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Plough Sunday
Sermon preached by the Rector in Walton Parish Church
8 Jan 2006
The readings were:
Genesis 1:26 - 2 :2 Matt. 13:3-9 &18-23
There's a story about a little girl who climbed up on the lap of great-grandmother and looked at her white hair and wrinkles and then asked, "Did God make you?"
"Yes," she said.
Then she asked, "Did God make me, too?"
Grandma said, "Yes."
"Well," said the little girl, "Don't you think He's doing a better job now than he used to?"
It is when I read passages from the bible like our first reading this morning that I understand that God has great regard for humanity. I say that because of many things 4 of which are.
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He gave us life.
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He made us in His own image.
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He entrusted us with the planet.
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He gave us responsibilities.
In so many ways our relationship with God has to be a partnership, this can be seen very clearly in nature and agriculture. No matter what the farmer or gardener does with out the light, without heat and without water, nothing will grow, this is a simple fact. Like wise in order for the crops to be harvested to their full potential man has to play his part in the partnership. This is central to our service today, we have come to offer to God our tools are gifts and may be our blood sweat and even tears, we have also come to ask Him to play His part in the partnership. In the seeking of God's blessing we ask in faith, but we also ask with some confidence because we have heard that God has fulfilled his part in the partnership over many centuries of time, and indeed most of us have experienced it first hand.
Faith always plays an important part in life, we may not always recognise it for what it is but it is still faith. The ploughing of the fields and the sowing of seed is to my way of thinking and act of faith. The Farmer or the gardener has to give time in labour in preparing the land and money to purchase the seed, then the sowing is the real act of faith. In the act of sowing we are entrusting to God a valuable resource with the hope that it will yield a crop of a hundred fold. Sowing is not the end of the investment, work still needs to take place, the crops will have to be tended until the harvest is reaped. Then the reward of the partnership is realised, as the gardener or farmer made their commitment in faith and God blessed that commitment with light, heat and water, the celebration can take place.
This we have seen with our eyes, even though we know for all kinds of reasons there are good years and not so good years, so we act in faith.
But what about the harvest of our souls? How do we act in faith to ensure the celebration of this harvest can take place?
In a way, for many, this is harder, it won't cost us money but it will cost us time, it will also cost us a labour of discovery and a commitment of our life to Christ. It may also cost us the approval of the world. The discovery we need to make can be found in the teaching of the scripture and the church, it may not be fasionable with the world today but it is simply that all of us need to received by faith the forgiving love of God, made known in Jesus.
I want to end with a very simple story;
Eight-year-old Frank had looked forward for weeks to this particular Saturday because his father had promised to take him fishing if the weather was suitable. There hadn't been any rain for weeks and as Saturday approached, Frank was confident of the fishing trip. But, wouldn't you know it, when Saturday morning dawned, it was raining heavily and it appeared that it would continue all day.
Frank wandered around the house, peering out the windows and grumbling more than a little. "Seems like the Lord would know that it would have been better to have the rain yesterday than today," he complained to his father who was sitting by the fireplace, enjoying a good book. His father tried to explain to Frank how badly the rain was needed, how it would make the flowers grow and bring much needed moisture to the farmers' crops. But Frank was adamant. "It just isn't right," he said over and over.
Then, about three o'clock, the rain stopped. Still time for some fishing, and quickly the gear was loaded and they were off to the lake. Whether it was the rain or some other reason, the fish were biting hungrily and father and son returned with a full string of fine, big fish.
At supper, when some of the fish were ready, Frank's mom asked him to say grace. Frank did--and concluded his prayer by saying, "And, Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today it was because I couldn't see far enough ahead."
How far ahead are we looking? To which harvest are we placing our faith?
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Thursday 20th of November 2008
