Sow

Isaiah 55:10-13

10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12 For you shall go out in joy,
    and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall burst into song,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
    for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears[a] listen!”

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.[a]22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

In 2005, Kate and I moved to Germantown, Maryland. We still attended our UCC church in Vienna, Virginia which was a 40-minute drive by car. We wanted to get to know people and help out our immediate community so we joined the Jaycees in our town. Each time we would gather we would recited the Jaycee Creed which is:

We believe: That faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life;
That the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations;
That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise;
That government should be of laws rather than of men;
That earth’s great treasure lies in human personality;
And that service to humanity is the best work of life.

“The earth’s great treasure lies in human personality.” Amen to that. This Jaycee chapter had personality in spades! There were so many characters. One couple was really into videogames and introduced Kate and me to Guitar Hero, a video game where you pretend to be a rockstar. One guy signed his name backwards and hosted an annual science fiction convention. I once said that if he was able to get a few actors to his convention, I’d build him a working spaceship. He replied that those actors I had named had already been to his convention… I still owe him a spaceship. Another couple was really neat. The husband had the driest sense of humor and I found him hysterical. The wife had a smile a mile wide and it never faded. She was and is one of the most positive people I had ever met. We met another great couple whom we became friends with and would watch the TV show LOST together. It was a fantastic group of people.

Growing up, I just wanted to be normal and fit in. I wanted someone to tell me the rules, and then I would just do that. At what age should I marry? What should I do as a career? What should I wear? Someone just tell me and I’ll just do that. Maybe it’s because I felt that my family history was filled with change and weirdness that I just wanted to be normal. My grandfather was a beekeeper and said things funny because English was his second language. He spoke only Slovak until he was 7. He was taught English in school and he only made it to the 8th grade. I was one of the only kids at my school from a single parent household. My mom was a mechanic. All of this was out of the ordinary.

One day in 5th grade, I remember I had written a short story. I was so proud of it. I showed it to my mom who, after reading it, said with a chuckle, “You’re weird.” I was deeply offended. She meant it as a compliment. She meant to say that she wouldn’t have ever conceived of such a story and that it was very creative. But I was still offended. I’ve always been a brooding artist. I’ve found that I don’t think like most people, my brain works differently. It’s always churning, there are at least four channels playing at all times. There’s a music channel. A channel tuned to what’s going on around me. A channel thinking of God and another channel that adds dinosaurs into the channel of what’s going on. I’m weird. I have a strange family story that isn’t like others.

Somewhere along the way, I came to the realization that I should own my weirdness. Normal is only a setting on the washing machine. Everyone is a little weird. Each of us has a story unique to us, a story that is ours and ours alone. It is this weirdness that makes us, us. The earth’s great treasure lies in human personality.

Somewhere we lost that. At some time in our culture, there was this drive to uniformity. Maybe it was in the post-war era and the rise of suburban life. Uniqueness was considered a character flaw, weirdness had to be regulated. No more chickens in backyards or hanging clothes out or homemade sculptures welded in the garage. Things had to be uniform and pristine. Everyone must dress and act the same and if someone didn’t, then we must ridicule and bully them into uniformity and if they still didn’t budge, then we’d shun them.

One member of that Jaycee’s group didn’t own a TV. I was floored. I turned to the scifi guy to see if his head had exploded like mine. I had just bought a high definition flat screen so that we could watch our favorite TV shows, Lost and Battlestar Galactica at that time, and be wowed by the color and the sound. Yet this guy didn’t even own one? What did he do with all that time? Was he Amish? Some sort of hermit? Were you permitted to not own a TV in America? There had to be a law against this. This guy was weird.

I stuttered and stumbled and somehow turned my judgment into curiosity. “Tell me more about that.” I mustered. This man traveled a lot for work. He had a very demanding job at the State Department. And when he wasn’t traveling for work, he was traveling for vacation. He loved to travel the globe. He was raised on Rudyard Kipling and loved his stories of India and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi which inspired him to travel as much of our world as he could. Screens weren’t everywhere then like they are now. He just fell out of the habit of watching TV but books could be brought everywhere. So he read all the time. Always had a book on him. He was a wealth of information! He got me into the poetry of Hafiz and Rumi. He had me consider things I never knew existed. He was weird and in that weirdness was great treasure.

Jesus tells the parable of a sower going out to sow. Jesus doesn’t get into specifics as to when the sower is out sowing; Palestine fields could be sown in the fall or spring. Sometimes the field was first prepared by plowing and sometimes the seed was sown first and then plowed in.[1] The focus of the story is the surprisingly abundant harvest. A harvest of four to tenfold was considered normal, fifteen times what was sown was exceptionally good.[2] The seed has been sown by the Son of Man and the harvest is God’s own and God is faithful. But the line between sowing the word and reaping the kingdom harvest is not straight and unproblematic. The word encounters many difficulties between its original sowing and its eventual but sure harvest. Followers of Christ should not be surprised or discouraged.[3]

There are those out there who hear about Christianity, but they see no need for change. Maybe they have their own faith community. Maybe they are apathetic. Maybe they have a season of that Netflix show to finish and can’t be bothered. Maybe they are doing all they can just to survive and can’t imagine a world any different than the day-to-day survival.

There are those who get really excited and want to run around and do all this stuff in church. But they won’t last. They have no roots. When the going gets tough, they quit. When they find that their reputation might be ruined from hanging out with sinners and having the audacity to ask for justice and love of neighbor, they quit. Being accepted into polite society is much better than establishing the Kingdom of God.

There are those who work hard for a while, but worldly concerns over-take them. The kids have soccer tournaments on Sunday mornings and we couldn’t tell the coach that we’d be at church, that’d be rude. And my company really needs me and I’m just too tired to make it to church on Sunday or a mission trip or bible study or pretty much whatever you’re doing. But I’m still a member!

One man once approached me in my last church to complain about a part of the sermon and a hymn. I’d never seen this man in worship before in the 2 years I was there at the time. He was only there for bible study, sometimes. “Pastor, I take exception! We’ve never sung that hymn before, and I didn’t like it.”

Normal pastors would say something polite and they’d listen and calm the person down. I said, “This is the third Sunday in a row we have sung that hymn. It came from Vacation Bible School and the children’s ministry wanted to share it with us. We have sung it before and I don’t care if you like something or not, I care if you find meaning in it. What meaning did you find? Or what meaning did you miss in our normal routine?”

The guy looked at me like another head had suddenly sprouted out of my neck. “Well, in your sermon…” he began, unsure of himself since the ritual of complaint was interrupted. “In your sermon (he started to get back in the groove) you stated that we should be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. The bible doesn’t like serpents and has a bad view of them. Plus we…”

“Let me stop you right there, friend,” I said. “I didn’t make that up. I was quoting Jesus in Matthew 10:16. Your issue isn’t with me, it’s with Jesus.”

I later got an email from the man threatening to withhold his pledge, which wasn’t that much. I met with him over coffee and learned how his life was just out of control; health, family, work, his love life. Sometimes that happens and so people come to church and try to control what happens here so they feel better about their life. Nothing comes of this. It just allows more thorns to grow and more seeds to be choked out. I didn’t see him after that meeting until an email when I announced my departure to come here which is a shame because he missed out on 6 years of great growth in the church. Thorns had choked him out.

Church is weird. Christianity is weird. Harry Emerson Fosdick said it best in how abnormal Christianity is, “Sometimes from our mad world, where men so trust in force, I come into this church alone and look at the cross above the altar. It seems to say to me: I am a symbol of apparent failure; I represent the crucifixion of love by men of violence; but long ago they passed away, and the empires which by violence they founded passed away, and I still am here waiting; there is no way out of human misery but by love; whoever believes in violence trusts in a god who cannot create or organize anything permanent; in the long run, it is only love that does not fail.”[4]

Love one another in our mutual weirdness. Normal is only a setting on your washing machine, nothing more. Love the brooding artist and the hardworking beekeeper. Love the one who hosts gatherings based on TV shows and the one who doesn’t even own a TV. Love the smiling wife and her husband who never smiles. Love those we consider bad soil, maybe those seeds just need to be plowed under. Love even the thorns but don’t allow them to control you. Blossom and thrive! Nurture your own God-given gifts! For God has sown seeds of God’s self into every life and has given you all that you need in the core of your being. You are more than enough! You are a child of God! And you will produce 30, 60, or a hundredfold should you nurture your God gifted uniqueness. Be a little weird. As Glennon Melton said, “Acting perfect in church is like getting dressed up for an X-Ray.”

For God has seeded the earth and the earth’s great treasure lies in human personality.

Works Cited

[1] Boring, M. Eugene. The Gospel of Matthew, Introduction, commentary, and reflections. New Interpreters Bible Volume VIII. Abington Press, Nashville, 1995. Page 303.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Page 306.

[4] Fosdick, Harry Emerson. Successful Christian Living. Harper & Brothers, New York. 1937. Page 90.

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