Seedlings in the Kingdom of God – Mark 4:24-41

Lectionary Readings for February 21, 2021            First Sunday In Lent, Year B
Genesis 9:8-17    v13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.
Psalm 25:1-10      v4 Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.
1 Peter 3:18-22    v21 And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from[d] a clean conscience.
Mark 1:9-15    The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

But this week we’ll focus on Mark 4:24-41 where Jesus talks about seeds and calms a storm.

Peace Quotes

“No [person] will make a great leader who wants to do it all [themselves] or get all the credit for doing it.”  ~ Andrew Carnegie

“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”  ~ Thomas Carlyle

In our quest for creating places and times of peace, remember that peacemaking is a collaborative effort – we learn from and support each other. May our hopes for a more peaceful future not distract us from immediate opportunities.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

Last week, we heard a story of Jesus healing a man’s hand by simply telling the man, “reach out your hand.” This week, we move into the fourth chapter of Mark and hear Jesus comparing what He called the “Kingdom of God” to planting seeds – simple objects with which everyone around him was familiar. Through these two stories, Jesus conveys two key aspects of the Kingdom of God – which is really helpful since we have no record of Jesus explicitly explaining what He means by “the Kingdom of God.”

The first seed parable tells us that the Kingdom is mysteriously guided by God’s power and wisdom and it takes time to develop. OK, great; 1) we’re not in charge 2) we don’t have to figure out how it works, and 3) God is at work while we’re asleep so there’s nothing admirable in working without rest.

The second seed parable tells us that the Kingdom is a place with the potential for abundant growth and becomes a place that offers rest and protection.

Having dispensed these great insights, Jesus tries to escape the crowds by sailing across the Sea of Galilee which is about 50% bigger than Lake Almanor or 1/3 the size of Lake Tahoe. My point is, in a boat that was likely 27 feet long and only 8 feet wide, a surprise storm with steep waves could easily toss them into the dark, deep, cold, murky waters they feared. With no radio to call for help and no Coast Guard to answer, no wonder they rightly feared drowning. When do we, today, fear imminent doom and need to cry out to God to save us? When do the depths of our circumstances challenge the depths of our faith?

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we hear today’s readings.

Read Mark 4:24-41.

When Anne and I lived in Connecticut, we rented a house with a BIG garden in the backyard. It was roughly 25’ x 50’ as I recall. But when we had to weed it, it felt like the size of a football field!

Anne and I planted a wide variety of vegetables with high hopes for a bountiful harvest throughout the summer. My energy and optimism provided great entertainment for my next-door neighbor who was a seasoned gardener. One day I was admiring how well my lettuce seedlings were doing. Nearly every seed I had planted was developing. About an inch tall and growing quickly, I savored thoughts of fresh salads with every dinner. As I walked back to the house, I noticed the oak tree seedlings in our yard. In my arrogance, I clearly remember saying to God, “Hey man, I’ll give you credit for figuring out this whole ‘seeds into plants’ thing, but have you seen my garden? My lettuce is nearly 100% successful! I can’t help but notice your acorns are maybe 5% successful. Just sayin’.” Mercifully, God did not reply.

A few days later, I went out to check my lettuce and was promptly traumatized to see that my entire crop was now lying in the dirt, limp and lifeless. It must be a water issue! So I gave them plenty of water. Days passed, no improvement. I asked my neighbor for suggestions only to hear, “Yeah, that happens sometimes. Better luck next year.”

As I walked back to the house, depressed and questioning where I went wrong, I again noticed those oak tree seedlings. The 5-percenters were still growing. And God quietly asked me, “How’s your lettuce doing?” Ouch.

To be clear, I do not believe that God obliterated my lettuce to punish me for my arrogance. Rather, through our conversations, God used that lettuce to help me see my arrogance. Working together over years – we began to convert some of my arrogance into personal humility as well as respect for the endless miracle we call nature.

God used that experience and today’s parables to help me learn more about the Kingdom of God. In the garden, in life, and in ministry, we cannot force anything to be successful. And no matter how hard we work to make something happen, sometimes we experience success and other times, not so much. In victory, we must realize that we are simply one of many participants in a complex process. In times of disappointment, it’s always our choice to give up OR learn and try again.

With those oak tree seedlings, God taught me that creation is continually happening around us, even if we don’t understand exactly how it works. And even if we won’t directly benefit from it in the moment, we can notice and enjoy God’s creative energies at work in the people around us.

Our God is a God of creation and growth; we see that from the first verse of Genesis through the end of Revelation. Our Bible, our sacred text, is one story after another of God creating. Even from destruction as seemingly final as Jesus crucified, we see God re-creating in new and amazing ways. That should give us hope when we experience loss and destruction in our own lives. This begs the question, what does God want to create anew in us?

Today’s first parable about seeds sprouting gives us some insight about our relationship with the Kingdom of God – like farmers with their fields, our role is a combination of active involvement and patiently waiting for the mystery of creation to occur. But the waiting is an active waiting. We can use waiting time to prepare ourselves and our environment for the future harvest.

The second parable about the mustard seed helps us visualize the Kingdom of God as an organic, growing ecosystem capable of dramatic potential in comparison to its humble beginnings. This parable also helps us understand that the growth in the Kingdom of God has a purpose – to create space where people can find safety and rest while they create new life (think of baby birds in their nests).

As I think about our own church, I can see areas of planting, active waiting, harvesting and well as tremendous growth. Our HOPE Food Pantry plants seeds of curiosity and invitation throughout each week: Would you like to donate? Would you like to volunteer? Would you like to come get food this Friday? We spend weekdays actively preparing for whatever harvest awaits us on Fridays. And we spend Fridays harvesting the gratitude our volunteers and clients share with us. As I’ve said so many times, our food pantry has and continues to organically grow beyond our wildest dreams.

Another example is our weekly evening gatherings where we share seeds of hope and encouragement with each other. We share stories of where we see seedlings of God’s love starting to grow. And we celebrate the harvests of people experiencing the fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Those are some immediate, fun examples of gardening in our church. Simultaneously, our Church Council is working on a different part of our garden. We are discovering the “oak tree seedlings” of our church – places where God is already creating new life in and around us, new life that will provide the framework for our future growth. While we wait patiently for those seedlings to develop, we are actively preparing ourselves to be better caretakers of what God is providing. This is the less glamourous but equally critical side of church gardening.

Whether it’s within you, in your home, your office, your classroom, or anywhere else, know that each one of you is an important part of God’s active and ongoing creation. We all have our own roles to play in God’s garden. We can take great relief knowing that – by design – we do not have total control and success does not depend on any one of us. Thank God! And we can take great joy knowing that God is working alongside us as we, together, help the Kingdom of God grow in magnificent ways that bless us and the people in our community.

It may be cold today, but spring is coming, and I hope that you, like me, are looking forward to seeing what God grows around us.

Amen? Amen!