Today we celebrated the sixth Sunday after Trinity accompanied by Hugh.
We continue to pray for the repose of the soul of Gordon and to give thanks for his life including his huge contribution to St Andrew’s over many years.
Pamela, Clare, Steve and all the Rutherford family remain very much in our prayers at this sad time.
This Week
Tuesday – 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room
Wednesday 19th July – 2pm Gordon’s Funeral at St Andrew’s
Thursday 10am – Said Holy Communion followed by coffee in Friendship House
Readings for next Sunday – 7th Sunday after Trinity – Isaiah 44:6-8 Romans 8:12-25 Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
Today’s readings – Isaiah 55:10-13, Romans 8:1-11, Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
I have always loved beautiful and colourful gardens. My father was a keen gardener, so I have great childhood memories of beds full of dahlias, lupins roses wall flowers and many other such joys.
Sadly, as much as I have tried, I can’t say I have inherited his skill. I always try but somehow the results are very hit and miss. The seeds are sown but perhaps not cared or nurtured in the correct way. The soil not fed and treated. As in the parable of the Sower, they fall on stony ground.
The parable of the Sower is one of the most well-known parables which Jesus told. It’s a simple story about seeds falling on different types of ground, some fall on poor ground, they are not cultivated or cared for, and they are choked by weeds and scorched by the sun and so they perish, other seeds however fall on good soil, they are nurtured and cared for, so they grow and flourish.
Jesus then goes on to explain the parable to his disciples, essentially what he is illustrating here is the importance of God’s word falling on listening ears and this is the central message at the heart of this parable.
The importance of listening, ingesting the word of God, being present to the spirit.
The crowds would probably have found Jesus easy to listen to as he always illustrated his teaching with everyday events like work, weather, agriculture. Jesus knew that if he spoke in dry language like the priests in the temple or synagogue the people would not take in what Jesus had to say after all nobody likes a boring sermon.
In so much of his teaching Jesus used symbols taken from the countryside and from agriculture. He spoke to the people in a way they could relate to and understand and so they listened to him.
But how much do we listen?
When I was in theological collage, we had lectures on the art of preaching. In order to grasp the congregation’s attention we were encouraged to deliver an engaging illustration, a story, at the beginning of the sermon. The draw back to this, however, is that as soon as the story clearly comes to an end and the theology kicks in, people’s attention, understandably, begins to dwindle! The art of a good sermon therefore is to continue to hold people’s attention!
But listening isn’t always easy and certainly listening to the word of God isn’t easy.
We can so quickly become distracted, and this is what happened to many of Jesus’ listeners. Some listened but did not want to know, some heard but did not understand, some listened and heard but were too busy and distracted by their own affairs, some were too frightened and nervous of the challenge to respond.
Today we face the same challenges.
Perhaps we need to think about how we listen. If someone listens to us attentively, we like it, we feel encouraged, we grow in confidence and self-worth. This is how Christ listens to us and how we need to listen to him. Not only in our prayers but as he speaks to us through others.
But what happens if our soil is thin which if we are honest can quite easily happen. What if we are not feeling spiritually robust and confident. What do we do? How do we compost our faith so we can listen more clearly?
Well….. we can begin by praying and asking for enlightenment and wisdom. We can also read – study the scriptures – contemplate – seek the Holy Spirit.
Developing a spiritual routine is an excellent way to nourish and nurture our faith. We can read small sections of the bible prayerfully, follow a series of bible notes or these days turn to technology. The daily app Pray As You Go has become very popular with many people. Its free and can be accessed at any time of day from your phone or pad. It contains a piece of scripture, some music, prayer and reflection. Just a few minutes of our time each day engaging in a daily devotion can make such a difference to our spiritual wellbeing by allowing the Holy Spirit to move in our souls.
As Paul says in chapter 8 in his letter to the Romans today it is this Spirit which sustains us.
“For those who live according to the spirit” he says, Set their minds on the things of the spirit… To set the mind of the spirit is life and peace” Romans 8:5-6
We need to remember God is with us, his spirit is with us in the minute and great events of our lives. He is the Sower, the seed and the food for growth. He is the spirit which brings love and hope to our lives.
Trust in this and the harvest will take care of itself.