“A Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gardening”
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
9th Pentecost – July 13, 2008
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: Isaiah 55:10-13/ Romans 8:1-11/Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23]

“To paraphrase a song from The Sound of Music, starting at the very beginning is a very good place to start. This book starts from the ground up to give you a sweeping overview of the gardening process. We tell you how to understand your climate, recognize the type of soil you have, and choose the appropriate fertilizers for your plot of land.” Wisdom from Gardening All-in-One for Dummies. The ‘dummies’ books are basic, beginning texts which, with a good dose of tongue-in-cheek humor, draw us into a task, a topic or an art. They’re easy to understand and help us get onto something rather quickly, like gardening or computing.

While there are a number of dummies books on spirituality – Christian and otherwise – beginner’s guides to tending the garden that is the soul have been around for a long, long time. We heard two of them today – one from the prophet Isaiah and the other Matthew’s record of Jesus’ teaching. Both used a literary form called the parable that is not only used in the Scripture, but also by other ancient writers. Parables use very familiar images or situations to weave a narrative that imparts a far deeper message.

A lot of meaning is packed into a parable, even though that meaning may not be readily apparent. It has been said that the parables of Jesus unveil some of the loftiest realities of faith, but in half-tone, or subdued light. One feels that there is so much there, but it’s hard to get hold of it easily. There’s a reason for that. Jesus is a master spiritual teacher. We come looking for answers, easy, quick solutions to what we want, but Jesus doesn’t give those kinds of answers. If one is going to get the fullness of what the parable is trying to teach one has to invest time and effort and, yes, one’s self in the process. Otherwise, in getting the answer we’ve missed the point.

Jesus tells the disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” [Matthew 13:11-13] Jesus doesn’t use the form to conceal knowledge, but rather to reveal it. Arland Hultgren writes, “Jesus speaks in parables because they do not see, hear or understand. The parables are media of revelation (cf. 13:34-35), not of concealment.” [The Parables of Jesus, p. 462] The hearer, however, must be attentive and open to the things of God if the parables are to offer their meaning.

It could be said that one of the more original traits of parables is that they are aimed at hearers who can accept both confrontation and questioning. Parables are sort of ‘literary sucker punches.’ They draw us in with their cute little stories and then – WHAM! We’re confronted with a side of ourselves we’d rather not see or a need within us we’d rather not think about. Parables are meant to bare our souls and open our minds so that we can move from self-centeredness to God- and other-centeredness. The French Biblical scholar J. Dupont has written: “parables direct the listeners to their life experience and derive their efficacy from that experience which we must own . . . But to understand them, we must allow ourselves to go through the personal experience of Jesus, to which they direct us . . . and endeavor to comprehend the manner in which Jesus spoke of himself . . . to see reality as Jesus saw it.” [Quoted in Days of the Lord, vol. 4, p. 124]

So, parables work because they invite us to bring our own experience, our own logic, and our own work and relationship with us as we hear them. Because they so rely on human experience, we are able to connect with the church in ages past as we look at how our forebears interpreted these stories. I suppose that is why we tend to forget the great truths espoused in sermons, but the stories – and the jokes – stay with us. One commentator I read told a story about a former student.

It seems this young man was sent to a rural church for his internship. When it came time for him to preach his first sermon he went after this very text we’ve read together today. He did a workmanlike job – he studied hard, read through every commentary he had available, even did his own translation from the Greek. Fully-armed he strode into the pulpit and unloaded on the congregation. He let them know the fullness of this text’s meaning; he even pounded the pulpit as spoke of the cares of the and world and the Word bearing fruit. When the service was over people left with an even more than normal glazed look and gave him the obligatory, “Nice sermon, Pastor,” along with a limp handshake. One old weather-beaten farmer wasn’t so glazed, however. He stopped and said, “Son, it’s a lot simpler than that. Come on down to the fields sometime and we will teach you something about planting.” Parables speak to our experience and invite us into God’s experience. Jesus invites us to hear and to understand that coming into relationship with God is often far simpler than we try to make it.

Since I don’t want to end up greeting folks at the end of the service and have them invite me out to the field, what is this Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gardening that I’m talking about? Well, I cited the gardening for dummies book at the outset and it and other books on gardening tell us that the “broadcast” method – just throwing seeds out – is not the most effective. All of us, however, have seen how little seeds can end up in the most unusual places and still do quite well. I marvel every year at the seeds that are ‘planted’ by the birds, the chipmunks and the squirrels from our feeders. The sunflowers that grow are absolutely delightful – we’ve got quite a stand of them in the backyard this year – and as they blossom we’ll soon have a crop of finches who’ll feast on the seeds. So, the sower goes forth with some very high quality seed and, in an act of trust, sends it out on the wind to begin its growth. The seed being sown here is God’s Word, the message of God’s will to relationship us and of God’s great love for us. This Word, Isaiah tells us, will “not return void to God.” Without question this is powerful stuff that should produce a tremendous yield – so why doesn’t it work, why doesn’t it take hold everywhere?

Gardeners know that for seed to grow – regardless of the planting method – one has to prepare the soil. Yet, Jesus doesn’t tell us to go and prepare our soil. Rather, what we’re shown here is a really generous Gardener-Creator who sows the potential of salvation and relationship with absolute abandon. What Jesus seems to be telling his disciples is to rejoice that some people get it at all. Don’t worry about the result – live the life, walk the talk, sow the seed and let the Master Gardener worry about the harvest. I think we get the hint in Isaiah when he speaks God’s oracle: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

One of my favorite Church fathers is John Chrysostom (his second name means “golden mouthed.”) He was the bishop of Constantinople and one who sowed the Word of God with abandon and lived a life consistent with the Gospel. The reward he received for his faithfulness was to be persecuted and exiled by the emperor, but that never stopped him from sowing the Word. He preached on this text to his people and his words still ring true over the centuries (it’s that “living faith of the dead” thing again):

“Now these things Jesus said, showing that he preached to all without grudging . . . His concern is with sowing the seed. What is this illustrating? That obedience now will be quick and easier and will presently yield its fruit . . . Note that Jesus does not say: The careless received some seed and lost it, the rich received the seed and choked it, and the superficial received seed and betrayed it. It is not his intention to rebuke them severely, lest he should cast them into despair. Christ leaves to the reproof to the conscience of his hearers. Remember also in the parable of the net that much gathered in that was unprofitable.

But he speaks this parable as if to anoint his disciples and to teach them they are to not to be despondent even though those lost may be more than those who receive the word. It was with the same ease that the Lord himself continued to sow, even he who fully foreknew the outcomes.”

The sower is persistent, as is the kingdom, and the Word. God is faithful and nothing God does ultimately is void – even if we don’t perceive it. God continues to be generous because that is God’s nature. Chrysostom says:

“But why would it be reasonable to sow among thorns or on rocks or on the pathway? With regard to the seeds and the earth it cannot sound very reasonable. But in the case of human souls and their instructions, it is praiseworthy and greatly to be honored. For the farmer might be laughed at for doing this, since it is impossible for rock to bear fruit. But with respect to the rational soul, this is not so predictable. For here is such a thing as a rock changing and becoming rich land. Here it is possible that the wayside might no longer be trampled upon or lie open to all who pass by that it may become a fertile field. In the case of the soul, the thorns may be destroyed and the seed enjoy full security. For had it been impossible, this sower would not have sown. And if the reversal did not take place in all, this is no fault of the sower but of the souls who are unwilling to be changed. He has done his part. If they betrayed what they received of him, he is blameless, the exhibitor of such love to humanity.” The soil of the human heart can be worked and transformed, but it takes not only the work of the Master Gardener, but of the land itself.

So perhaps the most important thing we learn from the Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gardening is that we’re not the gardeners – we’re the soil, the plants, the garden. God is the gardener and is doing the work in us. We also have to remember that we might also exhibit all of the characteristics of the various soils depending on where we are in our life’s journey and what we may be going through at the time. Another of the things we’re supposed to learn is how to listen to the teaching that is being offered to us. I like the way that theologian and storyteller John Shea puts it: “. . . when the word and soil come together completely and effectively, the result is an abundance and an excellence beyond imagination. Although four possible persons are envisioned, it is more realistic to understand each seed as belonging to every person. At one time or another every person loses the word to the evil one, is enthusiastic but not persevering, pursue riches at the expense of the soul and also bears abundant fruit.” [On Earth As It Is In Heaven, p. 228]

The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gardening then tells us to live in this transforming love of God and to open ourselves to it. Spiritual growth will come when we respond to the seed that is planted within us and cultivate it. We cultivate it by promoting our love of God to a higher priority than the love of self, or of pleasure, or well, fill in the blank. Rather than making God and our faith life the last consideration, we make it first. That said, it’s not an easy process, because to do so takes determination, time, patience, and work – just like gardening. It’s very easy for us to talk about God, or to talk about our spirituality (Oprah has raised this to a high art, though I have my questions), but what matters isn’t talking about God, but talking with God, living in God’s presence and growing in spiritual depth. By the way, I have learned that you can tell a true gardener by observing them outside their own gardens. If they pull weeds, even in public places, then you’re in the presence of a real gardener. I suppose you could say the same thing about being a Christian. So, I suppose we find real Christians outside the meeting house, outside the time we’re together for service not just by what they say, but by how they live – constantly plucking out the weeds that keep them from loving God and loving neighbor.

I would offer a simple way to cultivate the faith, one that I’ve offered before, but it never hurts to go over basics. Contemporary spiritual writer Robert Wicks calls it “the seven minute rule.” It’s this simple: give God seven minutes every day. When you rise in the morning give God two minutes of your undivided attention. You don’t need to ask for anything, you don’t need to say anything. Simply place yourself in God’s presence – put your mind in your heart – and listen; listen deeply with the ear of your heart and then go into your day. Before you go to bed or at some point in the evening, take five minutes to read from the Scripture and reflect on what it says. Reading the Bible is like watering and fertilizing the plant. God sows the seed in us again and again and waits for us to bear fruit in renewed lives and spiritual freedom. The lesson is fairly straightforward: spiritual growth comes from lavish sowing and even more lavish patience and work.

We worry and worry that some people don’t get it, but we need, like the disciples, to rejoice that there are people who DO get it. We need to celebrate the seed we see sprouting all around us and work at nurturing it, all the while following the example of the sower, flinging the seed of the Word with abandon. The only way that people will get the Word sown in their lives is if WE DO IT. So….when’s the last time you invited someone to come to church with you? When’s the last time you talked in a positive way about what your faith means to you and how it helps you to live your daily life? You don’t have to be Billy Graham….you just have to be honest and to be you. The Gardener, the sower, works through us.

Paul’s vision of life in the Spirit we read about in Romans obtains here. He says, “you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The sower sows with abandon and the abundant harvest is the Spirit freely given, animating us and empowering us to live generous, loving lives. So, “a sower went out to sow . . .” and sow he did, lavishly, recklessly, lovingly. Perhaps that is yet another point to the parables, that the harvest itself is in the sowing, that the life in the Spirit is spent giving away rather than hoarding things up? Here’s the Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gardening, then, “A sower went out to sow . . . Let anyone with ears listen!”