Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 12 July 2020, is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V).
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are in two sets, the Continuous readings and the Paired readings. These sets of readings are:
The Continuous readings: Genesis 25: 19-34; Psalm 119: 105-112; Romans 8: 1-11; Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23.
There is a link to the Continuous readings HERE.
The Paired readings: Isaiah 55: 10-13; Psalm 65: (1-7) 8-13; Romans 8: 1-11; Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23.
There is a link to the Paired readings HERE.
Introducing the readings:
Where do we expect to find spiritual growth, how do we count or measure it, and how do we evaluate it?
Last month (12 June 2020), The Irish Times published a glossy magazine supplement, The Top 1000 Companies 2020, with a cover that promised: ‘Best performing companies revealed.’
But, apart from a short piece on ethical investment half-way through this 60-page magazine, ‘best’ and ‘performance’ was judged by size, profits and value on the stock exchange. They were not judged by the social capital created by any company, the conditions and benefits for workers, or the commitment of organisations to funding charities or supporting struggling cultural, youth or community organisations.
Sometimes we are like that in the Church today. When we speak of ‘church growth’ we usually refer to increasing numbers of Sunday churchgoers, expanding church activities that attract new or retain old members and that look in on the inner life of a parish rather than measuring the Church’s compassionate outreach to the needs of the wider society, the wider world.
How do we measure spiritual growth?
So often we get it wrong – and this is a debate that can begin in Sunday’s readings.
Isaac does not expect Jacob to grow and become his heir, but Esau sells his spiritual birthright for worldly gains.
In the face of adversity, the Psalmist finds real joy, and even though he may not see the fruits of his faithfulness, it will be of benefit to future generations.
Saint Paul realises the paradox of the inner conflict that the believer faces, but counsels that these inner conflicts are part of spiritual growth.
The sower in the Gospel reading could see quick growth from the seed he scatters on the pathway, on the rocks and among the brambles. But real spiritual growth takes time and patience. It may not be as spectacular and takes longer, but it is of lasting value.
Genesis 25: 19-34:
Too often we expect immediate results. And too often we judge whether a project is a success or a failure by asking whether it is producing immediate, measurable, visible, tangible results. If not, we dismiss that project as an immediate failure.
In the Old Testament reading (Genesis 25: 19-34), Rebekah knows about postponed and delayed expectations. She is married for 20 years and Isaac is 60 before she conceives. To add to her surprise after all those years, she finds she is pregnant not with one child but with two, twin boys.
Their father Isaac does not expect Jacob to grow and become his heir. Instead, Esau is the hunter gatherer, while Jacob seems to be the stay-at-home boy, the ‘Mammy’s boy,’ with a hint that he is good at stirring up trouble, cooking a stew (see verse 29).
Esau expects immediate results, to the point that he is willing to give up his long-term prospects, his rights and inheritance as the first-born son, for the immediate satisfaction of the lentil stew Isaac has been brewing up.
Esau expects immediate results. He lacks the patience to wait and see what may happen, he does not have the ability, the commitment or the endurance to stick with things.
Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob too, could not yet see the working out of God’s plans in future generations … how could they? Like the sower who sows so that others may reap, how could Isaac and Rebekah know what one bowl of lentils would lead to?
Psalm 119: 105-112:
Psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms. It is made up of 22 eight-line stanzas, and this reading is the 14th stanza, in which line in Hebrew begins with the letter nun (נ), the 14th letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
The Psalmist too is challenged to consider his own need for patience and endurance, to see not his immediate predicament but to look to the future. He thinks he is a failure because of his present circumstances, but does the rejection he feels today shape his tomorrow?
Perhaps the dominant theme running through this stanza of Psalm 119 is our need for patience and determination. The psalmist learns patiently in the face of the wicked, in living with deep troubles, insults, innuendoes and immediate risks to his life to remain in awe of God.
He has an inheritance that is not only for the here and now, but for future generations, for ever (verse 111), and for ever and to the end (verse 112).
In the face of adversity, this is his real joy, even though he may not see the fruits of his faithfulness, it will be of benefit to future generations.
Romans 8: 1-11:
The Apostle Paul reminds us that through Baptism we are incorporated in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit frees us from the consequences of sin that lead to death. We now walk in the ways of the Spirit, instead of the old sinful ways that once led to death, and we should keep our minds focussed on the ways of the Spirit.
However, Saint Paul realises the paradox of the inner conflict that the believer faces. I wish to follow God’s ways, but, somehow, I do otherwise. Something within causes me not to follow through from mind to action, and my physical being seems naturally inclined to do what is wrong.
He reminds us that we belong to the Spirit, who dwells within us. This Spirit raised Christ from the dead and now dwells with us.
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23:
The crowd that has come to hear Jesus is so large that he teaches from a boat on the Sea of Galilee. He tells several parables, including the Parable of the Sower in the first part of this reading (verses 3b-8), and which Christ explains in part in the second part of the reading (verses 18-23).
In farming practices at that time, seeding sometimes took place before ploughing. The sower and the seed are constant, but where the seed lands varies. There are three unfruitful places: on the path (verse 4), among rocks (verse 5) and among thorns (verse 7). But there is one fruitful place, which is good soil (verse 8).
In verse 9, Christ tells the crowd – and us – that this story has a deeper meaning.
Sowing is often seen as the work of God (see Jeremiah 31: 27-28; Ezekiel 36: 9; Hosea 2: 21-23; IV Ezra (II Esdras) 9: 31; Baruch 32: 1). At the time, people would naturally think of the sower as God and the different soils as the people of the world. Thinking about the prophecy of the fate of the households of Jeroboam and Ahab (I Kings 16: 4, 24: 4)), they probably linked the birds in verse 4 with evil. But perhaps the sower here is anyone who tells the good news, and growth represents receptivity and response.
Although Christ has invited the crowd to listen to this parable (verse 9), the story still needs explanation so it can be understood and bear fruit (verses 19, 23).
The path is like those who have the seed sown in their hearts and who hear but do not seek to understand (verse 19).
The rocky ground is like those who have a superficial understanding of Christ’s teaching, but turn to other ideas in the face of changing fashions or opposition (verses 20-21).
The thorns can be compared to those who hear Christ’s teaching but are turned away from it by the temptations of the world, including wealth and power (verse 22).
Finally, those who understand take to heart what Christ says and understand it, and they reflect this understanding in how they live their lives, how they bear fruit (verse 23).
Reflecting on the Gospel reading:
The East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, depicts the sower sowing seed on different types of ground.
When children come into the church, I enjoy explaining that window to them. But I never concede or admit that I am no good at sowing, no good in the garden, no good at growing plants or trees, and certainly no good at growing them from seed.
I could explain this away by excuses such as heavy hay fever since childhood or claiming I do not have green fingers. But to tell the truth, it may be because of a combination of faults: because I expect quick results and because I expect perfection.
I enjoy sitting in the garden, reading, eating in the open, listening to the fountain, but not weeding the flower beds, tending the plants or mowing the lawn.
In short, I do not do gardening, I do not do garden centres.
But in those times before the pandemic lockdown, when I could spend holidays in Crete, I have found myself appreciating gardens and growing and growth. In Platanias, the suburban village where we have enjoyed staying, we have often had breakfast on a terrace overlooking a taverna garden with tables between the tall, leafy trees and a variety of flowers and plants, many of them over 100 years old.
The family there explain that it has taken over a century to grow these plant, flowers and trees. It is careful nurturing, a gentle and loving task handed on from one generation to the next, with no expectation of immediate, personal reward for any one generation.
In the very heart of Rethymon itself, the Municipal Garden is an attraction that few tourists visit or appreciate. But this garden is a welcome, cool and refreshing place in the middle of the summer heatwaves that Crete can experience, with temperatures in the high 30s, and sometimes even reaching 40.
The garden is near the city centre and close to the old city walls and the Venetian gates into the Old Town.
This is a green area that includes a playground, drinking fountains, the busts of writers and politicians, and a cafeteria. Originally, it was a Turkish Muslim cemetery. After the Turks left Crete in the 1920s, the city council decided not to build on the site. Instead, they created a garden that respected the dead and gave pleasure to the living.
Now this is a home to rare plants, a place for the people of the town to stroll in the shade away from the summer heat, and a venue for political and cultural events and festivals.
This garden, dating from 1925, has taken almost a century, more than three full generations, to reach its present mature beauty. It takes that span of time to plant, grow, develop and shape two gardens like these. The people who had the vision for them, who laid out the pathways, who sowed the seeds and tended the first saplings in their early stages of growth, knew they would never see their work come to maturity, they would never see the fruits of their dreams.
At times, they must have been frustrated. In the old graveyard, inevitably some of their seeds and saplings ended up being sown or planted on stony ground and never grew properly. In the summer heat and drought, many seeds and plants must have found too little water and been burned by the sun. Some must have been trampled on by people dining in the taverna garden or eager to see the new phenomenon of a municipal public garden.
But the planners passed on their vision, and in the summer heat I have often benefitted from their vision, their persistence and their tenacity.
Too often we expect immediate results. And too often we judge whether a project is a success or a failure by asking whether it is producing immediate, measurable, visible, tangible results. If not, we dismiss that project as an immediate failure.
Just because something works now does not mean it is right for the future. Just because something does not work now does not mean it is wrong for the future.
It is not the fault of the seed that it has fallen on rocky soil, or landed on the roadway, or been burned up in the mid-day sun. God scatters where he will, abundantly and generously.
On the other hand, we can achieve little by our own innate qualities or abilities. We are all inter-dependent – just like the seed, which depends on the sower and on soil, sun, rain and the right conditions.
Why does some of the seed yield better results? – some of it is immeasurably better than that other seed.
Growth occurs without us seeing or knowing it. Yet we can have such limited expectations of God.
Why does God allow certain people to do this, that or the other?
Why does God allow particular people or nations to prosper?
Why does God seemingly reward the wayward and the careless, those I would prefer to see left on rocky soil or would pass by on the side of the road?
If only God behaved a little more like I do, or like I want God to, would this not be a far, far better world?
Would this not be a far, far better society?
Would this not be a far, far better Church?
And so on.
Sometimes in the Church of Ireland, we become very exercised about Church attendance figures and with this anxiety comes talk of Church growth, Church planting, and reaching the unchurched. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder whether we are neglecting our own inheritance, the harvest of the seeds that have already been planted by previous generations, the promises that were made to past generations.
In the Collect on Sunday morning, we are praying that as God’s faithful people that we would serve in ‘holiness and truth’. And so success in ordinary parishes is not to be judged by business models of rapid growth and charts that track increases in sales and profits.
Our measures for growth must be so different. We are here as salt and light in our communities. True growth may not be found not in quantity but in quality: how we love our neighbours, how we encourage and help them to grow in their faith, how we are faithful witnesses to the love of God and the love of others.
And, as we know, love, hope and faith cannot be measured, they cannot be bought or sold, and their true value bears fruit not in the now and the immediate but over decades, over time.
There is hope. There is hope for our small congregations. If we have hope in the seeds sown in the past, if we pay attention to the potential harvest, if we look with faith and hope to the future, then there is no reason to fret about present figures.
Like the garden planners in Crete who had vision in Rethymnon almost a century ago, we may not see the growth that follows our faithful attention to our own little patches today. But there is no need to dismiss congregations that are small in numbers are small in the benefits that we bring to the wider community.
I like to think of our churches and parishes as having the real potential to be the spiritual gardens of our wider communities. As Thomas More once said: ‘The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.’
An additional resource:
In addition, the General Secretary of USPG, the Revs Duncan Dormor, is offering a free pre-recorded sermon for churches that are either already engaged with USPG, or who are interested in learning more.
A sermon, based on the lectionary readings and learnings from USPG’s global partners will be available for Sunday 12 July (Trinity 5). If you would like to receive this sermon for your church please email Gwen Mtambirwa, Mission Engagement Co-ordinator: gwenm@uspg.org.uk . It will be sent to you on Thursday 9 July.
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23 (NRSVA):
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!’
18 ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Green (Ordinary Time, Year A).
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
Hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Collect of the Word:
O Lord,
we beseech you mercifully to receive
the prayers of your people who call upon you,
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Holy and blessed God,
as you give us the body and blood of your Son,
guide us with your Holy Spirit,
that we may honour you not only with our lips
but also with our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Suggested Hymns:
Genesis 25: 19-34:
No suggested hymns
Psalm 119: 105-112:
294, Come down, O Love divine
382, Help us, O Lord, to learn
384, Lord, thy word abideth
637, O for a closer walk with God
592, O Love that wilt not let me go
490, The Spirit lives to set us free
603, When we walk with the Lord
Isaiah 55: 10-13:
65, At evening when the sun had set
454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
384, Lord, thy word abideth
710, Sing to God new songs of worship
47, We plough the fields and scatter
377, You shall go out with joy
Psalm 65: (1-7) 8-13:
612, Eternal Father, strong to save
645, Father, hear the prayer we offer
42, Good is the Lord our heavenly King
581, I, the Lord of sea and sky
709, Praise the Lord! you heavens adore him
Romans 8: 1-11:
218, And can it be that I should gain
294, Come down, O Love divine
297, Come, thou Holy Spirit, come
319, Father, of heaven, whose love profound
74, First of the week and finest day
353, Give to our God immortal praise
300, Holy Spirit, truth divine
102, Name of all majesty
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23:
378, Almighty God, your word is cast
413, Father, we thank thee who hast planted
380, God has spoken to his people, alleluia
430, Lord, as the grain which once on upland acres
75, Lord, dismiss us with your blessing
385, Rise and hear! The Lord is speaking
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
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