The 9th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 12A

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 12A July 30, 2023 I read a quote this week about Jesus’s parables in this week’s gospel reading from the Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor that I want to share with you. Here is what she writes, “The striking thing about all these images is their essential hiddenness—the mustard seed hidden in the ground, the yeast hidden in the dough, the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl hidden among all the other pearls, the net hidden in the depths of the seas. If the kingdom is like these, then it is not something readily apparent to the eye but something that must be searched for, something just below the surface of things waiting there to be discovered and claimed.” I love this idea of the kingdom of God lingering just below the surface of the things of our every-day life! (It’s actually the subject of a song by one of my favorite artists Carrie Newcomer titled “Every little bit of it.”) And interestingly enough, a few weeks ago, before I even knew that this gospel reading was coming up, I started journaling about moments in my own life when I encountered the kingdom of God, and I wrote about these in standard parable form: “The kingdom of God is like a giant fig tree whose owners invite you to come pick figs while they are on vacation. On the way over, you worry about how you will reach the higher branches, and when you get there, you discovered they have left ladders set up underneath to reach the figs on the higher limbs.” Or from VBS week—“The kingdom of God is like child-sized arms suddenly wrapping around your legs or waist when you are distracted and busy. If you take time to stop and look down, you see a face of joy and love shining up at your and in that instant, you remember who you’ve been created to be.” Or a random moment of domesticity: “The kingdom of God is like when your teenage children can do something that you can’t do, and they do it willingly and joyfully, and it contributes to the good of the whole family.” Or “The kingdom of God is like a healing prayer circle made of kind hands and generous hearts and the surprise of the Holy Spirit showing up in heat and light and happy light-headedness.” We talked about this all at last week’s healing service, and I invited them to write their own parables about when the Kingdom of God has shown up in their lives. Here are some of what they said. The Kingdom of God is like feeding the kids of VBS from the kitchen and then after all is cleaned up, going out to watch them sing their songs with such joy and life. The Kingdom of God is like when the light breaks through one of the stained glass windows in the church (which are easy to miss because they are up high), and the light shines in color on the floor. The Kingdom of God is moving to a new condo and discovering that you have marvelous neighbors who become like your family because we all need each other. The Kingdom of God is like a trip that you’ve worried about and prayed over that turns out being so much more wonderful than you could have ever imagined. The Kingdom of God is like my back yard where so many different animals come to be fed: aggressive racoons, slow moving turtles, three black crows, gentle deer, bird-food eating squirrels, cats-both inside and out. It is a reminder of how God is revealed to us in nature and through the peaceable animal kingdom. The kingdom of God is like a grandparent who will make you your very own cake when you didn’t get a slice of cake at church coffee hour. Isn’t it marvelous, this understanding that the kingdom of God is all around us, just underneath the surface of things! Would you like to try it? I’ll give you two or three minutes to think about it and write down your Kingdom of God moment, and then, if you want, we’ll also have some time for you to share it with someone sitting next to you. Here’s one final one to share with you: The kingdom of God is like a congregation who eagerly writes your homily for you when you’ve been away on vacation!