GOD'S UNUSUAL GARDENING

Dr. Richard J. Henderson July 27, 2008

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Psalm 105:1-11 (responsively)
Matthew 13:31-35

Introduction

Jesus tells these two parables about small things that bring about enormous growth. When we stop to think about these, they are some of the most obvious - as well as most powerful - things that Jesus said. But you do have to stop and think about them.

They're obvious because if we look around us, we see the seeds of God's reign growing everywhere. Some are barely seedlings, some have grown to be tall sprouts, some are fully developed plants - there are all stages of growth. These tiny specks of seeds, which we can hardly see, grow into large plants.

I

Sometimes the seeds are planted intentionally. People work hard to plant them, water and cultivate them so that they will grow and bloom. Care is taken in preparing the soil and planting the seeds, and then we pray that they will grow.

Decades ago planners within the Presbyterian Church made a conscious effort to send missionaries into Korea to spread the Good News. They planned and trained people, and then they worked among the Korean people developing leaders who could be in charge of their own church.

Now the Christian church in Korea is one of the fastest growing and strongest churches in the world. The seed was planted, nourished, prayed over, and a huge plant has resulted. We can plant, but only God can give the growth.

In a local congregation several people discuss and plan and pray for strengthened vitality in our worship. They encourage making the pace of worship more upbeat, including more variety of music. They pray that the worship of God may be more compelling. Then that seed sprouts and its growth is healthy. We can plant the seeds; only God can give the growth.

II

Sometimes we may not know when we are planting seeds. Maybe you, along with several other people, encourage someone's faith and help them grow, even though it often happens in ways you don't understand. God uses you to plant tiny seeds even when you aren't aware that you are doing it.

Sheila and I had dinner last week with a man who was fourteen when he was in our youth group in Northville. He is now celebrating his fiftieth birthday! He talked about the influence that our family, along with several other people, had made on his faith and the direction of his life. We remembered experiences from decades ago. When he said that he moved away when he was sixteen, I realized that he was only in that youth group for two years.

I don't remember any seeds being planted. Apparently they were, and they grew. He talked about the vital importance of God in his life and told us of his deep involvement in his church.

Many years ago I was working in my office on a Saturday morning when the phone rang. The woman on the phone said who she was, and I realized that I knew her from years earlier. She was a girl who was only partially active in a senior high group at church.

She was now working for a publishing company in Chicago, and was calling because she was wondering if she should go to seminary and become a minister.

I almost fell off my chair. She was one of the kids you always had to keep your eye on. She and her friends pushed the limits to see how far they could go, and she was considering the ministry! On a list of a hundred kids I've known who might go into the ministry, I would have rated her about ninety-eighth.

A couple of months later she wrote me to say, "God works in mysterious ways. I've been laid off from my job and enrolled in the University of Chicago Divinity School, and I start classes in the fall. Last I heard she was a United Church of Christ pastor in New England."

I would swear no seed was ever planted there, and if it was, it was unlikely to grow. But I would be totally wrong.

III

A mustard seed is such a tiny thing. Some of you may remember the days when they made mustard seed necklaces. The seed is so small that they encapsulated it in round glass to magnify it so you could see it. A mustard seed seems like nothing. But it can grow into a large plant.

I've talked before about the poet and memoirist, Mary Karr. She came from a dysfunctional family and suffered through so many problems. Both she and her mother were alcoholics. Mary worked hard to overcome her addiction, but nothing she tried worked.

Her friends kept telling her to "Pray about it." She would answer, "I'm not that desperate yet." But then she found that she was that desperate, and she began to pray. She said, "I've tried everything else, and nothing has worked. It certainly can't hurt."

Her prayers were answered and her life changed dramatically. She gave up drinking and got sober. She gave up atheism and became a Christian. Now she's a great advocate of prayer.

Think of her friends who planted the seeds. "Pray about it," is all they said. It was a tiny thing; it was nothing. That is the kind of thing Christians just say. But what a difference that tiny seed made in one life, and as she tells her story, in many other lives.

IV

Sometimes we have no idea who planted the seed, or how it got planted, we just see the plant bloom. I have seen people who were negative, confrontational, and miserly become warm, positive, and generous. I've seen people who everyone agreed would never set foot in a church, one day come forward to be baptized before the whole congregation. How did that seed get started? God only knows.

Conclusion

Several years ago I was seriously questioning if I should be in the ministry. It was a difficult time in the church with a lot of conflict and a great deal of pressure. I woke up one night hearing my name spoken clearly and loudly. I sat up in bed, but it was dark. The voice was so clear that I got out of bed to see if I had missed something. There was nothing there, and I went back to bed, but not to sleep. What was this voice I heard? I didn't understand what was happening - and honestly, I still don't.

A short time later I was at a meeting in the fellowship hall. A young woman walked in and was looking at information on the tables and the bulletin boards. This happens occasionally. I thought I knew what she wanted. We house Alcoholics Anonymous here on Tuesday evenings, but sometimes people come on the wrong day or to the wrong church. So I went out and asked, "Can I help you?" "Yes," she answered, "I really need to talk to someone."

We went into my office and talked for a couple of hours. She was feeling lost and especially wanted a sense of spirituality in her life.

When she left the building that night, I realized that we both had been helped. I think I may have helped her begin a path of spiritual growth. I know she reminded me of what my calling was all about.

Two seeds were planted at the same time. Sometimes we are able to plant a tiny seed, but always it is God who provides the growth.

Thanks be to God.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2008