“Changing Seasons” (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

If you are a “Deadhead” you will know exactly where this quote comes from: “What a long strange trip it’s been.”  A “Deadhead” is an ardent fan of the musical group The Grateful Dead.  The quote comes from the song Truckin’.  It was the second album, a double album, they released independently after they got out of their contract with their original producer.  It kind of summed up how they saw their musical career over the years.  The phrase is a part of a longer quote from the song: “Lately it occurs to me, what a long strange trip it’s been.”

When it comes to life, I think I must concur with the band, especially as a person of faith—a follower of Jesus.  It has been one long strange trip . . . as all of life is.  Life is not always what we hope it would be . . . it is not always as easy as we would like . . . and, it constantly is throwing us curve balls when we are expecting fast balls.

As people enter parenthood, we become familiar with “stages of development”.  There are stages for physical development, stages for psychosocial development . . . there seem to be stages in which children and people are measured and weigh in life . . . to see if they are where they are supposed to be.  Maybe you remember Benjamin Spock—Dr. Spock’s book on child development and care.  It was many generations development bible.  There was also Erik Erikson’s theories on how children and people develop psychologically and socially.  Even when infants and children are taken to the doctor, they are measured against some sort of stages of development chart to assure the parents that everything is normal.

So, it should come as no surprise that as human beings we use stages to measure and weigh how we stack up in where we are supposed to be and against other people.  Inquiring minds want to know.  The thing is . . . we all go through stages as we journey through life.  From “Point A” to “Point B” we go through stages.  For many that might sound a little too cut and dry.  Because of that we have soften the idea . . . romanticized it to the point that we see it more as the “seasons of life”.

We all know that seasons change . . . especially living here in Montana.  Seasons change in Montana sometimes producing all four seasons in one day.  Seasons change . . . and, as the seasons change, so do we.

I want you to consider that as we explore the parable Jesus shares in our reading this morning.

The Parable of the Sower should not be unfamiliar to any of us.  We have heard it many times.  It is the story of a farmer or sower who is scattering the seed for planting.  Some falls along the path, some on rocky places, other among the weeds, and some even made it to the good soil.  As the story goes on it seems that depending upon where the seed landed it all grew differently . . . some was eaten up by the birds, others withered due to the lack of resources like soil and water, and others were choked out because of the density of the weeds.  Only the seed that had landed in “good soil” grew abundantly.  That’s it!  The whole parable. And, Jesus tells those who are listening to listen well and heed those words.

We know from having heard this—what seems to be a million times—that this is not about farming, gardening, or sowing.  It is about how the message—the “Good News” of Jesus . . . about faith—is received and comes to manifestation for those who hear it.  Jesus pretty much explains it that way when he tells the listeners what the parable means.  He tells the people that some people never get it, some get it but lose it, others have it misdirected, and even others understand and flourish.  That my friend, says Jesus, is how the “Good News” is received as it is thrown out there for the masses to hear.

As I said, plain and simple . . . yet, we need to remember that nothing is as plain and simple as we think when it comes to the words of Jesus.  Because of that I want us to consider his words on a more personal level . . . a more spiritual level . . . than in the generally accepted way that it is presented this morning as a parable.  I want us to think about how these words fit us and our journeys, our development as people of faith, as the followers of Jesus.  I want us to do it because it explains a lot about ourselves, our development as spiritual people, and this long strange trip we call life.

As I hear this parable, I hear a story about individual faith . . . a story about how our faith develops . . . about how we grow into who God created us to be.  As we hear the story, we realize that Jesus is also talking about the stages of faith that we go through as we attempt to follow him in word and deed.  With perfect 20/20 hindsight we know that our faith and spiritual lives have not always been smooth sailing . . . that we have gone through lots of different stages of development . . . and, that the seasons change.  We are not the same people we were when we first dedicated our lives to following Jesus; no, we have grown into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a person of faith—a follower of Jesus.

To get there we have had to endure the changing seasons.

Earlier I mentioned all those theories and models about the stages of development.  I mentioned that there are stages of physical development . . . stages of psychological development . . . and even social development.  There seem to be stages of development for every aspect of life . . . and, not surprisingly, there are even stages of development for faith.  The most famous and popular one of these is James Fowler’s stages of faith theory.  His theory states that a person’s faith can be measured by the way that he or she lives his or her life and the words that either uses when talking.  Originally, he stated that there were five stages of faith . . . today that theory has been expanded to seven stages.  But basically, he is saying that people progress through stages, or seasons, working their way to “enlightenment” or a faith that embraces all of humanity as one to be loved and cared for as God loves humanity.

For example, in the first stage, God is like a parent . . . all-knowing, all-caring, and provides for every need.  This is where people refer to God as “Father” or “Mother”.  As small children our parents provide for our needs, and that is the understanding of God at this age—God provides for our needs.  From that stage children move into an understanding of God as shared by those who are important . . . as they learn the stories of faith.  Here faith becomes literal and as it has been told to them.  People in this stage usually interpret everything as literal and often preface their statements of faith with attributions from others.  When asked what they believe, instead of answering for themselves, they quote someone else like a pastor or Sunday school teacher.

In each of the stages of Fowler’s faith development the individual moves from the simple into the more complex in understanding the relationship between humans and God, and humans to humans.  In each stage there are challenges to the individual that push for deeper understanding and spiritual growth.  Each stage pushes towards the goal of “enlightenment”.  Which is a stage that few ever reach.  People who we know that have reached this stage . . . obviously Jesus; Mother Teresa; and, Martin Luther King, Jr.

So, what does all this mean?  Basically, it means that faith is not a static once-in-a-lifetime experience or gift that never changes.  Faith is a constantly changing experience and gift . . . a “living” gift that keeps growing if we have the determination and courage to follow its challenges through each changing season that we encounter.  If not, well we either get stuck back in a stage that we have already mastered, or we disappear . . . we die as Jesus said in his parable.

As Jesus tells his parable, we recognize what he is talking about.  We recognize it because we have been through it ourselves.  We know what it feels like to believe and have no support.  We know what it means to believe and be challenged by others who don’t believe the same we do.  We know what it feels like to be confronted, threatened, and challenged . . . to doubt and be doubted.  We know the struggles we have had when it comes to being faithful and following Jesus.  We know that it is not a garden party, but that it is a mysterious journey with lots of twists and turns.  It is one long strange trip.

In life there are changing seasons.  In faith there are changing seasons.  Faith grows if we choose to move through the changing seasons . . . if we choose to really follow Jesus where he leads.  Through each season we grow stronger.  Jesus tells us this morning that faith, following him, is not easy.  Yet, at the same time, he tells us it is worth it.  If we can do it, we will discover that the reward is “a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

On this long strange trip we call life, may traveling mercies guide us all safely home.  Amen.

“A Parable of a Third” (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

I think that anyone who has had any experience in the agricultural field would agree with Jesus’ logic in the parable about the sower.  You have to know your soil when it comes to planting!  Obviously some of the sower’s choices were not of the quality that would bring about a bountiful crop.  Only in the last place where the seed was sown was there a successful crop.  Though Jesus is talking agriculture here, we all know that his meaning really has nothing to do with crops at all.  No, what Jesus is talking about is how faith is embodied in order to grow and prosper within individuals . . . and, though it is not alluded to, also how it is embodied within the body of Christ--the church--in order to grow and prosper.

In our scripture reading this morning, you might think that he is telling a parable about a sower; but, the reality is that he is telling a parable about thirds.  Let me explain.

Years ago I volunteered to be a part of a non-profit organization to do some civic-minded things around the community I was living in.  It boasted a huge volunteer membership . . . and, sure enough, on its membership rolls it had lots of names of people who belonged to the organization.  At least that was what was on paper . . . the reality was far from that.  The reality was that very few of those people actually ever showed up to support and do the work of the organization . . . in fact, it turned out to be only about a third of the people who did all the work and supported the organization financially.  

This confused me.  The executive director of the organization explained that it was that way with most non-profit groups and other organizations that rely upon voluntary participation.  She explained that typically one-third of the group carries approximately 90 percent of the work and financial load; one-third participates whenever it feels like it . . . maybe once or twice a year; and, one-third never participates at all, but consider themselves to be members nonetheless.  Because of that, she said, you are never going to see a huge group coming out to do the work.

Though Jesus uses different examples in his parable, I think he was talking about this one-third theory.  Yeah, I know what you are thinking . . . Jesus mentioned four areas that the sower sowed seed.  But, remember, the first seed never took to the ground as birds came by and ate it.  In the other three examples, the seed takes root, grows, and either meets its demise or flourishes.  In those three soil examples, I think Jesus does a good job of explaining the one-third theory.  Wouldn’t you agree that Jesus’ example demonstrates the theory?

One-third does nothing . . . one-third puts out a puny effort . . . and, one-third does the yeoman's share.

The underlying and unspoken question of the parable is this: Which soil are we growing our faith?  Or, even better, which third are we in?

As I said earlier, Jesus’ original intention was to address this parable to the individual listener.  Now that the body of believers . . . the church . . . has been in existence for a couple of thousand years . . . I think that the unintended intention is to address this parable to that group . . . to the church.

On the individual level we have all seen this parable in action.  We have seen people come into the church . . . some have stayed and participated in everything . . . some come every so often, usually Christmas and Easter . . . and, others we never see again.  Those individuals in the less participatory two-thirds are probably in those first two soils that Jesus talked about.  They are not very active, nor are they very reliable when it comes to their faith or the work of the church.  They probably have their reasons, and those reasons are probably legitimate and real; but, the bottom line is that they are not carrying their weight.

Now you are probably sitting there, thinking to yourself, that the pastor is full of mullarky . . . that this is not for real.  But, I assure you . . . it is for real.  I know from experience.

One of my jobs at the university is to provide professional development workshops for teachers.  We offer these workshops for free.  Because teachers need professional development to keep their licences and to move up the pay scale these workshops are necessary . . . because they are free, they are popular.  Rarely do we have a workshop that does not fill up and have a waiting list.  Before any workshop takes place it gets filled to capacity.

That is before the workshop takes place.  What happens is that when the workshop actually does take place only a number of teachers between one-third and two-third will show up.  If the workshop is for 30 people, we will have between 10 and 15 people show up.  Out of the 30 we have come to understand that 10 will be there because they want to be there; another possible five will show up because they had nothing better to do; and, the rest will not show up or even let us know that they are not showing up.  It pretty well equates to one-third, one-third, one-third.  And, we have been keeping up with this statistic for almost five years now and the results rarely change.

Now, that is my secular experience.  Let me share with you my church experience with this one-third theory.  This is a theory I have been keeping track of as a pastor for over twenty years now.

Everyone knows how much fun a scheduled mid-week meeting is in the church.  They are about as popular as getting a root canal; but, they are necessary part of the work of the church.  Now if there are a hundred people at worship on Sunday morning when one of these meetings is announced, I can predict fairly accurately how many people will attend that meeting.  There will be 30 people, give or take one or two.  In over twenty years, I have rarely been wrong.

Sure, there are exceptions.  Most of the time, within our congregation, we skew this theory’s premise and actually have more participate than should.  At the same time, there are times when we live up to the theory.  

Now, if you still don’t believe me, try it.  Do your own homework.  Think of a group or organization you belong to and keep track of the participation.  Then let me know if this idea of one-third isn’t true.  I think Jesus was onto something.

Which brings us to the dilemma of the whole parable . . . how does the one-third get the other two-thirds more involved?  To that I have no answers.  Nor does Jesus give us any answers.  Yet, at the same time, we do have some clues.  Jesus tells us that the seed that flourishes does so because it embraces and understands . . . it believes in the message, believes in the messenger . . . and, because it believes and understands it embraces its purpose.  Embracing its purpose it goes about the business of living and doing it.

The question is how do the one-third instill that into the other two-thirds?

Well, it cannot be done by haranguing on them.  No, that will just make them dig in their feet and move further away.  No one enjoys being constantly told that they should be more involved . . . after all, they have chosen which third they want to be in.  What needs to be done is going back to the foundational block of it all . . . relationship.  For that seed that thrives it comes down to having a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus.  This is what needs to be shared with the two-third that does not participate with regularity.

It comes down to relationship . . . the one-third showing the other two-thirds their relationship with Jesus.  Not beating them down with the relationship, but is living it in the presence of the other.  In order for this to happen relationships between the one-third and two-thirds must be established.  The one-third meets the two-thirds where they are.  They begin to show that they care . . . that they are there for them . . . in those times when life is difficult and pulls them away.  In such relationships the one-third becomes the soil necessary to grow and thrive.  It is not fast work, but work that slowly pulls them back into the circle, back into the family of God.

In which soil is your faith?  Jesus poses the question this morning . . . and, he poses the challenge.  May we all find the soil that strives to make us one as the family of God.  Amen.

“Can You Hear Me Now” (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

Before everyone had them and cell phone companies were just getting started . . . there was sort of competition between the companies to see who could provide the best cell reception across the country.  Cell reception was not always that great and those who owned cell phones were always trying to find ways to get better reception.  To test that reception they were always asking those they were calling, “Can you hear me now?”  Well, we live in Joliet . . . it is still a favorite statement as our cell reception hasn’t improved a whole bunch over the years.

Verizon jumped all over that little catch-phrase and created a whole line of commercials with a guy traveling around the country . . . to busy places, to remote places . . . and asking the question, “Can you hear me now?”  It created a lot of business for the company as people wanted to be able to hear.  In fact that is usually the number one thing people want when they purchase a cell phone . . . they want to be able to hear. 

The problem is that most people don’t hear that well.

Dana, my wife, tells me that I don’t hear well.  She keeps telling me that I need to go and get my hearing checked.  Well, I hear just fine . . . my problem is that I have selective hearing loss . . . I select what I want to hear.  I do not always want to hear what my wife is telling . . . just as she does not always want to hear what I am telling her.  It is selective hearing loss and I am sure all of us have this problem from time to time.  We hear what we want to hear . . . especially if it is something we like or agree with.  If not, well it goes in one ear and out the other.

Sometimes it is not that we do not hear what is being conveyed, it is that we don’t understand what is being conveyed.  We hear it, but we don’t understand it.  I remember the time I went to my first college class and sat there listening to the professor go on and on about the subject of physics.  It was like a Charlie Brown scene . . . all I hear was, “Blah, blah, blah.”  I walked out of that first class thinking that I was never going to make it . . . everything sounded like a foreign language . . . I didn’t understand anything.  So, like a good student I sat there and shook my head up and down like a bobble head doll.  If you don’t understand, fool them.

Hearing is pretty important.  Someone once pointed out to me that she thought that God thought hearing was important because God gave us two ears and only one mouth.  In her mind she thought that hearing—or listening—was twice as important as speaking.  I agree . . . I think that God wants us to hear . . . wants us to listen first before we act or speak.  Besides, I think we would look pretty ridiculous with two mouths.

So, hearing is pretty important.  Three times in our scripture reading this morning we hear Jesus emphasis the importance of hearing.  After he tells the parable about the sower he tells the crowd: “He who has ears, let him hear.”  When he goes to explain the parable about the sower he prefaces his explanation with these words: “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means . . .”  And, then, in the explanation of the parable of the sower, Jesus points out that it is the person who “hears”  that is the successful sower: “. . . the man who hears the word and understands it.” 

I think that Jesus thought that hearing was pretty important.  In fact, our reading this morning is not the only example of Jesus emphasizing the importance of hearing . . . many times when telling a parable he would admonish the people to listen . . . to hear.  He would say, “If you have ears—listen!”

Now I do not think that there is a whole lot that I need to say about the parable of the sower . . . no great need to pick it apart and explain every little part of it . . . Jesus does that for us.  Jesus spells it out for us.  The explanation is coming straight from the source.  What is to argue or debate, Jesus says what he means.  We get that . . . but are we really getting what he wants us to get?  Are we really hearing what he wants us to hear?  It is almost as if Jesus is holding up a cell phone and asking, “Can you hear me now?”

One would think that the process of hearing is pretty simple.  A sound is made, the ear hears it, and we acknowledge that sound.  That is hearing . . . or is it?  Hearing is more than acknowledging a sound . . . hearing is also being able to identify that sound . . . being able to know what it means . . . to understand it.

Early in our marriage Dana and I went to visit some classmates from seminary who graduated a year before.  They had their first child a few months earlier and wanted us to come to see them and their new child in their new home.  It was a nice home . . . a parsonage . . . that the congregation has done a lot of renovation on before they arrived.  One of the things that the congregation had done was to replace the carper and curtains in the dining room.  Replaced it with a nice tan carpet and white curtains.  It looked wonderful.

That evening as we sat down for supper the wife placed the child in one of those swings that you crank up and it swings the child back and forth.  It was an easy way to entertain the child . . . possibly put the child to sleep . . . and, for us adults to have a nice meal without the interruption of a child.  It seemed to work wonderfully.  We had great conversation, laughter, and food.  In the meantime we kept hearing giggles and laughter from the child as the swing swung back and forth . . . but soon it turned into all out laughter.  We all thought to ourselves, great, Junior is having a good old time and everything is okay.

Well, we all probably needed to have our hearing checked.  True, the kid was fine and having a good time . . . but not everything was okay.  It seems that the kid had diarrhea and had blown out his diaper.  As the swing swung back and forth it left a trail across the carpet and up the curtains . . . over and over again.

Hearing is more than acknowledging a sound . . . it is understanding and acting upon the sound that is heard.

Thus it is that Jesus emphasized hearing . . . emphasized listening . . . over and over again.  He wanted people to really understand what he was trying to teach them.  He wanted them to understand what it meant to be in an intimate relationship with God . . . he wanted them to understand that love and grace . . . and, then he wanted them to act on that understanding by loving others in the same way that they love themselves and God.  Jesus did not want to see a bunch of bobbing heads agreeing to his every word even though they did not get what he was saying.  No, he wanted them to understand and then put that understanding into action.  If you understand, thought Jesus, you would do it.

So, Jesus said, “Can you hear me now?”

I am not sure.  As I look around the world today, I don’t think too many people are hearing Jesus.  As I look at the current movement in the church—both mainline and conservative, I am not too sure that even the church is hearing Jesus too well.  It does not take much to see how things are going in the world around us . . . and, it does not look good.  Wars, poverty, famine, hunger, sex-trafficking . . . just plain nastiness all around.  I think that there is a hearing problem.  And, as long as there is a hearing problem demonstrated by the way God’s children treat one another, I think that Jesus is going to keep holding up the cross and asking, “Do you hear me now?”

In the blue hymnal we have a song that is a favorite among many of the faith called They Will Know We are Christians.  In the chorus we are told how the rest of the world will know that people are Christians: “They’ll know that we are Christians by our love, by our love . . . They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  Jesus told those who were listening that it was the man who hear and understood that was the successful sower because he acted in kind.  May God bless us with hearing . . . real hearing.  Amen.