The Parables of the Growing Seed and the Mustard Seed :

The season of the Ministry of ALL the Baptized

In chapter 4 of Mark, Jesus gives us four parables -- the Sower, the Lamp under a Bushel ,the Growing Seed, and the Mustard Seed and then explains his use of parables. Jesus speaks of the four parables in the presence of the crowds, but explains them only to his Disciples. [Imagine being a member of the crowd!]

Three of the four parables involve seeds and the growth of plants, but each

makes its own distinctive point. Jesus specifically labels the third and

fourth parables (the ones in our Gospel lesson today) as kingdom parables

and suggests that all four parables have to do with the kingdom But today we will focus on the third and fourth parables.

VERSES 26-29: THE KINGDOM OF GOD ~ LIKE SCATTERED SEED

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the

ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and

grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."

This is the only parable of all the parables in Mark that is unique to the Gospel of Mark.

The common meaning ascribed to this gospel is that the sowing of the seed upon the earth has been inaugurated already in the ministry of the earthly Jesus. The present is

a time of waiting for the harvest; the harvest is likened to the consummation of the kingdom and the ministry of the heavenly Jesus, the second coming of Christ.

VERSES 30-32: THE KINGDOM OF GOD ~ LIKE MUSTARD SEED

"The kingdom of God...is like a mustard seed" As is so often

true, the Gospel begins differently than we would expect. We would expect

Christ, our Savior to come as a mighty warrior, but he comes instead as an infant. We

would expect him to select the brightest and best to be his disciples, but

instead he chooses ordinary people -- fishermen -- even a tax collector, even women. We would expect him to compare the kingdom of God to an oak tree or a cedar, but

he compares it instead to a mustard seed -- the smallest of all seeds.

Kate sent me a email message and I now subscribe to the site and “The Almost Daily eMo from GeraniumFarm” http://Bccrafton@geraniumfarm.org/home.cfm. The most recent one from Barbara Crofton is a reflection on the mustard seed.

“In the Beauty of the Mustard

With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Just to be sure, I checked again: is there a mustard plant that's tall, tall enough for birds to roost in, a mustard plant with long, strong branches, a mustard plant that dwarves everyone else in the garden?

No, there's not. Not anywhere. Mustard is mustard -- plain and plentiful. [Although I actually looked it up, and mustard plants can grow to be 8 feet tall – not sure about about the large branches but an 8 foot tall plant would certainly cast shade but to go on….] A weed, in many quarters, although its greens are good in a salad and its seeds make the famous condiment that bears its name. The mustard Jesus knew is the same mustard we know.

We can only conclude that the enormous mustard of this passage is the fantasy of an anxious scribe, who simply couldn't believe that Our Lord meant to compare the Kingdom of God to a common weed and decided to help Jesus out a little. To explain what he thought Jesus must surely have meant: The Kingdom of God is Really Amazing!!! It's Huge!!! It's Just Incredible!!!!!!! You've never seen anything like it in your Entire Life!!!!!!!!!

When Jesus meant exactly the opposite: you have seen it before. It's right here -- it's everywhere. It is the beauty of a plant people think amounts to little or nothing -- the kingdom of God is a common carpet of loveliness, golden in the sun, and anyone can walk in it. The kingdom of God is you, you who think you're of no account, and it is you, you who are esteemed as of no account by others. Your beauty fills the earth, in community with all the other beauties God has made.”

As I read this eMo in light of today, I also thought of another carpet of loveliness I saw last week at Summer Seminary. Proceeding down the valley from where the buildings were, was a huge and lovely pasture, with across the valley the forest beginning again. We could see deer and horses and birds moving in and out of this pasture. This pasture had a large yellow carpet of loveliness, beautiful to look at, ….. and that carpet was a carpet of dandelions, a carpet of loveliness but one which most of us try to exclude from OUR lawns. But it’s beauty fills the earth, no matter how hard we try to destroy it, fills the earth in community with all the other beauties God has made. But another time for a sermon on dandelions…. Today it is the mustard seed.

So what does this mean for us here at St. James? Some of what I’ve read focuses on the first parable, that this is the time of waiting, waiting for the harvest, waiting for the coming of the kingdom of God, but for me there seems to be something too passive about that focus, that application for us at this time and place, although in reality we in this rural community, know that the harvest will not take place unless the sower nurtures the growth of the seed.

But as I thought about the two parables, the strongest for me is the second parable, the parable of the mustard seed. It speaks to me more about the life of St. James. We are certainly a small parish, very small – in comparison to big urban churches, we are like a small mustard seed. By diocesan definition our financial resources, leading to our inability to call a full time priest, a rector, nine years ago, should by diocesan guidelines, have had us become a mission, not a parish. But I was a member of the vestry at that time and we chose to follow a different path, to plant a different seed, the seed of Total Ministry. We planted that very small seed, and like the sower in the parable we, the parish of St. James, would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed of total ministry began to sprout and grow, and like the sower there were times we did not know how it continued to grow, those times when the harvest seemed so far off and sometimes so unattainable.

It could be tempting to take that parable one step further as we approach the ordination of Kate Hennessy to the priesthood, of believing that we are reaching the time of harvest. Now we have a commissioned and ordained team – now the members of this parish can share in the harvest of that leadership.

But……. Remember that after the harvest comes the time of new sowing of seed. If we just took in the harvest, the field would lie fallow and growth would eventually cease.

Kate and I had a tremendous week at Summer Seminary and I’m guessing you will hear a lot of what we learned in the coming months, but also going to the Black Hills gave us plenty of talking and sharing time. And so we came back and met with Ken and Coleen and shared some more, and met in retreat yesterday and shared some more. What we now want to share with you is that this has indeed been our “year of the harvest”, the time that Total Ministry came to fruition, but now is the time to sow again upon the ground the mustard seed, to nurture the seed and to help it grow once more. Over and over our week at summer seminary referenced the Ministry of all the Baptized. By our baptism we all are called into the ministry of Christ’s church, a ministry that is a twofold ministry, the ministry of Christ in the Church and the ministry of Christ in the World. Total Ministry must continue to be fertilized for new and continuing growth and it will take the ministry of all the Baptized, in the Church and in the World for that to happen.

So soon, for example, we will offer the training for certifying Layreaders. The training will also include training for lectors but the training will go further in sharing with all who are interested the opportunity to become more familiar with the wonderful resources of the Book of Common Prayer and the services and prayers that belong to the leadership of the laity. And for those who wish it, diocesan certification as Layreader will provide for the ministry of morning and evening prayer. But all who just want to know more about the BCP will be welcome to participate in the gatherings. A beginning, a sowing of the seed of “total” ministry again.

Kate’s ordination will take place on Saturday, Sept 16^th at 11:00 am. And on that day we will celebrate her call to ordination. And on the very next day, Sunday, Sept 17^th , we will “Rally” together and celebrate all the ministries of St. James, from the ushers, to the coffee hour hosts, to the bell and singers’ choirs, ECW, newsletters, yard and garden care, campus midweek services, bulletins, Good Book Club, Youth Group, Lay Eucharistic visitor.…. I’ll stop there before I leave one out. But as we heard at the seminary week, this is the ministry of Christ in the Church. And as small as we are we accomplish much.

There is also the ministry of Christ in the World. And so we want to also recognize that call to us, a call we respond to with UTO and Habitat for Humanity, and Coats for Kids and all the many ways we minister to those in need.

But the Episcopal Church has a strong calling to another ministry, that comes out of the Via Media, the middle way, and that is represented in the call of the national convention, to the Ministry of Reconciliation.

In the spirit of the call to ministry in the Episcopal Church, that has so much been a focus of the Convention this week, let us focus our ministries beyond the doors of this place, to the Ministry of Reconciliation – of sharing with others our willingness to be in conversation and communion with all, not just those with whom we are comfortable.

As former Senator Danforth of Missouri said as he addressed the Convention (and I commend his remarks to you. You can read his Challenge to the Episcopal Church at http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/3577_76103_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=undefined or see the video on the convention website http://www.episcopalchurch.org/75164_ENG_HTM.htm , click on the Saturday video),

Senator Danforth, himself an Episcopalian, urged us to not let the media describe who we are, describing only the tensions of the extremes, for we are the church of the middle way, the Via Media, the church that reaches out and draws in all to our midst. Share with others who we are in the Episcopal Church, a church that can grow and change and which scatters our mustard seed to all whom Christ loved, ordinary people, people who struggle, who see and live in the world in a wonderful variety of ways. And like that little mustard seed, St. James can grow in wonderful ways if we do that.

I encountered a mathematical possibility – I always love math. “Numb3rs” is my favorite program on TV. The Mathematical Possibility is about what growth can happen if each one of us brought one new person into the fold each year – just one.

20 of us – our average congregation – would see our congregation grow in one year to 40. And if each of us then brought one person a year, by year five we would be 640.

Year 10 20,480

Year 15 – 655, 360

Year 20 – 20,971,520

Year 25 – 1, 342,177,280

Just one person a year for each of us. Wow! Year one attainment would be wonderful! By year two, we might have to return to having two services on a Sunday!

We are now on the threshold; we at St. James can be embarking on a new sowing of the mustard seed, and a new season of nurturing the growth of our beloved church in Christ, the season of the Ministry of All the Baptized.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

The Reverend Marilyn M. Leach

mmleach@charter.net