The focus is not on the soil but the Seed. . .

The Sermon for Proper 10A, the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, the Parable of the Sower, preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Clarksville, TN, on Sunday, July 12, 2026.

Though it seldom happens, we have the benefit today of Jesus’ own interpretation for His parable of the sower.  Except that He told the parable to one group and gave the interpretation to another.  Which might be cause for me stopping right here since the interpretation was given to the apostles while the parable itself was given to everyone.  That probably won’t work.  So let us venture forward.

While we are quick to rush in so that we can discover why some continue in the faith and others fall away, I am not sure we should begin there at all.  Parables are mostly pictures of God and if we are too quick to rush to an explanation to comfort worried parents or explain empty pews, we would miss the picture of God given here.  It is, after all, God who is on display in Jesus’ words and not simply people who have always grown hot and cold about everything.

As someone from a farm state, I could say that the picture of God given here shows He is not a very good farmer.  Seed is expensive.  So is fertilizer and herbicide – not to mention the time, labor, and energy invested in making sure that the seed grows roots and bears fruit.  No farmer can relate to this parable.  Every farmer knows his soil – which soil is a safe bet for the seed to grow and a harvest to be made and which is not.  Except God.  He does not spend His time finding the right soil.  He is wastefully extravagant.  He sows His costly seed everywhere.

God the sower sows without care or concern for the kind of soil upon which He is sowing the seed.  He does not worry about wasting the seed or about the cost of His extravagance or wastefulness – at least by our standards.  He does not spend His time worrying about the kind of soil that is right but purposefully sows His seed in those places everyone knows is a big risk.  He does not stick to fields and soil which can be expected to produce a good crop but simply lets the seed fly indiscriminately on all kinds of worthless soil.  What kind of God does that?

He drops the seed along the rocky paths that mark where people have walked it hard – places hardly amenable to planting or harvesting.  He sows the seed among weeds and thornbushes where no one in their right might would even walk – much less plant.  God the sower is not looking for the right places to sow the seed from which His kingdom will grow and flourish but is extravagant enough to toss away some seed at places where not much can be expected. He simply sows everywhere.

 What kind of God does that?  We are so quick to rush into the explanation and to some answer to why some and not others that we have missed the most important thing about this parable.  We are so quick to nod our heads at the obvious explanation of what happens to some who come to faith and then fall away, that we miss the God who is wasteful enough (at least in our eyes) to put the seed of His Word everywhere and not in the places we think wise.  This is a parable of God’s unfathomable mercy more than it is an explanation to tell us why some believe and some do not, why some endure in the faith and others fall away.

The Word of the Kingdom is not something reserved for the right people but for everyone.  Everyone already knows that the world is made up of all kinds of mixed soil.  We know about the rocks and paths worn hard and weeds and thornbushes.  We do not know about the mercy of God.  That is what we need to have revealed to us.  We know all about the reasons why faith is hard, why we struggle to keep the faith in hard times and amid all the distractions of this world.  We all know the limitations of our strength, the ease at which we surrender our hope to despair, and the sins that we struggle to feel are forgiven.  We all know these things and we are too often overcome by them.  But what we do not know as we should is the limitless mercy of God and the grace that is sufficient for our every need.  Yet this is precisely where our focus should be and it is the focus of Jesus’ parable.

Every step of this life for every Christian is filled with constant temptation, with a world of competing values, ideas, ideals, rights, and wrongs.  We seem to spend our lives trying to reconcile our faith to these in a way that will satisfy us or make it all easier.  We think there are secret ways to making peace between the things we know are right, true, and of God and the things so enticing to us but just plain wrong.  We think there is some hidden way to resist temptation without it costing so much or being so hard.  But our focus is not meant to be on these.  Our focus is meant to be on the Lord, whose goodness will never fail us even though it is impossible to understand.

We are all the rocky paths, the hardened soil, surrounded by thistles and thorns.  We are the worthless soils in which God has dared to waste the seed of His Word, calling us to faith, washing us in baptismal water, guiding us by His voice, and feeding us at His table.  Faith is not the predictable response to a reasonable set of circumstances but the surprise of the Spirit, the surprise of grace, and mystery of a love that refuses to give up.  

The good soil is not the sinless soul or the righteous heart but the one who hears the Word of God and keeps it.  The miracle is not that some fall away but that any believe.  It can only be the work of the Spirit and the mystery of God’s extravagant love.  His Word that proceeds from His mouth shall not return to Him empty but shall accomplish His purpose and succeed according to His own intention.  That is the mystery revealed in this parable.  God’s mercy is His most important character trait.  And of any, we Lutherans ought to know this best of all.

At some point we forgot this.  We began to treat the church like a business and outreach like a business plan and we borrowed from the business world to try and figure out where to sow the seed to get the highest yield.  It has not helped the Church to grow but it has succeeded in making us think that the secret lies in the soil instead of the seed of God’s Word.  As parents we try to figure out the secret to raising good kids who will do what is right and keep the faith plated in them.  We all know that there is no secret.  The parent knows you love every child the same, teach them and provide for them as best you are able, and pray for them as if you have done nothing at all.  The results are uneven.  They are always uneven.  But you do not focus all your energy where you think the best results will be found.  You give your extravagant love to every child over and over and over again.  It is what you do.  It is what God has done.  It is what God is still doing.

He does not focus His resources on those most likely to come to faith or remain in the faith.  He sows the seed where nothing is expected and sends forth His Spirit on those we deem a wasted effort. He does not know how to give up.  He just sows the seed.  If we are failing to grow as a Church is it because we have failed to figure out the key to marketing the Gospel successfully or have we forgotten to sow the seed everywhere, no matter what it costs, because that is what was done for you and me?  Do we trust what we think will bring results or do we actually dare to believe that God’s Word shall not return to Him empty but will accomplish His purpose in sending it?

 Sow the seed like God does, without prejudice or constraint.  Be as lavish sowing the Word of God for the sake of others as it was sown into you.  It will not fail even if you never see results.  The focus is not on the soil but the seed.  We will only accomplish His purpose by sowing the seed of His Word and trusting that God will bring the results.  To you has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of heaven and blessed be your eyes to see and your ears to hear this Gospel of Christ crucified and risen.  Amen.  

Outgrowing ourselves. . .

The pursuit of the evolutionary goal has always been without limits to its cruelty but with the advent of Artificial Intelligence it would seem that this goal is also without any limit upon its humanity.  Indeed, there are those who hope and pray that the technology we invent will replace ourselves -- or at least replace the abhorrent aspects of the human self which the so-called enlightened have long lamented.  What the earlier philosophers and religionists decried in the flesh that held in captivity our spirits has been translated into the hope that machines will enable us once for all to be free of the constraints of the body.  It is called transhumanism.  

The core of Christian belief has stood as a witness against such fancy.  That Christ became incarnate and that God did not disdain the flesh He had made but chose to send forth His only-begotten into that flesh for us and for our salvation has at the same time but the foundation of our belief and the greatest cause of offense to the world beholden to science and the myth of progress.  Not a prison but a wonderfully created gift of God, we are not embarrassed or ashamed of our bodies but celebrate them as signs of God's goodness and gifts of His own creative will and purpose.  We are embodied creatures of God not as punishment and neither as our weakness but by design.  That design, so profoundly crafted by God and unable for us to replicate except in the crudest fashion, is not our failing but our glory.  This is the witness of Christianity.  God lives in flesh for us and our flesh, even after the Fall and the curse of death, remains His gift even as it awaits its perfection in eternal life when new and glorious flesh shall replace what cannot be eternal.  

C.S. Lewis coined the title, The Abolition of Man, but the work he authored is a prescient criticism of then modern attempts to debunk natural values, such as those that would deny objective value on rational grounds.  This same work appears in his own fiction in That Hideous Strength.   The Abolition of Man has turned out to be rather prophetic on the topic of "values", such that today they accepted as being projections of our feelings and subjective whims, and consequently, anyone who dares to speak of properly objective truth or objective moral value is engaging in an oppressive play of power."  That small collection of essays which Lewis once complained had been ignored has become relevant again because of the conflict within the Western world over what it means to be human and the failure of science to offer us any help to solve such a crisis of anthropology.  

In the midst of our walk to outgrow ourselves, Christians proclaim the Scriptures.  “What we will be has not yet been made known” (1 John 3:2). We have become “partakers of divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), “for a little while [made] lower than angels” (Heb. 2:7–9), until the exaltation of Jesus, who “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named” (Eph. 1:21–23) has prepared the place where we are to go to be with Him (Eph. 2:6).  The resurrection does not disdain the flesh God created but transfigures it into the spiritual bodies like Jesus own glorious flesh.  We plant these bodies in the earth as seed, just as Christ was planted in death to be raised in glory (1 Cor. 15:36–37). The mortal bodies are sown in dishonor and weakness not because they are bad but because of what sin did to them and so they give way to the imperishable bodies of glory and power (1 Cor. 15:42–44).  What we shall be, we do not know but we dare not cast off or demean the flesh of God's own creation and redemption.  Indeed, in the cemetery we pray that the God who created this body might keep these remains until the day of the resurrection of all flesh -- hardly a lament but rather the voice of hope.  Our end is not the rise of the technological marvel of our own creation and a testament to our progress or evolution but rather to God's redemptive work, rescuing our bodies from the death that cursed them since Eden and promising that they too shall see them created anew when we, with our own eyes, behold God face to face.

Archbishop at home in a mosque. . .

If you want to know one of the things wrong with Rome, listen to how the Archbishop of Detroit described his visit to a mosque:

“There is no place where I feel more respect, fraternity, and kindness,” Archbishop Weisenburger said at the mosque’s opening ceremony on June 12, according to The Arab American News. “From the moment I entered this beautiful site, I felt a profound divine presence.”  [emphasis added]

Frankly, I do not get it.  I am not Islamaphobic.  I am a Christian.  By nature that means a rejection of Islam and the deity the Quran [or Qur'an or Koran] is rejected as not the true God whom Jesus Christ has revealed.  Feeling at home within the sacred place of worship for a faith that rejects core Christian teaching is to feel at home with error.  It is a sign of the constant need on the part of some to reaffirm the rights of Muslims to worship as they please (and who says anything against this?) but at the same time causing offense to the core confessions of Christian faith established and proclaimed in the basic creeds of Christendom.  

Rome has an alarming way of somehow giving place and recognition to faiths which deny basic Christian teaching yet without calling them out on this.  No one is suggesting that Christians need be rude or offensive in the way they speak or interact with Muslims but that does not justify to over the top rhetoric about feeling at home with the divine presence in a mosque.  Really?  A liturgical church which insists that the Mass is the most profound entrance into the presence of the Eternal and a sacramental church which insists that the sacraments mediate God's presence and grace in a unique manner which supersedes any and all other means of God's presence does not give enough of a sense of the divine presence that one must leave the cathedral and find a rug to kneel upon in a mosque?  Perhaps the good archbishop has been breathing in the wrong kind of smoke.

Worth a listen. . .

Whether you are a pastor or a Lutheran or Christian, there are many words of wisdom in this man and it shows that Scripture was right to commend the gray haired head for the wisdom of years as well as the wisdom of learning.  Thank you, Dr. Scaer.  Thank you, Gene Wilken.  Thank you, host Gottesdienst.

Mercy alone. . .

Sermon for Trinity 5, preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Clarksville, TN, on  9 July 2026.

Not always do the readings appointed for the one year and three year series have the same focus.  This week they do.  On Sunday we will hear the Parable of the Sower and Jesus’ own explanation of the mystery of God and those who fall away.  Today we hear the equally grand mystery of the miraculous catch.  Both turn us to the mercy of God alone.  There is no reasonable explanation or marketing information to be ascertained to teach us where to plant or where to fish.  It is all in God’s wisdom, according to His purpose, and by His mercy.

Our Lord sends His disciples out to fish after they had fished and fished and fished without anything to show for it all.  They were tired and weary but who are they to disagree with the Son of God?  So they go at the wrong time to the wrong place and use the wrong method only to be nearly drowned in the process because of the great catch of fish.  Jesus is not teaching them superior fishing methods but something of the grace and mercy of God.  It is not simply a lesson meant for the apostles but for you and me.  The Lord knows what He is doing.  He does not need nor does He ask for our opinions or our wisdom.  He asks us to do what He says.

Everything God does is by nature His plan.  He does not act upon whim nor does He act accidentally.  It is all His intention.  It is accomplished by His power.  This is what the disciples learned with the miraculous catch of fish that defied explanation.  Then Jesus does the unimaginable.  He insists that they will now become His agents and instruments, fishing not for gain but for men so that they may know with them the unending limits of God’s mercy and grace.

On one hand it seems to be a painful reminder that no one enters the kingdom of God by their decision or will but they are caught in God’s net.  No one comes to God by their own reason or strength but only by the Holy Spirit.  This is Luther’s genius in explaining the third article of the creed.  We hear and believe.  Faith is not an act of our will but of God’s, His gracious gift by the power of His Spirit working through His Word and Sacraments.  It is not that we do nothing – we are fishers of men, after all, but we do not make people believe or fill the net.  God does that.  He keeps His promises.  He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies everyone who will be saved.  He keeps us from being snatched out of His hand.  He delivers the faithful to the Father at the appointed day.  Do you believe this?  
That’s what the disciples learned from that little fishing expedition – to believe.
Those who belong to the Lord are not lured into the kingdom.  They are not caught by the skill of the angler or the knowledge of the secret holes where the big ones hide under the surface of the waters.  This is not serene mountain stream and a well fought fight with a trout.  Instead, this is the surprise of a net that unfolds the unsuspecting fish.  They care caught in the violent act of a net suddenly stealing them from their old life and marking who they belong to.  Nets catch all kinds.  Good and bad, big and small, the ones deemed valuable and those deemed to be throw away.  Like the different soils of the parable of the sower, it is not about the soil or the lure but solely about the mercy of God.

The net is the voice of God, spoken to us in Scripture and through us to others.  God speaks and we know Him.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  The Good Shepherd calls us by name.  We all know this.  But how this works is a surprise.  The Church is not a group of people who share common interests or values or hobbies or anything like that.  The Church is as diverse as that net holding the miraculous catch.  What we have in common is simply that we belong to the Lord.  There is no homogenous principle in the Church.  There is only the net reaching out into the world and bringing back all kinds for the Lord and by His power.  It surprises the fish and even the fishermen.

It can be dangerous to fish for men.  The boat creaks and groans under the weight of it all and sometimes it feels like it is all about to drown the fishermen.  But do not fear.  Even sinners who find a home in God’s Church have a work to do for the sake of the Lord and His kingdom.  Peter admits this when he tells the Lord to leave him alone because he is an unworthy sinner.  Aren’t we all?  Later Peter will admit with the rest of them that he has given up everything for Jesus – isn’t that enough?  But that is the point.  It is not what we give or give up or what we do or fail to do that makes the Kingdom grow.  It is all God’s doing and it is His grace to call us to join Him in this calling.

We will all want to jump ship from time to time.  We will all try to put the Lord off by reminding Him we are just sinners.  The Lord knows all of this.  We are kept not by our own wills but by the net and the boat, the voice of the Gospel and the ship of the Church.  We are not set free to go our own way but kept in Him who is the Way, through the Word and Sacraments.  There will always be a cost to discipleship and part of it is the illusion of freedom this world offers.  It is never easy.  Life in Christ is not easy and it is not the good life of our dreams.  
But where else can we go?  Peter asks for all of us:  Who else has the Word of life?  We live not by reasoned understanding of God’s ways or by consent to them but by God’s grace alone, by God’s mercy alone.  That is also how the Church grows.   Thanks be to God that the Lord still rules His Church, still catches unworthy sinners into His net of forgiveness and new life, and still calls unworthy people to fish for men.  It is not our skill that commends us to Him but His grace that we commend to the world.  His Word will not return empty but will always bring forth the miraculous catch.  Look around.  It brought you and me to the Kingdom; it will continue to catch and keep the caught until He ends it at the last day.   Thanks be to God! 

The loss of family. . .

Over time and even within the last couple of generations, the one constant around the lives of most people was family.  Love them or not, family was the structure that gave support to the person, shaped the community, and built the foundation for a whole society.  Before we get to the role of the Church in this, it is sufficient to say that religious or not, family was the ground upon which nearly every aspect of life was built.  That is not to say every family was wholesome or healthy but that family was both presumed and pursued as the most essential component to the rest of life.

There was also a time in which this was the hidden unity between the divisions of race and class.  While the color of one's skin and the size of the wallet had great impact upon so much of life, family was the same essential and constant force behind all people.  For good or for ill, family was the glue that bound nearly everything together.  Certainly this was true for Black America at a time when discrimination constrained so much of their lives and limited so many of their opportunities.  But that once vaunted institution which spanned time and economic status and race has suffered greatly in the last several generations.  It is no longer the given behind the person or the community or society as a whole.  The Church is suffering greatly because of the loss of family (though, in some cases, it may have been an accomplice in its demise).

Churches were about right and wrong, morality and evil, sin and redemption.  Their concern was the soul and the salvation of the soul was the key to amending sinful lives.  This was true in nearly all the churches and was especially true of the Black churches in America.  When the churches began to be concerned for other things and when those issues and causes began to displace redemption from the center of the life of the churches and the lives of the people in them, things happened.  No matter the race, society became a profound influence upon the agenda of churches and upon their teaching.  What people thought became at least as important as what God thought and in many churches became the most important thing.  

Liberation in the white churches of America was the casting aside of constraints -- throwing off the chains of a strict sexual morality and a work ethic in favor of individual happiness and a culture of entertainment.  Liberation in the Black churches of America became the freedom of their members and from political oppression and racism -- something that turned Jesus into someone different from the God of the cross and empty tomb.  The belief that freedom in the Gospel meant freedom from social and economic inequality, rather than sin, became mankind’s greatest need and the sole organizing principle for many churches.  It did not take long to hitch additional kinds of oppression to this cause (especially in the white churches) until the adoption of a liberated view of sexual desire and gender identity became the natural heir to the Civil Rights Movement.  The hidden cost in this is the loss of family in both white America and Black America.

It is the devil's bargain, as some have coined it.  In exchange for silence on the Biblical issues of the centrality of male and female, marriage, children, and family, the political causes were pursued and economic and political equality became the necessary paths to individual happiness.  Some thought that in order for churches to remain relevant, they had no choice but to go along with the flow.  Religion and politics blurred their boundaries until today religion and political stance are parallel markers of what people think and how they live.  But where is the Gospel in all of this?  That is the subject for another column but suffice it to say that the churches which have adopted this definition of the Gospel have not fared well in the pews, suffering almost as much as the families they helped to sideline and the common values of good and evil that once bridged every community across America.