<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body><div>Forwarded: </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="composer_signature"><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><!-- originalMessage --><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org> </div><div>Date: 7/15/17 5:31 PM (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org> </div><div>Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 10A: “A Sower Went out to Sow” or “What Soil Do You Provide for the Sower?” or “Plastic Bags” </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr">
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “A Sower Went out to
Sow” or “What Soil Do You Provide for the Sower?” or “Plastic Bags” and deals
with the Gospel (Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23).<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Here it is:</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">We just heard Jesus tell the story of the farmer who went out to sow
his seed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In those days, as you probably
know, seed was planted by broadcasting it- tossing it across the ground.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Wherever it landed, that’s where the farmer
hoped it would sprout.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus told of
four kinds of soil that received the broadcast seed: a soil on a road; thin,
rocky ground; soil full of weeds, especially thornbushes; and good ground. It’s
easy to see that each type of soil represents a kind of human heart hearing the
Word of God.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If you’ve been at St.
Paul’s for a while, you’ve seen all of these types of reception of the Word.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You’ve seen people like the soil on a road-
hard and unyielding.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The seed lands but
doesn’t sink in, so Satan (represented by the birds) snatches it away.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>People like this come once or twice, but
don’t ever seem to “get it.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You’ve also
seen people like the thin, rocky ground (shallow and warms easily).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The seed really seems to take root.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They come for a while and are very
enthusiastic about the Lord and St. Paul’s.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Then the hard work of living like a Christian can’t be avoided, and they
fall away.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Maybe a drug or alcohol habit
drags them down.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Maybe the message of
the Gospel convicts them of sin.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Whatever- following Jesus gets increasingly difficult, so they opt for
an easier Gospel.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You’ve also seen
people who start out fine, but get bogged down (Jesus uses the word “choked”)
by the needs of life and fooled by the desire to get rich.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Finally there are those- the good ground, who
nourish the seed (the Word) and produce amazing results.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A seven to ten fold increase would be a nice
yield.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even the USA using all the
benefits of modern farming methods shows a yield of 15 to 20 fold.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So a yield of 30, 60, or 100 fold is
miraculous!</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I started by telling about other people, but it’s really not about
them- it’s about us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The nice thing is,
we can become the kind of soil we choose.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>We choose the reception we give God as he comes into our hearts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Maybe we’re so heard-hearted that we don’t
even consider living His way.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Maybe we
are excited about being a Christian for a while, but when it gets hard- we fall
away.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Perhaps worries about our
families, money, cars, friends choke out Jesus’ call to follow Him.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But perhaps- even if we started out weakly,
we change and grow and fertilize our soil until we produce amazing results for
the Lord.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">I’d like to close with a story that represents most of us at one time
or another.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A family had been renting
for years and finally saved up enough money for a down-payment on a house- a
home of their own.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After moving in, they
decided to renovate the yard, since it had been neglected for years.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They planted and watered, so the flowers grew
and the grass became green and lush.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Everything responded to their loving care- everything that is, except
the row of bushes that separated their yard from the neighbor’s property.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The family gave those bushes lots of
attention, watered and fertilized them regularly, and hoped they would thrive;
but all their work seemed useless. No matter what they did, the bushes remained
spindly and nearly lifeless.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They finally
lost patience and decided to uproot those pitiful, unresponsive bushes. When they
pulled the first one up, to their amazement- they found it still had a plastic
bag from the nursery wrapped around its roots!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Would you believe- each plant was this way.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>With great care, they removed the plastic and
replanted each bush.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In a few years, the
bushes were the most beautiful in the neighborhood.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">What’s the message for us?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Don’t
be hardhearted with God.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Don’t let cares
or worries or desires or fears or as Paul says in Romans 8 “anything else in
all creation” separate you from God like that plastic separated the plants from
the moisture and nutrients in the soil.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>My prayer for all of us is that we stay open to Jesus and his Word all
the days of our lives.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">For anyone who is
interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are
posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: </font><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</font></u></a><font color="#000000"> .</font></font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 16px 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></p>
</div>
<p></p>
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