All Creatures of Our God and King

Lift up your voice and with us sing, Alleluia. This wonderful ancient song based on a poem by Francis of Assisi from 1225 has been running through my head since Moses and Zipporah woke me up barking this morning in stereo. My husband told me later they were watching two armadillos working their way down the fence. Though at the time they woke me from a dead sound sleep, I was not thinking of singing, the song is a reminder for me that we are the creatures, not the Creator. This past week was a sober reminder of that fact. We once again left the beach to escape an incoming hurricane. We left South Padre Island as Hurricane Dolly's outer rain bands began blowing in. What blew up rather quickly as a tropical storm was a Category Two hurricane by the time it hit South Padre Island dead on. By then we were in San Antonio watching the weather on television. For all that the vacation at the beach was cut short, we were grateful to be safe and glad that at last report there did not seem to be many injuries, though there was quite a bit of damage. Even after Dolly made landfall, the damage continued from the torrential rains. Whenever we think we are in control of this world and the universe, nature can quickly remind us that we are not. On most days I think that is a good thing.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Summertime

We leave in a few days for the beach. My husband has a conference and our middle son will also attend with him for the first time. Both are physicians. Our daughter-in-law and two oldest grand kids will also be going, so we will have lots of kid fun at the beach. We're travelling together to save gas as it's a long ways from where we live in Central Texas to the coast. I pray this will be a good time for my husband, who lost his mother recently. His father died in May. I always find the majesty of God's ocean soothing to my soul. It's a reminder that I'm not in control of the universe, and that's a good thing! It has been awhile since we made this trek. Last time Hurricane Emily arrived in South Texas shortly after we did so we left the island after only one afternoon on the beach. I'm accustomed to taking my portable easel and sitting under a large beach umbrella and painting while we there. In fact I learned after the first couple of summers of painting on the beach that I had become mildly famous as the artist on the beach. I actually sold a couple of paintings, an amazing experience as I paint for fun, not for profit. This time I think I will reluctantly leave my easel behind. There's only so much room in our van and with six of us making the trip I suspect we'll need the space for other things. And I will want to spend the time playing with the grand kids and talking with our son and daughter-in-law as well as simply relaxing. When we return I have another sermon to prepare. Summer is almost over and the pace will pick up as fall arrives. What a blessing to have an opportunity to slow down and play in God's beautiful world. I pray that will be healing balm to my husband's hurting heart.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Sowing Seeds

It's beginning to feel as if the only time I take the time to post to this blog is when I'm working on another sermon. Bloggin is probably yet another creative way to procrastinate getting back to the hard work of preparation. Even though I know for a fact that God helps me in this process, I still have to do my part. This time I'm wrestling with the parable of the sower, who scattered seeds with such wild abandon that they landed on the path, the rocks, and among the thorn bushes as well as on good soil--much like God's scattering of grace on the just and the unjust alike.

I have learned that broadcasting seed was the way to plant in Jesus' time and place. The seeds were scattered and then plowed under, the reverse of modern Western practice. Not being a farmer, what I didn't realize about this parable before I began this preparation process is that the reported harvest at the end of the story was a ridiculously extravagant one. The expected return for seed sown in Jesus' time and locale would have been about seven to ten fold. Instead the story tells of a harvest of 30, 60 or 100 fold, extravagant even with modern farming methods. As is always the case in Jesus' parables, something unusual is going on.

What I'm now struggling with is how to convey the unusual part of this story in a fresh way to our congregation. (As a side note, it's always scarier for me to preach in our home church, for these are people who have known me a long time.) What I've also learned in reading the commentaries and studying this passage is that Jesus aimed the parable directly at his disciples, implicitly asking them, "what type of soil do you provide and what kind of harvest can God expect in your life?" That's certainly cutting to the heart of the matter.

So now I'm wrestling with how to teach the congregation that this parable is not about judging the quality of soil in someone else's life, and that being good soil requires constant effort and attention, just like planting and caring for a garden. Maybe I'm also procrastinating because I'm now wondering what type of soil I am today, and hoping to produce a good harvest. May the Master Gardner grown an abundance of fruit in your life.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue