Katie Derksen
A few years ago, at about this time, a certain song was getting a lot of play on the radio. It sounded like a valedictorian's speech, and it had all sorts of useful advice to those just graduating. Eventually, though, it was overplayed to the point of being something hated or ignored, rather than something listened to. The song starts off with the recommendation that the graduates of the class of ‘99 wear sun screen. Among various other suggestions, it is recommended that those hearing the song do not read beauty magazines, as they will only make the reader feel ugly; that the listeners not worry about the future, as real problems in life are ones that we can't foresee; and that the listeners do one thing every day that scares them. There was also some more practical advice, like admonitions to floss, and to stretch.
This song would have been on the radio at about the time that those of you who are graduating from grade 12 would be getting ready to enter grade nine - some of you may even have heard it as a song for your grade eight graduation. I heard it a couple of years after high school graduation, and, like most of my peers, I probably thought it was a mixed bag, with some of the advice being sappy, some potentially worthwhile, with a bit of a catchy beat that quickly lost its appeal as radio stations played it over and over. However, I've always loved the line "do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly." A couple other lines have kind of stood out for me, but that's the one that I liked the best. The lyrics to the song actually came from a newspaper column, and the author of the column began with a disclaimer, stating that most of the contents were from her own meandering thoughts, but that the reader/listener should trust her on the sunscreen advice.
Today, I intend on sharing some of my own meandering thoughts, and I hope that some of the things that I have to say will stick with you, like the line about beauty magazines stuck with me. However, my advice will have more of a spiritual content than the song, and I'll try not to talk about sunscreen (although it is a valuable thing, especially on beautiful days like yesterday).
Aside from a song from my past, I thought that I would talk a little bit about the parable of the sower today. The parable of the sower might seem to be an odd choice of scripture passages for a day on which we are celebrating the graduation of six of our young people from high school, but as I was scanning various books, trying to get ideas and resources, I was reminded of this passage. So I looked into it, and decided that it was suitable for today. The youth actually spent some time looking at parables in Sunday School this winter, and this was the first one we looked at. As usual, the Sunday School guide suggested that we think about what type of person is described by each of the soil types mentioned, how those reading the passage can think of ways to avoid being choked by weeds and thorns, and which type of soil does the reader most identify with. As I was re-reading this passage, though, and as I read through Jesus' explanation of the parable, I was struck by something that I haven't been struck by before: we can choose what type of soil we will be.
The Four Types of Soil
Jesus describes for his listeners and readers four different soil types: a path, rocky soil, soil with lots of thorn seeds in it, and good soil. In three of the four places, the seeds actually took root and grew, but only in one spot did the seeds actually bear a harvest. What I want to challenge each of us with is the idea that we can, in fact, choose what type of soil we will provide.
The first soil type that Jesus talks about is the path - think about the paths and country roads that you know. They're usually hard packed, dry, gravel or dirt. Nothing grows on them, for at least two reasons: the first, that there is so much traffic on the road that anything that attempts to grow would be scuffed down to nothing, uprooted by passing feet. The second reason is tied into the first - there's so much traffic that the ground is so hard packed, it'd take a fair bit of effort for a little seed to get covered by enough soil to start the germinating process. In fact, as Jesus talked about this first type of soil, he didn't even give the seeds that fell on it a chance to grow - birds came along right away and ate the seeds. In his explanation, Jesus calls the birds the evil one, who comes along and takes away the seeds or words of the kingdom of God, before understanding can take place.
The second type of soil is rocky, a place without much soil. The seeds sprang up quickly here, because of the lack of depth in the soil. Faith is in evidence, and the one appearing faithful seems exuberant and consumed by their faith. However, once the sun came along, that lack of soil proved to be their enemy - they didn't have enough depth to withstand the sun, and the plants withered and died. Jesus describes the person who goes along with this soil type as the person who is excited about hearing the Word of God, but who doesn't have the depth of faith to remain faithful when troubles come along, and persecution begins.
We don't actually hear what type of soil the seeds in the third scenario fall into, whether the soil is deep or shallow, good or poor. What we do hear, though, is that there are many thorns in the soil as well as the seeds. These thorns grow up and choke the plants that the seeds bear, destroying their chances of coming to full bloom. In his explanation, Jesus describes the thorns as "the cares of the world, and ...wealth," that strangle the Word of God, leading it to yield absolutely nothing.
Where the full potential of the seeds are realized is in what is described merely as "good soil." Here the ground is soft enough to allow the seeds to dig themselves deep enough to begin germination, there aren't rocks to keep the top soil thin and light, and thorns aren't around, either, or at least not in any sort of profusion. No, this soil is such that it brings forth a harvest of grain, much more than was planted!! Jesus describes this person as "one who hears the word and understands it, who... bears fruit" (Matthew 13:23). Judging by the other three types of soil, this person would have soil deep enough for the plants to have good, deep roots, that would allow the person's faith to stand up to the cares of the world, to persecution, and to threats from the evil one.
I like the fact that Jesus talks about there being different yields of grain from the seed that fell into good soil - it's a reminder that we each have different gifts, and that we will all contribute different amounts to the family of God: if we but provide the right type of soil, we'll contribute - and that's a important thing.
The right type of soil is important so that the seeds can grow and eventually bear grain. Or, said another way, it is important that we be receptive to God's word, so that what we hear we can understand, and so that what we understand will be integrated into our lives. Instead of bearing grain, we, as followers of Christ, are asked to bear fruit, Holy fruit, that will be seen by and in the world.
As you leave home, or at least leave the high school environment that you're used to, it may seem tempting to let worries about the world overtake you. When this happens, sometimes it happens that faith is what suffers – it starts to slide, as Sunday mornings become another time to work, or a time to catch up on sleep, whether the sleep is lacking from being up late studying, or being up late with friends. I encourage you to not let this happen. Remember that God created the Sabbath for humanity, and that we are called to take a day of rest, and a day on which we remember God. When things get rough, or there are so many different, new experiences coming at you, remember the seeds that have been planted in you through your time in this church. Keep your soil deep. Remember to tend to the roots.
As any good farmer can tell you, not only is good soil necessary, but so are frequent waterings. Not only can we choose what type of soil we provide to the Word of God, but we can also help in the waterings. We aren't dependant only on rain, which, as farmers in Saskatchewan have learned the hard way, can come so infrequently that the soil is dry and almost useless. No, we can create our own water, we can be in charge of nourishing our own faith.
One of the ways in which we can make the choice to be good, receptive soil, and to keep that soil moist and ready, is to create time in our days and weeks to be with God, on our own or in Bible study. I've already mentioned the concept of taking a Sabbath, a whole day of rest and contemplating God - a lot of nurturing and instruction can and does happen on a Sunday morning, but it's also important that you take a hand in your own faith life, and work on it on your own, in ways that water the seeds that have been planted within you. Perhaps you are most receptive doing personal Bible study, or joining a group. Perhaps you enjoy reading theological books, and joining discussions on a topic. Perhaps serving others is a way in which your faith is nurtured. I challenge each of you grads, and in fact everyone here today, to spend some time thinking about how you can water your faith in Jesus, and to do something about what you come up with.
Make the Time for Faith
A number of years ago, fourteen, to be exact, a book that was said to be "the personal leadership handbook of the decade," was published. This book has sold over 10 million copies, and I'm sure many people here today have a copy of it on their bookshelves, or can think of a few people who do have it. The book is called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen R. Covey. Some of the comments on the cover of the edition that I have claims that it is a book that changes lives both professionally and personally, that it should be required reading for anyone in "any level of public service," and more. I grew up unknowingly hearing many of the things that Covey states in this book - unfortunately for me, they were things that had a rather negative resonation with who I was then, and with who I was when I realized where these things came from. I didn't discover that these things came from this book until it became a text-book for me in one of my youth ministry classes, at which point I found myself having rather surprisingly negative reactions to what I read, which is when I realized that I had some baggage with the book from my teen years. I tried my best to read the book, but it was really rather difficult for me.
Fortunately for me, though, my professor taught parts of the book in class, and so I still managed to learn from parts of it. One of the ways in which we were encouraged to learn from it was through a weeks-long assignment based on something Covey outlined as a part of one of the seven habits. This is something that I'd like to share with you today, especially with the grads. If you can learn this now, and intentionally make it a part of your life, you'll be far ahead of some people older than you, who are still trying to figure out why they have so little energy on so many levels.
One of the seven habits is what Covey calls putting first things first, and part of this chapter contains a schedule that individuals can use to map out their week, much the same that most people already use. However, Covey's schedule has a few extra ideas in it that I think are of great value. He acknowledges that each person has different roles that they fill: son or daughter, student, employee or employer, boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, and so on. He states that each of those roles needs to be addressed in the week, including physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional health. He encourages people to look at their week, and make time for all these things. Sometimes we can get so swept up in trying to be "productive" and progress oriented that we forget that to be truly productive, and truly healthy individuals, we simply cannot ignore ourselves. Our physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional health is of the utmost importance in our ability to continue functioning in a worthwhile manner.
I've seen many people become so driven by the need to succeed in the work place or school that they get tunnel vision. They forget that they are more than a worker, more than a student. In fact, as children of God, we are much more than those things. Covey's schedule forces people to give attention to the different roles that they fulfil, as well as to spiritual and emotional health. And those things can be hard to learn to "fit in" to busy schedules. In fact, I'd say that they're impossible to fit in – you have to make the time, and sometimes that means actually writing it into your schedule.
I heard of a man who used to write "prayer" into his schedule for 7:30 in the morning, but found that he was sleeping through it. However, he found that if he wrote "God" in his schedule, that was much harder to ignore. I encourage you to find the ways that you can keep your faith alive and growing.
Grads, if you can learn now to look after yourselves spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally, now, and not years down the road, what a gift you will have given yourselves!! It can be so easy to get swept along with the crazy pace of university life, or of the working world. Don't give in to that. Remember that there's more to life than work and studies.
As the parable of the sower reminds those with ears to hear, there are many different ways in which to react to hearing the Word of God. We are also reminded, in the passage Matthew read for us from Lamentations, that God is good to those who wait for her, for the soul that seeks him. Both of those comments involve a level of participation on the part of the faithful one – both waiting and seeking are things that take effort. Remember that. As you head out into the world-beyond-high-school, you may find that remaining faithful becomes a struggle. You may start to question things that had always seemed to make sense before, and suddenly things that came easily before may only come with much effort, if they come at all. These are some of the thorns that Jesus warns about. Remember to seek God, and to wait – God's timing can never be said to be ours.
One of the things that I came across, as I was trying to think of what to say to you today, was an interesting story of a dream a fictional woman had. In this story, a woman dreamed she walked into a brand-new shop in the marketplace and, to her surprise, found God behind the counter.
"What do you sell here?" she asked.
"Everything your heart desires," said God.
Hardly daring to believe what she was hearing, the woman decided to ask for the best things a human could wish for. "I want peace of mind and love and happiness and wisdom and freedom from fear," she said. Then as an afterthought, she added, "Not just for me. For everyone on earth."
God smiled. "I think you've got me wrong, my dear," [God] said. "We don't sell fruits here. Only seeds." (Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster, The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry, page 171)
Seeds are available to you. In fact, some are already planted within you. Remember to tend to them. Keep your soil deep and rich, and well watered. Remember that the reception that you give to the Word of God is a choice – as you go out into the world, what will you choose?
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.