Planting Seeds Mark 4:1-9 June 14, 2009

Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore. He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Facebook - the new Internet location for sharing photos, talking, whatever - with friends and family - and whoever else you want. Before you laugh, some serious people have a page on Facebook. Diana Butler Bass has a page on Facebook. Justin Trudeau has a page. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Cancer Foundations, Habitat, Peace Preschool in Israel all have pages. Some of your local MPs have a page, some people right here have - and yes I do too - so do most of my ministry colleagues, many friends, people I’ve met in many places - cruises, conferences both religious and academic.

Farm Town is an interactive game on Facebook. It’s kind of a virtual farm where you plough the ground, plant seeds, and wait for them to grow. When they are ready to be harvested, you can either do that yourself, or get someone else to do it for you. If you get someone else, both people make more coins and benefit..

One of the things you can do is connect with other people who become your neighbours. You can then visit their farm to weed and tend, and as you help other neighbours, you get more points and advance in the game.

Yes, I play Farm Town. But as I’ve been playing, I’ve noticed a few things. The “farm” is whatever we make of it - and as you visit other farms, you get a great sense of the imagination - as well as the personality - of the owner. It is a co-operative game; yes, you can advance in the game without relying on anyone else; but when you cooperate with others, both people advance faster. There are protocols for playing, and rudeness is largely not tolerated. Every person has a story. It is a creative imagination game - and even the simple act of ploughing, planting, and then waiting for those little seeds to come up - is quite relaxing and soothing.

We have a saying in the church that all the world is God’s farm. And I think that is what sticks with me. There is a little key on the game that you can zoom out, so you can see the whole of the farm - and all around you are your neighbours. In a sense, you can look at the whole of creation as a big picture, with people from everywhere - a kind of global village on the internet. And what is fascinating is that even as you sleep - just as in a real farm - those little crops keep coming up and maturing - and for those of us who don’t write computer languages, it’s a mystery how it all happens.

Well, I don’t just go in and go out. I like to “talk” to the people there. Let me tell you about a young woman living in Abu Dhabi where her husband works; a young man in Yorkshire who has a pet snake; a nurse in Norway on the night shift, on her break: a wonderful woman from Hawaii, with whom I had a long conversation one night, about the lives of indigenous peoples and the damage done to creation.

I chose to use the parable of planting seeds today, to move us to our discussion of our ministries and life in Glen Ayr. Parables were teaching tools, a way of making a point in story form. Jesus taught almost always in parables - so here he tells them about a farmer who goes out plant, and scatters the seed. Then he goes on to tell them about different kinds of soil, how the seed grows depending on where it lands, and if it’s productive or not. Some of the seed fell on poor soil some fell on rocky ground, and some fell into good soil.

A congregation is a little like a farm - the word is scattered to us like seed - and depending on where it falls, it takes root and begins the metamorphosis. Ploughing, planting and growing are critical to the life of the farm. You don’t come here, and suddenly get it all. Faith is not something which happens once, and never has to be cultivated again. Jesus addresses that directly - some of the seed gets wasted, but some does take hold and grow.

Rev. Christina Berry says “Here’s the thing. The church can’t save itself up for its retirement. The resources we have weren’t given to us so we could quit growing and working. The realm of God is about a new creation, sweeping away old ideas, and putting in their place another way of being.”

Following Jesus means expecting new and amazing things to develop from tiny inauspicious beginnings - like an apple seed. Believing in this means that God plants little seeds, and while we are not looking the whole thing changes. In another way of saying the seed fell on different kinds of soil, the writer reports that as Jesus taught “He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.” This is Jesus, grinning from ear to ear and jabbing us in the ribs with his elbow, and telling us to hang on for dear life, because life is about to take us places....”

One of the things I love about my little farm, like my garden, is that it’s never finished. It’s a work in progress all the time. The realm of God, I believe, is like that. It is a work in progress. We don’t know where we are going to be taken, but we know that standing still isn’t an option. The One who plants us, who calls us to grow, who harvests and calls others to share in the harvest, has some big plans. Thanks be to God.

1. Rev. Christina Berry, First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, Illinois - from the sermon “Hold the Mustard”..