A Sermon preached and parable shared at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal church, Canyon Lake, TX.
The Lectionary readings for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost are here.
You can listen to the unedited parable read by the original authors and explore resources for The Seventh Story here.
The Kingdom of God is as if someone planted a seed and it grew because that’s what seeds are created to do, not because some person did anything magical; The Kingdom of God is compared to the interconnectedness all of creation, including us, in harmony with God’s Creation Rhythm of planting and growth and feeding and rest.
Jesus told parables to help us think outside the box, to change our paradigm, to stretch our comfort zone; because when we are a bit discombobulated, we have the opportunity to grow. When Jesus extends the invitation ‘follow me’ it isn’t to a specific destination where we can live in static comfort but on a journey of life and growth into the Kingdom on earth as in heaven.
Parables are poetic stories that may not be factually true but are deeply truthful. They reveal the truth of our life that we may not yet be ready to see. Jesus explained them in private to the disciples not to keep secrets from or exclude others but because the growth that comes from parables can be challenging and even painful and we need the safety of a loving community to journey through the growth. Parables are designed to help us see the sharp and jagged edges of our hearts so that the Holy Spirit can smooth them out.
We are created to be in relationships and our lives are interconnected and interdependent regardless of what we may tell ourselves. We all have a core needs that can only be fulfilled in our relationship with God and others. Some of us need to know we matter and are seen, some to be perfect, some to be safe or free or successful or knowledgeable or powerful or helpful. And we are humans who don’t always get it right so sometimes our stories become distorted responses to our very real needs. Jesus invites us back to our original story, the story of God’s Kingdom on earth as in Heaven.
I’m going to share with you a modern parable about the stories we tell ourselves – a story about stories, written by Gareth Higgins and Brian McLaren.
“There once was a people, let’s call them the people. The people used stories to interpret their lives, stories of where they came from, stories of where they were going, stories that told them how to be happy, stories that told them where they were.”
Please listen to the rest of the parable here. https://cac.org/podcasts/an-introduction-to-seven-stories/
(Note: In my spoken sermon, I tell the story but I didn’t want to reprint the whole thing here without permission. I also invite you to listen to the entire Season 5 of the Learning how to See podcast as Brian and Gareth discuss each of the stories in depth.)
This is the story Jesus invites us into. The kingdom of God IS the story of Love. Amen.
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