Mark 4:26-34 Sermon & Prayers
PROPER 6
June 18, 2006 

In the Garden (Not THAT Garden!)
by Linda Kraft

Mark 4:26-34

In between the rain showers we’ve been having so often lately, I’ve been able to get into my yard on a couple of afternoons. I watched the perennials pop their heads up through the soil, planted annuals and a few seeds, fertilized, weeded and mulched. Last summer we put white trellises under our deck to the ground level below. Our back yard is lower than the front of the house so at its tallest, that trellis area is over eight feet high. Along the trellis I’ve planted a few clematis vines. And, after their first couple weeks I haven’t had to think much about those plants. They’ve just taken off on their own and climbed right up the trellis. The have beautiful leaves and buds promising flowers any day now. They’re doing what they know to do without any prompting from me, and I’m sure the results will be wonderful.

If you were a plant, what kind of plant would you be? Some people are like kudzu  --  they make their way in, even where they’re not wanted, and choke out any good thing that comes along.

Some are like dandelions  --  popping up in the most unexpected places, bringing brightness and sharing their enthusiasm wherever the wind blows.

Some are like pepper plants  --  pretty to look at, but they need to be part of a larger recipe to properly add their zest to life.

Others are like water lilies  -- calm and tranquil resting places for life’s frogs and dragonflies.

Last year I read about a Century Plant growing at the University of Connecticut. This gigantic plant only blooms once in every hundred years – and most people would say that’s a really good thing. When it IS fully grown and opens up its flowering bud, its scent is grotesquely unappetizing. Instead of the heady sweetness of a rose or a lily, the Century Plant’s blossom smells like decomposing flesh, even worse than any garden compost you could imagine. It has botanists wondering just what purpose this putrid plant can possibly serve.

Today I’d like you to think of God’s kingdom as a kind of garden. I’m not the only one here who likes to play in the dirt. Mike and his crew volunteer hundreds of hours each year planting and maintaining our beautiful landscaping around the church. Emil and Lillian and Ed and Bob and Margaret and many others invest their time and talents in accessorizing this house of the Lord so that even the outside of this building praises the Great and Eternal Gardener.

In God’s kingdom, God’s garden if you will, many seeds have been sown. Jesus talked about a farmer or a gardener who dropped some seeds on the ground and was overjoyed that they grew and flourished. They produced fruit this planter didn’t expect would be so generous. And, when the time was right, the sower gathered in the harvest so its purpose could be served.

God can be compared to a gardener who scatters seed. Seeds have been sown among us. Some of us have talents for gardening. Some for cooking. Some for constructing and fixing and decorating and singing and reading and comforting and praying and... God sure sowed a lot of good seeds among us!

St. Mark tells us about the seeds within each of us that God has planted. He says they’re like the mustard seed. Mustard is one of the smallest seeds on earth but it can become the greatest shrub and maybe even as big as a tree. Its purpose, Mark says, is that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

To what purpose have you put your God-planted seed? Have you even yet discovered all the seeds God has planted in you?

Back in the 1930's the Great Plains of these United States suffered a major drought. For several years, the heat scorched and the winds blew and healthy topsoil was scattered and wasted. Almost nothing could grow. Families who’d tilled the soil for generations were forced off their land and into cities and caused to make their living in many different ways.

What were these farm families going to do? All they knew was working the land, raising their livestock and living by the seasons. Life had driven them away from any security they might have known. All their plans had to be rethought. All their dreams had to be re-visioned. All their reality had to be refocused. If they had tried to do things the way they’d always done it, they would not have survived.

Today’s world is a lot like it was in those times. There is a drought out there, outside these walls. Maybe some of it has even invaded this sanctuary, this space for worship. We see the winds of change blowing through our cities, through our schools, through our world and some of us long for the days when things were so much easier, so much gentler, so much kinder. Or so they seem from our perspective today.

We live in an ever-changing world, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Think about how this congregation began. Even if you weren’t born into one of the founding families of this congregation, even if today is the first Sunday you’re visiting to worship here, this is your story, too. Most congregations were formed when a bunch of friends got together and decided they wanted a place of their own where they could worship the way they thought was right.

For many, including this congregation’s founders, that meant that the language they had first heard as children would be their language for worship. It was not uncommon for cities to have four churches at the same intersection: one each for Germans, Poles, Slovaks and Norwegians or Italians or Irish or... Each one thanked God for giving them such a wonderful language with which to praise the Lord.

One hundred five years ago, a group of Slovak immigrants got together and decided to have a church. The church was the center of their families’ social life. Newborn babies weren’t taken out of the house until their first trip to the church for baptism. Slovak pastries were sold and laundry was washed to earn money to build their first church on the corner of Madison and Grand in Bridgeport. Some families even put a second mortgage on their homes in order to donate money for the construction of that little white frame building. That was a very risky thing to do for frugal Slovak families.

But, the seed of God’s love had been planted in that little group of believers. Those early days were not without conflict and contention, however. Nostalgia would invite us to ignore their struggles, but it wouldn’t be honest of us to gloss over the challenging times. We wouldn’t learn much from that. How long did it take that group of Slovaks to open its doors to people who didn’t share their heritage? With the first mixed marriage – a Slovak bride and a Hungarian groom, for instance! – change was inevitable.

Through the years, many "mixed marriages" would be celebrated at Holy Trinity. Eventually, Sunday School and confirmation instruction were offered in the English language, the language the children were learning in school. And, after a while, the membership even called as their pastor a Slovak man whose wife didn’t have one drop of Slovak heritage. Imagine that!

Over the past 105 years, God has sown many seeds among the worshipers at Holy Trinity.

Some have been like kudzu  --  they made their way in, pushed around other plantings, and tried to choke out any good thing that came along.

Some were like dandelions  --  popping up with the most unexpected ideas, bringing brightness and sharing enthusiasm wherever the Spirit breathed.

Some were like pepper plants  --  very noticeable, but gradually blending into the larger recipe to mix their sharpness into a palatable taste.

Others were like water lilies  -- calm and tranquil resting places for children, the needy and the outcasts whom God sent their way.

We live in an ever-changing world, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Think about this congregation’s future. Last Sunday this sanctuary was filled with the voices of children – not only the future of the church but its present. The children will remind us to keep looking for new ways to spread around God’s love. They, themselves, are seeds planted here, nourished by God through the time and talents of each one of you.

Your skills and gifts and contributions and time and talents and patience and encouragement are like "Miracle-Gro" for these kids. And, y’know what? Your skills and gifts and contributions and time and talents and patience and encouragement are like "Miracle-Gro" for each one of us worshiping together today.

God, the Great and Eternal Gardener has planted us here in this place, nourishes us with the body and blood of Christ, directs us as we climb the trellis, and watches over us so that we will be strong enough to withstand the challenges that come our way. You and I don’t have to MAKE that growth happen. God will take care of that. Our faith and our future can be like that of the mustard seed: Even though it is one of the smallest of all seeds on the earth, when it is sown with God’s love, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all, putting forth large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Don’t fear the future. Don’t dream of the past. Live in the present and offer your best to the One who created, redeemed and nurtures you each and every day. Grow strong in the Lord and reach out in love. Amen

Prayers for Worship

Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus, for all people according to their needs:

Great and Mighty Lord God, you bring your will before us and accomplish your purpose through us. Help us to be like the noble cedar, that we might produce boughs and bear fruit in your name and according to your desire.   Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. (Ezek 17:22-24)

O Most High, your righteousness is beyond measure. By your grace you make us sing for joy at the undeserved salvation you have prepared for all who call upon the name of the Lord. Help us to boldly declare your bountiful mercy every day of our lives, and take us one day into your own eternal presence. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. (Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15 NRSV)

Almighty Ruler, you judge the living and the dead through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We praise you for your plan of salvation and we ask you to open our eyes to your love for all creation.  Remove our fear, prejudice and hatred and replace them with your acceptance,   equity and love. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. (2Cor 5:6-10, 14-17)

Compassionate Storyteller, you spoke in parables that taught humanity about the never-ending love of God. Because we trust Jesus’ words of love and mercy, we pray for...              Are there others we should include in our prayers?   Increase their mustard-seed of faith so that they may be strengthened and find joy in your comforting presence. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.   (Mark 4:26-34)

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy; through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Comments to Linda at Linda_Kraft@Ecunet.org.)

Linda Kraft, Pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Trumbull, CT