SCRIPTURE: Mark 4:26-34
TEXT: 32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. THEME: Weeds and Birds are welcome in God’s garden. INTRODUCTION Jesus is the ‘Spirit in Paradise’ (the title of my sermon series for this month). In today’s text from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus conveys what the Kingdom of God is like through the lens of two parables. The Kingdom of God looks like two gardens. SCRIPTURE A parable is a well told story, that we can heard, related to and remembered; repeated, retold, thought about and discussed. Here we have two parables that convey truth about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is like an immaculate garden. Everything is planted in straight rows. Organic, drip watering system, no weeds, the plants are measured, 12” apart, planted exactly to a depth of 6 in. This farmer has followed the directions to a ’t’. The garden produces its crop and is harvested. But that is not all, the kingdom of God also looks like a garden where mustard seeds have blown in and sown itself, they have taken root and grown to the size of a shrub. Birds, have come to nest in the shade of the mustard shrub. The first garden is the Kingdom of God brought by the nation of Israel and their relationship with God following the law. They bring the rule of God as far as they understand it. But the second garden welcomes weeds and birds. Nobody plants mustard seeds, they just show up, blown by the wind. They are not pulled out of God’s Garden but allowed to stay. But as they do, and establish themselves as a shrub, and they invite birds to roost in their branches. Birds that eat the fruits and seeds, are welcomed residence of this garden, the Kingdom of God. This is an unsettling point about these simple stories and the inclusive nature of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes a story, song, or art piece can hide in plain sight, with a subversive message of change, renewal, and commentary of our political folly. The art work at the Getty Museum in L.A. have three things describing their pieces. First, the artist, the setting and the date, then the medium they use or style. And thirdly an interpretive piece which notes; figures, the political background, what this is making fun of, who this about or what the artist is saying to the powers that be. Many commission pieces that hung in royal setting had political cartoons embedded in the art that ridiculed the monarchs. These are modern day parables. APPLICATION The Kingdom of God is not as exclusive or restrictive as we thought. The thought of weeds and birds being invited to well-manicured gardens is unsettling, but also expresses and lavish inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God. How can the Spirit help us to practice inclusion in gardens we are planted in? I’ve used Kingdom of God to express the coming rule of God, and to connect us to the parable of the inclusive nature of God’s rule. At this part of the sermon, I’ll use, community of God, God’s people, the rule of God to expand the nearness of the rule of God in more inclusive ways. These inclusive roots of our Christian faith, are foundational to who we are as a nation founded on the principles of Christianity. At first, we had a limited view about to whom these liberties were for, but like a good parable they were discussed, retold, given insight to new and fresh interpretations and saw “All Peoples” as beneficiaries of these freedoms and inclusion. The practical expressions of these new ways of thinking are disruptive to how we have come to live our liberties at the expense of others. So, a civil war broke out to keep things as they were. These events are not that long ago, they took place about the time, this congregation was incorporated in 1866. Three years before our church began in 1863, the Civil War ends and President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the United States. Its effects were not readily adopted, as the Lone Star state of Texas continued to enslave people under their laws until June 19th 1865. Known as Juneteenth, it is the anniversary when slavery ended in totally in all of our United States. We still struggle to live into this reality, as God’s Spirit continues its work and new parable are being written. The Gospel Reading from Mark fit this story so we sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" today as our opening hymn. Wikipedia says, “often referred to as the "Black national anthem" in the United States[1] – this hymn was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) in 1900 and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954), for the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1905.[2]…The song is a prayer of thanksgiving for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery evoking the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the "promised land.”” The citizens of the realm of God, are diverse as; wheat, mustard and bird. We recognize those who have been called and planted, those who have come by as if blown by the winds of circumstances and other who were attracted by what was going on in the garden and found a place to build their home, rest in the shade of belief in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. To be part of these United States we don’t need to be all the same either. Our history shows that we have a poor record of treating all humans with respect, honor, justice, generosity and fairness. But as seeds growing, living and striving in this garden, we can be seeds of faith practicing inclusion as citizens of the People of God. Treating each other with respect, being sensitive to their beliefs, sharing and learning from each other, and joining together to build a community where everybody belongs, everyone has a place as equals and everyone has a vote. In addition to the seeds sown in the Garden of God, we have new parables to mull over; the Parable of Colin Kaepernick, the Parable of George Floyd, the Parable of the Keystone Pipeline, and the Parable of Juneteenth. CONCLUSION Sometimes we are pickier than the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working in the lives of people in all kinds of gardens, and in ways that we would never have thought of. God sees value in the weeds, and Birds, as being included in a Garden in addition to wheat. We all have something to bring, something to contribute, something to share, a prayer that we can offer, a feeling from our heart, an insight from God that can inspire when grown in the garden of God.
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