Prayer: May your word from scripture permeate into our consciousness and direct our will. Amen.

Last Sunday I was out mowing my lawn. There’s a chunk of my yard that used to be a garden, but I didn't plant anything there this year. So, I’ve simply been mowing it. But, this year, it’s filled not with grass, but with a vine that wants to go everywhere. I looked up this vine on the Internet. Turns out it’s a kudzu vine, the kind that you often see growing up telephone poles and outside walls of houses. I found out some interesting things about the kudzu vine. For one, if left uncontrolled, it will grow over anything and everything. For two, nothing grows as fast… almost 12 inches per day! You remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk? That was no beanstalk. It was a kudzu stem!

It seems to me that the kudzu plant is a great illustration of how prodigiously the word of God can grow. Isaiah claims that God’s word goes from God and becomes like the kudzu vine—growing in good, fertile soil, not laying idle, instead it accomplishes its purpose.

And, of course in order for it to sprout, the parable Jesus tells is all about how God’s word is intended to land in the good soil of our hearts take root there and sprout. The human heart and mind is one of God’s main mission fields. God’s word is intended to sprout right there.

Of course, our hearts and minds can’t be so hardened by bitterness or anger or stress that the word of God can’t get established there. I know of some folks who are so hardened by the difficult life they’ve lived that there is intense hostility, mistrust, and skepticism about God, about religion, life, and about everyone around them. If we have hearts that are so hard by those kinds of feelings, then the seed of God’s word just lays there, vulnerable to being snatched up or blown away, not taking root.

Our hearts also can’t be so chock full of rocks that the roots of God’s word can’t get in edge-wise, and what little growth comes withers away at the first sign of trouble. I heard of a story about Billy Graham who, after one of his crusades, was enthusiastic about the fact that several people had signed commitment cards turning their lives over to Christ. But, when he followed up with a few of those people some weeks later, he found that several of those excited new Christians had renounced their new faith and fell back to old ways. A single mother, overwhelmed by her family’s needs, lost her new faith that quickly. A business man wasn’t ready to let his faith change his borderline unethical business practices. A high school youth feared his friends would ridicule him and boycotted anything faith-related altogether.

And, certainly our hearts can’t be filled with thorny, weed-like vines and plants that overwhelm and consume what growth the seed might have done. Jesus teaches us that the lure of worldly cares like how much we might possess, how many upgrades to our technological systems we might purchase, how much wealth we hope to amass… all these can choke out God’s word. The kudzu vine can actually kill trees if left unchecked.

No, don’t we have to work at becoming the fertile ground where God’s word can get established, where in its establishment it can accomplish its purpose? Aren’t we invited to work through our feelings of anger and hostility about life and move toward feelings of reconciliation and hospitality? Sometimes we have to engage a possible painful process of dealing with the rocks in our fields that seem insurmountable and create space for the roots of God’s word to grow in us, don’t we? And, recognizing the illusion that worldly concerns and cares provide true meaning in life is critical for faith-growth.

God’s purpose is to have what God desires sprout all over the place. When we as Christian people who have God’s word sprouting in our hearts gather with others who have the same sprouts, then we become the church. The church is another one of God’s major mission fields. God’s word is intended to take root in the church and sprout there.

And the church, ironically, is subject to the same obstacles that we face as individuals. It could get a hardened heart, but that is combated by people in the church becoming educated about God’s word by being willing to grow, and by believing and discerning the voice of God who is still speaking, The church does have seemingly insurmountable obstacles facing it as it lives in this world, huge controversial boulders that are hard to overcome, but that is combated by people of the church letting God’s word sink deeply within; not going right or left on the political and theological spectrum, but going deep and trusting God’s presence in the discernment process. Sometimes God’s word does indeed encounter thorny soil in the church that can choke out the gospel of Christ, especially when we hear of mega-churches that focus a lot on acquiring wealth, or personal freedoms, or where the self-help gospel is alive and well.

No, the sprouts in the good fertile soil in the mission field of the church which have to be tended are found in little Hanna Grace Gurchik, who was baptized a few minutes ago. It’s our responsibility to assist her parents in raising her in the Christian faith. There are sprouts in the children, youth, and adults who attended Vacation Bible School last week. Because of this week, each person has these new sprouts of faith which need to be tended. There are sprouts of faith in our youth going to Hartman Center this summer and to the National Youth Event in ten days which need to be tended. There are visitors to our church this morning whose faith sprouts are growing, and here, in the mission field of the church, we are to assist in that growth by welcoming them with hospitality, believing in our mantra that “no matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

I say it again…God’s purpose is to have what God desires sprout all over the place. God’s word shall accomplish that which God purposes and it shall succeed in the thing for which God sent it. And God’s word, thriving in the church is not intended to stop there. No, it’s intended to go out from the church into the world. The world is a major mission field for God as it is for the church, for in the world is where most of injustice exists. In the world is where violence goes unabated. In the world is where human rights are violated.

But, in the mission field of the world, there are a variety of spots where the sprouts of God’s word have taken root in good, fertile soil and are growing. These are to be tended by people of faith. These sprouts are in all aspects of life. They are in big and small business offices, in hospitals and nursing homes, in courtrooms and legislatures. They are in schools, churches, families, and homes. They are in little mission programs all over the world.

For example, the May 19th entry from the UCC’s Calendar of Prayer says this: “Light continues to break forth as new ministries spring from the seeds of established missions. After the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey, missionary Sally McCain began a scarf-making project in Kaynasli to raise money to help the people rebuild. One of the many supporters of the scarf project was Janet Notheis Volkmar, a reading specialist who was deeply committed to the education of mothers and children. Upon her death, part of Janet’s estate was dedicated to establish a library for the town of Kaynasli. Sales of scarves used to be 30 a day—up to 3,000 a year. With the continuing sale of scarves and the legacy of Janet’s bequest, a municipal library is being created in this Turkish city (http://www.ucc.org/worship/calendar/may-18-may-24-2008.pdf, p. 86, retrieved July 11, 2008).

That’s a sprout of God’s word growing in the mission field of the world. Here’s another one, more local. Recently, my car was in the shop getting inspected. As I was sitting there, in walked an older man who comes in just about every time I’ve been in the shop over the last eight years. He comes in around 9 a.m., talks with all the workers, makes coffee, goes into the office, and does little things around the lobby. I thought he was the owner of the place. About three years ago, he found out I was a pastor and that I was enrolled in the doctorate program at Lancaster Seminary, and ever since then, he has greeted me with a “Hello, Pastor! How goes the studying?” And, we chat about his church and about Chapel Hill, and faith and religion sometimes.

Well, on my last visit at the shop just 2 weeks ago, he came in as usual, asked if I graduated, and I said I did and all that. Then, he left the lobby area, and I asked the store manager what that older gentleman’s name was. He told me it was ‘Andy.’ I said, “He must be the owner of the store, or something.” And the manager laughed and said, “No. He’s just a friend.” “What? Really?” “Yeah, Andy comes in and does little things around here for us. He just loves coming in.” I was astounded! The manager said that he comes in sometimes three times a day, just because. The manager said, “We give him some reports to do, he helps me with my inventory, and in general volunteers around the place.” I told the manager that it says something important about Andy, his sense of service, of gracious volunteering, but it also says something important about the hospitality the manager was showing to Andy. Many store managers would not allow a regular Joe Schmoe to have access to the office and do those kinds of things. You see? Right there was a pleasant surprise of a sprout of God’s word in the mission field of the world, taking root and growing.

God’s word has gone forth, and continues to go forth. It accomplishes its purpose in our hearts and minds, in the church, and in the world. These three are God’s mission fields. They are our mission fields, too. Let us serve God with gladness. Amen.