I didn’t buy any tomato plants, this year. In past years, birds have dropped seeds in strange places so that I may grow my own. True to form, while weeding the broccoli, I discovered three very tiny tomato plants cowering under the leaves of their bigger partners. I transplanted them to a sunnier spot, and told them how wonderful they would someday become. Tim, my gardening friend, is doubtful that they’ll mature enough before frost to yield ripe tomatoes…but I have hope!
Sunday’s scriptures deal with who we are between seed-time and frost. The passage by Second Isaiah speaks of the uniqueness of God, “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” (44:6) Implicit here are directions to live boldly and hopefully, accepting a position of Good Creation. “Do not fear, or be afraid….You are my witnesses!” (v.8)
Don’t be afraid of Paul’s Letter to the Romans just because of its weighty sentences. We read in Chapter 8 that it’s really OK to bet the farm on that new Kingdom which we believe is even now unfolding. Paul affirms that it’s God’s Good Pleasure to include us as beloved children, even “heirs” of future glory! Again, we live boldly: “For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (8:24-25)
Do be careful, though, with the Gospel, for it could be and often has been used to abuse and bully. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 is the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. The self-righteous can have a field-day (!) chanting, “We’re WHEAT! You’re WEEDS!” (And we’ll sing,”God Will Take Care of YOU!”) Are some really pre-destined to be Good, some to be Evil? Or is the field ME, growing all sorts of tawdry vines amidst the planned Image of God in which I’m created? I have hope that Some Day an angelic intervention will clean me up…
So gardening fits my theology. Each growing season is a small cosmic story of maturation and nurture. Seed-time is an exercise in hope: though there are no guarantees, I have high expectations — and I really believe that someday this late summer I WILL have ripe tomatoes!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King*
* – I confessed to my study group that I dislike thinning turnips, because who made ME God of the Turnips? They suggested that my sermon title should be, “No Turnip Left Behind”… Do with that as you will…
My Blog 
Leave a comment