March 8, 2014 Mark 4:26-34 Mustard Seed

He also 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.”

He also said, “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.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

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Whenever I move to a new place, which I have done a lot in the last fifteen years, I tell myself it takes a year to have friends, and it takes two to have good friends. Now having been here four years, which is longest I have been somewhere since college, I am discovering a new phenomenon. After four years, you have a lot of friends, and a handful of good ones.

When I first came, First Friday, like the Y, or Anthony, was one of those places, where, I was like, “Oh, here are all the young people,” and I wondered how to get to know them, and become a part, rather than a witness. Well, after not having gone for awhile, I walked around with my friend Anne, and it felt like introduction after introduction of friends and acquaintances to her, and though in the church context, I am used to connecting people, in the community, it felt like the first time I was consistently introducing rather than being introduced. I knew people from different places, some were church members, others neighbors, many were friends of friends, who had then become my friends as well. It was web that stretched out, or perhaps a mustard plant. I remembered the times when these introductions were mustard seeds, where I was new to town, and had a rule where if I had the tinge of, ‘I think she and I would be friends,’ I had to ask them, right then, if they wanted hang to hang out sometime. I wasn’t allowed to wait until the next time, wasn’t allowed to let it happen organically, like a scattered seed. I told myself, instead I had to sew it if I wanted it to grow. There were some funny exchanges, some which lasted, some which didn’t, some which changed. Looking back, I have both sewn friendships, but most are those that came from scattered seeds. It will be years before I go somewhere else, but I will remember that friendship doesn't always count on my rising day and night, to watch the seed sprout and grow.

I look at our congregation likewise, upon arrival there were many things I knew needed some work, but wisely, seminarians are told to wait, some say three years, before making any changes. I am not that patient, but the patience I did have allowed me to see your strengths that have been foundational to working toward change. You embrace a diversity of thought in a familial community, and you care for one another and are gracious from the core of your being. You love and welcome youth and children without judgement and you also have servants hearts. We are slowly becoming more organized, and with it more functional, and our leadership in this time, is outstanding, as are our volunteers, but it makes sense to me that what is growing and giving us life, are ministries rooted in those core strengths, of care, of embracing children and youth, and of extending servant hearts. That a youth can come to Open Door when life is rough at home, and find an adult with whom to talk, and other youth to serve her special special smoothies. That our youth group can randomly give out Valentines, like scattered seeds, and with Hershey kisses and doorbells can bring back to church congregants, for whom planting and sewing had only yielded pieces. That once a month Fellowship Hour with its O’Hana events has us telling stories, both whoppers at the Washington and the Cherry Tree Event, and deep personal stories at the Cross the Line Event. These ministries take a lot of sewing, a lot of planting and watching over, but I think as a congregation of doers, we tend to forget that God is also scattering seeds, and we become surprised when it happens without intentionality from us.

The mustard seed, in biblical times, was considered a weed, and likewise, I have many times heard worry about all there is to be done in the church, and in the world. There are so many mouths to feed, so many church policies to be written, so many volunteers to be found. There will be burnout, we will run out of leadership, congregations are dying across the Untied States. Perhaps, this mentality is the what makes the kingdom of God a weed, when we try to take it all upon ourselves, and look only at the need, rather than the yield. What if, before we asked, who might help get food for Open Door or Backpack, or Bread of Life Food Bank, we first thought
of the hundreds of bellies this congregation feeds. Lynn once talked about the course of one backpack, there were so many hands, and I watch an image of them on Wednesday nights, when the youth reluctantly push back their chairs, and stand and then begin the race of boxes down the stairs, and then Melissa comes with fruit and Maddie and Alex get out to, ‘help,’ and Alex sometimes gets to play a game of air hockey with the big kids. What if we counted those hands rather than just the need, what we also we counted the ways that in the service pushing back their chairs, or sharing an air hockey game, that God is at work, scattering seeds not just in food for that week, but in future leaders, who will know the value of hard work, and also joyful play. What if our awe at the bounty of God at work, was the place from which we started and the image that we used to judge our progress?

The scripture tells us that in this mustard shrub and its large branches the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. The kingdom of God is not measured by the places where the sun is still stark. It is measured by the places which create shade for the nests of birds, it is measured by the harvest. Let us not judge ourselves, in this church, or outside of it, nor let us judge the world by the work left to be done, that is the weed. Let us instead witness the kingdom in the harvest that makes a home, be it an O’Hana Event, a Valentine, a plastic bag backpack, a smoothie, or a First Friday.