Rev. Linda B. Hirst

July 14, 2002

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

 This past week I went to Dorchester with Amy Dutton Murphy; we went to deliver all the gifts our kids from Vacation Bible School brought as an offering to the Boston Project - an inner city ministry - which runs their Bible Camp all summer long, God bless them.

 First Parish is developing a really nice relationship with the folks at the Boston Project thanks to the suggestion of Beth Knight whose parents help out there during the year and whose mom is going down there for the week starting today - to cook for all the kids and volunteers.  Since we met the directors, Paul and Glenna Malkemes, First Parish has sent a group of adults for a weekend  mission trip to do home repair for some of their neighbors, worked in a church mission serving breakfast, we’ve had several day trips down there to paint the office, do more home repair, we’ve sent our children’s offering as a gift, and one of our sr. youth group members - Kathryn DeFeo - has done architectural drawings for them as the Boston Project moves from being renters in downtown Dorchester to being home-owners.

 Paul and Glenna founded The Boston Project several years ago when they felt called to do something, to serve the least of these among us, to make a difference in Dorchester.  They rented two floors of a run down house, set up their home on one floor and the ministry on another.  Their goal is to be a safe place, a home away from home where kids in and around the neighborhood can drop in and learn about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  They hope to show God’s love to as many kids and adults as they can ... so they open up their home and their ministry, fill it with volunteers and fix houses, clean parks, run after school program during the year to help the kids with homework and during the summer they have Bible Camp.

 When we were there on Monday, delivering hula hoops and crayons and poster board our kids had collected,  the staff was busy getting ready;  it was the first day of Bible Camp.  In their old lean-to garage they had hung banners painted with bright colors, they had chairs and donated pews set up like church, college kids were running around gathering crafts and other supplies.

 When we asked Paul how many kids were coming, he said, "We don’t know.  We just put the word out there and wait to see what happens."  When we mentioned that our V.B.S. ran from 9-12 he said rather non-chalantly, well that wouldn’t work there because a lot of the kids are often up until midnight in his neighborhood so they sleep in and show up around noon time.
 When we asked what they were doing until midnight, he said well, a lot of the time they’re here with us.  The Boston Project keep their doors open so the kids have a place to go at night instead of hanging out on the streets.  As we left, wished them luck with their Bible Camp, with the  kids, as we got into the car and made our way home through the streets of Dorchester to York, it occurred to me that Paul and Glenna are sowing seeds.

 Spreading the gospel, the word of God.  Taking handfuls of and gently tossing them around the city of Dorchester.  Some of them will fall on a path and the birds will eat them up and nothing will happen, some of them will fall on shallow soil in rocky ground and sprout up quickly but these seeds won’t take root since the soils not very deep, others will fall among thorns and the thorns and the weeds will choke them, but others will fall on good soil and bring forth a harvest, some thirty fold, some sixty fold, some a hundred fold.

 Paul and Glenna and their staff are sowing seeds - even though there may be times their work is incredibly hard and frustrating, even when they’re not sure where the money will come from to pay the rent or food or a stipend for their college age staff - even when the world around them says they’re crazy for trying to bring about change in a run-down neighborhood filled with poverty and despair... they keep sowing seeds - in the hope that some will fall on good soil - someone will hear God’s word - a child, a neighbor will know that he or
she is loved and a life will be changed.

 Paul and Glenna and the Boston Project sow seeds.

 The only trouble with sowing seeds, as you know is,  it’s not always a profitable business, as any farmer or even a backyard gardener will tell you.  There’s no guarantee you will have a crop.  Even after you’ve cleared the land of rocks, fertilized the soil,  kept the weeds in check, you still have to pray for rain, then sun, then rain again.  There’s only so much we can do ourselves.  Sowing seeds is risky business.

 I think Jesus knew this.

 He knew that sowing seeds was difficult,  he knew that not everyone would listen to what he had to say, wanted to hear about  God’s word of love and forgiveness and grace and mercy, would receive the good news with open arms.  He knew that some would ignore it even after hearing it again and again for some reason, it just wouldn’t touch their hearts.  He knew that others would hear the good news and get excited about it at first and then because there was no depth to their enthusiasm - no roots - they would forget about it when things got difficult or challenging.  And he knew others would hear God’s word and embrace it for a while with all good intentions...then get distracted by the cares of the world or by the lure of wealth - and nothing would happen.  He knew sowing seeds - spreading the gospel - was not easy.

 You and I know that sowing seeds is not always easy.  The challenges, the difficulties, the frustration we face while attempting to show God’s love can make us wonder why we keep trying.

 I felt this several years ago at my last church, after a particularly trying week of vacation bible school.  Again, the hottest week of the year, no air conditioning, and my particular group of kids - I had third grade - had decided together as soon as they met me, that my disciplinarian skills were lacking, that I had no backbone, no authority whatsoever, that even my dog doesn’t listen to me and they were going to do as they pleased.  I think it was my youngest son who tipped them off.  All week I would say, "Let’s do this and they’d say.  No.  I’d say, time to play games and they’d say,  we don’t want to. "  I'd say let’s stand and they’d sit, let’s go over here and they’d run away."  The class was dubbed "Linda’s Angels" and when they saw us coming, they gave us a wide path.   It was a brutal week.  When it finally ended I vowed never to do it again.  I was done.  Clearly, I was ineffective, the kids had no desire, no interest, what was the point.

 That Sunday, I had two parents come up to me after church and thank me for a wonderful week, they children had loved V.B.S., learned so much and couldn’t wait for next year.  We did do it again.

 Sowing seeds.

 One more story...during seminary I worked at a transitional home in Richmond - a small ministry called Sean’s Place whose purpose was to move people who had been living on the streets to independent living.   It was one of the most challenging and frustrating things I’ve ever done;  the people we worked with had been down on so long they really didn’t know how to get up on their own - how to get a job, how to keep a job, how to get an apartment - how to live anyway other than on the streets. They were often obstinate, angry,  hurtful to one another, and they had a tough time following the program.  One day I’d see a client in the lounge area reading, the next day he’d be gone because he’d broken one of the house rules.

 I had been there a couple of months when I asked our Director, a minister by the name of Pete Jones, just what our success rate was.  How many people a year of the 12 - 15 in our home would actually make it on their own, because from what I could tell, it didn’t look that good.

 And after he finished laughing...he told me that he measured success differently than others did.  That according to the state and the city and much of the world, we - Sean’s Place - was pretty much a failure.  Occasionally someone made it out and on their own - but then they’d back slide and end back up at the home -  but maybe, he said,  just maybe the next time they moved on, with a lot of work and prayer and by the grace of God, they’d make it.  You never know, he said.  So we keep trying.

Sowing seeds.

 Jesus knew sowing seeds was a tough business but he continued to do it anyway -  continued teaching about the kingdom of God, continued telling parables - telling stories of God’s love - because he  believed that eventually some of those seeds would fall on good soil and the harvest produced by those seeds would be amazing -30, 60, 100 fold.  And it would be enough to make up for all the rest of the seeds that fell on the path and the rocks and the weeds.  He knew that when God’s word  fell on good soil amazing things would happen.

 And he continued sowing seeds because he so desperately wanted the crowds, the people, you and me, to know God’s message of forgiveness and love and grace.  To know the joy of hearing God’s word and understanding, embracing it with open minds, open hearts and open arms.  He so desperately wanted the people gathered around him that day on the beach straining to see and hear him as he sat in a boat just off shore, to be good soil.

 So he told them many things in parables...in stories...

 A Sower went out to sow, he said.    Let anyone with ears listen!

 As followers of Christ, we are called, invited, urged to be good soil;  to be receptive and willing, open and understanding of God’s word and it’s impact on our lives.  Ready to receive the Word and run with it wherever it takes us.

 As followers of Christ we are also called to be sowers.  To get up each day and sow seeds - to spread the gospel in our own way with our own gifts even when it’s quite clear that some of the seeds are falling on the path and rocky soil and are being choked by weeds.  Even if we don’t see anything that resembles good soil or the potential for a harvest at all.  Because we’re not the only ones sowing seeds - God is very  much a part of this.  And just when we think we might be done with something or someone, God may have other plans.

 Our U.C.C. calendar has taken a wonderful quote from Gracie Burns - George Burns wife and placed it right on the cover to remind us of this truth:  It says,

 Never place a period where God has placed a comma.

 We are called to be sowers - to spread the gospel - to share God’s message of love and redemption, mercy and grace remembering that it’s not all up to us.  By the grace of God, there will be a harvest and it will be amazing.

 In just a couple of weeks, 45 high school youth and 9 adults from this church will leave on a mission trip to Lubec, Maine to repair homes with Group Work Camp.  They are going there to show God’s love, to be the hands and feet of Christ in that small corner of the world, to give hope and lend a hand to over 300 residents in need of hope and a new roof, or porch, or their home painted.  And after working all day they will gather with new friends, youth and adults, and learn about God and their faith and their lives.

 Seeds will be sown all over Lubec that week;  Young and old alike will take handfuls and toss them around the school where our youth group is staying, toss them around the residents whose homes were repairing and toss them around the community of Lubec, itself.  Some of the seeds will fall on La path, or rocky ground or among thorns and nothing will happen.  But some of them, a good many of them, will fall on good soil and produce a harvest - 30 fold, sixty fold and 100 fold.

 Thanks be to God!

 Let us pray.  Gracious and merciful God, we thank you for your Word, it is a lamp for our feet, a light for our path, a seed waiting for good soil to produce and amaze even us.   Help us to be good soil, open our eyes, our ears, our hearts to You.  And help us to be sowers of your Word, of the gospel.  May the seeds we cast this day in your name grow and glorify your name.