Cultivating the Soil

The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

July 12, 2020

Year A, Proper 10: The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 25:19-34

Psalm 119:105-112

Romans 8:1-11

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Cultivating the Soil

            Earlier this spring, Sue and I decided that we were going take advantage of the rectory porch more than we have in the past.

            We’ve lived here for more than seven years now, so, as it happens, we sort of got so used to the porch that we kind of took it for granted and forgot about it.

            But, not this year.

            Now, when the weather is good, many evenings after dinner we sit outside and talk with each other.

            We see lots of our neighbors – including some of you – and it’s great to just wave to each other, to say “hi” or “have a good night” or, sometimes have a longer - but still socially distanced - conversation.

            It’s been really nice – it feels like something out of small-town America.

            The porch also gives us great views. We watch the sun set behind the church. And, we can look down at much of the church grounds, which have been looking particularly beautiful this year – and I’m glad to say we’ve been attracting bees and butterflies.

            Most of you know that I take a lot of pictures of the garden, now more than ever since I have a new phone and can do some fancier things than I could before.

            Those pictures always get a lot of “likes” on social media and in real life our garden gets a lot of likes, too.

            So many neighbors and passersby have said to me how much they appreciate the colors and smells of the garden, this little oasis in a city that can sometimes be quite harsh and often not so beautiful.

            Of course, the beauty of our garden doesn’t just happen – it takes a lot of work by a couple of very dedicated parishioners – work that begins by digging into the soil and preparing it for new life.

            Cultivating the soil is hard work  - but it’s hard work that is rewarded in the beauty of the garden.

            Cultivating the soil.

            In today’s gospel lesson we heard one of Jesus’ best-known parables, usually called the “Parable of the Sower.”

            Now, I admit that I don’t know anything about farming or even gardening, but it does seem strange and wasteful to me that the sower is sowing seeds all over the place. Then as now, seeds are precious – they carry the potential of new life – and yet this sower seems to be reckless with them, allowing them to fall on the path, and on the rocky ground, and even among thorns – allowing them to fall where there wasn’t much chance for new life to take root.

            The seemingly reckless and wasteful sower reminds me of another of Jesus’ well-known parables, the Parable of the Lost Sheep – when the shepherd leaves behind the 99 sheep to find the one that is lost.

            To us, anyway, that doesn’t make any sense – but just like the sower spreading seeds on bad and good soil alike, maybe it tells us something important about God’s seemingly reckless and wasteful love for all of us.

           

Fortunately, at least some of the seeds landed on good soil, where they brought forth new life, in some cases, lots of new life.

            Jesus often spoke in parables that, no doubt, left most people – very much including the disciples - scratching their heads, just as we still puzzle over them today.

            So, as we heard in the second part of today’s gospel lesson, Jesus also offers some advanced instruction to his disciples, explaining to them (and to us) the meaning of his mysterious parables.

            And, when it comes to the seed that fell on good soil, Jesus says, “this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit…”

            So, we hope to be – we need to be – good soil.

            And, sometimes soil is just good, but, more often, like in our church garden, it takes some work.

            Cultivating the soil.

           

In my clergy group the other day, we had an interesting discussion about what God has been up to during these difficult times.

            Over the past few months, I’ve reflected on and shared with you a couple of images of God and us during our time of pandemic and upheaval.

            One image is the wilderness journey - like the people of Israel long ago on their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, forty years of much trouble and many setbacks, but also forty years when God was so very close to the people, leading them by day and by night, giving them all the food they needed for the road.

            The other image – and the one I think about a lot – is uncovering.

            God is uncovering what had been hidden from many of us for a long time.

God is opening our eyes to see the racism that poisons every corner of our society – helping us to see the white privilege that lets people like me skate by when a Black person would never have it so easy, would never get the benefit of the doubt.

God is uncovering the brutality of some of our police officers and the persistent callousness cruelty of some of our leaders – God is uncovering the vast gap between the haves and have-nots - God is uncovering all of it and pointing to it and hoping with seeming recklessness and wastefulness that this time, finally, we will join with God and build the world that was always intended.

           

But, today, I’d like to suggest another image for what God might be up to during these difficult times.

            God is giving us the time and the space and maybe even a not so subtle nudge to cultivate our soil – to break through our hard crust and bring to the surface the goodness that has been in us all along – the ability to hear God’s word and to understand it – the potential for new and beautiful and abundant life.

            So, maybe without even realizing it, over these past four or five months we have been cultivating our soil by gathering together to read Scripture and to pray – to pray some of the most beautiful prayers I’ve ever heard – way more than we ever did before.

            We’ve been calling each other and checking up on each other way more than we did before, forming even closer, more loving bonds, than what had existed before.

            We’ve figured out new ways to get the Good News out into the world, like what we’re doing right now here on Facebook. By the end of the day, this video will have been viewed more than 200 times, meaning that many hundreds of people near and far have been fed here, way more than when we were able to sit together in the pews.

            And, speaking of sitting together, even for the two of us to take the time to sit on our long-ignored porch, talking to each other and our neighbors, has been an opportunity to cultivate the soil – making us more mindful of the beauty of this place and the goodness of God.

            So, yes, this has been a difficult time.

But, God has been guiding us throughout our journey.

God has been uncovering what really needs to be seen and faced at long last.

And, God is giving us the time and the space - and maybe even a not so subtle nudge - to cultivate our soil – to get ourselves ready for new life - the new life sown by our seemingly reckless and wasteful God.

Amen.