Henrietta United Church of Christ

Rev. David Inglis July 10, 2005

Matthew 13:1-9

“Testing Your Soil”

The farmer reaches into his sack, scoops up a handful of life, and flings dozens of seeds through the air and onto the earth. Each one--each tiny seed--is a tightly packed package of pure potentiality. In the right conditions, each single solitary seed could eventually produce a whole farm full of grain. Wow! Each one! And the farmer scatters them with abandon, here, there and everywhere, all over his field.

Here, catch some of these seeds, written by the Persian poet and mystic Hafiz in the 13^th Century.

There are so many gifts

Still unopened from your birthday,

There are so many hand-crafted presents

That have been sent to you by God.

The Beloved does not mind repeating,

“Everything I have is also yours.

Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend

If we break into a sweet laughter

When your heart complains of being thirsty

When ages ago

Every cell in your soul

Capsized forever

Into this infinite golden sea. . . .

A lover’s pain is this sleeping,

This sleeping,

When God just rolled over and gave you

Such a big good-morning kiss!

There are so many gifts, my dear,

Still unopened from your birthday.

O, there are so many hand-crafted presents

That have been sent to your life

From God.

Jesus scattered his seeds of God’s lavish love everywhere he went– he just threw them out there for everybody. “Listen!” he said. “The kingdom of God is within you, like a tiny mustard seed, so small you might not even notice it. Do you know what wonder and power God has planted in you--all of you, even those who think you’re the least? Open to it, cherish it, tend it and water it, and that little mustard seed will grow up into a tree, and all kinds of birds will come and find life and shelter in its branches. And they will carry its seeds out into the field, and pretty soon the whole farm will be covered with mustard plants. You have the power to change the landscape of this world! Have faith in the power of God in you; revel in God’s gifts; give yourself to God’s love; be a courageous carrier of life that no power or principality of this world can stop. It’s in you to do that!”

Jesus flung his seeds to everyone who would listen, and he’s flinging them to us right here today. What kind of soil do these seeds land on in you and me?

Some of it falls on the hardened path, doesn’t it? Other feet have walked this way before, barraging us with their promises of what will make us happy and fulfilled. “Buy this!” “Try that!” “It will improve your life and satisfy your needs. Or just read this book or try this self help technique to be more ...what? Successful, healthy, attractive, organized, or spiritual.”

“You got promises too, Jesus? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks anyway, but I’ve about tried ’em all.” I suspect we all have some hardened soil of the path, where Jesus’ seeds of abundant living and eternal life just sit there unheeded until the birds or the wind or whatever take them away.

Maybe some of the seed falls on rocky soil. In the Middle East, there are shelves of limestone under much of the soil. Some of it is so close to the surface that the soil may only be an inch or two thick. This soil warms quickly in the sun, and the seeds sprout up fast. But then the soil also quickly dries out, and the plant withers and dies because there’s no depth of soil to sustain it.

There’s a lot of shallow soil under us in this culture too, isn’t there? We’re all in such a hurry, we look for instant solutions and quick fixes and rapid growth. Maybe you’ve had a spiritual or personal growth experience that got you enthused and excited about the new life that burst forth inside you. But those exhilarating breakthroughs wither into fading memories unless they take root deeply into our awareness, our attitudes, our behaviors, and our daily decisions.

Roots aren’t pretty or even visible. If we’re fixated on fast, visible results, as soon as the new life begins to wilt, we’ll be off looking for another quick fix. That’s the story of a lot of spiritual seekers these days, and it’s a story I know well. But I’ve found that it’s less flashy words like discipline and perseverance, even through the dry spells, that keep those roots growing deeper and stronger. Your spirituality can’t take the scorching heat or weather the dry spells that are a part of every life unless you’ve cultivated the roots so they go deep into your thoughts, your heart, your words, and your actions.

Some of the seeds of Life fall among thorns, which grow up and choke off the faith, love, commitment, courage, and devotion that want to grow in us. Our world specializes in thorns–things that take our time and energy and resources but don’t really bear fruit. I’m not going to try to tell you what the thorns or weeds are in your life, because one person’s weed could be another person’s flower. Some people spend a lot of time on their home computer as a diversion from real interaction, while other people use their computer to stay connected and share wisdom and encouragement. Some people watch TV to broaden their minds. Other people watch TV dramas instead of really starring in their own lives.

So only you can say what distractions and diversions and time killers are keeping you pre-occupied, so that you are less available to do what brings more love, hope, peace, connectedness, compassion, beauty, order, justice, or joy into the world. We live in a phenomenal time and place. We have the resources to do things undreamed of a century ago. What are you doing with your life? What will you leave behind in the people who know you? Will it make a difference that you walked this earth? Are you doing what you came here to do? Are you stretching yourself and allowing God to work with you as you go along? Or are you too busy watering the weeds?

The wind keeps blowing scads of weed seeds into our lives, we all know that. So it’s up to us to identify what is helping us serve our purpose and what is distracting us from our purpose, and pull the weeds and water the grain.

And finally, Jesus said, “Other seeds fell on good soil, and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Good soil. What makes soil capable of sustaining fruitful life and growth? A field usually has to be prepared before the seeds are sown. Sometimes it takes the plow of tragedy to break open the soil enough for the seeds of new life to germinate. Sometimes tears of pain are what finally soften the soil and make it workable. Sometimes loss has to burn away the weeds and clear the ground for new growth.

But being good soil doesn’t necessarily mean going through pain and suffering. Humus, human and humble all have the same root. To be good humus, we just have to be human and humble. To be humbly human is to be aware of our creatureliness and our need for God.

Jesus described some qualities of good soil in what we call the beatitudes:

How blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are you when you recognize how spiritually poor you are. It is that place of emptiness that is able to receive the richness of God’s realm.

How blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are you when your heart is broken open and you can feel your grief and your pain. That's when you can experience God's eternal embrace and find strength in knowing you are loved.

How blessed are the meek. Blessed are you when you are grounded in the humble truth about yourself. When you are content with who you really are, you are ready to inherit and enjoy everything--without having to possess it.

How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are you when you crave and long for God--God's justice, God's truth, God's presence. Your hunger and thirst drive you to seek what most deeply satisfies.

How blessed are the merciful. Blessed are you when you offer mercy, compassion and forgiveness. As you act in grace, you live in grace.

When we are most humbly human, we are the best humus for the seeds of new life, spiritual growth, the kingdom of God.

“A sower went out to sow.” That divine Sower is still scattering the seeds of life, truth, hope, faith, love, and joy. You can do a soil test right now. How much of your soil is hardened and unreceptive? How much of it is shallow? How much of it is overgrown with weeds? How much of it is good, workable, receptive humus?

Any soil can be made into good soil. It just needs some work and tending. Let’s pray that the Master Gardener will show us the soil in us that most needs attention, so that the seeds of Life planted in us can bear fruit 30 fold, 60 fold, even 100 fold.