Jesus teaches a large crowd about the process of receiving the seeds of God’s love and teaching. He does so using a parable about a farmer who throws seed everywhere. The seed lands on four types of soil. What I feel is important to consider in this text is at different stages of our life we experience the different kinds of soil. I also feel the text is teaching us our spiritual walk is not a passive experience. We must tend our Soul Garden to make it fertile as possible to receive the teachings God desires us to learn.
- Sometimes you just have to get out of the house!
- Are we a hardened path ruled by our ego?
- Are we a rocky soil that does not allow us to take root and become grounded in our faith?
- Has our faith been planted among thorn bushes and the worries of life and the lure of money suffocate our faith from blooming?
- How fertile and open is the soil of soul?
- How do we prepare our Soul Garden to receive God’s teachings?
- First is to Listen and Understand.
- The Spiritual Journey is not a passive one.
- It is your journey. You have to walk it!
- If you do not have time then ask Why?
- If you are too distracted then ask, by what?
- If you are so worried about life your curiosity disappears then explore to whom and what you are giving all of your power away!
- When you have ears, then listen! As your understanding becomes deeper ask how you put it to work to create change in your life and the world around you!
The Spiritual Journey is not a passive one.
A farmer, ragged and barefooted, was standing on the steps of his raggedy shack.
A stranger stopped for a drink of water and he asked:
"How is your cotton coming along?"
Farmer: "Ain't got any."
Stranger: "Did you plant any?"
Farmer: "Nope, afraid of boll weevils."
Stranger: "Well, how is your corn?"
Farmer: "Didn't plant any, afraid there would be no rain."
Stranger: "Well, how are your potatoes?"
Farmer: "Ain't got any, scared of the potato bugs."
Stranger: "Really, what did you plant?"
Farmer: "Nothing, I just played it safe."
So you got to ask: "How safe is it to not have any crops at all?"
--Thanks to Rev. Liz Edwards, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Call to Celebration
God of Abundance, we enter this space in gratitude.
Your Creative Spirit is among us.
We are a faith community of all kinds of resources.
The soil beneath us is ready for tilling.
This time is pregnant with opportunity.
Enable us to see and unearth the beauty beneath the soil. Amen
Offertory
Faithful God, remind us that our faith is rooted in a Living Presence. We
already possess what we need to produce fruit. Empower us to work toward wholeness. It is already possible, because you lived it among us. Amen
Bringing in the Light
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Extinguishing the Light
Matthew 13:1-9, 13:18-23
A Prayer for Peace and Restoration
God of All, help us live with the expectation of abundance. Worldly storms remind us
that things are temporal. We become anxious by what we see and hear during times of
chaos. God, remind us that our faith is not an empty barrel. Our faith is in a post-
resurrection Jesus who reveals that life exists in the midst of death. We can shift our
narratives by shifting our perspectives. Amen
Rev. LaTrell Harrison