Transplanter

 

A parable invites us into new ways of thinking – in today’s parable- thinking specifically about the kindom of heaven. Parables push us to ponder that which is beyond familiar and comfortable.

Creator, open my ears that I may listen and hear, the seeds of your Word. Till and prepare my heart and mind to be good soil, ready to receive the Word as spoken. Nourish and grow my roots, shoots, and abilities – to be a vibrant planting in your garden. Amen.

 

I have to brag a little. The garden in the front yard of the parsonage, in my mind, looks amazing! Each day, I like to have my coffee on the porch overlooking the plants. I take delight in them! Their colours and flowers, their movement in the breeze; how they look different in the rain. I enjoy working around the plants, a little here, a little there, pulling weeds, picking sticks, trimming shrubs, moving rocks. Every day I play in God’s garden and I commune with Hosta, Lily, Violet, Chive, and Rhubarb.

 

I have a confession to make. I am not a sower of seed. I have tried. Squash, Carrot, Lettuce, Bean, and Corn they grew a little, but never grew big enough to produce fruit; well honestly, didn’t grow enough to really have leaves either. Stems – from seeds I can grow stems that measure two inches in height. But then they shrivel or get eaten, or just remain sickly looking. So, I am not a sower of seeds. I am willing to admit this and accept it!

 

I have other talents. Hosta, Lily, Violet, Chive, Rhubarb, and their friends were invited to the garden. I met them in other peoples’ gardens. They were full and vibrant and were ready to move further afield. With the help of a shovel, I separated Hosta, Lily, Violet, Chive, Rhubarb from their mother plant and carefully transported them, replanting them in their new home, the front yard of the parsonage.

I have learned that I am not a sower, but rather a successful transplanter.

 

Paul, in the Romans text, goes on and on describing Christ within. If Christ is in you this Spirit is life.

In my experience this Spirit that is life is like a mother plant which can be subdivided and transplanted, allowed to grow, and subdivided and transplanted again and again. This Spirit that is life moves farther and farther afield; recreating, accentuating, renewing, God’s garden, God’s kindom.

 

When I ponder Christ within, I consider what grows in me that when subdivided will continue to grow. What grows like weeds, what grows like good seed?  Plants that grow in me, grow from my understanding of the Gospel  - that God unconditionally loves humankind so much that God dared to die to show us to what lengths God goes to have us comprehend this love. The Gospel is an abundance of grace and God being vulnerable and present in a hurting world. Receiving this grace and abundance through the risen Christ overflows and enters the world as life giving water, through me, through you, for the healing of the world.

 

The Sower of Seed – reading the passage it says A sower, not sowers; maybe none of us are sowers of seed.

Reflecting on this passage Bishop Larry Kochendorf of the Alberta and the Territories Synod writes:

“God – a farmer – a sower who is extravagant, reckless – perhaps even wasteful in desire and intent. God who casts the seed of the word, of grace, of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of promise, of life – God who casts this seed everywhere – in every place, in every life, in every community – God who casts this seed – listen!- [it’s] for you – for me.

Extravagant grace for you – forgiveness for you – reconciliation for you – promise for you – life for you.

This sower – this farmer – God – who we know best in Jesus Christ and in his extravagant, restless life and death – and life for us.

…the God we know in Jesus Christ – who [in these kindom parables] is extravagant, reckless, and yes, wasteful – in God’s desire and intent to be in relationship with us…

God, a sower who casts the seed everywhere – for the love of the world.”

 

God is the sower!  God is the farmer.

 

I am a transplanter.

And based on Bishop Larry’s explanation of God’s seed there is much that can be transplanted, - divided, shared, moved – extravagant grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, promise, life, relationship.

Transplanters are about taking the extravagance and abundance of God – that which is wholesome and healing, and moving it to new places. It is looking at one’s life and being, discovering what one has in abundance and separating off chunks of this abundance to share with and plant in another person’s garden.

Perhaps you have an abundance of care, common sense, a capacity to listen, empathy, agency, optimism, hope, forgiveness.

As a transplanter, it is valuable to know something about dirt and caring for the transplanted plant. It takes a little time to support the plant until its roots catch in the new-to-it soil; a little encouragement and walking in relationship.

Although one would never read, ‘transplanter,’ as part of a pastor’s CV or job description, I think it is an apt description of what I do; and what Christians are called to do. Specifically, for me I transplant weekly through teaching and preaching – I take a piece of myself, wrapped up in the Christ within me, and pull it out– lovingly give it to the person or people receiving it. Most weeks I transplant a piece of myself and give it to you; I give you a portion of God’s grace that has been grown, pondered, and formed within my heart and being.  

Over time, the transplanted piece is nourished, given encouragement, fertilizer, water, sunshine, - until it once again has taken root and grown and can be separated and divided, pulled out to be passed on and transplanted again – from your heart to another.

 

Consider what has been transplanted over the years– from me to you- planted into your heart and mind? What has grown so much that it can be subdivided and shared? And I know that what has been transplanted in you, grows and gets transplanted by you to others.

Bonnie Arbon once said, You are a piece of the puzzle of someone else’s life. You may never know where you fit, but others will fill the hole in their lives with pieces of you.

 

The pieces of me that are worthy of being a piece in the puzzle of someone else’s life, are the ones that come from the abundance of God’s grace; the pieces Paul talks about as Christ within.

 

The Sower has planted seed, extravagantly, everywhere.

The seed has taken root and grown here (hand motion church), and here (point at own heart; then at others in congregation). This is a place of good soil – soil that is tended and nourished – we are full bodied, vibrant plants, with gifts and abundance overflowing the garden bed. It is time for us to be transplanters, taking that which is precious and sacred – pieces of ourselves, our faith, our hope, our belief that God’s kindom is present- and transplant it to others for the healing of the whole world.