What God Can Do with a Little Offering

Matthew 14:13-21
7th Sunday after Pentecost
Elizabeth M. Deibert

God can do some great stuff, if we only make a little effort, because God multiplies our small offerings into amazing gifts. But we don’t give what we are capable of giving. Why? It is an issue of trust. First, we do not trust God’s ability to turn our meager offering into something great. It’s only five loaves and two fish. It’s kind of embarrassing to offer that. Secondly, we do not trust God’s ability to take care of us when we give away what we have. It’s only five loaves and two fish. What will I eat if I share the little I have? We operate on an economy of scarcity while God operates with abundance.

Jesus was feeling overwhelmed and maybe even experiencing a scarcity of peace when our story begins. He had just been told devastating news – John the Baptist, his cousin, his friend, his forerunner had just been killed. You don’t want to hear the details about his head.

So Jesus withdrew from the needy crowd, probably to pray and be reminded that God’s abundance is his abundance, that with God he has everything he needs. Because you see, when he returns, he immediately starts giving again. He has compassion and heals people, and when the disciples operate with a mindset of scarcity, he reminds them of God’s abundance. Jesus tells the disciples, “You feed them.” And they think there’s not enough, but he proves them wrong by working the miracle – turning their scarcity of food into abundance. Jesus does what God does. He is God. He shows us all that God can do.

Hear the word of the Lord from Matthew:

Matthew 14:13-21

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there

in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴ When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd;

and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said,

"This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away

so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

¹⁶ Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

¹⁷ They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."

¹⁸ And he said, "Bring them here to me."

¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven,

and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples,

and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰ And all ate and were filled;

and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.

²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Let’s get back to that issue of trust. Some people don’t give their time and talent to God through the church because they assume the people who do are really talented and know what they are doing. Those church elders on the session, those ministry team leaders -- they must be really impressive church-goers, really spiritual people with great leaderships gifts.

Not really. They are ordinary people like you and me, who said “I only have five loaves and two fish” but maybe God can use me. I don’t know much Bible and theology. I don’t know much about praying, but the Spirit will help me. I’ve only been in the Presbyterian Church for two years, but God maybe could use my fresh perspective.

I’m not very good at leading, but I’m willing to help out. I can’t stand in front of people but I’ll work hard behind the scenes. I can’t teach adults but I’ll teach kids. I don’t have much time because I’m busy at work, but I’ll give what I can. I’m not this. I don’t have that. I only have five hours free time each week and two talents, but if you think God can use that, well, I’ll try.

That issue of trust. I started seminary saying I would never be involved in preaching ministry. I would never lead a church. I was interested in Christian education and pastoral care. I would be a counselor and run the education program of a church. And my professors said, “Why don’t you just give the preaching class a chance? You probably have five loaves writing ability and two fish of confidence. I didn’t have two fish of confidence about preaching. I had one little minnow. But after a few years, I developed two fish of confidence and God usually takes my offering and multiplies it. And I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up from nervousness on Sunday mornings any more. Can God take one little minnow of confidence in you and use it? Yes!

It’s an issue of trust. If I give away the little bit I have, there will not be enough left for me. It is hard to trust that God will provide. When Richard lost his job two years ago and we had two kids in college and two at home, logic told us to cut our pledge to church. If ever there was a time to stop giving $200 a week to God through our church, this was it. Cut our giving in half -- that would have been logical. Nobody would argue with that. But we decided to keep giving at the same rate and dared to trust in God while trimming some other areas of spending. Do you know we ended up with six cars? Six cars – no car payments! Three of them we already had, but God doubled that into six in these two years.

Six gifts. And with one of them sold this week, we will catch up today on the pledge which got a little behind in the last several months. And with Richard’s new job we will begin to pay off college loans, and God will continue to provide in ways we can only imagine.. Trust and be generous when you think you only have a little. God will work miracles when we are faithful with our little.

Can’t give all five loaves? Well, then give two of them and keep giving every week until you can trust God a little more. Morgan Roberts tells the story of a couple who kept increasing their percentage giving, until they were living on 10% and giving away 90%. They lived simply, and chose not to buy everything they wanted, but to keep giving, so others could have enough.

Lots of us are feeling like money is scarce these days. The whole country has an attitude of scarcity, like there’s not enough money or food to go around. Not true. There’s just not enough trust in God to make the food go around. Deepening trust in God means not needing as much to consume -- as much food, as much entertainment, as many clothes. Deepening trust in God, means not needing as many certificates of deposit or a much stock or as many bonds. Save yes, but give away more. It’s an issue of trust. You will be liberated when you trust God for the future instead of your savings account. You can buy a bunch of frivolous stuff, which will land at Goodwill or Beth-El in five years or you can invest in a church where God will be worshiped for generations to come. You can buy a new car or boat, for the temporary joy, or you can invest in the ministries of a church that feeds hungry people and helps people understand how much they are loved. Long-term satisfaction.

Do you trust in God? Do you know that what’s left when you give generously will be more than enough? That’s the way it is in God’s economy. If a spirit of generosity would prevail in Washington, DC, such that Republicans gave away some of what they wanted while Democrats gave away some of what they wanted in these complicated economic battles, then we might get somewhere as a country. There are only five loaves and two fish, but they could be so much more if only a spirit of generosity would rule our attitudes and decisions.

Our dear friend and music director, Gia, only had a couple of hours left before a heart attack overtook her, but do you know what she was doing? Mind you, she did not know she was having a heart attack. She only knew she felt terrible, but what was she doing, between lying down on the couch? She was providing us a CD for worship. When I chastised her for taking such a chance with her life, she said, “What better way for me to go than while playing for God?”

I could not argue with that, but I thank the Lord for protecting her while she went to such great lengths to provide music for us today. And I encourage you to sing your hearts out in response to this great act of generosity.

You may arrive here some Sundays and feel you have nothing to give – spiritually, emotionally, or financially, but if you just tenaciously give away what you have to others and to God, you will get a multiplied return on your giving. Maybe there are times when we have to withdraw from the crowd as Jesus did, to regain our perspective and strength, but we are called return from our time away -- full of compassion and generous toward others. We are not sufficient in and of ourselves to give endlessly, but with God’s help, with the blessing Christ gives to our offering, when we offer as guided by the Spirit, then our offering multiplies into more than we ever thought it could be.

Mark Shoemaker of the Presbyterian Foundation can tell you the miraculous story of one faithful Presbyterian elder who thought maybe he should challenge his church to consider deferred charitable giving. That church in Charlotte, NC now has 1.5 million promised by just 15 families who stepped up to make that commitment. Let’s see – 1.5 million. We could almost build a new church building on Lorraine Road with that. Five loaves and two fish. Fifteen or maybe fifty families who can just as easily put the church in their will as they can let the government and their children end up with what’s left.

Five loaves and two fish can be more than they seem. Now some of you will get more excited if you think you understand how the miracle took place. Some of you will say the miracle of so many being fed from so little was not mystical, but it was the miracle of generosity leading to more generosity. In other words, when one person gave their whole meal away, others who had brought food pulled out theirs too. I do not deny this possibility. I have seen how the generosity of one family inspires another in the church.

But I also do not deny that the God who raised Jesus from the dead, who created human beings each one of us so beautiful and so different and so gifted, who created so many species of animals and plants and fish with so many fascinating shapes and colors and habits… can make a picnic feast for thousands of people. God is a miracle worker. Study how your cells in your body multiply. Watch how quickly a little acorn becomes a tree. Consider quickly an eating and sleeping infant becomes a responsive walking and talking toddler, and tell me it is not a miracle every time.

Think about how six years ago, there was no PC(USA) church in Lakewood Ranch – only the idea that there could be one. Five volunteers and two supporting churches and God did the multiplication.

Let’s talk dollars again. In addition to supporting our own staff and ministries with giving of about 1.5 million dollars over six years, we’ve given away each year, anywhere from a tithe of 10% to a triple tithe of 30% of our quarter million dollar annual budget. How can a little group of 150 people do that?

Only by believing that God is in the business of turning our little offerings into a miraculous bountiful abundance. If we will trust God enough to share boldly what little we have, God can accomplish great things.

Between Groaning and Glory: Hope

Romans 8:18-39
6th Sunday after Pentecost
Elizabeth M. Deibert

At Columbia Theological Seminary, in our final year, we preached in chapel, what was known as the senior sermon. While I had preached two or three times before all the weight of seminary experience sort of hangs on this final sermon, preached to professors and students alike. I chose this passage because it was and still is one of my favorites. I don’t remember many of my own sermons, but I do remember that one, titled “From Groaning Travail to Glorious Liberty” This one is less academic, but I still retain those key words, groaning and glory.

I mean, really. What is life but an unpredictable movement between groaning and glory! Failures and successes. Agony and Ecstasy. Bad news and good news. Sadness and gladness. Grief and joy. Tears and laughter. Sickness and health. Storms and sunshine.

And what it is that keeps you going in the groaning, failure, agony, bad news, sadness, grief, tears, sickness, and storms? Hope. Hope in the glory that is to come. “For we know that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the hope about to be revealed to us. “ Hope – that’s what keeps you going. Hope in God. Hope in the God who is for us, never against us. Hope in the Christ who makes us more than conquerors in our struggles. Hope in the Spirit who groans with us. Hope in the One who works all things together for good, even when we cannot see anything good at all.

And this scripture passage teaches us to hope, and that’s why we need to know it like the back of our hand, like the sound of our mother’s voice. We need to know this passage so well, that when horrific news as it always does at some point in life, we can say, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing.

Please take your bulletin home this week and spend some time with the scripture insert. Bolster your faith so you’re ready for the hard knocks of life. Read it every night. Put it on the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror or write parts of it on your laundry room wall. Live with these words for a while, and see if you don’t grow to love them like I do. See if they don’t provide strength for every trying hour.

Now this is a long passage, chocked full of deep theology. Let us gather our wandering spirits and give this beautiful scripture the attention it deserves.

Romans 8:18-39

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷ And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(NRSV)

Paul punctuates this passage with the verbs of knowing. Look at your bulletin insert and see these in all caps. I consider. We know. We don’t know. We know. God foreknew. I am convinced.

Paul peppers this passage with the reality of suffering, the experience groaning and agony, and salts it with the hope of glory, of God’s power to save us from this mess.

Now if you saw the quote “We are more than conquerors” without understanding the context of the hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, then indeed those words would seem triumphalistic, but they are not.

Richard and I made two difficult phone calls Friday to dear friends of ours, charter members of the Immanuel Church in Montgomery. Several years ago we felt helpless as we tried to care for them, as their marriage was ripped apart by the ravages of addiction, despite the best intentions of each. We kept their son for a couple of weeks, while custody issues were solved. Great people. Painful time back then. And now more pain.

On Thursday, this son of theirs died in his sleep at age 26 – likely from the complications of diabetes. No warning whatsoever. Was doing great managing his diabetes. What a neat guy this young man was! Great sense of humor, resilient, deep-hearted. He double majored in religion and anthropology. Worked in the University labs caring for research animals.

Our conversation with each of his parents was definitely not a time for easy assurances like “All things work together for gogod to those who love God.” This was a moment for groaning. At times like this, we join the Spirit in sighs too deep for words. Yet each of them seemed to have an indescribable God-given grace in sharing with us their nightmare experience. This father talking about finding his son three days dead, yet still able to rejoice in the gift of his great personality.

This mother, saying to us, nearly as soon as she answered the phone “I know. There are no words.” She has lost so many things, but she has not lost her wisdom. Back in the late 90’s this talented and caring friend of ours lost her sobriety, her job, her dignity, her marriage. Then more recently, she lost her mother, her sister, and now her only child. But she spoke last night of the blessing of being there in the dying moments with her mother and her sister, and of her sorrow that her son was dead three days before anyone knew. Who would know? A responsible young man not answering his phone -- who would worry?

If God is for us, who is against us? Well, at times it seems like there is lot stacked against us, if not people, circumstances, evil in the world. A crazy fundamentalist Christian gunman randoming shooting down teens at camp, even in peace-loving Norway. He is against us. Extremists and corrupt power brokers in Somalia, who have contributed to the food crisis, which may be the worst there in 50 years, threatening to kill over 800,000 children. They are against us. Sometimes the political jockeying of our own country’s leaders in House and Senate makes us wonder if they are against us. I don’t think they are, but sometimes it feels like that, because we are trapped in a problem of our own making. If God is for us, who is against us? We’re up against a lot. We’re up against cancer, up against Alzheimer’s, up against national debt & economic woes. Nearly everyone of you has a family relationship issue of one kind or another which is threatening or difficult.

But the point Paul is making is not that there are no dangers or threats. No, he names them – hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. But he says they cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In fact, he concludes the passage with the strong knowing words “I am convinced” He is convinced that neither death, nor life, nor politicians (corrupt or weak though they may be) nor things present or future, nor any power, nor anything else in all creation (that’s a broad phrase) will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If I believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, I will still hang on to hope, even if my own child dies. If I believe that nothing can separate us from God’s love, I will still hang on to hope, even if I am dying. If I believe that that nothing can separate us from the love of God, I will still hang on to hope, even if the world as we know is dying!

But remember, Paul says hope that is seen is not hope. We hope for what we do not see, and so we must wait for it with patience. What we see is the suffering. What we feel is a groaning sadness. What we experience is trouble, uncertainty, grief, worry, heartache, sometimes making it hard to pray. We’re trapped, trapped in our bondage to decay. Our bodies are falling apart day by day. We experience the labor pains of living, yet we know that the futility we see is not all there is to see.

If we look with the eyes of faith, with Romans 8 eyes, we can also see that God is at work, that God is for us – and God is bringing us and this hurting world to the freedom we have been promised as God’s children. We might not know how to pray but the Spirit can moan like no one else and God knows the mind of the Spirit. So we are strengthened to hope. We can wait with patience. We can walk through hell, and know that not even hell itself can separate us from God, because Christ himself went there and has endured it all to raise us with him to new life, to bring us the hope which carries us beyond the miserable groaning to the glory without end.

God with Us

Psalm 139
5th Sunday after Pentecost
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Several weeks ago, the Deibert family went to Montgomery, AL, to attend the 20th anniversary of the first new church development we loved and served: Immanuel Presbyterian. When that church built her first sanctuary, we had a stained glass artist design a beautiful window for the wall behind the pulpit, baptismal font, and communion table. It is mostly abstract, depicting subtly the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The only words in the window are the literal meaning of the name Immanuel, with us God. As I sat in the sanctuary after everyone had left and viewed that window I pondered the words of Psalm 139 and its connection to the them, God with us. God is with us, no matter where we go, no matter how far away we might wander, no matter how much trouble we’ve seen, as the Psalm says. I thought about how God has been with my family as we have moved across oceans and back again in the decade after we left there. I thought about how God has been with us as our children have grown from little kids with little problems to big kids with more complicated lives. I thought about the three churches I have served and their ups and downs, but how I always know that God is with us.

And lastly I thought about how that truth of God with us became even more true for humanity in the incarnation, in God becoming with us, one of us in Jesus Christ. So while this Psalm was written long before Christ was born, we learn in the opening of John’s Gospel that Christ, God’s supreme Word, was in the beginning with God. So I invite you to read this Psalm, with an understanding of the fullness of the Triune God, the one who in Christ was truly with us -- in birth, in life, in death, and who gives us hope for the resurrection of the dead.

Hear the Psalmist express confidence in the arms of the inescapable God.

Psalm 139

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.

⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,"

¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,

when none of them as yet existed. ¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ I try to count them-- they are more than the sand;

I come to the end-- I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God,

and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me –

²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

NRSV

Okay, let’s talk about that hate-filled part of the psalm first, that part that most churches will leave out of their reading today, but I dared to include it. I included it because sometimes it is unhelpful when ministers leave the awkward parts of scripture out. Then people pick up their Bibles and start reading, and they are shocked at some of the stuff they’ve never heard in worship. So why does the psalmist speak this way? Because the psalmist had a clearer delineation than we do between people who are respecters of God and those who were not. They saw those who did not respect God as dangerous, as evil, as an affront to God. They understood these folks to be a danger to society, much as we do terrorists or serial killers. They were no different from all the people who demonized Casey Anthony. Do you know that google pulled up 1.4 million sites when I couldn’t remember her last name and I typed in three words, Casey baby killer.

We get obsessed with evil, just like people did in Biblical times. They did not have an innocent until proven guilty notion, like we do. This sentiment in the Psalms is a statement of loyalty to God – do I not hate those who hate you, Lord? We believe we are called to take a stand against evil – not by hating people but by hating the evil that people do and that our unjust systems create. We hate the sin, but not the sinner. “Evil is whatever works against the loving purposes of God. We can still affirm that evil is God’s enemy as well as ours… In Christ God shared our agony over evil and broke the back of its power by bearing the worst it could do. God works continually to overcome evil. In the end, it will be utterly defeated.” (A Declaration of Faith, chapter 2.2)

Now let’s deal with the rest of the psalm, the bulk of the psalm is a message of reassurance to the one who might feel far from God, either because of evil perpetrated against the psalmist or by the psalmist own running away. Have you ever tried to run away from a problem – as a kid or an adult? As I reflect on my own life, I remember some distinct moments of life – about every decade, when I tried to run away. I guess I was four or five years old and angry at my parents or my siblings, who were old enough to feel like three more parents, and so I packed my little suitcase with a couple of favorite stuffed animals and some underwear, and went to the far edge of the one acre yard to sit under the pine trees.

The second time I ran away at age 14, I had dropped my sister’s baby on his head, and I was terrified that he might have a serious brain injury, so I handed over the screaming baby and ran out of the neighborhood. The third time I ran away, I was about 24 and had been married to Richard for a year or two. We were having the kind of conflict which normal for couples, but which happened to be overwhelming to me at that time. I stormed out of the house, got in my car and drove off with every intention of driving home to N Carolina from Atlanta, but then I realized that running away would not solve my marriage issues – that in fact, my marriage issues were symptoms of both my and Richard’s personal issues – areas in which we both needed growth – growth that might not happen if I ran away.

I think I ran away emotionally at age thirty-four when I got angry at children who would not do as I said, and I slammed doors and said things that should not have been said. I ran away virtually via my computer, when as a forty-four year old minister, I looked for churches to whom I could run, churches where all the people love their pastor perfectly and all the ministries of the church run smoothly, where the church building is built, the budget is ample to support all the staff, where there are never any broken toilets or air conditioners or even broken people. That perfect church, those perfect children, that perfect husband, those perfect siblings and parents are a figment of my imagination and running is rarely the answer to any of my problems – unless I happen to be running from a seriously abusive relationship or running from the company of friends who contribute to addictive or otherwise unsafe activities. In every case, God was trying to use a challenging situation to teach me something. God knew was going on. God knew I was stressed to the max. God knew my weakness and my sin, as well as that of others. God was with me in the struggle.

(singing) “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” These words, of course, are from a song about Santa Claus, but really they seem to be written directly from a reading of Psalm 139. They are more true of God, than of Santa, and unfortunately, we have sometimes gotten mixed up about this in childhood and carried some of childlike wishful and self-centered feeling into adulthood. It’s not about what we get, how happy we are, but whom we are becoming.

The psalmist teaches us that there is no where to run away where God will not be there. God knows our thoughts, knows our actions, knows our ways, knows the words we will say before they are formed on our tongues. We can ascend to heaven and God is there. We can go down to the place of the dead, known as Sheol in Biblical times, and God is there. We can run to the farthest limits of the sea – that edge which we see on the horizon. We can go to the darkest corners of our minds, hearts, souls, to the darkest corners of the world, and God is still there. It was God who made us, who made us well, who imagined us before we were conceived in our mother’s womb. In other words, God is with you wherever you go, loving you, seeking to help you become the wonderful person you were intended to be.

And the best thing that ever happened is that Christ became one of us to search our hearts and know our thoughts. Christ saw the evil ways of humanity and took them on to defeat them from within by offering us light for our darkness, life for our death, healing for our sickness, goodness for our sin, heaven for the hell we raise, love for our hate, a welcome homecoming for our estrangement. Christ embodied the truth of this psalm so that the whole earth might know the joy of being fearfully and wonderfully made and precious in God’s sight.

God took a lying thief, Jacob, who stole his brother’s birthright and inheritance by deceiving his blind and aging father and turned him into a leader of God’s people. Jacob ran away from the fury of his older brother Esau, and while he was away, God came to him in a dream and reassured him with the words we will hear in the call to discipleship. God said to Jacob, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.” If God could create a strong patriarch out of a liar and cheat like Jacob, then just imagine what can God do with you?

So I invite you to trust God anew, through all the circling years of life, trust God’s goodness. In the good times and the bad times, trust the God of your life. Praise God for your past, your present, and your future, and place yourself securely, submissively and obediently in the providential care of the one who knew you long before you were born, who knows you and loves you now, the God who is always with you, who will walk with you through this life into the life to come.

Germinating Gospel

Matthew 13:1-23
4th Sunday after Pentecost
Elizabeth M. Deibert

I cannot remember a time when I did not love plants. I had a flower garden of marigolds and petunas when I was less than ten. As a teen I had a bedroom full of tropical houseplants. As a young mother, I planted and nursed big beds of zinnias and vinca while the children played in the fenced in back yard. I suppose I have always delighted to see the growth of a plant from a tiny seed. Perhaps it has something to do with spending my childhood in a farming community in eastern North Carolina, surrounded by fields of soy beans, corn, sweet potatoes, cotton, and tobacco. I have a vivid image of those fields with endless rows of plants, but there were always a few empty or dead areas, spots of bad soil – the corners where the tillers had no thoroughly turned the soil. Germinating gospel requires good soil too. I invite you to hear the parable with attention to the four types of soil. Switch out the i in soul and think about your soul too.

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there,

while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed,

some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil,

and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold,

some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!”

¹⁸“Hear then the parable of the sower.

¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it,

the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart;

this is what was sown on the path.

²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground,

this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

²¹yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while,

and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word,

that person immediately falls away.

²²As for what was sown among thorns,

this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.

²³But as for what was sown on good soil,

this is the one who hears the word and understands it,

who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold,

in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

NRSV

What kind of soil or soul are you? Has life’s hard knocks pounded you down, so that your soul is hardened like a well-worn path? How many of us relish having our insides churned up like hardened soil is with a plow. But with rocks in the way, roots of the word cannot take hold, so we wither and perish. My soul has some favorite weeds. Even though they clutter my life, and make it more difficult for the Gospel to take root in me, my soul clings to them. What weeds are growing in your soul, making it difficult for the Gospel to grow deep roots?

The people who first heard Jesus’ Parable of the Sower lived closer to the earth than we do today. Though we rarely eat anything we have grown ourselves, they were much more accustomed to the ups and downs of food production. They understood the value of good earth, good root development, and strong plants, and the potential disaster of rocks and weeds and bird eating seeds.

Jesus offered this parable as encouragement to his disciples, who were apparently frustrated with the Gospel harvest. And Jesus himself had hit a hard patch – having one controversy after another with religious authorities, the crowds, and even his own family: It was that very day that he told the Parable of the Sower, one of his best known stories. If the Gospel is not thriving, then pay attention to the soil, the soul and keep sowing.

The Sower sows broadly, lavishly, even wasting seed in places where little growth is possible. Because the fruit of the harvest is worth the waste. Because it is the nature of the Divine Sower to sow extravagantly, to cover the soil with the seeds of grace and mercy.¹

Friends, we are the ones who know the mysteries of the kingdom. We know the wonder of this grace and mercy which God in Jesus Christ has lavished on all the fields of the earth. We are God’s field hands, and it is our job is to keep sowing extravagantly.

In a time when the field is supposedly worn out with traditional Protestantism, we are still planting PC(USA) here in the eastern of Manatee and Sarasota Counties. We keep inviting people to be part of this new congregation. Some may think it is time for crop rotation, but we say the earth still needs Presbyterians who have a deep faith in Jesus Christ, open doors to all people, and a compassionate outreach and generous stewardship. We may have a growing appreciation of the world’s religions and that’s great, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ embodied in the wholesome fruit of a vibrant church still transforms lives like nothing else I know. So we keep sowing seeds of grace because we want others to know the secrets we see and hear – the mysterious goodness of Jesus Christ which brings life.

But sowing extravagantly is not all we need to do. No. As field workers for the kingdom, we must till the earth to loosen the down-trodden soil along the path. We must work to clear away the rocks and thorns in our community and in our own hearts. Whether we are talking about ourselves or our neighborhoods, the earth beneath our feet needs some work. It’s time for some groundwork.Only a well-established deep-rooted plant can survive a packed down pathway. At times we who have been Christian a long time forget to explain why we do what we do. Sometimes we lose our joy in serving God or we get stuck in traditionalism, what Jaraslov Pelikan called the dead faith of the living, which he contrasted with tradition, which is positively the living faith of the dead.

At times we forget the meaning behind the habit and the habit takes on a life of its own, with no attention to context, people, place, or time, no theological justification. Sometimes we are arrogant and pack down the path, resisting the Spirit of God at work in us. But we need churches full of deep-rooted disciples. We need people mature enough to work out the peace, unity, and purity of the church, to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love. We need to loosen the soil by listening to one another. We have people for whom the circumstances of life have calloused their skin and hardened their souls and the seed has no where to take root. We need to get down on our hands and knees to till that soil with them.

Perhaps the mainline churches are losing members every year because too many of our people were planted in rocky soil. You know, there was a little dirt warmed by the sun, but with a big rock underneath, deep roots were not possible. The children we baptized and the youth we confirmed, the adults we welcomed by profession of faith were dropped down on a little supple earth, but a rock was in their way. So they grew for a short while and then stopped – no deep roots for the difficult journey of life. When being Christian in our post-modern world became less popular, required more sacrifice, then those planted in shallow, rocky soil withered. When there were more exciting things to do on Sundays – like delicious brunches, shopping and professional ballgames – some people stopped coming to church. When church no longer served their individualistic needs, when it was not the place to climb the social or professional ladder of the community, they left.

There are rocks and hard places, and then there are thorns. Jesus calls them the “cares of the world” (he merimna tou aionos -- literally "the anxiety of the age") and “the lure of wealth” (he apate tou ploutou -- literally "the deceit of riches"). These things make growth nearly impossible, even for a plant in decent soil, because thorns take up too much space. Thorns crowd the root space below, and above ground they surround and choke with their parasitic tendencies. The real plant receives almost no sunshine and rain because thorny weeds are covering and consuming everything. Have you ever tried to move through a briar patch? Have you ever watched a pervasive weed take over the garden or lawn? So it is with the anxieties of our culture.

Oh, the field of church and society is full of thorns. Thorns that tell us we should be the center of our universe and the masters of our destiny at any cost to others. Thorns that rob us of our God-given sense of security. Thorns of consumerism and the resulting debt that choke off our very lifeblood. Thorns of compulsive work and excessive leisure options that starve us of rich Sabbath rest. Sabbath – stopping time. Time when the waters of eternal life refresh us, when the bread of heaven & overflowing cup of divine love fill us with the peace that passes understanding.

If we are in the business of germinating gospel (and I do believe that is our calling as field hands of the Lord), then we have three tasks:

1. Sow generously, remembering that the harvest will be worth the waste, the expense of proclaiming and embodying the gospel everywhere. It is not our place to decide who is open to the message. We don’t know exactly where to find the best soil, so we just sow good news everywhere. Dropping a Gospel seed is not bulldozing someone over, it is just a simple invitation.

2. Till continuously, so the Word of God may find a soft, supple deep place to grow in people’s hearts. Tilling the soil is hard work; it requires great creativity and compassion to nurture in faith those who are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Tilling can only happen in authentic relationships which move beyond mere friendliness. Get involved. With the fresh waters of God’s grace in worship and the loosening peat of God’s love in small nurturing groups and authentic friendships, even calloused and distracted Christians may find deeper places to sink their roots.

3. Weed bravely. Uproot the myths of worldly success and comfort, security and wealth. Subvert self-absorbed culture for the freedom truth brings, as we discussed last Sunday. Weed the garden, so that all will see thorns as thorns. Pull roots of weeds carefully so as not to disrupt the good growth. The most troublesome, shallow weeds are those which deceive us with their fast growth and their deceptive promises.

Sow generously. Till continuously. Weed bravely. That God’s garden might be exceptionally fruitful. And remember: Our responsibility is to plant and water, but God is responsible for the growth. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Cor 3:7).

Things are happening that we cannot see. Not only is the seed at work under the surface of the ground, but God the Creator, the Master Gardener, is also at work. So go out get your hands dirty. Get your feet wet. Perspire in the hot sun pulling weeds. Get involved in God’s gospel germination. There will surely be an abundant harvest of love in the garden of Christ Jesus our Lord. Flowers will bloom when you least expect it.

¹ The sower "sows the seed extravagantly, as widely as he can, oblivious to the risks, much as God lavishes mercy upon humanity" (Thomas G. Long, p. 147, Westminster Bible Companion: Matthew (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997).