This morning I preached at the
Watling Valley Partnership's Annual Covenant Service held at
All Saints Loughton. The Watling Valley Partnership are a Local Ecumenical Partnership of the United Reformed Church, Methodist Church, Church of England and Baptist Church, who are also
HeartEdge partners.
Here is the sermon I preached:
The
Royal Horticultural Society says that sowing seeds outdoors is very straight forward – just think of how many plants scatter their seeds and they grow where they land as soon as it is moist and warm. The secret to success when sowing seeds outside is to prepare a good seedbed, free of weeds and with a crumble-like soil-surface texture. Beds should be dug over in advance to allow time for the soil to settle. Cover the bed to suppress weeds then level the surface and create a crumble-like tilth picking off any remaining weeds and debris. Other problems to be addressed include pigeons and other birds which can be a pest.
Just as in the Parable of the Sower (
Matthew 13. 1 – 23), the RHS guidance is that seeds are less likely to grow well where there are weeds, debris like rocks and stones, or where birds can eat the seeds. Seeds are likely to grow well in good, well-prepared soil. So far, so good; so far, so similar – the secrets of growing good crops were really no different in the time of Jesus from those of today. Given that as much was known then about sowing seeds as is known now, there is just one strange element to Jesus’ story and that is the fact that the sower deliberately sows seeds in the areas where seeds are less likely to grow, as well as in the prepared soil where the seeds are more likely to grow well. The sower is profligate with the seeds in a way that goes counter to the advice from the RHS which, as we have seen, is consonant with the understanding of sowing demonstrated by the parable. So why does the sower ignore good practice and deliberately sow seeds on the path, the rocky ground and among the thorn bushes? Does this strange aspect to the story tell us something significant about God?
The seed is the Word of the kingdom and the Word, John’s Gospel tells us, is Jesus himself. So, it is Jesus himself who is being scattered throughout the world as the seed being sown in this parable (perhaps in and through the Body of Christ, the Church). As the seed was sown indiscriminately, even recklessly, there was a breadth to what was going on here as the places that were known to be poor places for seed to grow were nevertheless given the opportunity for seeds to take root.
This suggests to us the indiscriminate and reckless nature of God’s love for all. It means that no part of our community or our world is off limits to Jesus or to us as the body of Christ. Within HeartEdge, the international, ecumenical movement for renewal within the broad church that has been initiated by
St Martin-in-the-Fields and of which the Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership is part, we express this in terms of churches seeking to be at the heart of their communities whilst also being with those who are on the margins or at the edge. By being at the heart and on the edge our mission and ministry will have something of the breadth with which the sower scatters the seed in this parable.
As we recommit to God in this service through the Covenant Prayer, may we commit to loving others in the way that God loves; at the heart and on the edge, with a reckless, indiscriminate love that welcomes all, including those who may not return that love and welcome.
The sower scatters the seed indiscriminately because the life of Jesus can spring up and flourish anywhere. This means that the life of Christ grows outside the church as well as within it. As a result, our task as Christians is not simply to take the love of Christ to all parts of our community and world but also to be actively looking to see where the seed of Jesus is taking root, growing and bearing independently of anything that the church has done. Another of the key concepts for HeartEdge is that God is continually sending gifts to the church of people who we don’t expect or recognise as being Jesus. The renewal of the Church has not come from those already within it, so instead it is likely to come from those who are currently outside of or on the edge of Church.
There are many people and organisations of good will in our communities with which we, as churches, are not yet engaging who nevertheless are well disposed towards the Church and will give some form of support, if the right connection can be made.
Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, tells a story of talking with a politician whose mother gave an annual donation to the Christmas Appeal at St Martin’s. When asked why someone who lived a long way from London would give regularly to St Martin’s, the answer came back that St Martin’s cares about what is important. The more we seek to be blessing to our wider community, the more we will find those locally who will support the church and partner with it, regardless of whether or not they are able or willing to attend.
There are also many people and organisations of good will in our communities with which we, as churches, are not yet engaging who nevertheless are acting in ways that bring Christ to others by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison. We need to look for signs of God within our communities and then come alongside those people in solidarity and support for the ways in which they are bringing Christ to others.
The story of
St Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar outside the gates of Tours has been an inspiration to us at St Martin’s. The story has inspired our congregations over the years to show compassion and care towards those in need, particularly those who are homeless or refugees. But the story has a twist, that night Christ appeared to Martin in a dream as the beggar to whom he had given half his cloak. Martin had thought he was the one sharing the love of Christ with the beggar. In reality, it was the one who was outside, on the edge, marginalised and in need, who showed the face of Christ to Martin. In the same way, we need to be alert to all those within our community who can show the face of Christ to us.
As we recommit to God in this service through the Covenant Prayer, may we commit to discerning where the Spirit is already at work within our local community in individuals and organisations becoming a blessing to the community by getting involved in the work that the Spirit has already begun and receiving a blessing as the face of Christ is shown to us in new ways.
The love of God as shown in the Gospels and in this parable is abundant, profligate, indiscriminate, and reckless. It is, as Jesus says elsewhere, pressed down, shaken together, poured out and overflowing. Jesus came to give us life in abundance, life in all its fullness, yet, within our churches we often operate with a mind-set of scarcity.
The church is getting smaller and becoming narrower. Those regularly attending worship are fewer. The church’s reputation and energy are becoming associated with initiatives that are introverted and often lack the full breadth of the gospel. In response we often focus on what our church doesn’t have, who isn’t there, and what problems it faces. In a deficit culture we begin with our hurts and our stereotypes, and find a hundred reasons why we can’t do things or certain kinds of people don’t belong. As churches we are often quick to attribute our plight to a hostile culture or an indifferent, distracted population or even a sinful generation; but much slower to recognise that our situation is significantly of our own making. In the imagery of this parable when we focus on our deficits, we are focusing on the path, the rocky ground and the thorn bushes.
By contrast, in HeartEdge, we believe that churches can do unbelievable things together by starting with one another’s assets, not our deficits. We believe churches and communities thrive when the gifts of all their members are released and they build one another’s assets. We are enough as local communities because God has given us what we need in each other. We also believe that God is giving the church everything it needs for the renewal of its life in the people who find themselves to be on the edge. Wisdom and faith are found in the places of exile and rejection. The rejected are to be sought out because they are the energy and the life-force that will transform us all. If you are looking for where the future church is coming from, look at what the church and society has so blithely rejected.
The life of the church is about constantly recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives. Thus is deficit turned to plenitude, threat turned to companionship, and fear turned to joy. This is the life of the kingdom. The life of the kingdom of God is found in recognising the abundance of the seed that is continually being sown. The life of the kingdom of God is found when we expect and look for the growth of that seed at the heart and on the edge, often in unanticipated ways, in surprising places and in unexpected people.
As we recommit to God in this service through the Covenant Prayer, may we commit to being a people who live out of the abundance of God, rather than our scarcity, by beginning with our assets, not our deficits; both those within our church and those without.
Let us pray: God of hope, in Jesus you made heaven visible to earth and earth visible to heaven: make your Church a community at the heart of your kingdom alongside those on the edge of society, that each day we may seek your glory, and embody your grace; through Christ our Lord. Amen
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Come, let us use the grace divine.
