We human beings are classified
in many areas by types. Each of us, for instance, has a blood
type which is important for us to know. A few decades ago the
Myers-Briggs inventory was created allowing us to see various
personality types. More recently, Spiritual Director Corrine
Ware has described four basic spiritual types called: Head, Heart,
Mystic and Kingdom. Your type reveals how you primarily receive
faith input.
Long before blood, personality or personal spirituality were
given types, Jesus described four different ways people respond
to the Word of God. While Jesus didn't collectively call
them anything I am calling them soil-types. In my research, I
discovered there are actually twelve soil-types described today.
Jesus only cited four and did not name them as they are named
today.
Given the farming methods most people employ in McLean County
we may have difficulty relating to the farming practices of Jesus' day.
Farmers did not farm as large amounts of land as they do today.
They did not have the equipment, fertilizers, special seeds,
weed controls and scientific knowledge as most farmers in our
area. The land that farmers utilize in this area is normally
used exclusively for crops. It is carefully prepared and tended
year round.
In Jesus' day after a crop was first harvested the field
was gleaned by the poor. After that cattle grazed there and for
much of the year people walked over it as they traveled from
place to place. At planting time the farmer walked the area.
He scattered the seed by hand. Some fell where the ground was
hard and was eaten by birds before the farmer plowed it under.
Other areas were very rocky and the soil was thin not like the
deep rich soil that was on the field surrounding the church and
is now piled high at the north side of our property.
The seed that fell on thin soil grew quickly but lacked deep
roots and it quickly withered in the heat. Other seed fell where
weeds were already growing and in time were choked out by the
rapidly growing weeds. Amazingly, some seed found ideal growing
conditions and multiplied several fold.
I think Jesus may have shared this parable to encourage His
disciples who would soon have preaching and teaching responsibilities.
He no doubt wanted them to understand that not all of their attempts
at planting God's Word would succeed but when it did wonderful
things would happen.
Two thousand years later women and men are still attempting
to plant the Word of God. Today those who sow these seeds have
the best possible equipment for planting and cultivating ever
before possible. Where their efforts are succeeding there is
miraculous growth taking place. But when the ground is not receptive
or there is no rain there is still little growth.
Three weeks ago a sower of another kind, Pastor David Santana,
spoke at our 8:30 a.m. service. Pastor Santana is attempting
to begin a congregation for Spanish speaking people of our community.
Pastor Santana is a gifted and committed servant of Jesus Christ,
but the members of his small but growing congregation are some
of the lowest paid people in the county. They cannot afford at
this time to pay his salary. Second Presbyterian Church has allowed
this new congregation to worship in their building. They have
provided an office and they announce the worship times of this
new congregation in their newspaper ad. It is now time for the
rest of us to help make the ground fertile so the seeds of this
new and vitally needed ministry can grow.
When I came here six and one-half years ago, the Presbytery
of Great Rivers was beginning a ministry partnership in Northeast
Brazil. One congregation there needed $20,000 to remodel their
church and add a Christian education building. I challenged this
congregation to help. In three weeks time you generously gave
$20,000 which surprised everyone in the presbytery but enabled
the ministry in Brazil to begin. Today it is a thriving congregation
serving the needs of many people in that area. I am keenly aware
of our own budget needs what with our new addition and expanded
operating costs. We have also recently made a commitment to the
local Habitat for Humanity project that will require $7,500 and
hundreds of volunteer hours from us. That project started yesterday.
In recent months we have had some significant contributions cease
because people have moved to other states. Many in the congregation
are making sacrificial gifts which are both necessary and greatly
appreciated.
Once again, we have the challenge and opportunity to discover
what kind of soil we are. Are we so packed down there is no chance
for growth? Are we so shallow that we only work in short spurts?
Are we involved in so much that there is little room for anything
else? Or, is it the case that the huge pile of rich, black topsoil
sitting on the north end of our property is an appropriate symbol
that says real growth occurs in this place?
It is fitting, I think, for us to understand that the aforementioned
piece of our property will not be fit for us to use until nearly
all of that dirt has gone somewhere else to help make things
grow. Likewise, our internal growth will greatly depend upon
how much we are willing to give away to others. It will depend
upon how much we will trust God to provide the things we need
because God will be able to see that we are good stewards of
God's gifts to us.
Once again we need to lead the way for our presbytery. If Pastor
Santana does not soon get the financial help he needs, he will
be forced to leave the area. The ministry needs $20,000 to get
to the end of the year. Much work is taking place to obtain funding
for next year, but the challenge before us is an immediate one.
People on the outside looking in at us might say we cannot
do much more at this time because our funding potential is like
the thin and rocky soil. They may even think our hearts and pocketbooks
are so hard that nothing more can come from them. I don't
believe that.
I think we are people of deep and fertile soil. I believe we
are interested in being God's partners in sowing ministries
that will multiply. How we respond as sowers of the seed will
be determined by what kind of soil is in us and how well established
God's seed is in that soil. I think we will be very pleased
with how things grow when we offer fertile soil to the Eternal
Sower.
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