Planting Seeds as I travel: Final Sermon at Redeemer

This past Sunday was the end bittersweet, of a weekend filled with a celebration of a life and goodbyes, and celebrating Life and the journey which continues. This was also the final sermon and Sunday for myself as Pastor for Redeemer Lutheran in South Holland, as I navigate a new path as Campus Pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministries @ Augustana Lutheran for University of Chicago later this summer.

Grace and Peace to you,

My sisters and brothers in Christ

Will we allow ourselves,

To be open to the descending Holy Spirit

Washing over us,

Nurturing us,

This soil within our souls

So, that we are transformed

From the seeds that the Creator plants within us

Into the witness,

And the example

Of the Beloved Community,

Living out what Jesus Christ,

Calls us into

Loving one another.

Amen.

(pause)

The seeds that the Creator God,

Casts upon this earth,

And into us, beloved

Does appear wasteful

As if God carelessly throws them out,

Where it falls into ground that many would consider

Unyielding,

Rocky

Barren

Unnurtured

Unforgiving.

But see,

That is where God’s grace

Is abundant!

Because the seeds of God’s

Love,

Mercy,

Peace,

And

Salvation

Needs to be spread throughout all of Creation,

And embedded into each one of us

Reaching into our spirit

With purpose

So yes, sometimes,

It takes a minute

For those seeds

To be rooted

Transforming us

(pause)

Every since we planted our garden,

Invested all that hard work,

Attended to

Cultivated

We are surprised with the results!

My flowers along our deck continually blossoming

And attracting pollinators.

The rows of flowers alongside our house must be a hearty kind,

Because the sandy soil only produced troubling weeds

But each time these flowers blossomed,

They came back

Producing much beauty.

Even in the small vegetable bed

We’ve reaped the rewards

Of Bok Choy,

Lavender

Basil

And Peppers.

How indeed does our garden grow!

But,

I’ve been frustrated

And grumbling

Over the shady, stretch of earth

That we had to repeatedly turn over

Strip it of all weeds

Rocks

Debris

Fill it with new earth

And fertilizer

And seeds,

That promised to flourish wildflowers

And I am so impatient

Waiting for them to grow

And wondering perhaps,

If we had cleaned everything out

That had the potential

To choke out the new life

Or

If this piece of earth,

Will never yield

Anything good?

(pause)

I wonder too,

Does the Creator

Peer down into our hearts

With frustration,

And wonder

What else can be poured into us,

What else can be poured into Creation

If the seeds planted within us

Are stagnant,

Are struggling to thrive

Because perhaps,

We, beloved

We are besieged

With everything around, us

Not always fostering encouragement and development

To allow the faith,

And the love within us

To

Thrive?

(pause)

Can we,

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

Can we work to change

That “soil” within us?

Because these words

In Matthew

Are not about the other “soil”

That’s no good,

It’s about US.

For Jesus’s commandment

Of loving one another

As God loves us,

To work,

We must LIVE THAT

But,

When we reject this commandment

Being uncomfortable with what that means,

Its not a surface term

It roots itself deep within our very being

That we should journey with one another,

That is the only way we, as people of Faith

As humanity, will survive.

Why do we,

As people of Faith

Say no,

To the One

Who calls us from our tombs

And the abysses we have created

Why do we turn away from the nurturing Light

And the flow of the Holy Spirit

And from Jesus Christ,

Himself?

(pause)

Is that hard to hear?

As followers of Jesus Christ,

We cannot fathom why someone would turn away from this Good News!

Then again,

When Jesus calls us into relationship with those we don’t know

Or to be public witnesses

Fighting against injustice and hatred,

For people we don’t know,

But who are suffering

When Jesus calls us to stand with those

Who have been regulated to lepers

To suppress our incorrect assumptions about who they are as people

Or whom they choose to love

Or how they choose to worship God

Receiving the Word of God,

Is NOT a passive act

THAT is what Jesus was conveying to His disciples

And to us, beloved

It is rooted in a commitment

That sticks to the very heart of who we are,

And guides us

Propels us

Molds us

Helps us to withstand the onslaught

Of wanting to remain with the status quo

Of the temptation of holding onto the temporary

Of simply remaining dominant

As if breathing,

Is all the Creator created us to do.

(pause)

Receiving the Word of God,

Provokes action,

Being fed at the Table,

Provokes action,

Being filled with the Spirit

Provokes action,

God did not plant seeds within us,

So we would merely be one dimensional

Jesus did not just tell these parables

To the disciples,

Merely so they would just spout rhetoric

Planting seeds,

Speaking life,

Living out faith

Is perpetual motion-

Because what blooms

What blossoms

What grows and is birthed into life

Serves a PUPROSE.

(PAUSE)

“Let anyone who has ears, LISTEN!”

What is God saying to you?

Have we heard God’s Word,

Allowed it to settle with in us,

Just as the seeds are buried in the soil,

Especially,

When God’s Word makes no sense to us?

“Let anyone who has ears, LISTEN!”

It’s hard to hear God’s Word,

Especially when the static of the world,

Drowns out the significance

Of what we are called to do,

Questions our actions

When it goes against

What the world defines as

Common sense,

Things such as

Forgiving one another,

Regardless

Working towards peace with one another

Despite the division

That our human laws have created

Enacting mercy for one another,

Because we allow the layers of hatred to dissolve,

To see the Christ in one another,

Loving one another,

Because in the end,

That is what the Good News instills

And flows from within us,

From our faith.

This is the fruit that is produced,

Because we have allowed

The word of God,

To metamorphose US.

(pause)

Yesterday,

We said goodbye,

As a family

To my cousin,

Osciara

And at the cemetery,

There are a number of family members resting there

That also seems to be where,

Many people speak of planting flowers

On the sacred ground where our loved ones rest

Carrying seeds and burying deep-

And I realized that,

Its not because we want our loved ones to have flowers

They,

Have already transformed

And are free

But its because in those places,

Where there is no life,

Sometimes

Seeing the blossoming of new life,

Reminds us

That the Creator plants seeds of hope

Even in places of death,

Because in the end,

The Creator God loves us,

And wants US

To be renewed

Healed

And

Whole.

Thanks Be to God.