The Good News Proclaimed
First preached by the Right Reverend Grant Lynn Ford
at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, July 7, 2002, and then reworked and
preached on Sunday, July 13, 2008, at both morning services.
Talk about being scattered! You know the people I’m talking about. Not you,
of course… but those people, the ones who are just sooo scattered.
They’re too busy on the roadway of life to stop long enough to sow Truth in
their lives. Oh, an affirmation once in awhile is a good thing, but real
meditation takes too much time. Prayer? A whisper now and then, but deep,
intentional prayer? No time on this highway. No wonder the birds can gobble up
the seed, Jesus explains in our Gospel reading.
In 1973 Gary Kildall wrote the first popular operating system for personal
computers, named CP/M. I remember it well. We used it in my first church in
Hinsdale, Illinois, more than 25 years ago.
The story is alleged that IBM approached Kildall in 1980 about developing
the operating system for IBM PCs. But the day IBM came calling, it is said
that he chose to fly his new airplane instead. The frustrated IBM executives
turned instead to Bill Gates, founder of a small software company called
Microsoft, and his operating system named MS/DOS
Today, thirty-five years later Bill Gates is a rich man. Let me put it this
way: If you took the worth of Bill Gates’ stock in Microsoft and put it into
one-dollar bills and laid them down end-to-end, round-trip — from New York to
Seattle and back — you could make that journey more than 341 times! If you
stacked those bills one top of the other, the stack would reach almost 1,490
miles into the skies! That’s rich!
Don’t worry too much about Kildall. He died a rich man, but not nearly as
rich as Bill Gates. Now maybe Gary Kildall was busy doing what he wanted
to do. But he also missed his opportunity. So it is with those who are just
too scattered, too preoccupied with the action on the highway. They miss their
opportunities; their life is for the birds, so to speak.
Then, says Jesus, some people are just too shallow. Oh, yes, they
respond to the call of Truth with great enthusiasm. But there’s no depth of
commitment to spiritual growth. They like the show and the music and even the
positive words of the sermon, but ten minutes later, it’s all pretty much
forgotten. The emotion of the moment has worn off, or some difficulty comes
up… and the moment of Truth passes quickly into oblivion.
Finally, says Jesus, there are those who are just too busy. We can
all identify with that at some time in our lives. There’s a great demand for
our attention, and some times it’s easy to get involved in peripheral things,
while sacrificing our own well-being.
“It is more important to know where you are going than to get there
quickly,” says Mabel Newcombe. She goes on to say, “Do not mistake activity
for achievement.”
“The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full
life and having no time,” says Eric Hoffer, going on to say: “It is, on the
contrary, born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life.”
Maybe too scattered? Worried about how you look, or what you’ll be doing
next? Listen to Jesus when he says in Matthew 6:30 (my translation): “You see,
if God makes the smallest dandelion look beautiful — even though it’s mowed
down tomorrow — isn’t God going to make you look good? Have a little faith!”
Maybe too shallow? Concerned about all the petty little things of life?
Listen to Jesus as quoted in verse 31 and 32: “Stop planning dinner while
you’re eating lunch. Quit fussing over the small stuff, like people who don’t
know that God is the Source of everything good.”
Possibly too busy? Set some priorities. Listen to Jesus in verse 33: “Put
first things first: let your desire be God’s Realm and God’s Good, and All
Good will flow abundantly to you.”
I invite you today to be like the fourth group of people — the
“never too ready”
— those who are good, well-tilled soil, prepared to receive the
seed and to bring forth a huge harvest.
Talk about successful living! Can you imagine your life being so fruitful
that everything good about it would increase by thirty percent? Or sixty
percent? Or a full one hundred percent?
And what is this seed that brings such a wonderful harvest? It’s not the
Bible, as many sermons will say today. It’s good to remember that there was no
New Testament at this point; Jesus was still alive on this planet, walking
past harvest fields and in busy city streets.
A closer examination of the story’s explanation — as found beginning in
Matthew 13:19 — tells us the seed is the word, the Logos, in the Greek.
As we earlier mentioned, Jesus is not talking about the Bible, or even about
himself. The word Logos has several translations, but the most clear —
in my humble opinion — is “the Divine Expression”.
When the Divine Expression — “God-Thinking” —is sown into our lives — that
Truth shared with us by Jesus — it does not “return empty-handed”, says Isaiah
in chapter 55, verse 11. “Rather,” he says, “it accomplishes its intended
purpose, flourishing just like the grain.”
When we sow Divine Truth in our lives, the harvest is amazing! The Hasidim
describe it beautifully as a Cosmic Consciousness of Divine Truth. Listen to
this Hasidic saying:
“When you walk across the fields with your mind pure and holy, then from all
the stones, and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their soul
come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire
in you.”
Truth is realized by us as thought, which is the parent which gives
birth to word. Charles Fillmore, founder of the Unity movement in New
Thought, says: “Thoughts are seeds that, when dropped or planted in the
subconscious mind, germinate, grow, and bring forth their fruit in due season.
The more clearly we understand this truth the greater will be our ability to
plant the seeds that bring forth desirable fruits. After sowing the plants
must be tended. After using the law we must hold to its fulfillment. This is
our part. God gives the increase.”
In our reading from the Secret Gospel of James — one of the books
that didn’t make it into the collection called the Bible — Jesus says: “The
kingdom of heaven is like an ear of grain which sprouted in a field, and when
it ripened, it scattered its fruit and, in turn, filled the field with ears
for another year. You also: be eager to reap an ear of life for yourselves
that you may be filled with the kingdom!”
Charles Fillmore goes on to say: “You must work in divine order and not
expect the harvest before the soil has been prepared or the seed sown. You
have now the fruits of previous sowings. Change your thought seeds and
reap what you desire. Some bring forth very quickly, others more slowly, but
all in divine order.”
Of course, a dizzy consciousness will reap its own harvest. So will an
unconcerned consciousness or a “too busy” consciousness. You see, whatever
seed we sow into our lives determines the harvest we will have. We always get
back what we sow, but lots more of it!
What kind of harvest do you want? Are you too busy, too dizzy, or too
unconcerned to care?
The Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Remember this basic
maxim: sowing a puny bit of seeds brings a puny harvest; sowing plenty of seed
brings a generous harvest.”
Sow puny, reap poverty; sow plenty, reap prosperity.
Fill your consciousness with Divine Thoughts. Read inspiring books. Study
the world’s holy writings. Listen to people who have experienced the holy.
Meditate. Pray. Be quiet at least once a day, holding yourself and others in
the Light. In gratitude share the blessings you have received, and be blessed!
Here’s the harvest, promised in 2nd Corinthians 9:8: “God is
able to be far more generous with you than you can be generous with God. And
God will be generous so that you’ll have anything and everything
you need… and you’ll be able to help others as well.”
Now that’s the harvest of a lifetime. And it can be yours. Now you just
might be tempted to say, “Dean Ford, that promise is just too good to be
true.” Well, remember our first reading by John Randolph Price: “We are where
we are today according to our belief system, but… it’s never too late to
change our minds… nothing is too good to be true… nothing is
too good to be true… nothing is too good to be true.” And you know
what? That’s the truth!