Slow Seeds [Proper 9C - Galatians 6:1-16]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Galatians 6:1-16

 

Slow Seeds

St. John’s, Richfield Springs

 

It is hard to know what to do in these turbulent times.  The news is often awful.  The problems of the world sound overwhelming.  Violence and war bubbles and boils and threatens to consume large swaths of humanity.  The divisions in our own nation appear intractable and entrenched.  The foundations are shaking and the future is ominous. 

 

And here we are: so small on the world’s stage.  Each one, one in 8 billion.  Individual members of a small church in a beautiful little village. It can feel like we do not have enough leverage to turn the world in the direction of the Kingdom of God, that we don’t have the power to fix everything, to make everything OK.  And so, if you are like me, you are probably wondering what to do in these turbulent times.

 

While I suspect the ultimate answer to the future is in the hands, and mind, of God, I am taking comfort today in the words Paul wrote to the saints in Galatia so many centuries ago.  In their first century world, as the powerful Roman Empire dominated their lives with fear and crosses, as violence bubbled and boiled all around, the followers of the Crucified Christ gathered and prayed in small churches, little communities scattered across the great expanse of a hostile realm.  They were little and it all felt too big; the political machine was demanding and overwhelming.  And so despite their desire and calling to make the world more like heaven, they often felt powerless.  Like us, they didn’t know what to do in such turbulent times. 

 

And like us they were weary.  Because the brokenness of the world kept breaking into their lives.  It was persistent and unavoidable.  A steady stream of reminders that the coming Kingdom had not yet displaced the culture of corruption and greed that drove daily life in their age. 

 

They needed a word, some encouragement in their season of despair.  They got a letter.  And in that letter, Paul instructed them to think smaller.  There was a world of problems outside their church doors; the problems demanded big plans and grand solutions.  But Paul talked about little things.  Paul told them to plant seeds.  

 

Seeds do not solve problems – at least not immediately.  Seeds don’t do quick fixes.  I have a garden.  And so I have planted plenty of seeds.  What happens after seeds go into the ground is a lot of waiting and a lot of hoping.  The feast is in the future.   

 

But still we are called to sow seeds.  Every seed we plant is a prayer for the Kingdom of God to come.  We sow hope against the onslaught of despair.  We sow kindness against the vindicative cruelty of our times.  We sow peace in the chaos of the killing fields.  We sow love because love never fails. 

 

When it is hard to know what to do, do good.  Do what is right.  Do something beautiful: a work of justice, an act of mercy, dream a vision of grace.  Plant seeds that will grow into the Kingdom of God. 

 

Planting is a long game.  It is natural to want immediate results.  I get that.  But true conversion comes from a deep place; lasting change takes time.  The seeds that spring up quickly in the shallow soil most often burn up and burn out.  We do not want the evil of the world to come back around with the cycles of history - again.  And that is why it is important to take the time to uproot the bad and sow the good.  It is slow and careful work but it is the work that truly changes the world.

 

“So,” as Paul tells us, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.” 

 

We live in the latest hard times.  But God has a better future in mind.  With love in our hearts and hope in our hands, our work is to plant the seeds of that future.  And then rejoice as the Kingdom of God comes.