.jpg)
“The Laissez-Faire Gardener”
Genesis 12: 1-9 & Mark 4: 26-33 ~ Northwood UC ~ June 11, 2023
Have you been spending some time in the garden this spring? Perhaps working the soil, planting, and watering. Or perhaps you have just been admiring the beauty of the growing miracles? To some degree, we all have been spending some time in the garden in spring. Haven’t we? It is natural to be drawn back to the earth and participate in God’s miracles growing! Our text this morning invites us into the garden as we consider sowing, growing, and reaping. It calls us to a deep connection with Mother earth.
In her blog “10 life skills from the garden”, Tiffany Davis imagines a conversation occurring between God and St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. Their conversation goes like this: “Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there? What happened to the dandelions, the violets, the thistles I started eons ago? I created a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan with plants which grow in any type of soil, withstanding drought, multiplying beyond measure. The nectar from the blossoms attract butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, as I look down, all I see are these green rectangles”. “Well…you see God, it's the tribes that settled here…the Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with what they call grass”. “Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees. It's temperamental with summer heat and winter cold. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there? “Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing their grass and poisoning any other plants that crop up”. “The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy”. “Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it…sometimes twice a week”. “They cut it? Do they bale it like hay?” “Not exactly, Lord. Most of them collect it up in bags”. “They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?” “No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away”. “Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?” “Yes, Sir”. “These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them work”. “Well…actually, when the grass stops growing, they pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it”. “What nonsense!
Increasingly, we are learning that we have a lot to learn from God’s creation. Just like Robert Fulghum’s book: “Everything I Needed To Learn, I learned in Kindergarten”, Tiffany Davis suggests that much of our learnings about life, should come from nature. And as you have already guessed, the gospel text about seeds, sowing, growth, and reaping is about far more than just gardening. The gospel text is about life. These two parables in the text, of course, follow after the better-known parable of the seed and the sower and must be considered in that light. In that parable, many will recall that Jesus describes the Kin-dom of God being akin to a sower who generously spreads seed everywhere. The seed is thrown amidst the path where people walk and trample its growth; it is spread amidst the rocky ground where the thorns choke out their early growth; it is spread onto the areas with shallow soil where their roots cannot take; and some of the seeds also find their way into deep rich soil where the seeds ultimately sprout and grow. The good news in this parable is that in the Kin-dom of God, the seeds are generously thrown, never hoarded, they are generously thrown into the soil. No differentiation or judgement is made between fertile ground, the rocky soil, or the heavily travelled path. The seeds are sown widely and generously.
As we come to this morning’s text, we find two more parables. The next parable in this chapter is the seed growing in secret. And so, we continue with the image of sowing. Except this time, the sower has human capacities like you and I ~ the gardener is unaware of the growth that is occurring ~ they are not like the wise and overly generous sower of the first parable. The text begins: ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how”. What is interesting here is that once the seed is sown, the gardener’s job (for a time) is over. The gardener just goes about their daily business: “rising and sleeping”, seemingly unaware of the growth that is happening, and certainly contributing nothing to its growth.
Gardeners might protest here ~ but what about the watering, the weeding, the plowing that needs to occur to foster the growth? Interestingly, the text does not wish to highlight this part of the gardener’s activity. Certainly, it goes on ~ and many a gardener has the sore knees and back to prove it. But the point of the parable is to point us to the time of sacred trust. Once the seed is carefully, lovingly planted, we have to trust that the seed will grow in the way God designed, in the way God hoped, in the way God dreamed. We must trust, and be ~ for a time ~ the trusting, the laissez-faire gardener…doing nothing other than trusting. There is a trust that the seed is growing ~ under that muck and mud, growing under that sun and rain, growing under conditions good or bad…Growing. Yet, all the while trusting that one day the stalk will rise, the head of the grain will be seen, and the gardener will come once again in time to harvest the crop.
I don’t know how many of you have been following the Stanley Cup finals, but it has been a fun journey to take in. I particularly love watching the facial expressions of the parents as their kids ~ these elite hockey players ~ make an incredible play: as they score a goal, as they make a stop, a pass…the parents are elated! We can’t begin to imagine the countless practices these parents took their children to; the countless hours spent sitting in cold hockey arenas sipping bad coffee and watching their children practice. All that planting, sowing, care…all to finally see the harvest come home. When these young men came to the peak of their careers, play in the big game, it brings tears to a parent’s eyes and it is truly beautiful for us to behold. The stalk rising, the grain in full bloom, the harvest coming to fruition. Now when will this happen in Vancouver! (But alas, that is another conversation)
As we gather on Graduation Sunday, I think this too is also a ‘marker’ in life. This is the culmination of planting, of nurture and of care. It is a harvest time when the fruits are seen in the various graduation celebrations. Moments of celebration when we celebrate the good seeds that were planted; when we celebrate all the factors that have contributed; when we celebrate God’s faithfulness. At a time such as this, we not only celebrate the graduates who will shape our world’s future, we also celebrate the gardeners ~ those who have faithfully planted the seed, who have prepared the soil, who have provided space for growth. We think of parents and grandparents and all the extended family. I think of this as the call to the extended community…like the church! We think of Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders; we think of sports coaches and teachers and guidance counsellors, and the list goes on and on. All those active gardeners who patiently, lovingly, wisely plant, nurture, tend and offer care. And we also celebrate God’s grace and provision ~ for we know that after the work of planting, loving and guiding is done, we TRUST and give things over to God knowing that God will guide; God will shape; God will provide for each of those little seeds growing in secret. Sometimes we must be the ‘laissez-faire gardener’ who trust in God’s grace and provision.
There is a final parable to be considered amidst the other two. And that is the parable of the mustard seed. What I love about this parable is the profound hope that is kindled within this tiny little mustard seed. Jesus said: ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
Prior to visiting Israel, my understanding of mustard was that of a yellow liquid you squirted on your hot dog. But that changed when I visited Israel. Our tour guide stooped down to a mustard plant and plucked a tiny little seed and read that parable for us. He taught us that these mustard bushes grow wild in the Holy Land. And for people of faith, they became a reminder of the profound impact that a tiny little seed can have on its surroundings. These tiny, weak Israelites felt like little mustard seeds in comparison to the powerful Roman Empire, yet Jesus countered saying that “your Kin-dom…the Kin-dom of God…is going to be even greater than the Roman Kingdom!” I think of this being at play in the calling of Abram and Sarai’s family. God called them with a promise. They didn’t think of themselves as ‘great’; however, God promised to provide for them and bless them. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing”. History records some of the great people that have shaped the world and we all know the names. Yet the mustard seed is a reminder of the countless many difference makers who have offered their lives in service of God’s Kin-dom of peace, love and justice. They may not receive the Nobel prize or a humanitarian award, yet the humble mustard seed is that ever-present reminder that you and you and I ~ each of our lives truly matter. Our lives matter to our family; our lives matter to our community, to the world, and to the unfolding of God’s Kin-dom. In fact, each of our ‘mustard seed lives’ are indispensable!
Thanks be to God for the sowing, the growing, and the harvest. May God’s Kin-dom of love, peace and justice continue to unfold in the gardens that are our lives.
Amen.