How Does Your Garden Grow?

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17; Mark 4:26-34

United Methodists often consider Annual Conference with a bit of dread, wondering what kind of changes will be in the offing, for United Methodists have learned that if there are going to be changes they will come with Annual Conference.

Last year was the year for changes for this church. And, for the past year, you, the congregation of Corunna United Methodist Church, have had to learn about who this Paul Donelson is, who plays the trumpet somewhat loudly, likes to sing hymns that hardly anyone knows, and whose wife attends another church on Sunday morning. I think that through it all, we have fared pretty well. And I commend those of you who have managed to keep your minds open in the past 12 months.

And, of course, this has been a year of changes for me, and my wife, and my children, as well. But, not all changes are bad. In fact, some changes are good. Finding new friends, going to a good school, living in a nice old parsonage, these are just a few of the things our children have been enjoying about coming to Corunna.

Although, I am reminded of the story of the minister who met a neighbor's boy who had just come out of a fight on New Year's Day with a terrible black eye. Putting his hand on the boy's head the minister said, "My boy, I pray you may never fight again, and that you may never receive another black eye."

"That's all right," said the boy. "You go home and pray over your own kid. I gave him two of 'em."

Our Old Testament lesson talks about changes. The context of the scripture passage is in the events taking place shortly after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan in battle. For David, it had seemed that they would live forever. Even though Saul had wrongly considered David as being an enemy, David had maintained a high respect for Saul and even loved his son, Jonathan, as a brother. But, changes do come, as David lamented, "How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!"

And, certainly, we have seen a lot in the past 12 months. We have seen how the mighty have fallen! And in the past 12 months we have seen how the weapons of war have perished! Indeed, many changes have taken place in the last year.

But, if we are going to be able to take advantage of our changing world, we have to be flexible in our thinking, open to creativity, open to the fresh wind of God's Spirit.

In the past year I have detected a movement of God's Spirit within the Detroit Annual Conference. It is a movement for growth, not only growth in spirit, but growth in numbers, as well. And the question for us to ask ourselves is, "Are we going to be open to this movement of God's Spirit and open to the things we need to be doing to grow?" As the Spirit of God moves among his people, seeking persons willing to make use of their God given gifts, will he use us? Will we be among those who are willing to give a little more to make a difference in God's Kingdom? Will we be among those who are willing to risk our time and our energy and our talents so that the church may grow?

There is the story about a clerk who believed in risking himself and investing himself when it came to his work. One day he was called to the front office.

"Of all my clerks," began the boss, "I notice you seem to be most interested in your work. No hours seem too long for you and you never let the slightest detail escape you."

"Yes, sir?" said the clerk with glowing and expectant satisfaction.

"Yes," continued the boss, "and so I am forced to fire you. It is such young men as you who learn here and then go out and start a rival business."

But, then, to the relief of the clerk, the boss laughed and told him about his promotion.

We should be reminded that God expects us to risk ourselves for the Kingdom of God. Perhaps some of us may feel that we don't have what God needs. But, the fact of the matter is that when God called us, he called us for a purpose, and God even gave us what we need to serve him. And it may be that on our own we are worthless to God. But, with Christ in our hearts, as new creatures because of Jesus' death upon a cross, we are valuable to God.

The apostle Paul said it very clearly to the Corinthians in our Epistle lesson for today when he said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" And what there is in us that is new, and wonderful, God can use.

I've got a garden out in my back yard. I didn't plant it. In fact, a neighbor planted it. I never was a good gardener, mainly because I never seem to have time getting in there to weed the garden. I don't mind planting the seeds, but getting rid of the weeds seems to be something that's a bit beyond me. For some reason, the seeds that God plants are always a bit more enthusiastic than the ones that I plant so that after a while I have a hard time distinguishing my plants from all the rest. But, thank goodness, spiritual seed planting is different. When we plant spiritual seeds, God blesses the planting, and makes the seeds grow.

Our gospel lesson for today is Jesus' parable of the seed. Jesus explained that the Kingdom of God is like a man who goes out and scatters seed upon the ground. How the seeds grow, the man has no idea, but, somehow, miraculously, the seeds grow into a harvest.

Certainly, whenever any of us risk what is necessary to spread the kingdom of God, we may wonder how in the world what we do can make a difference. But it will. For what ever we do will be like the man scattering seeds upon the ground. God makes the seeds grow into a harvest. But God needs us to plant them. God needs us to invite our neighbors to church with us. God needs us to pray for those who need salvation. God needs us to teach Sunday School or Junior Church. God needs us to give someone a ride to church on Sunday morning. God needs us to share our faith. God needs us to scatter the seeds of the kingdom and to have faith that God will make those seeds grow up into a harvest of plenty.

God knows that the ground out there is fertile ground. God knows that there are hundreds and thousands who are waiting for the seeds to be planted. And God even provides the seed to us. All he needs is people like us ready to scatter the seed. Amen.