Sermons
We are to be sowers, all of us, scattering the seeds that come from our experience of God’s love for us. I love this image of us just going all around, here and there a seed, a kind word, a smile, a compassionate conversation, a very real help in a time of trouble, a shared experience of the divine, a powerful moment together.
Listen to or read Ryan’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
Thankfully, unlike the plants in the parable, we are not genetically nor spiritually predisposed to remain a stalk of wheat or an intrusive weed, nor even a static hybrid of the two, throughout our earthly existence. Rather, we’re constantly evolving spiritual beings, sometimes more weed than wheat, sometimes more saint than sinner, but almost never completely one or the other. This parable has much to say to us then, as we struggle to deal with those facets of our being that take hold of us from time to time, drawing us away from God and oftentimes the people who mean the most to us. Rather than trying to eliminate or weed out those parts of ourselves that we deem less worthy, sinful in some people’s terminology, I believe we’re called to struggle with them, in order to ultimately transform them.
Listen to or read Sharon’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”
“Our first reading today comes from the Book of Ezekiel. You probably know Ezekiel best from the story of the dry bones, that great vision that Ezekiel had of the valley full of bones, when the bones came back together bone to its bone, and muscle and sinew and flesh came upon them and the spirit of God gave them life. It was a vision of new life, a vision of resurrection, a beautiful vision of restored life for a people living in what felt like death.”
Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost
As I hear the parable of the sower, I think about God’s love and how abundant God’s love is, that God is willing to waste it. God is so utterly inefficient. God would not get through Business School because God is willing to waste seeds, is willing to waste love on paths and on rocks and on thorny places, even though it is not necessarily going to take root and thrive.
Leading up to our Gospel today, Jesus has a long series of parables and sayings that are rather difficult. We have heard several of them over the past few weeks, like the parable of the dishonest manager, and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The lectionary has also skipped a bunch to move us along: the saying about the millstone, the huge number of times we are to forgive somebody, adultery, justification. All of these are very challenging sayings and stories. In this section, which is about two or two and a half chapters long, it is pretty much just Jesus talking. The disciples can’t get a word in edgewise.
