Plant those little seeds

 

In his last sermon St David is said to have told his monks to "do the little things, the small things you've seen me doing".

Archbishop Rowan Williams thinks that phrase resonates with modern people because “it reminds us that the primary things for us are the relationships around us, the need to work at what’s under our hands, what’s within our reach. We can transform our domestic lives, our family relationships and to some extent our national life, if we do that with focus and concentration in the presence of God.”

You never know how something you or I might do might affect someone else. The funny thing is that we may not even think that what we did was all that important, but to another person that little thing made a world of difference. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is like that.

Now listen to Jesus' words, “^{26 ‘}The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground” Mark 4:26 Now you and I would call that very inefficient farming. A lot of good seed would be lost if we simply scattered seed upon the ground. But Jesus is not giving us lessons in agriculture or gardening. He is telling us about the kingdom of God. And he is saying that the very tiniest of seeds can produce an enormous harvest. 

One June morning 145 years ago, Jean Henri Dunant woke up and opened his window in his beloved Switzerland. He heard an excited babble down in the street and quickly went down to see what was going on. He didn't hear much at first, but he caught the words "fighting" and "war" through all the confusion. Eventually he was able to determine that a war had started in Italy. So, he hastily packed a few things and set out. He wanted to see for himself just what was going on. 

Henri arrived in Italy where he saw soldiers fighting on the side of a hill near the town of Castiglione. It seemed that everyone was shooting at everyone else. He watched as men were hit by bullets, gave horrible cries, and fell to the ground. Henri had never seen anything like this before. He felt that he should do something to help the wounded men. When the fighting stopped at dusk, he went to the nearby town to ask people to go to the battlefield with him. Ordinary citizens: farmers, bakers and tailors responded at once. They spent the night there giving as much aid as they could to the wounded men. 

It was hard for Henri to forget what he had seen once he returned home, so he decided to write down his experiences. He described the horrible sight of battle and men being shot. He also suggested that every country should have a relief society, a kind of emergency aid service to help wounded soldiers. 

It was five years later before the first rescue society was organized in Geneva, Switzerland in 1864. It was called the Red Cross. And soon other countries joined the society. Everyone forgot all about Henri until an article appeared in a newspaper in 1895. In 1901 he was given the very first Nobel peace prize.  

Henri planted a seed that would germinate and help millions of people all over the world. That's the way the kingdom works - great harvests from tiny seeds. That's the first lesson from this parable. But there is a second lesson that is just as valuable. 

And that is that growth is occurring even when it is not evident to us.  Jesus said, “²⁸ The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head” Mark 4:28 It is a mystery; centuries later we still don't know what causes a seed to sprout. So far scientists have not been able to create a synthetic seed and make it grow. Growth is a mystery.

Our task is to plant seeds. We don't know if the seeds we plant will ever take hold, but that should not discourage us. Growth doesn't take place because of our understandings or manipulations; it is God's initiative that brings forth growth. 

It is often easy for us to lose patience and wonder what the use is. We don't see anything coming from our efforts and we can be ready to give up. But wait! The parable of the scattered seed teaches us that just when we are ready to give up some seed will sprout. Just when we think nothing will happen, growth will take place. We need to be patient and not give up, because sometimes growth takes longer than we expect. God works in ways we don't understand, often hidden from view. And we must be patient. 

At one of my previous churches, St Andrews, several people had been talking about starting Messy Church but weren’t sure what to do. I offered to put them in touch with a church that was running Messy Church but they weren’t sure. When I moved to Chippenham, on the day of my welcome service, Messy Church was running at Central. I took two of the people from my former church to meet the team at Central. And the seed sown began to flourish at St Andrews where a successful Messy Church has run for several years now. Sadly, Messy Church finished some time later at Central. Jesus said, ‘²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ Mark 4:29 But the seed sowed by Central continues to flourish at St Andrews.  God works in ways we do not understand. God's ways are not our ways, and He works slowly but surely to achieve His will in this world. 

Now the upshot of all of this is that great things happen from small beginnings.  Jesus explained that the kingdom of God is "like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground is the smallest of all seeds on earth." Mark 4:31 But from the smallest seed known in Jesus' day grew a large shrub. The mustard seed is only a tiny, tiny speck of a seed, yet when it grows, Jesus tells us, it is, "the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." Mark 4:32 It is hard for us to get excited about this, since we live in an age with all sorts of amazing discoveries, but for people living in prescientific days it must have truly baffled their minds that something so large could come from such a small seed. 

The parable of the mustard seed is a word of encouragement for us. Things might not be what you and I want them to be, but there is still hope. God works in mysterious ways. God is still with us even when our efforts are frustrated because He is the source of growth. Growth often starts out small like a mustard seed and then blossoms into something huge. 

And that is the story of the church as well. Whoever would have thought that from the often inept disciples, the gospel message would spread to all the corners of the globe? Yet you and I are here today because twenty centuries ago a tiny seed was planted. They planted the seed. God gave the growth. 

Are there some tiny seeds that we could be planting? Some word of love, some act of encouragement? Some little thing? Is there some ministry we could be involved in, realizing that from the tiniest seed great growth can come? The kingdom of God is like seed scattered on the ground. Have you some seed that you could scatter today?  

Post script. Last autumn, my wife dug up some of our front lawn and scattered wildflower seeds. Through the winter it was bare. In early spring small plants appeared that looked like weeds. In fact from my study I'd see people walking past, looking at the "weeds" and obviously thinking "Why aren't they weeding?" Whereas now