Today's sermon

Sermon Aug 30
Ephesians 3:14-21
Psalm 1

Rooted and Grounded in Love

When I was a child I was very afraid of the movie The Wizard of Oz. The witch and flying monkeys just un-did me. But so did the talking trees. Remember that part: after a Dorothy picks an apple, the tree says, "ouch that's my apple." It grabs her and Scarecrow. Then in the Lord of the Rings movies and books the trees of the forest walk around on roots-as-legs. That scared me too and I was 40 when I saw that movie. It was the 2nd Lord of the Rings movie with those creepy trees. Trees don't walk around and choose their own soil. Creepy.

But can we choose some of the dirt we live in? Can we choose what soil we are rooted and grounded in? I think we can choose a lot of our surroundings, not everything. But we can, and we can choose what kind of soil we are going to be for others: warm, nurturing, supportive.

The Psalm we read this morning is about people, but the psalm compares them to trees and plants. In Ephesians, the writer, Paul prayed that the church would be rooted and grounded in love. Can you repeat that? Can this side say it, "Rooted and grounded in love"

Amen.

I've seen trees rooted in the rocky soil, they cling to the mountainside, and get their nutrients any way they can. It rains so much here that some trees have very shallow roots in the sandy soil and when a hurricane comes the trees bend over and pull out of the soil.

During Hurricane Hugo, 20 years ago next month, Nancy and I were in a house in Sumter South Carolina. In the path. Four big pines hit the house that night and with each one the house shook. The trunks snapped at 2o feet up and the house moved. When Hurricane Ivan hit our house 5 years ago the pine trees in this wet, sandy Florida soil slowly pushed over and landed on our house with a gentle crush. What hit yours? Thumps or crush?

The shallow roots did not do the plant any good, they still fell over.

In the psalm there is a difference between the righteous people who take delight in the law. They are like trees planted by the stream. They've got plenty of cool water to drink, even when the stream bed is dry some water still flows underground. Righteous, law-loving people are deep-rooted, thick-trunked, strong trees.

But shallow roots and dry soil mean the people blow away like chaff. They don't know what is right or wrong, they don't know what they believe in, they scoff at religious souls, they follow sinful paths. So shallow are their roots that in tough times they dry up and blow away. They can't stand before judgment.

In Scotland the golf courses are beautiful. It is so misty and humid there the grass practically grows in the air; the roots are shallow. So when a bad golfer takes a divot it is a small mark, the wet ground and shallow roots just peal back. I did not chunk the ball -- that's a story for golfers. The soil makes a difference in the grass and in the game. But it means, when the moist wind stops blowing off the North Sea; if it is an atypical couple of weeks in Scotland -- all that thin rooted grass (pause) dies, dries up, and blows away, like chaff.

For two Sundays Rew has been singing a song about being a Christian with deep roots and leaves in the sunshine, and fruit that is a sign of life and a nest for birds: I'm becoming what the Lord of trees has meant me to be, A strong young tree." By the river or in the winter or in a concrete covered city, I want to be that strong tree, a deep and strong Christian, rooted and grounded in love. Rooted and Grounded in Love.

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus said:
5‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

Some of the seed fell in good soil, it was rooted and grounded in love. But some of it was pecked away by the birds. Some of it withered on the rocks. Some had weeds and thorns around it. Of course Jesus was talking about the gospel -- sometimes the devil pecks it away, sometimes the gospel is crowded out by cares and desires and all sorts of weeds. But sometimes you and I are ready for the gospel message; we're fertile soil for God's word. At its best, we in the church are fertile soil for the gospel, and we help nurture brothers and sisters to grow to be better Christians.

I've been thinking a lot about soil since I started my compost barrel. Now I'm thinking about the soil my life is in. How receptive am I to God's word. How receptive is the soil around me? and you? What kind of soil are you living in?

If your soil is the love of God, then you and I are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we have the power to comprehend the love of Christ and can be filled with the fullness of God. That's from Ephesians.

What kind of soil is Northminster? Are we still rooted and grounded in God's Love? Are we doing a good job of teaching this to our children and to our new members?

We'll be going back to the basics in the fall dinner series.


I was not a very good baseball player when I was in elementary and junior high school. I wonder if I could have hit had I had glasses then; I am farsighted. I'm excited for the Pelicans and for the St. Louis Cardinals who are 9 games ahead with a month to play. Great ball players, whatever the sport, and great lawyers and doctors and preachers, salesmen, and every profession need to stretch and run and work. Much of their practice is mundane.

Paul is talking about stretching exercises for Christians. Look at the Ephesians text with me: I bow my knees before the father. I pray that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power from the spirit that Christ may dwell in you so you may have power to comprehend the fullness of God. I know I'm shrinking the flowery language. If you bow and are strengthened and have power, then you are rooted and grounded in love.

And if you are rooted and grounded then you'll know how big and loving God is. You'll have the power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth to know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge, and you'll be filled with the fullness of God. You'll be like those trees planted in good soil, by the cool streams. Trees that stand in the hot winds. Trees that know the law and love of God.

Final point: Paul says that he prays that the church will have the power to comprehend the love of Christ: he makes it explicit. He prays that the church can comprehend the height and depth and breadth and length of the love of Christ, and the fullness of God. John Calvin says that Paul is using a mathematical formula from his day. You can almost imagine a ship with those dimensions. Or any volume of area up, down, side to side. The whole thing, Paul is saying.

If Christians can comprehend the Love of Christ and the fullness of God, then nothing else is very important. Calvin even says that all other knowledge is frivolous. I'm not sure I would go that far: but some of the things we spend our time and energy on sure are -- frivolous. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul says the greatest of all things is love.

So we've talked about trees today, well, really about people. Only the creepy trees in movies -- well, they are scary to me -- can choose what soil their roots are in. We human beings can choose where we sink our roots -- in the fertile, moist soil of God's word and the church. We choose what we read and watch, what we think about and meditate on.

As Northminster church we need to think about what kind of soil we are for our members, and especially for guests. We have a choice what we are rooted and grounded in. I want to be rooted and grounded in love. Can I hear that? Rooted and Grounded in Love.

word cloud for tomorrow's sermon

I like it, but I may take out a few uses of the word soil and add some about God and Jesus.

Sunday's Pastoral Prayer

[I wrote this for yesterday's early service. With the Bible presentation and Women's officers installation, we did not have a pastoral prayer at 11. It is in honor of students and teachers; I kinda like it.]

Dear Lord, thank you for teaching us in so many ways. You taught in Bible times through prophets and priests and leaders. Miriam taught by her songs and dance, Joshua taught through stones piled up along the riverbank to remind each new generation of your mighty acts, o God.

Jesus taught with his words and his deeds, he taught your radical life-giving love through his death and resurrection. We're also grateful for all the parables: talk of vineyards and sheep. All the writers of books of the Bible taught us, especially Paul. Thank you.

All our teachers are important, and we are teachers whether we mean to be or not. Our children and grandchildren look to us for examples. The elders of this church bear such a burden, because they are examples, teachers, for good and not.

As school starts this week in Florida, bless our students and their teachers. Some are eager-eyed children with energy and freshness; some are graduate students exhausted by busy lives, our college students face many new challenges in and out of the classroom. All our students and teachers need patience and self-control, motivation, and love.

Lord, in this county we struggle with the place for prayers in schools. Give wisdom to our school boards, administrators, lawyers, judges. We pray for common-sense and fairness.

Education is one way out of poverty, Lord. We know how you are concerned about the poor, educate us so we are as concerned as you are. It is exciting to read about baby colleges in poor neighborhoods to teach new parents the skills to raise inquisitive children who will seek knowledge and love reading and education. We pray for Presbyterian missionaries teaching around the world. Your world, we pray for it together with Jesus' prayer: Our Father...

Info about Harlem Baby College fighting poverty. http://www.hcz.org/

link to a neat site

I haven't blogged here in months. I will try to post a few pics, etc soon. Here is an interesting site I just stumbled upon. Enjoy.

http://monasticsonajourney.blogspot.com/