Sermon from July 26, 1998

Sermon "Cultivating the Garden"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Rev. Dr. Steven A. Peay
Sunday, July 26, 1998

Worship: At Play in God's Garden
CULTIVATING THE GARDEN
Rev. Lonnie A. Richardson

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." ... "Hear then the parable of the sower. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

We started this series with the reading of the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. I came across a humorous story of a deal Adam was trying to cut with God regarding Eve:

Adam was walking around the garden of Eden feeling very lonely, so God asked Adam, "What is wrong with you?" Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to. God said he was going to give him a companion and it would be a woman. He said, "This person will cook for you and wash your clothes, she will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear you children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will never have a headache, and will freely give you love and compassion whenever needed."

Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?" God said, "An arm and a leg." Adam said, "What can I get for a just a rib?" The rest is history.

Worship: At play in God's garden. Two weeks ago we explored it's beginning in a garden, last week, Steve and Chris discussed how the garden is laid-out. Today we look at cultivating the garden through worship. Tending that garden is valued in our culture. I read an annual statistic a few years back that reported 388 million attended all sporting events in the United States while religious services drew a total of 5.2 billion, almost 13 times more people. Why is this? It is because we long to connect with God.

I heard a commercial on my car radio promote a classical music festival. The announcer invited me to an experience of power, joy, and significance. Wow! I thought. That would make a great call to worship on Sunday morning. After all, aren't those the words that should be used to describe what happens when we worship every week? An invitation to an experience of power through the awesome power of God as we encounter it in the setting of corporate worship. Joy, not just happiness. And significance as the stories of faith remind us we matter to God.

Sunday, the first day of the week, celebrates two occasions for power, joy, and significance: the first day of creation when God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light and second, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The four gospels are careful to state that it was on the morning of the first day (the day on which creation had begun and the moment God had "separated light from darkness," that the empty tomb was discovered. We worship on the first day of the week.

The point I wish to make this morning is that worship is to our lives what cultivation is to a garden. You don't expect physical health from abusive neglect. Don't expect a healthy faith from sloppy care. Or from our metaphor of this series, sloppy gardening. Cultivating the garden. Some general observations.

First, disciplined gardens are the most productive gardens.
Undisciplined gardens are never productive, only disciplined ones.

Second, God enables miracles from small beginnings. It begins when the seed is planted. Faith is like a seed. It has enormous potential when cared for in alliance with the creator. But how that seed ultimately develops, can only happen with the touch of God. Any fool can count the seeds in an apple but only God can count the apples in a seed! I believe God counts on us more than we count on ourselves. We are reminded in Corinthians that it is God who makes growth happen. I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (I Corinthians 3:6,7) God enables miracles from small beginnings.

Third, where we place our lives determines our future. In this parable, Jesus wants us to realize the effects of good spiritual gardening to a powerful Christian faith! What does healthy spiritual cultivation involve? It has to do with ...

- soil. Finding and committing oneself to a healthy Christian community.

- watering and feeding. Being active in a discipleship or study group.

- pruning. Sometimes we have to say no to some things in order to do a better job at the more important things.

- protecting. Keeping ourselves away from things which threaten the beauty of God's garden in us.

- enjoying the harvest. Let the senses praise God for what God is creating in us.

"Cultivating the Garden"
{third in the summer dialogue sermon series:
"Worship: At Play in God's Garden"}
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?"
"With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row."

The "contrary Mary" of the nursery rhyme was, very likely, Queen Mary Tudor -- "Bloody Mary." Contrary Mary wanted to replant the "old ways" of the Roman Church back into a newly reformed Church of England, undoing what her father Henry VIII had done. She was "Contrary" indeed and planted her garden with martyrs to the cause of reformed worship and churchlife -- though she wasn't a whole lot bloodier than her late father (stuff for another time). She tried to force the garden to grow in the way she wanted it and it didn't work. She failed to cultivate the ground, to nurture, to feed and water. Mary pulled weeds . . . and all the plants went too. "Contrary Mary" no doubt meant well, but the seed fell on rocky ground and the weeds of pride, shortsightedness, and lack of charity choked it out.

Contrast "Contrary Mary" with Mary the mother of the Lord. She could have been contrary too, especially when you consider what God was asking of her. Yet, she was responsive to God's invitation to bring a whole new world into being through her cooperation. I think that's why the Fathers of the church saw Mary as a garden in which God planted the seed of humanity's redemption. Mary became, in the minds of these great thinkers of the early church, analogous to Eden itself and Christ is the new Adam (taking a thought from Paul to the Romans) who instigates a whole new creation.

Mary the Theotokos, God-bearer, was good ground upon which the seed fell, and brought forth a rich harvest -- the redemption of all creation. I think the difference in this 'tale of two Marys' lies in their attitudes. One KNEW how it had to be. The other KNEW that she had to be radically open to God. God was able to sow the seed of a whole new world in Mary the mother of the Lord. The seed of bitterness and sectarian hatred sown by "Contrary Mary" still bears fruit to this day. Mary's budding faith is shown in the Magnificat, her song of praise, which echoes in the hearts of believers who are able to say, as she did, "behold the servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word." As one of the fathers said, "Mary conceived the Christ in her heart, long before she conceived him in her womb." God's word will not return to him void.

So, how does your garden grow? Let me offer five brief thoughts on the meaning and the means of cultivating the garden which is worship.

The word 'cultivate' is quite interesting in and of itself, I guess it was fun with the Oxford English Dictionary time again. Its stem is the Latin word 'cultus' which means devotion, or an organized system of worship. Our word 'cult,' with all of its pejorative connotative meanings is really a rather recent development. The word culture also is rooted in this word 'cultus.' So, to cultivate is defined as "to bestow labor and attention upon land or plant in order to the raising of crops; to till, to improve and render fertile by husbandry." Or, "to improve and develop by education or training, to refine, to culture." Cultivation, then, involves devotion. Ground has to be broken, made ready for the planting of the seed. It's not enough to just scatter, though our parable reflects that form of agriculture, because weeds will choke the plant. So it is with worship, it must be attended to in order to bear fruit. Ideally the whole person should be engaged in the act of worship: intellect, senses, and emotion. Devotion to the worship act engages us with the mystery of God's presence.

Because we are responding to God's gracious activity, his invitation to share his life, we offer praise. Praise should be the chief end of all worship -- we testify to God's glory and goodness when we assemble as the people he has made his own. Jesus taught us to begin our prayer to the Father saying "hallowed," holy be your name -- this is an act of praise. Scholars tell us that already in the Old Testament the 'sacrifice of praise' was far more important than a material offering. As the Psalmist says, "an offering of a broken contrite heart you will not refuse, O God." From praise flows thanksgiving, those who praise know that there is also much for which to be thankful. Even our desire to praise, to thank is a gift from God.

A people of praise and thanks, though, can also bring petitions before God. Petition is there in the Lord's prayer as we ask for the coming of the kingdom, daily bread, and proper direction in life. Jesus himself petitioned the Father, but always seeking the Father's not his own will. Christian worship has always included acts of petition, prayers for the good of the church and the world. The liturgy of the Eastern Churches have several "ektenies" or "litanies" in which the congregation is invited to pray "in peace . . . to the Lord" and responds to each bidding with "Lord, have mercy." In the Roman, the Lutheran and the Anglican traditions there are the "prayers of the faithful," also in litany form. Many other churches are using these ancient prayer forms as well. In this congregation the bidding prayers are included in the Pastoral Prayer and sealed with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. Petition reminds us that we are guests in God's garden and the seed grows because God scatters liberally and with love.

The final two items, word and sacrament, really are so tightly bound together that I'll consider them as one (and not nearly so extensively as they deserve). Word and Sacrament are the heart and the form, from the very beginning, of Christian worship.

The Christian tradition, building on Judaism, really is an intellectual tradition -- a culture of the Book. God's actions are written down so that we may reflect upon them, learn them, follow them and become the people he intended. Moreover, God's primordial Word was spoken into flesh in Jesus Christ so that we could become participators in God's life to a degree never before conceived. That's why Christian worship has always had preaching as one of its chief acts. As the twentieth century Swiss theologian Karl Barth wrote:

The Christian church speaks: catholic and protestant, orthodox and liberal, decent and not-so-decent. This great, wondrous song of praise is a fact. 'It preaches' in the world, as certainly and as perceptibly as it rains.

God's word, sown in the soil of the heart through preaching will not return to him void.

The other side of Christian worship is Sacrament -- 'mysterion' in Greek -- a reality hidden under another. The early Congregational theologians referred to the Sacraments as the "Gospel made visible" or as "seals of the Covenant." Richard Baxter wrote, "Nowhere is God so near to man as in Jesus Christ; and nowhere is Christ so familiarly represented to us as in this holy sacrament." What is planted by the word is watered, nourished, tended by the sacrament. That's why it's so unfortunate that over time so many churches have come to neglect or downplay the importance of sacramental worship. To move from the garden to a physical analogy -- it's like trying to breathe with one lung. The sacrament, rightly administered and received, can break through hardened ground so the seed can grow and bear fruit.

God's garden, then, grows from seed widely scattered and, though there will be some that falls on poor soil, it will bear fruit. Worship, like plants, will differ according to environment/culture, the basic elements will be there but in an adapted way. For our part, we must grow our gardens as did Mary the mother of the Lord, with open minds and hearts applied to the worship of God. With enough cultivation, ground broken and worked, watered and fed, even a desert can be brought to bloom. To be "quite contrary" is to find ourselves outside the garden and not benefitting from what God wishes to share with us.

So, how does your garden grow?

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