In our gospel reading for today, Jesus tells the people two parables about the kingdom of God. And in both of these parables, Jesus gives the people a warning: the kingdom of God starts out small and unimpressive, just like a tiny seed. To outward appearances and to the logic of reason, the kingdom of God shows little promise of success. But once the kingdom of God becomes rooted in the human heart, great things can happen...in the human heart. And when enough hearts are changed, then the harvest is evident....
Next week, we will hold our nineteenth triennial Synod Convention in Edmonton, and we have quite a bit of business to attend to, including the election of a new Bishop! We have strategic priorities to discuss, constitutional amendments to review, and budgets to approve. It is a time of motions and votes and Bourinot's Rules of Order. Synod convention is a comfortable space for many people, because business is what they are used to - the mindset and language of business is everywhere in our culture. And while, yes, the lights need to stay on, there is a danger in thinking about the church in business-like terms. Because on those terms, the kingdom of God is entirely unimpressive...at least, since we stopped selling indulgences.
Think about the church in business terms: our “product” is connection with an unseen God in a relationship of love and trust, and connection with a community who worship him. Not huge sellers these days, at least on our side of the world. AND, we give our product away for FREE, and then try to convince the customers to contribute on an ongoing, free-will basis. I don't see that particular business model being highlighted in the management textbooks. PLUS, we think our product is best created in a low-tech environment, so we need expensive places to meet together, and large quantities of time and commitment. AND, the default system for marketing our product is archaic images of hell and damnation that young people don't take seriously any more, or promising rewards with our product that don't kick in until after the customers' death, which young people don't take seriously any more, either. It's no wonder, AS A BUSINESS, TO OUTWARD APPEARANCES, the church seems to be slipping backwards, rather than succeeding.
And failing in outward appearances seems to be God's plan. In Jesus' parables of the kingdom of God in our gospel reading, the initial outward appearance of the kingdom is unimpressive. Seeds, scattered on the ground – and microscopic mustard seeds at that. How the kingdom of God ever amounts to anything, is a mystery at least as deep as the biology of plant growth. And it takes time, sometimes the majority of a lifetime, before the kingdom of God is meaningful for people. Sure, there are stories like the apostle Paul of dramatic turnarounds in life, but they are the exceptions to the rule. Faith grows slowly. To outward appearances, not much is happening. And that's not what success looks like to us.
We want to be associated with things that are VISIBLY successful... IMMEDIATELY. It's why when the Edmonton Oilers make the Stanley Cup finals, all of a sudden there are flags and hats and jerseys everywhere – which you didn't see a decade ago when the Oilers were mired in the league basement. It's why we want our kids to WIN at sports, even though we know DARN WELL that LOSING will probably teach them a better life lesson. It's why we sometimes find it hard to show up at church – to outward appearances, not much is happening – it's pretty much the same number of people doing the same thing we did last Sunday, unless there's a potluck lunch. And outside our church walls, it's even harder to see any outward appearances of Christian success in the world – evil and injustice in the world seem to be ramping up, and Christians in some parts of the world are fearing for their lives. If we want to be attached to a kingdom that LOOKS successful, we certainly wouldn't pick the kingdom of God!