A View From The Earth

Here is the sermon that I gave today at the Episcopal Church of the Saviour in Clermont, Iowa. Hopefully it makes some sense.... Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Back before farmers had grain drills, they used an end gate seeder to seed oats or other small grains. Imagine a small wagon with a fan blade on at the end. The farmer drives his tractor or horses across the field, and the seed is thrown out across the field. Normally, the ground is plowed then disked to get the seedbed ready then the oats are seeded and then harrowed in with a drag. But in Jesus' time, in rural Judea and Galilee, the seed was sown by hand in a broadcast fashion and the sowing preceded the plowing or harrowing. The sower deliberately sowed the seed everywhere in the field, including any paths, in the rocky places, and among thorns and weeds as well as in the good soil. However, if the plowing was delayed for any reason, then they got the results that Jesus mentioned in this parable. It was that act of disturbi...

This is the cross and statues that are atop the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. Yep, it is Saturday afternoon, the kids are outside playing and I'm inside on the computer. So what gives? Why am I in here? Well I was to lead church services at a campground in Clermont, Iowa tomorrow morning. But the manager called and said that they weren't going to have services because they weren't done cleaning up the mess that was made when the Turkey river overflowed and created havoc in part of the campgrounds, they haven't reopened the section that the services are held in and they may not reopen it this summer. But since I had already written a rough draft of the sermon I was going to give, I thought I should finish it and see if the worship leader at the Episcopal Church of the Saviour would like me to give it tomorrow at Church since the priest is on vacation this month. The Gospel text is the parable of the sower from Matthew. It is one of my favorite parab...