“Miracle Grow”

As you may know, this past February, Beth and I bought a house in Wooster.  It’s a comfortable little place, on a quiet cul-de-sac.  The yard has a few trees, bushes, beautiful flowers, and real grass, not crab grass, real grass courtesy of the previous owners.  
    Of course, with the land and vegetation there come responsibility and work.  The bushes have to be trimmed, the flowers watered, and the grass mowed.  The thing is, when I was a teenager, I made much of my spending money by mowing lawns.  And now I am not too fond of mowing grass, and I only do what I have to do.  Meanwhile, my neighbors are very conscientious not only about mowing but about manicuring their lawns.  
    One day I was out mowing the lawn, and not having much fun at all.  I’d push the mower across the yard about five or six times, and then have to go and empty the bag each time.  And still the lawn looked awful–big clumps of cut grass piled up everywhere.  One of my neighbors saw my plight and walked over to help.  Then another neighbor joined us.  And pretty soon it looked like doctors having a medical conference as they hovered over a patient–the patient being my mower.  One neighbor said, “You need to change the angle on the bag.  Bring the angle down.  That way it won’t fill up so fast.”  The other one said, “You need to set the mower blades higher.  That way your grass won’t turn brown.”  And I thought, man, I’m too dumb to mow grass.  A few days later, Beth took the mower to the shop.  And the mechanic made a quick diagnosis.  “Your lawnmower blades are upside down.  Happens all the time.”  Yes, I am too dumb to mow grass.  Now our neighbors are sweet people.  So I imagine pretty soon I’m going to hear about ways to fertilize the yard better and to regrow the grass killed by our big dog.  Our neighbors may suggest buying all sorts of fancy fertilizers, maybe some Miracle-Gro, “America’s number one selling plant food.”  Maybe they’ll have me poring over some county extension office pamphlet entitled, “The growing of real grass when you own a big dog–every homeowner’s greatest challenge.”  Well, I have something else in mind.  I figure the next time it rains, I’m gonna to throw some grass seed out there and see what comes up.  Who knows?  It might just work.
    Jesus tells a couple of parables about growth.  And you remember parables are not simple little baby stories with easy answers.  No.  Parables are stories that carry multiple possibilities of meaning.  They’re stories that tease our brains into action.  And yes, parables can be understood, but, like any decent teacher, they make us work for understanding.  Parables say, “You want that ‘A’ in my class?  Good.  Roll up your mental sleeves, cause you’ve got work to do.”
    Jesus tells two parables about growth.  He says, “God’s reign in the world is like this.  A farmer goes out and throws seed on the ground.  And he goes about his business, sleeping at night, getting up in the day.  And the seed sprouts and grows.  He doesn’t know how.”  Jesus says, “The earth does it by itself.”  The Greek word here is automatos.  Automatos–which English word does that remind you of?  Automatic.  The seeds just grow.  Nobody knows how.  It’s automatic.  The farmer just goes out and does some harvesting when everything’s ready.  And Jesus says this is the way God’s working in the world.  
    A few months ago, one of our church members arranged an appointment with me to talk about an idea that had been germinating in her  heart and mind for some time. Now this church member is a kind soul, but also not somebody who enjoys being in the spotlight. Yet this idea kept coming to her that she should start a Bible study group. And so a few days ago that’s what she did. I didn’t suggest the idea to her. Where did the idea come from? Automatos.
    A few months ago another church member came to talk with me about a ministry idea. How can we help poor people get out of poverty? Not just give them a handout that ends up continuing the cycle but really find a way out of the poverty. So, as you know, Bridges of Hope is meeting here weekly, and you’ll hear more about it if you stay for Sunday School after worship today. Automatos.
    Even more recently, a church couple felt that we needed a fellowship group here at First Presbyterian to target people who are not currently involved in other fellowship groups. So they wrote a proposal and sent it to one of our teams and to the session. And in the fall we’ll have “First Friends” Adult Dinner Group. Automatos.
    What ministry is God growing in your heart and mind?  Something involving fellowship, or study, or social justice, or something else? Is it time for harvest?  
    Jesus tells a second parable.  He says, “What’s God’s reign like?  It’s like a mustard seed.  You throw it on the ground and it’s the smallest seed of all.  But when it grows up it’s the biggest shrub of all, huge branches, so big birds can make nests in it.”  
    Elder Marj Carpenter talks about going with some missionaries to visit a little Presbyterian church in Guatemala.  She says the church was situated on a strip of land between some plantations.  The farm workers were allowed to eat what they could grow, but the land was rocky and they couldn’t grow a lot.  Marj says the session of the church was waiting when they arrived for the visit.  Folks all dressed up, as best they could.  Three were wearing rubber boots and the rest were barefoot.  She says, “As soon as we got out of the jeep, they began to thank us.  And they thanked us and thanked us.  
    “I thought they were thanking us for coming, but then they brought three little sturdy children out and began to thank us for those children.  I was trying to figure out what was going on, and it finally dawned on me.  They were thanking us for ten goats we had provided through a One Great Hour of Sharing offering, and the milk from those goats had saved those particular children.
    “[Marj says] They took us down the road to see their corn crop because we had given them seed corn . . .  [and] it did have small ears and they were making tortillas from that corn.  So actually, we had given them milk and bread.  They thanked us, and thanked us, and thanked us until I was embarrassed to be thanked so profusely for those ten lousy goats.”  (Marj Carpenter, To The Ends of the Earth, 92-93.)
    What’s God’s reign like?  A mustard seed.  Ten lousy goats.  
    A few years ago, some of you here and others in this town had a vision for an ecumenical Vacation Bible School that would be more than just a handful of kids. And so little by little that vision took hold and grew and grew and grew. This year–220 children learning and celebrating the Christian faith, led by dozens of volunteers and staff.
    What’s the reign of God like?  A mustard seed.  An ecumenical Vacation Bible School that grows til it’s bursting at the seams.
    What the reign of God like?  As automatic as God’s Spirit working in and through and beyond us.  As mysterious as the seemingly insignificant growing into something amazing.  
    What’s the reign of God like?  A word of encouragement that somehow changes a life.  A quiet prayer that undergirds somebody.  A persistence in the face of daunting odds.  A hopefulness in God’s power to do more than we can see and more than we can imagine.  
    Let us pray.  O God, lift us up when we’re tempted to cynicism.  O God, push us forward when we want to despair.  O God, send your Spirit that’s automatic and mysterious and marvelous.  Miracle Grow.  Miracle . . . Grow.  Amen.