Once there was a man who wanted to be a gardener. After reading about all the benefits of growing one’s own food, he was excited to get started. He cleared a space in his backyard. He spent weeks reading books about gardening and watching TV shows on the subject. Every night he spent hours debating in his mind which crops would grow in his garden. Sometimes, he would imagine what his new garden would look like when all the plants grew. Tomatoes here. Squash over there. In fact, he even envisioned losing weight and improving his health by eating all this self-grown food. Excited about his new hobby, he told everyone he knew about his new garden. It was going to be great, he told them.
When the harvest season rolled around, things were not great. It was a season of disappointment. He went out to his garden, looked over the plot of land, and it was nothing but stark dirt. Each day he went out and looked - still nothing. This gardener had done all his homework. He thought his gardening over very carefully. He wasn’t lacking in desire. Unfortunately he forgot one thing. He never planted any seeds.
I know it sounds silly. What could be more foolish than to think of oneself as a gardener but neglect to plant seeds? I don’t know. Maybe something like coming to church expecting to meet God or become more spiritual, but never planting the seeds of spiritual growth.
Every Sunday, we gather here as the people of God to worship God. As important as it is to celebrate God each week here, it is not enough. Put aside his politics and outrageous statement for a moment. I once heard Jeremiah Wright say that just showing up on Sunday and saying “See you next week, God” as you leave the building is like trying to lose weight but only following your diet one day week. It doesn’t work.
Likewise, just coming to church on Sunday morning is vital to our relationship with God, but it is not enough. We don’t gather here merely to fulfill an obligation. We gather here to meet God. For many of you, I believe the reason you want to meet God here each week is so can grow closer to God, and be transformed to be more like Christ. Yet we feel stuck on how to do that.
Many of us want to grow in our journey with Christ. There was something that drew us to following Jesus. Somewhere in our mind, we imagined all sorts of things changing in our life, once we set out on way of Jesus. Yet at a certain point, we found ourselves stuck. We were no longer growing.
It may very well be that we stare at an empty spiritual field because, like that gardener, we never bothered to plant any seeds. To be sure, by walking into the doors of this church, you planted a seed. One seed is not enough. In order to have the thriving garden of a growing Christian life, one must plant seeds continually.
It’s hard work planting those seeds. That’s why you can’t do it alone. It’s notable that many of Jesus’ parables used ecological images. Seeds, farming, and crops. In describing God’s Kingdom, Jesus rarely spoke of singular static entities. He never said the Kingdom of God was like a solitary rock. He always spoke of God’s work as growing and always in relationships and community - the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan. Seedlings grow together with other seedlings and cross-pollinate one another..
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like scattered seed that grows while we sleep. Have we scattered any seed lately? When was the last time you made your life a fertile soil in which God’s seeds could be planted?
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