Sunday July 12: Sowing the Seeds of Christ

Constantin Flondor, The Marvelous Seed, 1965

You are in the Spirit since the Spirit of God dwells in you.
- Romans 8:1-2, 9

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
- Matthew 13:1-9

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Barbara Brown Taylor thought perhaps we might have gotten the parable of the Sower “all backwards.” She wrote: “We hear the story and think it is a story about us, but what if we are wrong? What if it is not about us at all but about the sower? What if it is not about our own successes and failures and birds and rocks and thorns but about the extravagance of a sower who does not seem to be fazed by such concerns, who flings seed everywhere, wastes it with holy abandon, who feeds the birds, whistles at the rocks, picks his way through the thorns, shouts hallelujah at the good soil and just keeps on sowing, confident that there is enough seed to go around, that there is plenty, and that when the harvest comes at last it will fill every barn in the neighborhood to the rafters?” (Center for Action and Contemplation, The Sower’s Generosity, September 1, 2022).

We could ask: Must we only be standing in good soil to receive the benefits of the seeds the Sower tosses our way? Do we have to change ourselves or the circumstances of our lives before the seed can land in our fertile souls to germinate and grow? No. The time to receive nourishment is always now.

So often our beliefs, our willingness to absorb the seeds, and our desire to grow seem thwarted when our journey takes us through rocky landscapes and thorny thickets. If we have a choice, we might decide to change direction at such hard times, but for many of us, our circumstances are outside of our control. Our thoughts and feelings change constantly with circumstances but let us not forget the Sower is not waiting for us to reach fertile soil. The seeds are still falling all around us like milkweed seeds floating on a summer breeze. Always, those seeds await our choice to scoop them up – from fertile grounds, rocks, and thorns. Even if birds come and carry seeds away, those seeds will certainly land in the mouths of their fledglings, fall on distant lands and find people living in spaces bereft of seeds.

Amid the Spirit’s seeds falling everywhere, there is no “right place” or “right time” to receive nourishment. We can accept the Sower’s seeds in whatever soil we are today, trusting we will grow roots.

In a recent meditation, The Wisdom of Ripening, Reverend Cameron Trimble reminds us that the growth of seeds happens underground where roots deepen before leaves appear. Seeds break open long before anything emerges above the soil. Rev. Trimble goes on to state: “The same is true in our spiritual lives.” We can practice patience with our ideas of self, others, and situations while those seeds grow roots within and ripen into what Spirit offers.

We are already living in Christ. The Sower has been tossing seeds for eternity covering the whole of creation. Let us continue to live in the wonder of such generosity, gratefully accepting our lives, no matter where we stand in the moment. And we will ripen.

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“What if Christ is a name for the transcendent within of every ‘thing’ in the universe? What if Christ is a name for the immense spaciousness of all true Love? What if Christ refers to an infinite horizon that pulls us from within and pulls us forward too?”
- Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe

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“The cosmic Christ, revealed in the Mystery of the Ascension, manifests our true self and the inner nature of all reality. What is manifested is the living, vibrant Spirit, filling us and all things with boundless light, life and love. The Spirit is always present yet always coming. That is because the Divine actually becomes present in a new way each time we move to a new level of spiritual awareness. …

• Watch the video “The Universal Christ“ (about 3 minutes). It is a “poetic statement” reflecting a Universal Christ message using words and images from Richard Rohr’s book.

• If you find yourself in the rocks or thorns, nourish yourself with a breathing exercise

  1. Breathing in, I experience calm in me. Breathing out, I smile to the calm in me.

  2. Breathing in, I experience joy in me. Breathing out, I smile to the joy in me.

  3. Breathing in, I experience equanimity in me. Breathing out, I smile to the equanimity in me.

  4. Breathing in, I experience openness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the openness in me.

  5. Breathing in, I experience happiness in me. Breathing out, I smile to the happiness in me.

  — Thich Nhat Hanh in Creating True Peace

• When you encounter people on the road, consider where they are today—on fertile soil or rocky terrain? Be a sower and offer seeds, or receive seeds, or both.

• If you garden, or pass by bits of nature in your day, take a moment to soak in the wonder of what can grow.

• Proverbs to ponder and live by:

  “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant”.
  - Robert Louis Stevenson

  “One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.”
  - Chinese Proverb

  “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”
  - Ecclesiastes 11:4

• Practice the Welcoming Prayer in the ordinary moments of your day, sinking into the sensations of your body as the challenges of the day unfold, embracing your experience and each moment as it is. Note the effects of this practice.

• You may listen to the audio recording of today’s reflection here (about 15 minutes long).

• Please share your reflections and comments below. Post prayer requests here. By clicking on the Subscribe link, you can receive email notifications when someone posts a prayer request.

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• Our contemplative groups are sacred space. By participating, each person commits to protecting the privacy, dignity, and vulnerability of everyone in the circle. We honor one another by listening without judgment, advising, fixing or analysis. We hold each person’s story gently, as we would hold our own. Confidentiality is a contemplative practice of compassion, humility, and trust. In addition, our commitment to accessible participation provides for members that need access to Closed Captioning to participate. Each individual can activate Closed Captioning for themselves. The use of this access feature is for personal purposes only. Honoring this understanding encourages and deepens our relationship with each other.
  

There are three live Word of the Week prayer groups meeting weekly to support your journey. Each prayer group has a slightly different reflection excerpt, therefore some participants attend more than one. You can use this time zone converter to assist in calculating the prayer groups in your local time.

• Tuesday, 9:00-10:00 AM Eastern (New York) Time (UTC/GMT offset -5 hours)

• Wednesday, 6:00-7:00 PM Eastern (New York) Time (UTC/GMT offset -5 hours)

For these two groups, use this link to join OR click-on “join meeting,” and enter meeting ID 445 909 4698. When prompted for a passcode, use COL.

• Thursday, 8:00-9:00 AM Eastern (New York) Time (UTC/GMT offset -5 hours). This groups meets on Meditation Chapel in the Wisdom Chapel. Use this link to join the group. Be sure to register with Meditation Chapel here if you are not already.

Additional opportunities to support your silent prayer practice and spiritual journey are offered in The Meditation Chapel, a Zoom-enabled, worldwide meditation community. All groups are free and open to all. Read more about groups on The Meditation Chapel here.