Sermon for 3rd Pentecost
God will draw all things together for good
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Those of you who know me, know that I am an optimistic person. I almost always see the glass as half full, not half empty. My optimism is personal, political, and theological.
But I have to admit, that it is easy to be pessimistic these days, especially in the church.
Recent news reports note that in 2020 a record number of US churches closed. The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard on churches, forcing most to stop in-person worship for a year or more, with too many just not able to pivot into online worship.
Not long ago I shared with you a recent Gallop poll shows that fewer than half of US adults now say they belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque. This survey indicates that religious membership in the US has now fallen to 47% among those surveyed, representing less than half of the US population for the first time since Gallop began collecting this information some 80 years ago. As recently as 2018, 50% of US adults still claimed membership in a religious congregation. That was down sharply from 70% who said so in 1999.
Sometime ago I was with a long-time pastor friend who was an assistant to the bishop in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, one of the historic centers of the Lutheran population in this country. My friend told me that they have about 280 congregations and that he expected that ten years from now that number would be 140, about half what they have now.
And these statistics could be duplicated across the USA and across denominations whether they be Lutheran or Baptist or Assemblies of God or whatever. Even the mighty Roman Catholic Church, if it were not for the recent influx of Spanish speaking believers, even the Roman Catholic Church would be shrinking even faster than many Protestant churches.
These trends are often “blamed” on younger people who have lost interest in the church, but, truthfully, interest in the Christian church has fallen ever since we baby boomers reached adulthood.
And pessimism goes far beyond Christian churches. Lots of people generally feel pessimistic about the future, certainly one of the factors in the growing suicide rate in our nation. The great political divide in our nation, the scourge of racism and white supremacy, environmental degradation, homelessness, unaffordable housing and health care – that list could go on and on. There is a lot to be upset about, to be depressed about.
Faced with all of this, I believe the two short parables, short stories that Jesus told to teach his followers, the two short parables that Jesus tells in today’s Gospel lesson can be helpful for us.
The two parables in today’s Gospel lesson, scattering seed and the mustard seed, are good examples of Jesus’ way of talking about the reign of God, the kingdom of God on this earth. In them Jesus speaks of the interesting and even exciting “now and not yet” dimension of God’s kingdom on this earth.
As seeds will grow without our effort, so also God will bring about God’s kingdom. It is not up to us. We cannot make it happen. Nor can we prevent it. God is ultimately responsible for bringing God’s rule and reign to bear.
Thus, Jesus’ first short parable today is a parable of promise. And, as we have seen in the Gospel lessons these last few weeks, God’s promise, as Jesus explains it in this parable, God’s promise is not just for us, it is a promise for everyone, even for those who look or believe or think differently that we do. We ourselves cannot bring in God’s reign of redemptive and surprising love and grace. And we also cannot control or moderate or domesticate God’s love. And we definitely cannot stop it.
Which brings us to the Jesus’ second short parable, about the mustard seed, a weed which grows from a very small seed, a weed which grows and spreads out of control. Like God’s love, the mustard seem cannot be contained, even if we might want to contain its growth and spread.
The mustard seed grows whether we want it to grow or not. In this way, Jesus is telling us that God will bring about God’s kingdom no matter what we do or do not do. It is not up to us. We cannot make it happen. God is ultimately responsible for bringing God’s rule and reign to bear.
Do we really want God’s kingdom to come here on earth? We pray that desire every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, but, if you are at all like me, you probably do not think about those words very much.
What we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, what Jesus tells in today’s two short parables is that God is on the move in our lives, in our community, in the world, and that God will finish what God has started. In the meantime, we are invited to help enact God’s reign in all that we do, wherever we are, acting in the confidence that God’s promises are true.
Whatever happens, God’s promises are true. This means that when life is difficult, when we meet resistance, or when life falls short of our hopes, we can take comfort in the fact that God is still at work and has not given up on us or this world.
That is our Christian response to any and all pessimism in this time and all times. Whatever is happening in the church, in our nation, in this world, God is still at work in the world.
This promise can give us the confidence to take joy in our efforts to do God’s will in this world, whether these efforts seem to be successful or not. They are still God’s efforts, and we believe that God’s efforts will still ultimately prevail.
There is an old saying, “Work like it is all up to you and pray like it is all up to God.” Throw yourself into the opportunities and challenges that we all face in this life with delight and resolve, knowing that God is with us and for us.
And, knowing that no work done in love is ever lost. God will, in time, God will draw all things together for good.
These parables lead us again to the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, words I still believe with all my heart, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Thus, we continue to “Work like it is all up to us and pray like it is all up to God.” For it is all up to God and our God will in time draw all things together for good.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
June 13, 2021
