WELCOME
Welcome to the May 24, 2020, Worship Podcast for Franklin Federated Church, a growing church located at the town common in Franklin, Massachusetts.
Today’s message is brought to you by Peggy Maxwell, a longtime and much-loved member of our church.
A new podcast will be available each Sunday at 8:00am on the FranklinFederated.org website under “Online Worships” on the home page, PLUS, a LIVE Prayer Stream can be viewed on the Franklin Federated Church Facebook page starting at 10:00am each Sunday.
You will continue to hear different voices for our podcast as we fill what we are calling our gap time, which is the time between our prior Pastor, Charley Eastman’s departure and the starting date of our Interim Pastor. We are committed to continuing the worship podcast and prayer stream format over this time.
Thank you to all those who are generously volunteering their thoughts, voices and time to make this possible.
CALL TO WORSHIP
The earth is the Lord’s, and fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
SCRIPTURE READING
(read by Julie Gorman)
Matthew 13:1-13 – The Parable of the Sower (New International Version)
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
Luke 12:13-21 – The Parable of the Rich Fool (New International Version)
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
SERMON
While working on this sermon, I have had two insights which have helped me. One is how real a person Jesus seems to be, not the rigid statue on a cross portrayed so often in art, with a halo over his head, but rather as a human figure walking through the countryside and speaking in everyday language. He seemed very patient with his disciples who often did not understand His parables until He explained them. These parables were couched in everyday language filled with examples from everyday people and nature. Jesus was criticized for intermingling with all people, even tax collectors who were considered enemies by many.
He seemed to be well-acquainted with nature and often used it in his parables to express God’s love for us. For instance, He said in Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
How comforting that statement is during a pandemic!
In the early mornings, I often feel God’s spirit holding me close as I watch the sun come up through the trees in the woods where I live. There is a delight in knowing that every morning God renews His promise as the sun rises. Breathing in and out slowly, I calm my mind, which tends to get very anxious at times. In this way, I help myself become aware of God’s spirit and His connection to the earth. With so much leisure time, I often take walks in the woods and have learned to observe more of the growth that is springing up all around me.
Recently, I got so distracted by the variety of beauty, that I lost my way going down the wrong path. I had to hail down a man mowing his lawn. He looked at me as if to say, “Who let her out?” However, he did point me to the way back to my street.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus used nature to help us understand faith. Seeds and plants can wilt because of weeds or thorns. However, with the right care, faith remains strong and produces fruit. Yet He warned about pulling out the weeds because that might uproot the good growth too. This says to me that as Christians, we need to respect all people’s opinions even if we see them as weeds.
I have found pleasure in noticing God’s plan for growth where if everything works together, and if the plants have enough water and sun, they will sprout up like magic. On my sun porch, I planted both lettuce seeds and pea seeds given to me by friends from this church. The rapid growth of the lettuce and pea plants reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. The Asian lettuce seeds were so tiny, but they grew rapidly. Now I use the big leaves in salads and sandwiches. Jesus says our faith is like a mustard seed, but if we water it with prayer and spiritual connections, it can grow to be a big plant, comforting us during a time of suffering and sadness, such as our pandemic. My friend who gave me the pea seeds, reminded me that I need to take them off the sun porch and plant them in the ground so the bees can pollinate them.
Oh yes… the bees! See how God connects everything?! It reminded me of how dependent we are on the bees. Sadly, they are disappearing in many parts of the country because of pollution and chemicals killing them. We better take care of them or we will not have enough food. It is God’s earth, not ours to destroy!
I grew up in the South, as you can probably tell. During the Civil Rights struggle, I remember Martin Luther King Jr. saying, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” We can certainly see this principle playing out in this pandemic. It is another lesson we need to learn. The nurse or caretaker may be Caucasian, Asian, Black or an immigrant, however, if he or she does not have protective equipment, he or she can get the virus from patients and give it to others at home, or wherever they go. The virus does not respect our prejudices.
The pandemic seems to bring out the best and the worst in people. Recently on NPR, an Italian doctor was talking about how kind and helpful people had been during the pandemic, but now that things are improving, some people seem to go back to their separate, uncaring ways. Hopefully, that will not prove to be true here in the United States. Right now, people from our church are helping in many different ways. One person who works in a school, is now delivering meals to children who would go hungry without school meals.
Perhaps this pandemic will make us more conscious of the hunger in our country where even before the pandemic, one family in five had food insecurity. Personally, I have been shocked to see on TV the long lines of people waiting for food at food banks.
On a lighter note, I recently went to my daughter’s house to join her in walking the dog through her neighborhood. A couple across the street, who are both music teachers, decided to give a concert on their front lawn. Neighbors sat on the other side of the street, social distancing and listening to the beautiful music. I felt such a warm, encouraging feeling when the lady sang “Here Comes the Sun.” The music lifted our spirits.
The question now is how can we follow Jesus’ commands and be the good growth not choked out by the weeds? In one of His parables, Jesus describes a rich man who had a huge barn filled with so much food that he built another barn also, but it did not do him any good, because he died that night. Maybe that is a timely message to all the hoarders and those who feel that wealth is the most important thing in life. How can we see the poor and old as expendable, as our society does so often?
As a church, we need to think how we can care for each other during this pandemic. We need to stay in touch, pray for each other, and find specific ways to help the hungry and those in need. The virus has been described as a very lonely disease. How can we help with that?
This pandemic should spur us to seek God’s help and to come up with new ways to spread God’s love for His earth and all the people in it.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
Dear God,
Help us to be fertile soil for Your word.
Let us listen and truly hear You every day.
Let the rain and the sadness come and soften our heart.
Let us not be distracted by the TV, the clatter, and the stuff all around us.
Don’t let the sounds of the world drown out Your steady voice.
Let us be still and know that You are God.
Let the golden sunrise fill us with Your glory and joy.
Don’t let the hate and bitterness in this world choke out Your message of hope and love.
Let us stand tall with our roots deep in the ground, fed by Your nourishing soil.
Let us be refreshed by Your healing rain of undeserved grace, so that we might give strength and shade to others.
Let life grow, knowing that we are held by You; that some day we will join Your spirit connected to the Center, the Creator and Promoter of all energy, growth and love.
In Jesus name... Amen.
CLOSING
Thank you for joining us today for the Franklin Federated Church weekly Podcast. Prior week’s podcasts are available on the Franklin Federated website. Have a blessed week.