“The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
~ 2 Corinthians 9:6
Some of my fondest summer memories as a child are hitching a ride in the back of my grandfather’s El Camino to the family farm in Mobile, Alabama. Once there, with the summer sun hot upon our faces and green growth surrounding us in abundance, my cousins, sister, and I would gingerly walk up to the watermelon patch, looking for the largest, ripest fruit to take home for dessert that evening. My grandpa would teach us how to knock on each melon, listening for that deep, dull sound, waiting patiently until we found the right one, ready for consumption.
Growing things, planting seeds and waiting for the harvest, takes a lot of patience, my friends. I am currently waiting for the growth of multiple watermelon, along with corn, pumpkins, potatoes, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and more. Each time I plant a seed, I earnestly say a prayer that the earth may provide beauty and sustenance for my family. I pray that I may gently and kindly tend the little bit of earth that I call home. I remind myself that each seed I plant is an act of hope: hope for a future that has yet to unfold.
Many disciples have planted seeds in our midst throughout our three hundred and more years as a worshiping community of St. David’s. Some have taken deep roots and manifested in generations of families who have called this place their spiritual home. I continue to be amazed at the interconnectedness of this beloved community; this parish being woven through family histories. Other plants are still in seedling status, tendrils slowly unfurling, searching for connection and finding it in youth choir, and Women’s Fellowship weekends, and Young Adult brunches. And some seeds have just been planted and have not even pushed above the soil.
One tidbit I have learned as a new gardener, is that growth is SLOW. However, we live in a culture that pretends to reward us with instantaneous gratification. With one click on our computer, all our children’s school supplies are ordered for the academic year. Without even rising from the couch, dinner delivery can be dropped off at our front door. We consume media that communicates if we subscribe to this diet cleanse, we will drop those dreaded extra pounds immediately. To lean into this cultural mindset is rather tempting.
Yet in the work of the kin-dom—in the family of God—sustainable, long-term, lasting growth, is SLOW. Many before us have planted seeds of which we only now reap the harvest. I am grateful for all of those holy people, all of those sowers of seeds who have come before us, and I am grateful for those who are present now, sowing with abandon as an act of hope: hope that our descendants will reap the fruits of our labor.
I am grateful for all the bountiful seeds our Interim Rector, the Rev. Devon Anderson, has planted during her time here at St. David’s. With some of the seeds she has planted, we have already seen positive growth, and praise God! Other seeds have yet to break the surface and our new Rector, the Rev. Rick Morley, and all of us will be tasked with nurturing them as they tenderly spring forth. We wait patiently. We wait in hope. We know God will provide a harvest of abundance that is greater than we can ask or imagine.
So, I invite you, dearest gentle reader, to close in prayer with me…
For all that has been. Thanks be to God.
For all that is. Thanks be to God.
And for all that WILL BE. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
The Rev. Sarah A. Dunn
Associate Rector
Published on August 15, 2024