Lilac Ministries
Sermon
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Topic: Dwelling Places and Growing Spaces
I planted two giant pumpkin plants this year. For one, I made a nice foot-tall mound and allowed for about 20 feet of growth. For the other, I just planted spare seeds in a more restricted area to see what they would do. The pumpkin that I put in an environment for growth was 50 inches in circumference at nine weeks and has been expanding at just about two inches a day. The other is just a small vine with no fruit at all. The difference is the environment I created for each. Before we leave today, you’ll see that this is a parable for our communities, our families, our church and all whom we encounter on our life path.
In Genesis 1:11-12, our Lord entrusted the earth to bring forth vegetation. He has likewise entrusted us to bring forth spiritual life in each other. Perhaps you recall the parable of the sower and the seed (Luke 8:5-15). Jesus explains that it is a parable of people’s faith. Seed that falls on the side of the road stands for people whose faith is stolen before it can take root. Seed sown in rocky places stands for people whose faith grows quickly, but fails when put to the test. Seed sown among thorns grows, but is choked by worry. Finally, seed sown in good soil yields an abundance of good fruit.
Jesus doesn’t go any further with the parable, but there are other truths that can be drawn from it. Today, I want us to consider the type of growing space we create for other people in our lives. I’ll use my flower garden as an example.
In my garden I have butterfly bushes and brown-eyed Susans that leap up high and broad to show off their color. They both love sun and space, but the butterfly bushes are loners, and the Susans are very social. I also have asters and roses that aren’t so big, but their colors and shapes add vibrance to the garden. I also have some begonias and pansies. They are small, take a little extra care and prefer the shade. But for those who see them, they are a quiet delight. I also have my giant pumpkins, one of which is not so giant.
You see, I made a point to create a dwelling place and growing space for all my flowers. I took time to understand their needs and recognize their differences and how they might best fit into my garden community. I even made plenty of space for my rotund outsider. But . . . to my other pumpkin, I said, “I don’t care. I’ll plant the seed and whatever happens, happens.” The result has been that my flowers have bloomed in very lovely fashion, and one pumpkin is growing into a giant. The other pumpkin, however, just exists with a few leaves and fruitless blossoms.
It’s very easy for us to look back at the dwelling places of our schools and homes and work to see how people created growing spaces for us - or just tossed us into a nook with only the minimum of help and attention possible. Pray about that, but I want to focus more on the dwelling places we’ve created for others. Since we are in church, I’ll use our group as our flower garden. Who are the bold and hardy butterfly bushes who seem to rise up quickly over every circumstance to find the sun and proclaim good things? Who are the roses and asters who are known, but are more likely found supporting others? Who are the begonias and petunias - those who are easily overlooked, but who still provide a beauty within the shadows of our church? I’ll bet a few names and faces come to mind.
Now, my question: What kind of dwelling place or growing space have you and I created for these Christ-flowers? Do we deliberately help one another be the sweetest fragrance of Christ we can be? Or do we hinder one another?
The side of the road might be our avoiding conversations or deliberately thwarting someone’s progress. Shallow soil might represent our withholding the resources and support someone needs to bloom. Thorns might be our criticism or discouraging attitudes. I encourage each of us to think about every other person in this congregation and ask, “When was the last time I supported or encouraged him or her to help this church be a garden of Christ filled with rich, thorn-free soil?”
What happens when we begin creating healthy dwelling places and growing spaces? Hosea has some insights for us.
Hosea 2:14-15: “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her her vineyards from there and the Valley of Trouble as a door of hope. And she will sing [respond] there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”
This is the Lord creating a new environment for His fiancée, His bride. He’s weeding out the valley that was trouble and sorrow and planting vineyards for her so that she’ll sing as in the day of her youth. (This is us!)
Hosea 2:21-22: “It will come about in that day that I will respond,” declares the Lord. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel [God‘s sowing].”
The response is not limited to one person. When we tend one another with God’s Spirit as Light and Water, we create a whole ecosystem of growth. In my garden illustration, I spoke about
flowers, but if we expand the idea a bit, we get an even larger picture of God at work in our families, our church and our communities.
Let’s continue with the illustration of a flower garden. If I create an environment of “Good Soil,” the flowers respond and start to thrive. My garden then begins attracting bees and butterflies. In turn, these creatures respond by pollinating the plants, and this attracts other creatures and encourages more plants to grow. Before long, what was a sparse, brown patch of ground becomes a lovely glade or meadow containing a variety of plants and creatures.
So what does this flower garden parable mean to us?
First, we need to understand one another in a spiritual sense. Who are our gifted teachers, our healers of heart, our behind-the-scenes servants, our prayer people? Just as we need to know the strengths and needs of a particular plant, we need to know the strengths and needs of the people in our households and in our church.
Next, we need to begin cultivating “Good Soil.” We must pull the weeds of bitterness from our memories and speech. This means that we acknowledge that something bad did happen - like a hard frost or a bad storm - but it also means that we make a commitment to avoid forcing others to remember or experience our pain. Cultivating “Good Soil” means refraining from making critical comments like “That’s good, but . . . ” or “Don’t be stupid!” or “Things were better when . . . .” Such comments create acrid soil and make room for the growth of choking thorns. Instead, we need to encourage our teachers in their teaching, our servers in their serving and our prayer people in their praying.
When we are deliberate in these ways, we give each person room to thrive. This allows the Holy Spirit to move more freely through and around us. Then, our families and our church begin to have positive impact on other people and other groups in our communities, and then those people can begin having a more positive impact on others, creating a spiritual ecosystem of growth in Christ.
I said at the start that I cultivated one giant pumpkin in good soil. It is thriving. I also planted one that has been constrained by grass and other plants. It exists, but bears no fruit. May we encourage one another in ways that will yield 30- and 60- and 100-fold.
Sermon by Brett Watson, Lilac
Ministries
Presented at St. John United Church of Christ