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Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you.
Life Together In The Goodness Of God
When was the last time that you can remember When you did something small Maybe something that someone wouldn't notice And then wondered if it made any difference I mean this happens all the time in my life I feel like you make a plate for your child And they're like, thanks, and they move on But you're like, really? That's it? That's all I get from you? Not going to help with the dishes and all that? Those small acts that seemingly go unnoticed That just go unthanked or unappreciated And you wonder, what am I doing if I'm making any difference at all? Maybe it was a conversation with a neighbor that you had Honestly, those conversations with people in my life I've walked away going, that made a difference And I promise you, they didn't know, right? That happens all the time A few dollars maybe that you gave to someone in need An hour that you volunteered or sat with our kids in the kids' classroom Wondering, is this making any difference with our kids? A meal that you dropped off for a friend And somewhere in the back of your mind You measure it against everything that may be broken in your life Or broken in the world And overwhelmed by the brokenness that surrounds even this one small act And think, this couldn't have made any difference, really Especially right now in this country, in our city, in our world I think it's really easy to feel like the small things we do Aren't really making a dent What's really being made, what's really the effect of our actions The problems feel enormous The world feels overwhelming What have I to offer that's so small in such a big world? Especially such a broken one I know that question looms for some of you In more profound and deep ways than even the things that I'm mentioning now But the question looms I think for all of us to some degree In our gospel reading, Jesus sits down beside the sea And I think offers us an answer To what the impact of our actions, the effect of our actions in the world A crowd gathers around Jesus And it's such a large crowd that he gets up on the boat to preach and teach And he's speaking from the water Which actually helps his voice project to the people And he tells him a story of a farmer who went out to sow The farmer spreads the seed, it falls on the path It falls on all kinds of conditions of soil Even the birds come and eat it It's on rocky ground and it springs up and withers Among thorns, the cares of the world Sorry, among the thorns it even is planted And it still either thrives or doesn't thrive Three out of four of these soils produce nothing And Jesus doesn't soften that point at all It seems wasted, right? But, and this is what I think is really interesting about this parable This is telling us about who God is And yet, the farmer still sows seeds, still casts seeds Even on rocky ground, even when most of it doesn't seem to be making any difference Lavishly, the farmer casts these seeds Alan Bosak, a theologian who preached on this text under apartheid in South Africa Said the reader of this parable is struck by the reckless abandon The unchecked generosity I love these phrases The undisciplined abundance of the sower The sower doesn't check the soil first to make sure no seeds are wasted It doesn't wait for better conditions It doesn't calculate the odds The seed which Jesus tells us is the word of God's kingdom It's going out into the world Goes out everywhere, extravagantly, abundantly Regardless of reception The word goes out Regardless of the risk even But then the harvest comes A hundred fold, sixty, thirty And then I think an ancient farmer would think A hundred fold? Man, I'm happy if we just have what I planted, right? Let alone more than what I expected This is who God is God keeps sowing and sows abundantly Even when it seems to not make a difference God sows seeds and an abundance of harvest comes I think this could be really good news for some of us who feel like In this broken world, the things that I do The person that I'm trying to be in this broken world Doesn't seem to be making a difference What's comforting to me about this is that I think God feels that more than anyone If anyone has reason to feel that way And yet God still sows seeds Not overwhelmed by the troubles of the world Facing the troubles of the world And yet is generously sowing seeds Some of us have experienced on the news in Houston this week A man named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Araujo, sorry He was a home builder, a father And this week he was shot dead by ice in the streets of Houston on his way to work His sons are American citizens The street he was gunned down on is called Canal Street And our bishop wrote a letter to the diocese about it And my dear friend Jacob Breeze in Houston also wrote about this And I really appreciate their words The cares of those people, that family, the cares of the world Seem too much when someone like this, one of our neighbors is gunned down in this way What can we do to affect a situation like this? It seems like Canal Street is really thorny ground, right? Really troubling ground What can we do to change what's going on? It seems overwhelming The world may look at that street and say nothing grows here This is God-forsaken Nothing grows here It's all broken There's no point It's all too much for us to hope in something new But the sower doesn't avoid that rocky ground That thorny soil The sower continues to sow seeds The sower is generous in hope and the word of the kingdom even in the midst of trouble Especially in the face of tragedy and injustice like that The word goes everywhere Father Jacob in Houston, he wrote Our Lord Jesus Christ, himself a migrant and himself killed by the state, is a humble God Jesus our Lord, the true sower, knows Canal Street I find great hope in this Our sower God knows Lorenzo He knows his family God knows what it's like to face a terribly broken situation and tragedy and injustice And to continue to sow seeds of hope Somehow Even for me, I think it's easy That's such rhetoric, Sean That feels like rhetoric if you're just saying I know something terrible has happened But don't you know God still sows hope? We know that But for it to sink into our hearts, for us to believe in it To live and act on behalf of that Is a totally another thing, isn't it? The brutal ground of Canal Street is a hard place for us to sow hope We can't fix everything But we can walk with Jesus Who walks on Canal Street Who walks with Lorenzo Even now We can't solve all of these problems that we face But we can walk with those Who suffer and carry heavy burdens And when we do, friends I think in those small Even seemingly ineffectual Acts of solidarity And compassion And friendship We are sowing the seeds of the kingdom with Jesus himself And we don't know The extent of that effect We don't know, we can't measure We can never know the extent of that impact But we do know that is because God is with us Because Jesus walks with us That there is indeed an effect There is indeed an impact And the kingdom is at hand We do know that Jesus Christ Was raised from the dead And because of this, we know that when We face death in this world And darkness and brokenness We do have a God that we walk with Who raises the dead Who makes things new Even when it's hard for us to see or believe it This is who God is This is what it looks like for us To live in the difference That Christ has made in this world And not be overwhelmed by it Can I say that again? This is what it looks like for us To live in the difference That Christ has made in this world And not be overwhelmed by it We keep planting With Christ We keep planting what Christ has given us Regardless of the soil And we know that God's word Will not come back void or empty We can trust God's word Paul says it plainly The spirit of him who raised Jesus From the dead dwells in you Resurrection did not look like Anything For, remember, three whole days Right? The ground was quiet Jesus was still in the tomb All was lost And then God did something That exceeded everyone's expectations Then God changed everything That same power Even in the face of a three day darkness And unknowing, right? A three day grief That same power that God Raised Christ from the dead with Is the power that resides in you Is the power that resides in our neighborhood Is the power that resides in this church Our backpack drive Is a really great example of I think this power working in us In small ways, we're like, we're just getting backpacks Filling it with school supplies, right? We don't even get to see, many of us The effect of those backpacks By the way, when we do hand out backpacks You guys should join us because that's amazing They have a DJ and everybody's cheering Kids are pointing at backpacks, it's amazing It's lovely Our backpack drive is our church Our community giving extravagantly with God Especially for our neighbors in need It's a profoundly sacred act It's not really a backpack That we're giving, it's the seeds of the kingdom of God It's the word of God Going out into the world And planting hope That's what it is It's a foretaste of a world that God is bringing about And making new Even in the face of our troubled world A little backpack can be that big difference for someone And we know that God is in it Amen When a volunteer shows up quietly When someone makes the coffee Out in the lobby, when someone greets you at the door When someone sets your chair When someone serves you here Those little acts that maybe people don't even recognize Volunteers, I know, I see you Those little acts when people come in They're like, oh this is nice They're receiving the seeds of the kingdom Even unknowingly And you, as you serve, as you sit with our children You are not just making coffee You're not just setting a seat You're creating a space for someone to encounter the word of God And be changed by it And you will never know the extent To which those little acts Have impacted their lives, but I promise you That it does This is, this is tricky Because I know this is the The economy of the kingdom of God is not always Visible to us We cannot measure it in the way that The world measures things But the economy of God is This kingdom economy is Abundant and extravagant And never failing And this is where we live, you and I Friends, and we have to remind ourselves that Constantly, especially in the face of this world So may we, living in the difference That Christ has made in this world Trusting, even when we cannot see May we persist Continue to give lavishly Serving one another, loving our neighbors Advocating, standing with one another Sowing those seeds of the kingdom of God Despite what the world decides To do, we know where we stand We know who we are And we know who we walk with, our Lord Who sows seeds of the kingdom Extravagantly Even when it's difficult Especially When it's difficult, friends, may we be A people who give lavishly Because God has given lavishly To us The sower did not wait for better ground Neither should we We can continue to sow with our God The power of God's word Will never return empty It will go into the world And accomplish everything that God Desires for it to accomplish So knowing that, keep sowing the seeds Keep loving, keep acting Keep worshiping God Keep praying, keep the faith Keep hope And we know That God will meet us there And in the same way that he Raised Christ from the dead Will give a power to us to continue to persist In the kingdom of God as it goes into the world In us and through us We can trust in that Spirit, that power within us Even in the face of our Troubled lives and in this troubled world So this morning, as we come to the table And we prepare our hearts to come to the table Remember that this is a seed being planted in you Not just bread and wine This is the same power that raised Christ Is now being Implanted, cast Into you May you with open hands and open arms And open hearts Receive this gift of the kingdom And may it flourish through us For the life of the world, amen?