Small seeds, big results

 Pentecost 3, 2021 sermon

Delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville KY

Texts:

 https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp6_RCL.html

My nephew was recently on an epic vacation with a friend, and one of the pictures he posted on Facebook was of the trees in the northern California Redwood forest. He was near the tallest tree in the world named Hyperion that is 380 feet tall. That is 3 times longer than this sanctuary. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, and their height and size make them truly impressive. When I was in the Seattle area on vacation years ago, I was in awe of the size of the trees in the Olympic rain forest. They were huge compared to what I was used to. Note that what I have described was greater, the most, the first of the trees of the world. When I flew home to Louisville from Seattle, the trees here seemed so small, so short. Did that mean that they were less than the enormous fir trees in Washington?

The three readings today align to create a story of birth, growth, and maturation. Even the alternative Old Testament reading from Ezekiel that we didn’t read tells about taking a small part from the top of a lofty cedar and planting it on a mountain top. Something much smaller than what it came from has the potential to become even greater, like a pinecone growing into a redwood tree. That is also a theme in the Old Testament reading from First Samuel that we did hear, where Samuel goes to Bethlehem at God’s command and examines each of Jesse’s sons, expecting God to give him a sign that one of them is to be the next king. Only when David, the youngest and a shepherd comes before him does God direct Samuel to anoint him. The least member of Jesse’s family is picked to eventually be the greatest in the land. Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in the Gospel of Mark speaks of a very small seed that when it lands in fertile soil becomes a bush that can grow large enough to resemble a small tree. How a seed becomes a bush or a tree, or how God knows David will be a great king highlights the mystery of God acting in the world. It shows us the mystery and wonder of God’s Creation where the smallest, the least can do or become something significant.

These stories from scripture illustrate the arc of spiritual life that goes through similar phases of growth. Seeds are planted when God chooses David through Samuel, or when part of a tree is replanted. David grows into becoming a king and Ezekiel’s transplanted twig grows into mighty cedar. In our lives, the seed may be an unknown gift, ability, or talent that we discover or is pointed out to us. We learn about our gifts in a nurturing environment, and our understanding and exercise of our gifts grows and matures until harvest time. But rather than harvesting being the end of life, it can be instead a moment of transformation. New trees can be planted from seeds or cuttings. Harvested wheat is ground to make bread that nourishes us. We plant seeds as a legacy when we teach our abilities to others, create opportunities for others to grow, and encourage others to develop their own gifts.

All of this sounds lovely and wonderful, but it doesn’t always fit with reality: we struggle to overcome our weaknesses and fear of success or failure; opportunities are just not there or are kept from us; we throw our hands up and say how can I make any difference in the world? We are frustrated by not being able to become who we are meant to be, and can only see how small our efforts are in a much larger world. We are also driven to achieve, to go big or go home, to get noticed, to efficiently connect with as many people as possible. Our growth becomes growth for its own sake, or we simply give up, seeing our effort to grow and mature as pointless, or hopeless. But, if we plant seeds, plant ourselves with hope, we become part of God’s greater goodness in creation. That goodness from our growth and maturation builds the Kingdom of God. What Jesus and a small group of followers started millenia ago has grown into millions of Christians who can do even more now to build up that Kingdom. It's not perfect, and it's a work in progress. Being part of something small, or doing something that seems insignificant doesn’t mean that it won’t make a difference later on.

St. Paul’s has a history of serving the needs of the community, but during the pandemic, there was an empty space in our lives because we weren’t gathering here. Everything was on hold, keeping us from worshipping and from serving the needs around us. Then, one Sunday about a year ago, we announced that we were going to collect canned and boxed food to help Calvary Church stock their food pantry. We collected a small offering of a hundred or so food items from members of St. Paul’s, but to date we have collected over 37,000 items mostly from people in the community. This is our story of planting seeds, starting something small that has become larger. We have had a long history of musical offerings during and outside of worship. Most recently we heard the Schola students sing during the service by themselves for part of this year. The experiences they have had after being chosen to be part of the program here may make a difference in their lives later on in ways we can’t predict. This is the story of the Schola student, maturing what was planted earlier by singing liturgical music. I have my own story of being planted in this parish when I joined 23 years ago, and have grown and matured in my ministry in this place.

Our stories of growth and maturation aren’t full of drama because they are stories of how our faith challenges us to believe in the potential of the seeds we plant. We haven’t done anything flashy because the end result is only part of the reason for encouraging growth. As Christ in the world, we continue to grow as people who lift up others in love, feed those who are hungry, and include those who have felt isolated. This is part of the work of building the Kingdom of God that we are called to do, that we can’t give up on even if it seems that what we do is modest or ineffective. It is not so much the effort as it is the persistence of effort that makes a difference in the world. That persistence is embodied in the mustard seed that keeps growing, that dares to grow into something much bigger. Like that seed, our persistence is making a difference in people's lives, in this neighborhood, and beyond.