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Volume 12 Week 43 October 22, 2006

The Parable of the Mustard Seed!

What Is God Doing? Simple! Planting, Growing, Spreading, Welcoming!

Our newest citizen, the 300,000,000^th American, seemed pretty content in the news report last Wednesday. She seemed to be right at home in her new country, nestled in her mother’s arms. They say that when the 200,000,000^th American was born some years ago, there were fears that we would soon run out of room, that America would be so overcrowded and polluted that the little girl born Tuesday would be squeezed out. Somehow, we made room for her!

300,000,000 is a lot of people. I’m excited for our youth to attend the national gathering again this summer (adult counselors welcome: apply with Mary Podeszwa) My favorite part of the numerous gatherings I attended was entering the area for the first time and watching the crowd stream in, growing and swelling with each passing minute. I always watched for the kid from the small town in North Dakota who had no idea there were so many Lutherans, let alone Lutheran teens.

I can’t wait to get to heaven and see how many will be there.

Jesus told us that’s the way it would be. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32). From the tiny seed of Jesus Himself, planted among us, grew the family of faith: Peter confessing, “You are the Christ,” the twelve, the three thousand at Pentecost Sunday and on across the globe.

We’re part of the worldwide spread of the kingdom of God. How many times have the Lord’s people prayed, “Thy kingdom come” and how many times has the Lord answered by creating faith in the heart of another believer who hears and responds in faith and service and witness?

I wonder if heaven has one of those digital counters like the Today Show displayed Tuesday morning. If there is, I know the angels sing praises of glory to God at every tick of the counter! God is up to something. Every day, across the globe, thousands of people are baptized into Christ and into the fellowship of the Church. When Peter professed his faith, Jesus responded, “I will build my Church” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is creating a place for every new believer, another branch on that mustard bush where another bird can find rest and sanctuary and a loving connecting with the rest of us who are baptized into Christ.

Welcome!

Have you ever spent much time with a new believer in Christ? It’s a pretty exciting adventure. When someone discovers the joy of the gospel, the love of Jesus and the hope of eternal life, 300,000,000 questions come to mind. New believers are eager to learn everything about this new eternally focused way of life, the way of following Jesus. Those who mentor new Christians need to be prepared. New Christians are like hungry baby birds that consume many times their own weight because they so greatly desire growth and nurture.

Most of the growth in the kingdom of God is happening in other parts of the world right now. America is becoming less of a missionary country and more of a mission field. Some wonder if it’s because American churches are not ready to welcome new believers. We should be asking ourselves, “Has my tiny mustard seed of faith grown to a kind of maturity that could support new believers, like spreading branches that can support the arrival of new birds?”

Even in our own country, a small minority of Christians does most of the evangelism. Far too many Christians have a kind of flowerpot faith with rots and branches that keep the plant alive, but without much capacity to welcome a nesting family of robins.

Is There Room?

I can’t help but be a little concerned about the little girl born in Atlanta this week. There always seems to be room for one more in America, but we know that as the population increases, more and more Americans slip into the dangerous area of poverty and marginalization, where the luxuries of the American dream ore far less readily accessible to them. Our societal and governmental systems are, in many cases, stretched beyond capacity. Some are lobbying for a wall to stem the tide of immigration.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed has most often been interpreted on a global scale or an individual scale. The Church, the family of God worldwide, has grown from tiny beginnings and now spreads its branches wide enough for all to be welcomed. And each follower of the Lord Jesus, whose faith began as a tiny seed, grows in faith and maturity until, just as Jesus welcomed others, we too have the capacity to receive newcomers into our fellowship by sharing and serving and teaching.

I wonder if there might be a third, middle ground application to the parable? I wonder if it might be possible for a local Christian congregation to see itself in the light of the parable of the mustard seed?

This anniversary year has been a time for reflecting on the past, considering some of the great events of our congregation’s history of fellowship and service in our community. I wonder what would happen if we drew a timeline of our seventy-five year history and at each era along the line we drew a picture of the mustard bush, growing from a tiny seed into the “largest of the garden plants?” How much room would there be for little sparrows seeking a landing place at each stage of our history?

How much room would it show now? What would it show about our efforts to grow and spread our branches to make room for one more, and one more after that?

Simple!

The Bible is not really that difficult to understand. Jesus was the world’s most gifted storyteller and the point of this little parable of the little seed is so simple: start small, grow large, room for more! And room for more simply means increasing our capacity to love one another the way that the Lord Jesus has loved us. And how do we as a church grow in our capacity to show love and care for the stranger?

Easy. Marshmallows! Well, maybe there’s a little more to it than marshmallows, but they are a start!

Next Friday, October 27, you are all invited to join us for a chili and ‘Smores party. Come by anytime after 5:30, throw some of your favorite chili in the pot, toast a couple of marshmallows on the fire, spread your branches, and make a new friend.

One of the most important ways we increase our capacity to welcome newcomers is by just simply spending time together in informal ways, building relationships, showing an interest in one another, having some fun together, journeying through life.

And then we’ll go out for lunch. And watch a ballgame. And meet for a cup of coffee. And surprise someone on her birthday. And rake somebody’s leaves. And call someone we haven’t seen in a few weeks. And ask someone how we can pray for them this week.

“…so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”