Wisdom 12:13,16-19
Romans 8:18-25
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
Psalm 86
CHILDREN'S SERMON: WEEDING THE GARDEN
Did your family plant a garden this year? What kinds of things are growing in your gardens? Do you all help out in the garden? What do you do? (if they don't volunteer that they have to WEED - bring that up. And if they don't have to weed, then shift to your experience as a kid weeding in the garden)
Have you ever had a little trouble trying to figure out what was a weed and what wasn't? Well, we haven't had an Uncle Dick story for a long time have we? So I thought I'd tell you about a time when I got things all mixed up ...and how Uncle Dick helped me out.
Now it was a very, very hot summer day at the farm where my auntie lou and uncle dick lived with my grandma and grandpa... I think I was about Kori's age...and my Grandma had asked me to weed a bean row in the vegetable garden.
Now like I said, it was very hot! And I was reading a book about a Secret Garden and I really wanted to just sit under the tree and read my book - but I knew I'd better get the weeding done, so I did it really fast and I didn't pay much attention to what I was doing... and what do you think I did? .............. Yup... I'd been pulling up the beans and leaving the weeds!
I was almost through with the row when I looked at what I was doing - and I got this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach - cuz I knew I'd been pulling up the wrong thing. And I didn't know what I was going to do...my Grandma was kind of fussy about her garden. So I went and found Uncle Dick and told him what I'd done. He listened very carefully like he always did... And then he gave me something... can you guess what he gave me? Yup...he gave me a rock - like he always did.
And then he picked up a rock for himself - and we held onto our rocks and we started talking to Jesus.. and while we were doin' that, Grandma came along and asked what we were talking to Jesus about.
Well, I'll tell you, I just wanted to disappear right then and there - but Uncle Dick gave me a wink and I held onto my rock and I told Grandma what I'd done... and you know what happened? My Grandma started chuckling and then she started laughing and she was laughing so hard that tears started rolling down her cheeks and - well, I was really confused! and do you know what she said?
She said she'd been mad at herself ever since she'd planted that row in beans, because we already had too many beans - and she didn't want to can all those beans. So now that I'd pulled them up, she'd have room to plant the new flower seed she really wanted to plant. And that summer we had beautiful bouquets on the table every night.. And everyone said they were sure glad I'd pulled up the beans.
You know, sometimes when things look like they are a real mess - talking to Jesus can help out. Oh, things don't always work at as good as they did when I pulled up the beans - but talking to Jesus can still help.
So instead of giving you all a rock from Uncle Dick again - I brought each of you a packet of seeds to remind you that sometimes when things look like a pretty big mess - well, Jesus can help us figure out how to turn it into something real pretty...
GRANDMA'S WEED
My grandmother loved to work in the earth - and the garden was her favorite place. She grew just about every kind of vegetable there is, along with rows of gladiolas - her favorite flower. When I was a kid, I spent a lot of summers at my Grandparent's farm in northeast Missouri. And I can still see the back porch filled to overflowing with produce from Grandma's garden... tomatoes and peas, beans and cabbage, pickles and squash, potatoes and onions, okra and kolarabi, corn, melons and eggplant, ...it just seemed to go on forever.
Now Missouri summers are very hot - about like this summer's been up here in Minnesota. So Grandma would always go out right about dawn to work in her garden... And when she'd come back to the house, she would always be muttering and sputtering about the weeds...she would get so disgusted with how she could never keep up with the weeds. But then she'd just shrug her shoulders and throw up her hands and say - "Well, I reckon if the weeds wasn't growing, nothin' else would be either."
One summer, when I was probably 6 or 7, we had a really bad drought. The droughts of the early 50's put a lot of family farmers out of business. So while my grandparents were very gentle people, tempers did run a little short that summer. We hauled a lot of water to keep Grandma's garden alive that year. And the fear of the wells going dry was never very far from anyone's mind. One morning after helping Grandma water her garden, Grandpa said, "Stella, when're you gonna pull up that weed over there? It's growin' like you've been waterin' it." Grandma got a little bristly and pursed her lips and said, "Now, Tom, I'm not so sure that is a weed and I have been waterin' it. So you just let it alone."
Well - you could see that Grandpa was a little flabbergasted - and they argued about it for a few minutes. But when it came to her garden, Grandma usually won - and she won this time. So Grandpa walked away shaking his head and muttering about wasting water and remember what happened back in the 30's. So the summer went on and every now and then they'd get into it about Grandma's weed. But Grandma wouldn't budge. She just kept watering it.
Us kids would tease her about it - we'd make up little sing-song chants about Grandma's weed. And she'd get all bristly - and then give it some more water. Along about August, when that weed had gotten really big, it started to develop buds - and Grandpa was getting pretty aggravated. He was sure it would scatter seeds all over and they'd be all over the whole garden by the next summer. But Grandma just kept watering it - and one evening after supper she announced that she would like everyone to join her in the garden.
So we all trouped outdoors - Grandpa, my Auntie Lou and Uncle Dick, my cousins and my sister and I - following Grandma who marched right up to her weed and pointed to it without a word... Grandma's weed had burst out with the most beautiful flowers I think I've ever seen. They were a brilliant scarlet orange, and Grandpa's bees were everywhere - collecting whatever it is that bees collect. Now you know, my Grandpa never kept a grudge - and when the honey was harvested that year, he was the first one to announce that it was the best tasting honey he'd ever had.
Jesus tells us - don't pull up the weeds. Leave them alone and trust in God to figure things out. Paul says - hope in what is NOT seen. Trust in God who offers us salvation - and live with eagerness and anticipation of God's abundance. The psalmist sings praises to our God who loves us, and delivers us, saves us and gives us strength. And the Book of Wisdom reminds us that God will fill us with good hope... Now that sounds like GOOD NEWS!
Oh, I'll admit - sometimes the good news doesn't exactly look like good news: the Church of Our Saviour operating in the red doesn't look like good news. And building an addition when we are several thousands of dollars in debt sure doesn't look like good news either. But - in spite of all that, the Diocesan Trustees still saw the good news - because they approved our loan so that we can actually start building that addition!
Paul says - hope is about hoping in what we can''t see, what we don't know, what we aren't sure about. If it's a sure thing - who needs hope? Jesus says - hey, there's gonna be weeds - so quit focusing on the weeds and trust in God. Now - we don't know if our building addition is going to grow into an enormous weed - or blossom into a fragrant garden that draws God's children into the love of Jesus Christ. But Paul reminds us to hope... to hope in what is not seen, and to remember that our very salvation in Jesus Christ came out of hope.
You know, if my grandparents were here with us today, my Grandpa would be listening and he'd probably be shaking his head and muttering about the well running dry..... until my Grandma would get a little bristly and purse her lips, and say, "Now, Tom, don't you forgit about how good that honey was back in the ‘50's when my weed bloomed." My grandmother was a very wise woman...
AMEN