Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 May 18 th, 2014 Mark 4:30-32 St. David s Presbyterian Church, Campbellville, ON. When God Blesses Our Little Bit

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1 Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 May 18 th, 2014 Mark 4:30-32 St. David s Presbyterian Church, Campbellville, ON When God Blesses Our Little Bit We are probably all familiar with the definition of a parable that I was taught in Sunday School: an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That definition certainly fits the parable I just read for it is all about the God given potential of a seed when it is planted in the earth. You know the story. Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. Yet when it is planted in the earth, it grows up to be one of the largest of all shrubs, with large branches so that the birds come and make nests in its shade. It s a beautiful image that Jesus paints of how God can take our little bit and turn it into a lot a whole lot! Again and again and again God takes what we consider insignificant of no account, a mere drop in the bucket and blesses that little bit and miracles grow and multiply out of those meager beginnings. From beginning to end, the Bible is the story of how God does this again and again. Abraham and Sarah could testify to this truth. They weren t called Abraham and Sarah when God first called them. They were called Abram and Sarai, and they were childless. God called Abram to take his family and leave his homeland and travel to a new land that God would show him. I will make of you a great nation, God promised Abram, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Now Abram was seventy-five years old at the time and his wife Sarai was sixty-five, well beyond her child bearing years. God changed Abram s name to Abraham, which means Father of Nations, and promised him that his wife Sarah would give birth to a son and that the number of his descendants would be like the stars in the sky. And God fulfilled his 1

2 promise. Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and we are some of the metaphorical wild birds that now nest in the shade of Abraham and Sarah s family tree. I wonder if you can think of any other stories in Scripture that illustrate this pattern of God taking something small and using it to make something great There s the story of the Israelites in slavery in Egypt overcoming the greatest empire on earth When Moses spoke to the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land, he reminded them: It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you for you were the fewest of all people. There s the story of Gideon leading an army to overcome the Midianites He raised an army of 32,000 soldiers, but God said that was too many. With that many, the Israelites might take credit for the victory, God told Gideon. So God directed Gideon to weed the number down to 22,000 ( Still too many, God said); then 10,000 ( Still too many ), and then finally down to 300. Now you are ready to fight! And Gideon s 300 men vanquished the Midianites thousands. There s the story of Elijah the prophet and the widow of Zeraphath He stayed with her during a severe drought. All she had was a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Yet it was enough to provide for Elijah and herself while Elijah stayed with her. There s the story of Elisha the prophet, Elijah s successor, and the widow s oil It kept flowing and filled many jars, which she sold to pay her debts and provide for her children. And there s another story about Elisha. A man brought him a sack filled with twenty loaves of bread and some fresh ears of grain. Give it to the people and let them eat, 2

3 Elisha instructed his servant. His servant protested, How can I put this before a hundred people! Yet it became enough to feed them all and they had some left over! But that s nothing compared to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish given him from a kid s lunch, and everyone ate and had enough and they collected twelve baskets of leftovers And then Jesus does the miracle all over again, this time for 4,000 with seven loaves and a few small fish; and after everyone eats their fill, they collect seven baskets of leftovers Of course we know what Jesus did with just twelve apostles. Under his leadership, those twelve led a revolution that turned the whole world upside down, and two thousand years later we are the beneficiaries But the real miracle is what happened through Jesus own death on the cross One man putting his little bit into God s hands proved to be the salvation of the world! Unless the seed falls into the earth and dies, it bears no fruit. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And do you see how from beginning to end the Bible is the story of how God takes our little bit, blesses it, and it becomes enough? Enough to feed a multitude, enough to change the world! And that is the way God still works to this very day Millard Fuller could testify to the fact that this is the way God works. In 1976 he was concerned about one family living in his community in Americus, Georgia, with poor housing. He organized the community to build a simple, but adequate house for the family, with a no-interest mortgage they could afford. That was the beginning of Habitat for Humanity. Thirty-eight years later, volunteer teams with Habitat for Humanity have 3

4 now built more than 600,000 affordable homes for more than 3 million people in over 3,000 communities in over 100 countries worldwide. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Millard Fuller s work is an amazing example of the way God takes our little bit and blesses it to work miracles. But God is quietly at work in smaller ways everyday of our lives. In my travels across the church, I see such little miracles in congregation after congregation. In Brandon, Manitoba, I learned of the many quiet, little things the people in the presbytery are doing for the larger community. St. Andrew s Church in Virden subdivided some of their property to provide land for a Habitat for Humanity build in their community where housing is at a premium because of workers coming in to serve in the growing oil business. First Church, Portage la Prairie, has made 300 Comfort Dolls for children in Africa over the past one and a half years. First Church, Brandon, is engaged in a vital Prayer Shawl Ministry, giving shawls hand knit by women in their congregation who knit their prayers and love into every stitch and then give the shawls away to people in hospital or newcomers to the community or shut-ins or traveling preachers like me! In the past six years, the people of First Church have given away over 300 prayer shawls! By the way, the Prayer Shawl ministry has an interesting history. In 1998, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo attended the Women's Leadership Institute at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, which was led by Professor Miriam Therese Winter. Dr. Winter became famous back in the 60 s as a singer/songwriter with the Medical Mission Sisters (two of her hymns are in our hymnbooks). After Janet and Victoria 4

5 completed their study, the two women wanted to figure out a way to combine the spiritual discipline of prayer with a practical expression of love and compassion, and so the idea of the prayer shawl ministry was born and has spread to individuals and congregations of every denomination around the world. When I was moderator of the 136 th General Assembly, I invited Presbyterians to knit prayer shawls for the residents in the Boarding Homes Ministry under the leadership of Rev. Rodger Hunter. To date, more than 350 prayers shawls of every colour of the rainbow have been distributed to Boarding Homes residents. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed! The letter we write, the listening ear we offer, the prayer we lift up to God they all seem so small and insignificant a drop in the bucket but God can take our little bit and turn it into something wonderful those little acts are like mustard seeds planted in the soil. They are filled with God s potential. Now listen carefully, for this is the gospel truth. Each of us in our own way can make a difference. When we put our little bit in Christ s hands for him to bless, God can and does do remarkable things, transforming a mustard seed into the largest of all shrubs with branches large enough to provide nesting places for many birds. We often look around the sanctuaries of our churches and only see the empty spaces and grow discouraged. God doesn t. God looks at who is here and what we each have to offer. From God s point of view there are enough people here to change the world. Jesus did it once already with just twelve apostles. Why can t he do it again? I remember with fondness a children s story I led at Bethel Church in Scotsburn, NS. Holding up a small brown bag, I asked them if they believed there was enough food in this bag to feed every person in the sanctuary. The kids were skeptical until I showed 5

6 them what was inside: packets of various kinds of seeds carrots and beans, squash and pumpkins, etc. Then I opened one of the packets and placed a seed in each child s hand and said what they were holding in their hands was POTENTIAL. That s a big word in a small package, I said, explaining what potential meant. Then I told the kids, You are like those seeds. Do you know what that means? I asked. Prompting one little boy to exclaim, I do! he shouted. It means I m small, but I ve got potential! And he does As do we all! You are probably familiar with Paul Harvey s The rest of the story radio newscasts. I don t know if he has ever told this story, but it is a story worthy of his special story telling skills... Charlotte was the daughter of an Anglican minister and the sister of another. Except for brief intermissions, she was chronically ill her entire life, spending weeks and months languishing in bed. It seems her clergy brother was trying to establish a school for the poor and held a bazaar in the church he served to raise money for the project. Charlotte was eager to help, but on the day of the bazaar, Charlotte found herself in bed and was unable to lend a hand. Feeling useless and discouraged she wrote a poem out of her feelings of poverty and weakness and donated the proceeds from the sale of her poem to the school. The name of the woman is Charlotte Elliott, and the name of her poem, which was set to music, is Just as I am, without one plea. More money was raised from the sale of Charlotte s poem than all the money raising projects organized by her ablebodied brother. And more lives have been touched by the simple message of that one hymn than by the eloquent sermons of countless preachers. And now you know the rest of the story! 6

7 Jesus is right. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. I wonder what God can do with our little bit? Sermon preached by Rev. Herb Gale St. David s Presbyterian Church Campbellville, Ontario May 18 th,