Pentecost 9
Year A
July 13, 2008
Isaiah 55:10-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
A few weeks ago, I told you about the amazing experience we had
worshipping with the Massai during our trip to
For those of you who weren’t here…
For the Massai, worship is a day long event. They gather between ten and twelve in the morning, worship together for three or four hours and then conclude with a community meal.
The thing that struck me most was the energy and joy in those services. The three or four hours always went by quickly for me.
And, in essence, they weren’t doing anything different than we do here. The format for their worship is totally Lutheran and liturgical… it’s just that the language is Swahili and the music is distinctively African. And there is a lot of music!
The other thing that struck me about those services is how rapidly the Church is growing among the Massai.
At every service we attended at least ten people were baptized – men, women, and children.
One of the worship services we attended was the first service of the 119th preaching station in the Mission District. A few years ago, we were amazed when that number topped fifty, then sixty, then eighty…
Sounds like the punch line of Jesus’ parable this morning, doesn’t it?
Jesus says that when the word is sown in good soil, it bears fruit, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, in another thirty.
And there is a bumper crop growing among the Massai. The Massai people are alive with the Holy Spirit! I have never seen anything like it anywhere.
As I have talked about these experiences several people have asked, “So why isn’t that happening here? Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit do that among us?”
And, I have to admit, I have wondered the same thing. I’ve thought about it a lot these past two weeks – and think I’ve come up with a few ideas…
First of all, I want to say clearly that I don’t think it’s a matter of the Holy Spirit not being among us. The Holy Spirit is at work here, in this place, and in the lives of the people of this congregation and this community. I’ve seen it.
But it’s not evident here in the same way it is in
So, the question is not, “Why isn’t the Holy Spirit
working among us like it is in
Rather, the question should be: “Why don’t we get more excited about it? Why don’t we show it? Why don’t we share it… like the Massai are?”
I think Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower” gives us some clues.
If we think of each of the soils Jesus describes in the parable as a different context into which the seed of the Word falls… then we will begin to see some of the ways that our context can limit our awareness and excitement about the Spirit’s work among us.
The truth is, the soil here is of a very different quality than
the soil in
For example, Jesus says that the seed which falls on the hard path reflects what happens when the Word is simply not understood.
It’s true, some people just don’t get it.
Even more, in our context, some people don’t even know they need to get it! Their lives are comfortable and happy, more or less. They have food on the table, a roof over their heads and plenty to entertain themselves.
I am convinced that there are a lot of people out there, people who are not part of a church community who have no clue what they’re missing.
Or even worse, there are people who are openly hostile to the church because of some bad experience they once had with a church! They are pretty sure they know exactly what they are missing… …even if it’s not entirely true.
On the other hand, I’m not so sure those of us inside the church always understand the radical, life changing power of the Word either. For us, it has become so commonplace, so routine, it’s so much a part of us, that sometimes we miss how amazing it really is.
It’s hard to get excited about something that has become a habit…
The rocky ground in Jesus’ parable represents a lack of lasting commitment.
These people “get it”, but don’t keep it. They’re looking for simple solutions to complicated questions, for easy fixes for huge problems.
And Christianity (well, at least Lutheran Christianity) just doesn’t offer that.
Instead, we believe and teach that the life of faith is a life-long journey of growth and discovery.
We understand that faith doesn’t exempt us from pain and suffering, struggle or doubt.
We believe that faith shows us a way through those things… not around them... …through them.
And that takes commitment. It takes a lifetime of study and devotion, of prayer and regular worship to truly grow in our relationship with God.
And the fact is, in a world where we have instant messaging, fast food, and Internet access to just about anything -- something that takes years, even decades to develop doesn’t fit very well.
The third context in Jesus’ Parable is, for us, I think, the most challenging of all. Jesus says that the seed sown among the thorns reflects those who are distracted by “the cares of the world.”
We live in a culture where there are plenty of distractions. There is just too much going on, all the time in most of our lives..
And so, many people feel like they just don’t have time to squeeze God into their busy schedules.
Faith, the church, worship, prayer, devotion, our whole relationship with God has become just one more thing we need to cram in, instead of being the kind of life-orienting, life-centering thing it’s meant to be.
And so, with no sense of need, with an unwillingness to commit and too many distractions… it should probably surprise us more that any of us have any sense of God’s love and grace in our lives, rather than the fact that so many do not.
But that’s why it is so important for those of us who do know our need of Christ, who are committed and who do make time in our busy schedules to work on our faith, to be intentional about sharing that faith with those around us.
That’s why it is so important for us to get excited about what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives… in all those wonderful, subtle, powerful ways… and then being willing to let that through... to let it out, so that people can see it.
You know how most of those 119 preaching stations got started?
It wasn’t that Herb Hafermann or one of the other evangelists walked into a community and started knocking on doors, saying “you want to come join a church?”
No.
They get started when someone in one community sees the joy, excitement, enthusiasm and power in another community and then comes and says, “hey, we want some of that too…”
A fancy evangelism program isn’t enough. A well-thought out mission strategy will not make the church grow.
Instead, it takes good soil. It takes Christians who are so excited about what God is doing in their lives that they can’t keep it in. Now, that will make the church grow… in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
Amen.