jesus talks back to scarcity-thinking

Inspiration and Intention is September’s theme at Parables: All-Abilities Inclusion Worship, a ministry of Chelsea First UMC for people of all kinds who are eager to engage with God in the surprising “sideline” places in our society. Parables are not always stories, but are “wisdom shorts” from Jesus which usually point to the ways God is working in the world right under our noses—and often in the margins—where neurotypical, mainstream, task-focused, and overly scheduled folks like me often miss seeing.

We will be drawing our monthly parables mostly from the gospel of Mark this 2024-25 program year. This first one from chapter 4 is nestled between the parables of the sower and the mustard seed. Ah, the lovely metaphors Jesus gives us to reflect on how the Spirit Seed of God is at work in the world!

“This is what the Kin-dom of God is like: A person scatters seed on the land. Night and day, while they sleep, when they are awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, they do not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, at once they start to reap because the harvest has come.” Mark 4: 26-29

One of the things this parable reminds me of is that the Kin-dom of God does not need us to micro-manage it or fuss and worry that we somehow didn’t measure up with what we offered as “seed.” With Christ-ness alive in the world, the Kin-dom is constantly morphing and evolving, folding in the good and bad (or that which seems to us with our limited perception “Lovely” and “Less-than”) with every pulse of Love and Light. What a thrill to be part of this way of seeing! All of us are planters as well as harvesters of the Word, as it takes on new expressions of fullness all around us in many ways. 

Sometimes we think we need to wait to be inspired before we can make a new intention for ourselves or our impulse of Love. While inspiration can lead to intention, it works the other way around, too. Intentions of all kinds often lead to us experiencing the world anew. 

+ The intention to find a better way to recycle your plastic might lead to a passion for collecting all kinds of other goods for recycled use through the many local agencies in our area

+ The intention to get a little exercise by walking each day might renew your connection to some neighbors with whom you have more in common than you once thought

+ The intention to fast once a week for physical health reasons might also lead to a sense of spiritual sensitivity and closeness with God

And when these Crops of Intention are full-grown in their surprising and mysterious ways (and we may think no one but us sees the growth) Jesus reminds us that we can celebrate God as the power behind that beautiful harvest.

September blessings, friends!