Two weeks ago, we celebrated a festive Pentecost, the birthday of the Christian Church.  That was the day of Pentecost, and now we are in the season of Pentecost, which lasts until the beginning of Advent next December.  The emphasis during the season of Pentecost is on growth – growing our own faith as well as growing the Church. 

 And speaking of growing the church… I know that most of you were here last week for Children’s Sunday.  It was a wonderful, joy-filled service, and many thanks to Marcia Olson and all the teachers and children who made it happen.  As I watched from my pew near the back – a little change of perspective for me – I was struck by how many young people we have in this church -- we could barely fit them all up here on the chancel steps!  And children – lots of them! -- is a sure sign of a healthy, growing church. 

 In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus tells a parable about growing.  He says, “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.

 Scattering, sowing and growing seeds -- that’s what we do in the church.  That’s what we are doing this morning with the baptism of little Ryan William Scannell – what a wonderful way to celebrate Father’s Day! 

 We rejoice with you, Brian and Eliane, on the blessing of your beautiful little boy, and we rejoice that today, he is officially received into the family of God.  This morning, you have made covenantal promises before God that you are going to sow seeds – seeds of faith – in Ryan’s life. 

 Indeed, we have all promised before God to be Ryan’s “seed sowers,” for we have all promised “our love, support, and care to him as his lives and grows in Christ.”  We have promised to play our part in ensuring that he is nurtured in this church family and in helping his parents to raise him as a Christian.  We have an important responsibility in Ryan’s life, and indeed in the life of all the young people in this church. 

 Our role is very much like the one the Apostle Paul plays in the life of Timothy.  In this morning’s Epistle lesson, we learn that the seeds of Timothy’s faith have been sown by his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice.  And then Paul takes Timothy under his wing and cultivates those seeds, nurturing him in the Christian faith and ensuring that he grows to be a dedicated servant of God.

 

How can we in this congregation sow seeds of faith in the children in our lives and in this faith community?  Some of it we do as part of worship.  We say the Lord’s Prayer while the children are here with us.  We encourage them to partake in the sacrament of communion.  We have “A Time for All” and sing songs with them.

 

But sowing seeds of faith in the children in our lives doesn’t begin and end on Sunday mornings.  It certainly helps for children to attend church – especially this church.  But most seed-sowing takes places the other six and a half days in the week.  Now, your initial reaction may be that you don’t think you’re qualified to be a seed sower, and so let me start off by putting you at ease – you do not have to be well along on your spiritual journey or have figured out all the answers to those tough theological questions to be a seed sower.  And just in case you’re wondering -- you don’t have to be a perfect parent or paragon of Christian virtue either!

 

The most important qualification of a seed sower is not perfection, but direction – and that direction is God-ward.  In this morning’s lesson from Deuteronomy, Moses describes what it means to live in a God-ward direction, and he outlines the process for sowing seeds of faith in children.  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  Jesus calls this the "greatest commandment."  We are to love God with everything we are -- heart , soul, and might.  Love of God is to be the central inclination of our hearts, the motivation for all we do, our response to God’s love for us.  And this kind of love needs to be implanted in our hearts before we can sow it into our children.

 

How can we love God in this way, at this deep soul level?  To love a person, we must know him or her.  In the same way, to love God, we need to seek to know God through reading the Holy Scriptures, through talking to and listening to God, and through doing God’s work in the world. 

 

If you are just starting out on your Christian walk, what a wonderful opportunity to grow in your faith along with the children in your life -- to learn the stories and teachings of scripture together, to learn to pray together and worship together.  Seek out the God who is seeking you, for scripture [Deuteronomy 4:29] promises that "you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul."  

 

On the other hand, if you grew up in a Christian family or are a long-time Christian yourself, remember that your faith journey is a lifelong process from which there is no graduation, and one way you can sow seeds of faith is to let the children in your life see you on your never-ending walk with God.

 

With God's love thus implanted in our hearts, we are to "pass it on" to our children, and Deuteronomy 6 tells us how:  "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.  Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates…"  In other words, God's ways are to be so much a part of us that they permeate our daily lives. 

 

When this happens, it becomes second nature for us to talk about God.  This can happen both at planned activities, such as reading Bible stories and saying grace with the children in our lives about God -- as well as at spontaneous "teachable moments" (you’ve heard me use that phrase before!) in the ebb and flow of everyday life.  Teachable moments may include seeing a rainbow, or looking at a tiny caterpillar, or taking in a sunset.  They can also include moments when disappointment or sorrow interrupt the regular routines of our lives and open the heart's door a bit wider to conversation -- such as the loss of a pet, or moving away to a new town. 

 

Sowing seeds of faith also include praying with and for the children in your lives, and it can’t start too early.  When they hear us praying for them, they can then start praying for themselves and for each other.  And eventually, they will learn to pray by themselves for us.  

 

And just in case you’re sitting there thinking about all the things you “should” be doing, here’s one last word of advice:  Relax and remember whose children they are.  They are God's first; they are simply on loan to us as a trust.  And as impossible at it seems, God loves our children even more than we do, and we can trust the children in our lives to God's care.

 

Listen again to Jesus’ words: “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.

 

We are to scatter and sow the seeds of faith.  God will then ensure that they sprout and grow.  I have experienced this powerfully in my own life.  When I was a child, my mother ensured that I had a solid religious foundation.  This included active participation in church, such as Sunday School, choir, and fellowship activities.  But just as important – perhaps even more so – was how my mother modeled living a God-ward life, and that God-ward life included saying our prayers, reading Scripture, and praising God from whom all our blessings flowed. 

 

My mother scattered and sowed the seeds of faith early in my life.  Then, when I went off to college, and for the first 20 years of my adult life, I basically turned my back on my Christian upbringing.  But God had not turned God’s back on me.  Those seeds were slowing taking root, sending forth tender shoots through the soil of my life.  And so when, in my late 30s, I felt a hunger in my heart, I knew where to turn.  I know that my mother, like the farmer in Jesus’ parable, did not know just how the seeds she had scattered would come to sprout and grow – but sprout and grow they did, and here I am in this pulpit, as a testament to the mystery and the wonder of God’s work.

 

As Jesus says in this morning’s lesson, the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.  It is so small and yet it grows into a huge plant.  Faith is like that:  We want to see faith growing like a mustard seed in our children's lives.  We want to see faith in God serving as the foundation of their lives and sustaining them during difficult times.  And we want to see the love of God manifested in all that they do.

You’ve probably heard the adage, "It takes a village to raise a child."  And it takes a Christian village to raise a Christian child.  I know you have heard me say that “the Christian faith is always just one generation away from extinction.”  During this season of Pentecost, and all the seasons of our life, may we grow in our faith and continue to discern what it means to follow Christ, to live as Christians, and to better understand God’s working in the world.  And may this Christian village we call the First Congregational Church of Stoughton help to grow the next generation of Christians by sowing seeds of faith in the children here in this community and beyond these walls.  Amen.