at him and said, “‘Courage me, Daddy. ‘Courage me!’” The daddy in him made the only response she needed. He said, “It’s okay. I’m here with you.” With his words, he planted a seed deep in the soul of his little girl. I suspect it went deeper than a diving board. “‘Courage me, daddy. Courage me.’”

‘Courage me or it’s proper English, encouragement, is at the heart of our scripture lesson for this morning taken from the fourth chapter of Mark’s gospel. Both stories, both parables, in their own way, encouraged Jesus’ first hearers. They are meant to encourage us, too.

Both stories have seeds as their main characters. The first a little known seed living deep under the soil. The second has never suffered from an identity crisis. It has always been referred to as the parable of the mustard seed and pastors have used it time and time again to preach about how even the smallest of faith can make a difference. And, of course, this is not the first appearance for a seed parable in Mark’s gospel. The most popular of the seed parables involves the sower who scattered seed on a path, in rocky and thorny soil, and in good soil. Seeds on the path were eaten by the birds. Seeds in rocky soil rose and then were scorched because they had no depth. Seeds growing among the thorns were choked out when they tried to thrive. It is the seeds in the good soil, says Mark, that produced. Production in our parables, though, doesn’t seem to be Mark’s main point.

Like the seed story that comes before it, the parables of the seed in the ground and the mustard seed have a progression to them. There is a beginning and an ending. Mark begins by telling us that the Kingdom of God is like and can be compared to someone who would scatter seed on the ground. We can assume that the soil is good soil. The sower of these seeds would live his life, sleeping at night and rising during the day. That is, he would do natural things. The seeds, too, did natural things. They did what seeds do. They pushed their way through heavy dirt on their way to the surface. They grew. They sprouted. The stalk came first. Next came the head. Then came the harvest. Mark says something that seems painfully obvious to me, “...he does not know how the seed grew...” Its growth is mysterious. Its development is astonishing. I would like to tell you that the sower of the seeds was very talented and always produced a bumper crop. The truth is that he did nothing to help it happen. The implication is that the Kingdom of God grows like that. It grows in spite of us. We are just the recipients of the growth.

The Kingdom of God, the rule of God, the reign of God, the way that the world is supposed to be is like that. Growth is mysterious and miraculous. It is that way when it comes to seeds. It is that way when it comes to our lives. It is both a miracle and gift. There is little that we do to help it happen. It is like the child who wants to be older because older children get to do certain things like stay up later or go to certain places. It is like the child who wants to grow taller so that he can ride the rides at Disney World. We can urge growth to happen, but growth happens on its own terms, in its own way, in its own time.

Growth in the church is the same way. Growth doesn’t happen over night. We try to help it along. We have plans and programs and special worship services. We try to urge the Kingdom to come on, but it doesn’t always do that. So it is like a seed. It is pregnant. It is mysterious. It is fruitful. It is like someone scattering seed. We work at preaching, we work at teaching, we work at supporting those in need. We try hard and sometimes our work seems to be in vain. So we marvel, like the sower did, at the growth of the seed.

Don’t you see it? This is a parable about encouragement and patience. Growth comes on its own terms. I remember the letter that my dad opened some time ago. It was written by one of his students. A student of his from some time in the very distant past, a student of his from the mid 1970s. The letter was hand written. It’s purpose was to thank my father for the influence and the care that he took with him. It took years, but the seed matured.

Mark also tells us that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. A mustard seed is the smallest of seeds. One mustard seed is no bigger than a freckle. It takes a handful of them to even show up on a scale. Jesus wants us to know that the Kingdom of which he speaks is like that seed. It is small. It seems insignificant. But give it a little time and it will grow. I am told that in the Orient, some mustard seeds turn into huge trees. Someone said that their intention is to reach towards God. Mustard trees have deep roots and it all started because of a seed.

What should we do with these two parables this morning. I started out by saying that I wanted to plant a seed in your heart. I didn’t need to do that. Someone has already done that. If you will, for just a moment, think about the people who have planted seeds in your souls. Think for a minute about how that seed has taken root and has grown.

Today is Father’s Day. You probably don’t need reminding of that. It is a day for dad to do whatever he wants to do. It is a day of new ties or new shirts. So these seed sowing stories seem perfect for the preacher. But today I don’t want to talk about what my dad did for me. Instead I would like to talk about what both of my parents did for me. They gave me an example by the way they lived and with the words that they said. I knew, growing up, and still today, that I was loved. When I had no confidence about things, my parents told me that there was nothing that I could not do. When I failed and was sure that I disappointed them, they reached out to me and taught me about unconditional love. They never said to me, “Now John, when you get older, we want you to be a pastor.” They only said that whatever I chose to do, they would be proud of me. And when I told them that I was headed to the ministry, they said, “We’re sure that you will be a great pastor.”

In my life (and I will tell you that it is as mysterious as it can be) growth has happened. It is like the seed in the soil. How growth has happened, I do not know. What I know is that there have been times in my life when I have grown significantly, spiritually. And most of it has happened since my seminary days, while I’ve been working in churches, leading Bible studies, preaching sermons. I can often feel these times coming on. In fact, I feel such a time coming on right now, in the days that are ahead. How it happens, I do not know. All I know is that I want to know Jesus better. I want that for you.

My folks planted seeds in my heart and soul; a woman who led the youth in my church during my high school years planted a seed of possibility for the ministry. My minister friends have done it by encouraging me, giving me hope, telling me that I could do it when I felt like I couldn’t any longer. They are always there when I am overwhelmed.

You have planted seeds of hope in my heart. We are beginning our fifth year together this morning. Four years ago, today, on Father’s Day, I preached my first sermon to you. I looked back at it. It was an awful sermon. Why didn’t you get rid of me that first week? Talk about your growth! I hope my sermons are better today than they were four years ago. My growth, our growth together (I am not talking about more members here) has been significant. We have been together for some tough times. We have married daughters and buried mothers and mourned over my sister and prayed for healing. We have dreamed and hoped. You are dear to me for these and many more reasons. We encourage one another. Hope is what this word is all about. We must be patient. That is the message of the first story.

The second one says that small beginning sometime end up in tremendous endings. One of the survivor stories from last August’s Hurricane Katrina has been told. It is the one about the man who swam out of his house when it flooded. Hanging on to him were his two children. The three of them found refuge on the tallest building in their neighborhood. Other people joined them on top of the roof. It was their home for three days until their rescue. After an hour on the building, the man realized that he was on a church. He patted the rooftop and announced to the others, “We are on holy ground.” The news jogged the memory of another roof dweller. She looked around at the area, crawled over to the steeple, hugged it, and proclaimed, “My grandparents helped build this church!” Do you think that the grandparents knew as the came to work days, that the nails that they drove would one day save their own grandchild? They had no idea how God would use the work of their hands. Nor do you.

So plant a seed. Make a call. Write a check. Organize a Bible study. Make a difference. The growth is not up to you. The growth is up to God. Let us pray.