Reuben's Theme: "Fresh Ground?"
(Trinity 4) - MORNING MASS
0800hrs. and 0930hrs at Saint George's Parish Church - Cullercoats.
Sunday,14th. July 2002 Anno Domini.
Morning Mass: Genesis: 25.19-34 Ps: 119.105-112 Romans: 8.1-11 Matthew: 13.1-9, 18-23

July 14, 2002 Cycle A Trinity 7 (Pentecost 8).

COLLECT
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

FIRST READING
Genesis 25.19-34
A reading from the book of Genesis.
19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, 'If it is to be this way, why do I live?' So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.'
24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.
26 Afterwards his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.
30 Esau said to Jacob, 'Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!' (Therefore he was called Edom.)
31 Jacob said, 'First sell me your birthright.'
32 Esau said, 'I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?'
33 Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

PSALM
Psalm 119.105-112
R R O Lord, how I love your law.
105 Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.
106 I have sworn and am determined to keep your righteous judgements. R R
107 I am deeply troubled; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept, O Lord, the willing tribute of my lips, and teach me your judgements. R R
109 My life is always in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your commandments. R R
111 Your decrees are my inheritance for ever; truly, they are the joy of my heart.
112 I have applied my heart to fulfil your statutes for ever and to the end. R R


SECOND READING
Romans 8.1-11
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
1 There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law - indeed it cannot,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

GOSPEL
Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
1 Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake.
2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: 'Listen! A sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9 Let anyone with ears listen!
18 Hear then the parable of the sower.
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.'


POST COMMUNION
Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Reuben's Sermon:

Reuben's Theme: "Fresh Ground?"

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Everyone loves a story.

Millions of people, every day, watch the television; or like me, listen to the radio, and enjoy the experience of being mentally transported to a land of make-believe.

It could be the depressing (and entertainingly disappointing) 'Eastenders' - which Georgina informs me is nothing remotely like the East-end of London where she has lived for almost a year now.

It could be the continuing story of our Auzzie mates 'down-under' in the less than brain-taxing and mentally numbing 'Neighbours'.

It could even be the highly entertaining, very witty and superbly dramatic tales of rural England that can be heard on Radio 4 in "The Archers".

(Spot the Archer's fan!)

My recorder will be recording the omnibus edition at 1015 this morning!

But, joking aside, we all do love to escape into stories and adventures on television, radio, cinema, at the theatre, with videotapes, audio cassettes and even books.

There's one book I can recommend.

It's brilliant.

It's full of some of the most torrid, fascinating, witty and often horrific stories you will ever experience.

It's got everything; stories of love, seduction, romance, action, adventure, loneliness, friendship, deception, revenge, violence, horror and loads of Justice.

Yes, you've guessed it.
Note: Hold's up NRSV of The Holy Bible
It's all in here.

The "Good" book... and it is a good book!

Most of these stories are fact;

Stories of the history of the world (from the beginning) and particularly relating to the Jewish nation...
Stories of prophecy, written by the great prophets such as Isaiah who prophesied the coming of Jesus...
Popular songs of the day, which cover every aspect of life, in the book of psalms...
Erotic poetry of true love, seduction and passion in the Songs of Solomon...
Simple stories of everyday Jewish folk a couple of thousand years ago; Mary and Jo Davidson and their Son Jesus.
The story of the ministry of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ Himself, "God in person".
The adventures of the disciples and the Apostles
Loads of letters and correspondence, mostly from Paul
and...
Well; "much, much more..." as we say in the trade.

All this, and on top of all that, some of the most important stories you will ever hear - "The Parables".

God, preaching to us, in the way that we all understand...
...in the form of stories.

Not true events... stories.. 'make-believe'...
...that we should be made to believe the truths that God wishes to make known to us.

I'm getting wordy again!
As I have said a few weeks ago, I do tend to get wordy when it's important.

And this is vitally important!

Jesus told many parables.

With today's parable, however, not only do we get the simple story of the sower and his seeds, but Jesus explains what it's all about.

Seeds falling on the path getting eaten up by the birds...
Seeds falling where there isn't much soil, so they spring up quickly, but soon wither and die in the sun, due to lack of a good root system...
Seeds falling among the thorns - the thorns grow and choke them...
And some seeds falling on good soil where they grow and produce grain.

Jesus realises that it is human nature to focus on the central character in a story - to place ourselves in the central roll of any parable.

The seed seems to hold the central roll in this story, but we are not the seed.

Jesus knows that we might get it wrong, so explains the parable.

The seed is the word of the kingdom.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

The seed is the Christian message for everyone.

We are all the ground.

Which bit of the ground are you?

The pathway?
The stony ground?
The thorny land?
or are you the good soil?

We all try to be the good soil, we all want to be the good soil.

Let me introduce some new characters to the story.

The gardner.

The Alan Titchmarsh of our souls.
Note to readers outside the UK: Alan Titchmarsh is a well loved and very well known gardening expert who appears on many television programmes and has a very popular television show, on BBC Television, called 'Groundforce'.
Our vicar - Fr. Michael.

His assistants, the Charlie Dimmocks or possibly the Tommy Walshes of our souls Deacon Andrew, with the help of Rolland, Donald and, yes, even me.
Note: Andrew Beeston is the assistant curate, Roland Robbins, Don McLean and I are Readers.
In the "Fan the Flame" mission, a couple of weeks ago, major gardening started.
The groundforce got bigger.

The "Fan the Flame" co-ordination team the missioners in our midst?

Chris Tradgett, Kath Cowan, Dorothy Faithful, Blyth Johnson, Heather Kidman, Hazel Mews and Gordon Wightman join the team.

If you missed the "Fan the Flame" week, don't worry, you won't be left out. We won't let that happen.

Exciting times lie ahead of us.

A time of exploration, a time of adventure and with the help of our groundforce (and your co-operation) something will happen!

Something wonderful.

You thought it was all over?

The Fan the Flame week touched many hearts and rekindled the flames in our souls.

It's not over yet... It's only just beginning.

It'll NEVER be over!

We all must strive to be the fertile ground because the seed has been sown - and will continue to be sown.

But as for what was sown on good soil? This is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

© Reuben Condie July 2002
©Bible texts: Morning Mass - NRSV