A sermon by the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, written for and delivered at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Tybee Island, GA, on Sunday, June 16, 2024, the 4th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL Proper 6, Year B).
Lectionary Readings Referenced
2 Corinthians 5:6-17
We are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Transformed Like Mustard Seeds
By the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, Program Manager for New Starts, ELCA
When the English began to colonize this place we now call Chatham County, one of the first things they did was establish a church. In 1733, shortly after General Oglethorpe arrived on lands that belonged to the Yamasee/Yamacraw, Guale, and Muscogee peoples, they organized Christ Church Episcopal in downtown Savannah. That’s why we sometimes call them the “Mother Church of Georgia.” (Side Note: There is much that can be said about our church’s history of colonialism, conquest, and genocide against Indigenous peoples in this place, but that won’t be the focus on today’s sermon. For all of our righteous criticisms and anger about how things unfolded in the colonial era, I want to try to imagine what life was like for those 18th-century English colonists.)
Back in England, the settlers were used to going to big beautiful stone churches with fancy windows and high ceilings and thunderous preaching. But here, they started from scratch. No cathedrals, no steeples, no homes that looked familiar to their culture. They didn’t have a traditional church building for the first few years. All they had was a few personal copies of the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible, and each other. Like many churches in what is now called Georgia, Christ Church was founded by lay people. It was founded by people who decided to gather and pray together of their own accord. They didn’t wait for a priest. They called a priest to them. They didn’t wait for the Church institution to recognize them. They followed the Spirit’s lead by worshiping God where they were with what they had.
Today, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia has over 65 congregations across dozens of counties, with tens of thousands of living members and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of deceased members. It started with only about a dozen people gathered together by the river to pray. It was “like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:31-32). The mustard shrub not only makes more seeds (for exponential growth), but it also provides spaces of welcome, hospitality, and safety for the rest of Creation.
It started as one small thing, but then it grew into something unimaginably bigger with holy fruit born in the lives of many. The seed disappeared, but it transformed into a great bush. We sometimes forget just how marvelous it is that life can grow from something so small. The small group that prayed Morning Prayer in a wooden shack along the banks of the Savannah River isn’t there. But now Christ Church is there and Episcopal churches are all over Georgia and we are here on Tybee Island seeking God’s mercy together. It’s something dramatically different, but that’s how God’s Kingdom grows in the world. That’s how God’s love spreads throughout time and space.
In a similar way, we are all on journeys of transformation. I think that everyone in this room has been baptized. If you’ve been baptized, you are a full member of this Church. If you haven’t been baptized, talk to Deacon Susan and we’ll schedule it ASAP! But in baptism, whether you remember the ceremony or not, each of us joined Jesus Christ in his death (under the water) and joined him in rising to new life (coming up out of the water). We died to our old self, and God made us something new. Again, in St. Paul’s words, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Sometimes that new creation is easy to feel, easy to pinpoint, easy to spot. Some people have an unmistakable turning point in their lives, like Saul meeting Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and changing his name to Paul (Acts 9:1-19). But many of us (maybe most of us) haven’t had such a dramatic experience of change. Or if we did, it was a long time ago. The spiritual high of being struck by God’s grace and feeling transformed is wonderful, but the feelings won’t last. That’s part of why we gather. Because regardless of our feelings or emotions, that transformation is real. We who are baptized have been made new in Christ. That transformation is still happening day by day through the power of the Holy Spirit. When we come together to pray, worship, sing, eat together, and fellowship, we are receiving encouragement from God and from one another to continue our renewal. God wants to keep making us new, to keep filling us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
The Reign (Kingdom) of God has the power to spread miraculously, to sprout up in unexpected places, to produce beautiful things within and through us. That’s Love. That’s the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. And the growth of the Kingdom can take the form of forming new congregations with beautiful church buildings in new places. (I see that in some of my work with the Lutherans.) But it also takes place in the small ways that each of us grow in our discipleship. It takes place in settings where a church building is never a consideration or even a goal. The goal is just to be faithful together. (I see a lot more of that in my work.) God’s Reign grows when we draw closer to our Savior and walk in love with our neighbor. The Kingdom is big and small. And it’s about people, not institutions, transformed lives not renovated buildings. It’s about following Jesus day by day, regardless of how big or small the results seem.
There is no excuse not to love, not to take part in this new, transformed life. It doesn’t have to be big or dramatic. You don’t have to have a degree in theology to share how Jesus has transformed your life. It can be as simple as showing love with a phone call or email, a meal or an invitation. “How are you doing, sister?” “I haven’t seen you in church lately, and I miss you, brother.” Because even when our love seems like it’s going nowhere, like it’s insignificant, like it doesn’t matter… it does. God sees it and God gives it growth. And we may never see the fruit, but we trust and believe that God will do miracles in and through our faithfulness. So walk in love as Christ loved us, trusting that God will transform our small offerings into something that can change the world. Amen.
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