ISAIAH 55:1-5,10-13

PSALM 65:9-14

ROMANS 8:9-17

MATTHEW 13:1-9,18-23

Sermon – 7/14/02

What kind of “soil” is Sand Hill?

That is, geologically, what we are on here, Sand Hill, elevation 270 ft. above sea level, the highest point on U.S. 1 according to a former South Brunswick Chief of Police. It may not look like much of a hill to you if you’re from Colorado (or even New Hampshire), but it’s the best we have, and yes, it is sand.

The question is, can we grow Christians in this soil?

That is the question Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel. And because a church is not the ground a building sits on, or even the building itself, because a church is people, the question here was, what kind of soil is each and all of the members of St. Barnabas?

There are lots of kinds of spiritual soil in the world, Jesus says. Some people receive God’s word but do not learn and grow in understanding, which makes them easy prey for the Evil One, Satan, who seduces them into ignoring the Life-giving Word of God. Some people are a smile wide and an inch deep as Christians, and give up at the first sign of trouble or persecution – which is as pointless as abandoning a new car which merely got a flat tire. Some people hear the Word of God, but as Jesus says, “The cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the Word, and it yields nothing.” That snare is a particular problem in this country.

But some people decide to be good soil, to grow in understanding, perseverance and commitment. In them and through them the Word of God spreads and bears fruit and yields many times what they received.

All of us are here today because somewhere, in some way, we were reached by someone like that, whom God used to reach us. Maybe that person wasn’t even aware of it or trying to make that impact, because they and we can’t

always tell what “good spiritual soil looks like” – but God can. That’s why God seems to act like a flat-out crazy farmer in this parable. What farmer would sow seed among thorns, or on rocky ground, or on a path? You or I wouldn’t. And you or I might make the mistake of thinking we could recognize the quality of the “spiritual soil” which is in the hearts of other people as easily as we could choose where to plant flowers. God can recognize the quality of spiritual soil – but chooses to scatter the “seed” which is God’s word everywhere to give everyone a chance to receive it and grow. By the grace of God, soils can change.

The sad part is, not all Christians realize that. The sadder part is, some of those Christians also think they can tell which people are “good soil” just by looking at them – or even without looking at them!

The result is that their understanding of who they are supposed to reach out to with the precious Word of God gets narrower and narrower and narrower, narrowing down to “people like us” and finally to “us”, those who are already in the particular church. At that point, a church community is near death, though it may even look large and prosperous.

Let me tell you the story of two churches, two small mission congregations on Sand Hill road fifteen years ago. One congregation was Twin County Baptist Church, across the street and down about 1/3 of a mile. As you see if you drive past, it isn’t there any more. Its last pastor told me he got fired “Because he was bringing in too many new people”! – people who weren’t like the ones who were already members. Well, excuse me. Shortly afterwards, Twin County Baptist closed. The weeds grew a foot high...until the building was sold to a Korean Church...which has now moved to Edison and sold the building to a Pentecostal Congregation whose Pastor is Puerto Rican.

And the first group didn’t want “different” people in “their” building. Sometimes, you know, people do get what they deserve...in this case losing “their building” to other of God’s children who knew it was God’s building.

The other small mission congregation on Sand Hill Road was us. Yes. Fifteen years ago we had just started bouncing back from eight straight years of decline at the bottom of which our Average Sunday Attendance was 50. Fifteen years ago, our basic operating expenses were subsidized by the Diocese of New Jersey, and our parking lot stopped at the dumpster. Problems of growth? Heck, no – we were worried about survival.

But the curious thing was, the less we focussed on worrying about survival, the less we had to worry about survival. The more we focussed on growing in understanding, perseverance, commitment and in welcome to everybody, the more we discovered we had problems of...lack of space.

Thus began a journey which has surprised and delighted us. Only God knew how good our soil was and could become. But slowly, we began to believe it too. “PLAN 90’s” began in 1992, our first capital campaign, got us off the Diocesan subsidy, built what is now the middle parking lot on what had been woods, re-shingled the roof, gave us our first decent organ – and left us realizing that what we’d done wasn’t enough.

We still had inadequate education space. And suddenly, in 1997, our worship space became claustrophobic due to crowds we’d never seen before. And who “we” were evolved rapidly too, becoming more diverse than ever before, more committed to outreach, more interested in retreats, in building friendships, in inviting friends and acquaintances to come with us to church because, well, you just had to be here to understand.

And then we really got crowded.

By then, The Dream was taking shape, a dream that we should and could dream bigger than our beloved, economical but inadequate 1970 pre-fab building, that we could and should build something that was not only functional but beautiful. All the while remembering that both the old and new buildings are not “ours”, they are God’s buildings, and God is in charge of handing out invitations to come in, that God is the One helping us to build a consensus on our dream, to build the “dream team” of volunteers to research the data, crunch the numbers, interview over 100 parish households and all groups which used the building, design a program statement, go to workshops on building churches and on capital campaigns, hire an architect, launch a successful capital campaign, renew the campaign three years later, persevere through negotiations with neighbors and through Zoning Board hearings and endless Code Enforcement reviews and Building Committee meetings and hire contractors and deal with inspections and change orders and catch things that “fell through the cracks” and do Art Auctions and Grocery Vouchers and little extra projects and hassle with contractors and inspectors, enlist volunteers to help and finally, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE HERE! The Dream is real. We are in it.

And yet, in a way, the Dream has just begun. Now we can worship without claustrophobia in a truly beautiful space conducive to music, aware of the beautiful environment around us, and focussed on looking at the altar and the glorious stained glass window while being able to hear hopefully better than ever.

Now we have a worship space with assistance for the hard-of-hearing and no steps to climb from handicap parking to worship to fellowship to rest rooms. This building is for all of God’s children. Spread the word!

Now we have a facility with adequate robing room, a quiet room where an upset small child can be quieted and hear the service while not being heard, and a room for adult and youth activities all through the week. Now we have a facility with plenty of room to greet and talk before and after services so the focus in the worship space can be on worship. Now we have a facility which newcomers can enter without having to “run the gauntlet” through a jam-packed narthex or stand bewildered in the parking lot wondering which the entrance door is. Now we have a facility which has space for the largest wedding or the largest funeral we’ve ever had. For years we’ve had to find other locations. Not any more.

By the end of the summer we will have a real nursery with playpen and crib, and distinct spaces for education for ages from birth through Eighth Grade on two floors.

And the Dream has just begun.

We are just beginning to imagine how God will use what we have done here to bring more people closer to Him and to each other, to build a community which is preparing the way for the Kingdom of God, when pain, disability, poverty, hunger, injustice, hatred, war and death itself shall vanish and unbounded joy will be unleashed for all willing to humble themselves and open their hearts to it.

In conclusion, let me quote some words I think we really have begun to understand: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and all those things shall be given unto you. Alleluia, alleluia.”

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church