Seedy Relief Living the Kingdom of God

the sermon can be listened to here

Gate Pa 13 June 2021 – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:
Psalm                                      Psalm 20                    
First Reading:                           1 Samuel 15:34-16:13            
Second Reading:                     2 Cor 5:6-10,14-17                 
Gospel:                                      Mark 4:26-34                         

What I want to say:
Explore what the Kingdom of God looked like for Jesus hearers, and Marks listeners.
Last week we looked at Kingdom of God in terms of the trinity and the nature of the relationships within the Trinity. They are marked by mutuality, compassion, generosity, aroha, peace, love. But that invitation to live this way is hard when it come to people and issues we have strong feelings about. Introduce Parker Palmer – truth is found in the gap
The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed – helpful but popping up in unexpected places.
Today’s seed stories offer some hope and relief – the Kingdom of God is mostly about the work of God, not us. We are like the sower who carried on with life, unaware of what God is doing even with the little seed we are able to sow.
With what might we compare the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is like a gorse bush, growing in unexpected places and sharp and prickly

What I want to happen:
Where might I need to let go of some of my certainty and find truth in the gap between my standpoint and the others?

The Sermon

       1.     Introduction:

What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can we use to explain it?
this is a really interesting question
how would you respond to that?
ð Talk neighbour.
When Jesus asked that question
answer pretty obvious.
-         looking to a restoration of Kingdom of David (1st reading)
represented best time
kingdom God was when all live in presence of living God under Law Moses without fear
that meant
end Roman rule
end to corruption of High Priests and Temple leadership
end to Herod and other Roman sycophants including Jerusalem elite
end harsh taxation – led to so many families losing their lands
end to mass impoverishment and enriching of few Jerusalem based families
on the flip side - included
restoration of land back to families – traditionally owned it
restoration of true temple leadership and true temple worship
            not sham going on time Jesus
restoration line David
and time where all had more than enough to thrive on
kingdom God summarised everything they longed for
one day soon would fight and die for

       2.     Mark

By  the time Mark wrote this gospel all this was dust
-         Jerusalem destroyed
-         Temple razed
-         Hundred’s thousands Jews – killed or enslaved in Jewish rebellion
That dream of the kingdom of God was faint dream.
How then were community Mark writing for to live?
-         Meld in Roman empire be invisible and safe?
-         Join revolution?
-         Another way – third way?

       3.     Trinity

Last week we looked at relationships that exist within Trinity
-         How they shape how we live lives
explored the traditional image of a non-hierarchical or equal relationship within God
-         Relationship marked by mutuality,
-         Mutuality defined by generosity, compassion, completeness, wholeness, shalom, aroha
ð This is love.
WE are invited into the heart of this relationship in Jesus
We are invited as followers of the way to live this out in our everyday lives
This is Mark’s third way
Asked how we live that out, using our experience of Te Pouhere – church constitution, in some current discussions/controversies in Tauranga
We saw how hard that is.
Especially when issues we feel strongly about.
It is hard to bring any kind of mutuality
-         Mutuality defined by generosity, compassion, completeness, wholeness, shalom, aroha
To accept as Parker Palmer suggests
-         That truth is not found in my firmly held opinion, but in the gap between what I think/believe, and what the other believes
o   It is hard to be open to build relationships based
§  Mutuality defined by generosity, compassion, completeness, wholeness, shalom, aroha
o   It is hard to live Kingdom of God

       4.     Seedy parable

Brings us back to our seedy parables
one things we can say about Jesus is that he is constantly trying to shake people up
trying knock them out of their assumptions about God
about what meant to be the people of God
constantly inviting them to go bigger
that is what is going on here
in first big block teaching in Mark
-         Jesus several parables about seeds
-         We get the last two
both well known
both honest
little bit confusing
first farmer who sows seeds
goes away
comes back and there is a harvest
farmer sows and reaps, but the rest is up to the seed and the earth.
Just about all of it is up to seed and soil
When it is hard I am not sure how many seeds  I am planting
Not sure what I am doing for God’s kingdom
God’s kingdom takes what I can do
-         Few seeds I plant
-         Does the rest itself
second uses mustard seed
            well known health properties and is used lot cooking
            and sowing during winter to help renutrientise the soil
small seed that ends up a reasonable sized shrub
            Mark is not prone to same exaggeration as Matthew – not a tree
which is also bit of weed
once planted it you will never get rid of it
just keeps reseeding
            growing all kinds places didn’t intend
bit of a relief
God can take my small efforts
My struggles
Take those seeds into places, even within me
That I never thought possible

       5.     Jesus parables and me

those parables shake us loose from our certainties
should make us a lot less sure about ourselves
parables say to us
kingdom of God is
·        lot less describable than we think
·        luckily not just about us and what we do
o   we have a role – but kingdom grows even while we sleep
·        we are not in control – mustard seeds have bad reputations germinating all kinds of places people don’t want them
·        kingdom of God is not ours to define
·        is happening all around us , just as seeds are germinating all around us
·        finally - fruits are important part of kingdom rather than structure
o   communities of justice and peace
o   lived in and marked by Trinitarian mutuality
§  generosity, compassion, completeness, wholeness, shalom, aroha of God
Kingdom of God is now when we do these things,
            and when they are done to us.

       6.     Conclusion

Today’s seed stories offer some hope and relief – the Kingdom of God is mostly about the work of God, not us.
-         We are like the sower who carried on with life,
-         unaware of what God is doing even with the little seed we are able to sow.
With what might we compare the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is like a gorse bush, growing in unexpected places and sharp and prickly
Where might I need to let go of some of my certainty and find truth in the gap between my standpoint and the others?

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