Radnor United Church of Christ

Services cancelled due to weather - Feb 7,2010

2010-02-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Due to the snow emergency. Drive safely. See you next week.

2009 Deacons Report

2010-01-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

2009 began with the annual meeting. 18 adults were present at the meeting. The major concern at the meeting were church finances, as our outflows exceeded our income in 2008. Joe Boehm presented the deacons report, John Coonfare presented the moderators report. Dale Harsh presented the trustees report, which had been prepared by Tom Dubanovich.

The January meeting was held on February 1, due to bad weather on the 28th. At the meeting the deacons discussed the role of the “Deacon if the Month” Duties include arranging readers, and ushers for Sunday service, and mailing bulletins to church members and friends who are in nursing homes.

At the February meeting the deacons discussed updates to the church website, RadnorUCC.org. Matthew had organized a bowling outing for the kids over 4th grade, and began plans for confirmation class later in the year. A tree was blown down at the parsonage Keith Blanton disposed of the debris, and the church presented him with a $200 gift card for his effort.

In March and April, the deacons collected a list of volunteers for a “reader pool”. The pool gives the deacons a list of people they can ask to read during Sunday services. Katie Strednak serviced as guest minister on April 26th, and presented slides from her South Africa mission following the service.
In May, the deacons finalized the design for the church mugs that we purchased later in the year for use in outreach.

In June the church purchased a new chairlift. The BV Alumni Band performed at the church on June 28.

Another successful VBS week took place the last week of July with the theme “Studio Go!”, with appearances by Chulo theClown and the Reptile Man.

A baptism for Braylon Greene was conducted on July 26th.

In August the church mugs arrived. We had purchased 92 of them for $297. The mugs are to be given as outreach to visitors and new neighbors. Members can get a mug for a $6 contribution.

The church held a meal following the memorial services for Kenny Cole on August 26, and Ruth Lane on September 9th.

A confirmation class began on September 20 for kids 4th grade and older, with a goal of celebrating confirmations in June of 2010.

The church held 2 dinners in less than a week, with the Trick-Or-Treat night on 10/31, and the election dinner on November 3rd. Katie Strednak was ordained on November 22nd at her new church in Tenessee.

A memorial dinner was held for John Lane on December 30th.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T08:08:00.001-08:00

Candle Light Service tonight at 7PM.

Posted Sermon - 2009_12_20 - "Merry Carnival"

2009-12-18T11:05:00.001-08:00

“Merry Carnival”
Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:39-45
4th Sunday of Advent; December 20, 2009

What images and feelings come to mind when I say, “Christmas morning”? Do you see wide-eyed little children coming down the steps and squealing with glee as they see the beautiful tree girded by brightly wrapped presents and twinkling lights? Do you smell the pine needles? Do you hear the carols coming from the radio? Do you smell the adults’ coffee as they attempt to open their eyes after a late night of last-second preparations? What do you see, or smell, or hear? What do you feel?
Now do this again. Only this time respond with the images and feelings that come to mind when I say, “Christmas Eve Service”. Do you see the image that the worship reinforces of the little holy family gathered around the glow from the newborn’s rough wooden cradle? Is it a dark sanctuary you remember, punctuated with little pools of flickering light from each person’s hand-held candle? Can you feel the pleasant closeness of the cold church walls and the breath of the other carolers on either side of you in the pew? Are people serious as they sing silent night? Is the organ somber, and are the pastor’s words measured?
How can Christmas morning and Christmas Eve be about the same event? Does God want us to experience something sacred as we rip our way through the crinkly gift wrap of a bright winter morning? Or does God intend for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus with soberness and gravity? How has the celebration of the savior’s birth become so divided? You know once upon a time, Christmas was not celebrated as a division of light and dark; joy and sacredness, but instead it was celebrated, even in church, as a great reversal of status:
As late as 1685, in the Franciscan church of Antibes, lay brothers and servants “Put on the vestments inside out, held the books upside down,…wore spectacles with rounds of orange peel instead of glasses…blew the ashes on each other’s face and hands, and instead of the proper liturgy, chanted confused and inarticulate gibberish.” (more)
Cross-dressing, wearing animal masks, wafting foul-smelling incense, and electing burlesque bishops, popes, and patriarchs mocked conventional human pretensions. A donkey was even ridden into the middle of the church service as the priest, choir, and congregation brayed at the top of their lungs.
What do you say: should we try that at our Christmas Eve service this year? Forget the boring old candles and carols—who can bring in a donkey Friday night?
What made the medieval church in Europe do this? Did they see something in the Christmas story that we don’t see today? Did the nativity speak to them in a different way than it speaks to us? Yes, it likely that they did see something different than we do. After all, culture has changed a lot since then.
Medieval peasants did not worry about Christmas lists and finding a parking spot close to the door of Macy’s like we might. Their society was more stratified than ours: Once a peasant, always a peasant. So when they looked at the dialogue between Mary and Elizabeth, when they took in the radical meaning of what God does in the annunciation—they marveled. A teenage, peasant woman—neither a queen nor even a decent married girl—was about to give birth to the Messiah! When they heard the words of Micah foreshadowing Christ’s humble origin…
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
…they understood that God’s lot was cast with people like them—the poor, the low-class, the “littlest” clan of Judah. And knowing that God has shattered all human pretensions to greatness and power by coming as a baby instead of a warrior-king, frankly made them go a little crazy with joy.
The topsy-turvy services that took place in the European cathedrals of old were a way of demonstrating that God has already began to do that which Mary exclaims. God had already:
…shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
It may seem a little off putting to us today, for we know that our pastor’s are unlikely to do anything too outlandish from the Christmas pulpit. But two things can be learned from those old style services. First, Christmas is about the great reversal of status, and part of our joy in all things Christmassy should come from knowing that—now that Jesus is here--nothing is the same. Secondly, all of us are also included in God’s Great Reversal here in our own time and place, though we may have to look around to see how. Can we make our celebration a little more oafish; where and how do we take part in God’s great reversal today?
Nearly ten years ago now (Matthew) I stood on a bluff above the confluence of the Ruak and the Mekong rivers in Southeast Asia known as “the golden triangle”. For decades, if not centuries, “the Golden Triangle has been one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around 350,000 square kilometers that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand” (Wikipedia). As (he) I stood there, the Thai farmer who was serving as (his) my guide told (him) me that this region was experiencing a “great God-given reversal”. He said that it had become a rich bread-basket of the region. Where heroin, and other hard drugs made from poppies, once flourished, wheat and other grains now grew. For a long time that scene remained just a distant memory to me (him), but the other day the “great God-given reversal” cited by the farmer came much closer to home.
In back-to-back news reports, one national and the other local, (he) I heard another story about the opium trade. The national news featured an interview with the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Afghanistan Poppy Eradication Czar. In it, he spoke about the relative success of turning poppies into pomegranates in the more dangerous parts of Afghanistan. He described how well-meaning farmers there have begun to grow other crops since his first visit in 2003. And he also described the challenge of opening up the region’s markets to the new products. Immediately after his interview, the local news came on and described two drug seizures. 3 kilos of Heroin was seized on I-70 on Monday (worth more than 1 and ½ million dollars). The drugs, made from opium poppies, were bound for Columbus, Ohio.
The juxtaposition of the stories reminds us all that we cannot think of God’s reversal as far away and remote. All three stories are about just one of the great reversal’s in our world today. Former drug-growing areas of Thailand were once reclaimed for wholesome agriculture, and though I am not sure how things stand there today, it is clear that lessons learned in the Golden Triangle are being applied to the same problem now in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The problem of illicit drugs remains, and yet God is bringing about the great reversal in our own time and in places just down the street from us. There are faithful people in all of our cities, including nearby Columbus, who work day in and day out with the addicts that use the heroin and opium. There are soldiers and farmers; statesmen and scientists who grew up in the small towns around us who are part of God’s reversal in places as far away as Thailand and Afghanistan.
The powers that exist behind the scourge of drugs—whether criminal or state-sanctioned, whether externally oppressive or internally coercive—are being laid low, even as we speak. God has made an example for us of how he intends to change the way the world is. What joy that Christmas is not just about how many presents are under the tree, but it is also about how the gift of a child 2000 years ago inspires people today to know that God is with us, and that hope is both already here and immanently on the way.
We celebrate the coming of the Christ child because he turns the world upside down. Mary’s song proclaims that this upside down world has been inaugurated by Jesus’ incarnation. No wonder the medieval monks and peasants celebrated Christmas with buffoonery and costumes; role-reversals and charades. What difference might it make to our celebration of Christ’s coming if we did the same?
(Put on the hat) So, I bid ye little ones of Judah a Merry Carnival …AMEN

Posted Sermon: 2009_12_13 - "Doable"

2009-12-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

“Doable”
3rd Sunday of Advent; 12-13-2009
Luke 3:7-18, Philippians 4:4-7, Isaiah 12:2-6
Last week I helped put out the manger and almost all the figures, but I didn’t put out baby Jesus. “Why not?” you might ask. Carols are everywhere. There’s only one more Sunday before Christmas morning. Why, then is the church still making us wait? And why is the church still making us listen this morning to John, the man who one commentator calls the “rough-voiced, almost reckless prophet who wouldn’t last five minutes in most of our pulpits”? Well, there are a couple of reasons.
First, because waiting is important. As Fred Craddock says, “withdraw from any occasion the anticipation of it, and even an event of great importance is much impoverished”. Or to quote most moms and dads at this time of year, “don’t look around for your presents because that will spoil your Christmas”. Patience and anticipation are an important theme at this time of year. In fact, it is one theme that the world and the faith actually have in common. John is the prophet who tells us we are to wait for another, more powerful prophet. Anticipation is one important reason, but the other reason we are still listening to John today is that he has something to say to us.
What he has to say separates the world and the faith rather drastically, and in John’s rhetoric, it sounds harsh. But if you take it apart, even just a little, you discover that crazy old animal-skin clad John has something to tell us that is, well, very “doable”. It is something that feeds our souls and takes us down the Advent road to the manger by teaching us that we must first become “content”.
When we look up the word “contentment” in the dictionary, we don’t expect to see a picture of “the Baptist” there, donning a scratchy mohair vest as he leans over to scrape up some locust for his breakfast. John makes us think of repentance, not contentment, but the two concepts are related.
A person who is content is not striving for anything. They are not looking for someone else’s food or gold. They are not searching for ways to spread their influence over an ever larger group of people. The content person has turned away from these things. The content person has, therefore, “repented” of them.
All of us by virtue of our being human are frequently striving. But John told the busy Roman worker bees who came out to see him in the desert—that is the empire builders and the puppets of the state like the tax collectors and soldiers—that they should be satisfied with their wages, content with the number and kind of their possessions. He told them to pay more attention to the con-tent of their lives than to the long list of complaints and places of compliance that drove them to seek more. He told them that there was something overwhelming to come, and to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” in the mean time, while they wait for it to arrive.
It is impossible to hide the fact that John knew things were about to change. Here he spoke of the future as a time of “wrath”, presumably God’s wrath. But he never went into detail; and in fact, he makes this strong statement and then moves on to an explication of what can be done to avoid that wrath—what kind of fruits are worthy of repentance. John’s words are fearful sounding on the surface, but he is no prophet of fear.
It is strange to me how those “left-behinders” that proselytize the end of the world dwell on the blood, gore and disaster of the end of days. Whenever they talk about how to prepare for them, they focus narrowly on being “saved”, without ever mentioning the top two things that John mentions on his list—practicing love and justice.
John gives us something that is immanently doable. He doesn’t even use vague and vaunted vocabulary like “love and justice”. No, he says, “if you have two coats, give one away to someone who has no coat; if you have food, share it”. It can’t get much more doable than that. And he doesn’t ever say that this will “save” anyone. He just says that we have an obligation always and everywhere to be ethical, but especially now as the end times approach.
“Be content,” he says to the tax collectors—collect no more than you are prescribed to collect. “Be content,” he says to the soldiers—don’t extort money, threaten or cajole anyone.
Being content is paying more attention to the content of our lives than we do to those things we want; being content in this way makes generosity possible. Mariam Kammell writes: “contentment is never an easy lesson, particularly when we have the means to attain what we wish, but it is a crucial fruit of repentance, for it reveals a steadfast trust in God and in God’s work and will”.
Are you someone that has difficulty producing a Christmas list for yourself? I am, and so is my spouse. Year after year, we rack our brains around Thanksgiving to come up with things that we want for Christmas. We usually forget to write them down, and then we have to start all over again a couple of weeks before Christmas. As our children get older, they seem to be falling into this same pattern. Now, I could be frustrated with this—but I’m not. In fact, I take it as a good sign of God’s overall providence and so I thank the Lord, that we are mostly content with our life.
John’s message is stronger than just, “be content” though. It comes out of a definite context and points to a much more subtle, but probably more essential element of contentment. We are not just to be content with what we have—but also wary of how we use our power. His message says that we should not use our power to injure others. The tax-collectors and the soldiers each had plenty of power, though they held it only as the proxy of the state. John tells them to wield that power with great restraint. He reminds them that there will be reconciliation at the end, and how they use their power today will determine how power will one day be used by others. Repentance, for John, means turning around our tendency to grasp for more than we need, whether it be goods, money, or power.
Have you ever thought about the power you have? Most of us, including me, are given far more power than we realize during the course of an average day. The key to honoring John’s call to repentance and contentment is to remember to treat everyone we meet as a child of God. Never assume you are NOT being given power by those you encounter. Here is a story from the Upper Room Devotional that speaks to this:
I stopped at the bank on my way home from work. My mind swirled with thoughts of all I had to do that evening: make dinner, finish the laundry, attend volleyball practice, grade papers. As I stepped up to the teller at the counter and passed the deposit slip to her, she threw it back at me, saying, "What do you think I am, a mind reader?" I had neglected to fill in my account information.
My first reaction was to ask to speak to the manager, but something about the look in her face stopped me. In the past, she had helped me in a friendly and efficient manner. So instead, I asked, "Are you having a bad day?"
At this she burst into tears and said, "My daughter had surgery today, and I couldn't be with her; I couldn't get the time off." I reached my hand across the counter and held hers while she cried. From then on when I came into the bank, she always said, "This is my customer." I learned her name, and she told me that her daughter had recovered from her illness.
I know that God intervened. If I had reported her, she might have lost her job, which would have complicated her life even further. God gave me patience and taught me a lesson in compassion that day. Ann V. Ingalls (Missouri, USA)
The Christmas movies are all over the cable channels now, showing us visions of green and gold Christmas trees and smiling families gathered around warm fires. So why are we leaving those warm visions of hearth and home in order to join the crowds who trekked out into the wilderness to listen to a wild man? Maybe it’s because Advent takes place in the wilderness. God does come to us in the long stretches of wasteland that lies between the campfires. Listen to these words to a familiar song from a couple of decade ago:
Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself to try to understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake
And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
But there is more to God’s revelation than just taking a journey into the wilderness, as powerful and moving as that can be. Luke finishes the passage today by telling us that the crowds were so swayed by John’s proclamation that they began to “question in their hearts whether he might not be the Messiah”. But John pointed beyond himself, to the specific revelation of Jesus Christ. And when Jesus came to him and was baptized, God upped the ante. John gave us something we can do—and Jesus gave us the example and the means to do it.
We still listen to John today because he calls the church to become a prophetic voice. Just as his birth restored the voice of his father Zechariah (last week), our preparations for the one to come restore our witness and our faith. In the final few days before the coming of that Holy night, John calls us to repent and be content—to share our goods and use our power carefully. Because we still are listening to the “voice crying out in the wilderness”, we know that poverty, inequity and hunger will not have the final word .
Come, O Come, Emmanuel—God with us…

Carol with us, December 13

2009-12-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

A group of us will be meeting after church. We'll go by car to Delaware to vist care facilities and sing for residents. We're targeting Radnor UCC members, but we'll visit others as well. If you'd like to join us, or if you'd like to request a visit to someone in particular, please call Joe Boehm at 614-202-5824.

May/June Newsletter

2009-04-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Link

If the image is too small to read, use the zoom feature in the bottom right corner of Internet Explorer to make it bigger. Sorry for the inconvenience (I continue to search for a service that will host file attachements for free. Yahoo used to do it, but they stopped. FilesAnywhere seems to do it, but the first link that I posted expired after 60 days. I've created another one, but this time, the image appears to be too small to read.)

Hear Pastor Matthew on WOSU radio.

2009-04-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

Link

Follow this link to hear audio of an interview that Matthew gave to WOSU about his "day job".

Holy Week schedule

2009-04-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

4/9 - Maundy Thursday service - 7PM
4/10 - Open Sanctuary - 9AM to Noon
4/12 - Sunrise Service - 7AM
- Breakfast (between services)
- Regular Service - 10:45

Members, please bring Donuts for the breakfast.

March/April Newsletter

2009-03-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest newsletter as a PDF.

Link to the South Africa mission blog

2009-02-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

Matthew mentioned recently that there was a blog to follow the progress of the South Africa mission that Katie is involved with.

Here's the link.

January 18th Service cancelled due to weather.

2009-01-18T06:02:00.001-08:00

Annual meeting and potluck postponed to next week.

Stay warm and drive safely!

Deacons Annual Report for 2008

2009-01-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

2008 started for the deacons with the annual meeting in January. The major topic at that time was the water hook-up. Also, income tax that had been paid by the church by mistake was returned.

In the early part of the year Matthew conducted an adult education program focused on the Book of Luke. The focus of the January deacons meeting was a discussion of the meaning of the word “deacon” and the role of deacons in our church. This included a review of the “deacon of the month” role, which has been established in 2007. Each month a deacon is designated to arrange for ushers, readers, and greeters for each service, and to mail out bulletins to those unable to attend services.

In March, the church staged yet another successful election dinner. We also hosted a baptism for Ava Nichole. The planned Lando Tang baptism had to be postponed due to weather.

In April, the deacons held an afternoon retreat where they explored the meaning and purpose of being a deacon. The church also hosted the Lando Tang baptism in April.
In May the church hosted a memorial for Pam Bauman, and Matthew conducted the Tidd/Dyer wedding. The Memorial Day breakfast was a well-attended success.

July brought us a very exciting VBS. The theme was “friendship trek”. 41-50 kids attended, and 20 adults helped out over the course of the week.

The fall rally-day and Christian education kick-off took place in September. Also in September the deacons and trustees established a discernment committee, made up of Julia Ambrose, Joe Boehm, Sharon Vanbrimmer, Tom Dubanovich and Sally Dubanovich. This committee will meet in early 2009 to discuss an opportunity to purchase real estate in Radnor that has come up. The scope for this committee will also include discussions about how to set fund raising goals for the coming year.

The deacons joined the trustees in October for the budget meeting, where they drafted the proposed budget that will be reviewed in the January 17th Annual Meeting.

The church hosted the annual Halloween party in October, and another election dinner in November.

In December, a group of volunteers set up the Christmas decorations and had a card making party. They made “happy birthday”, “thank you”, and sympathy cards that can be used by the church in the coming year. The church also emphasized the food donations for PIN in December, and put up a very successful “Warm and Fuzzy Tree” to collect hats and gloves for the needy.

Throughout the year, the deacons have discussed conducting a by-law review for the church to see if any changes should be made. This review was not completed in 2008, but will be on our agenda for 2009.

School Supply Kit project

2008-11-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

A new youth project will be collecting and assembling school supplies for kits. These kits will be sent with Katie to South Africa to kids who need them there.

Warm and Fuzzy Tree

2008-11-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to bring in hats and gloves for the Warm and Fuzzy tree. These items will be donated to those in need.

Daily Bread e-mail group

2008-11-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

The Daily Bread devotional is a web site which posts a different bible verse each day, along with discussion. Matthew has started a regular email discussion of what appears on it.

Here's the link.

If you'd like to participate in the email discussion, please contact Matthew.

UPDATE: There's another site that we can try. Matthew says this one might be a better fit for us. link

December Dates

2008-11-21T15:36:00.001-08:00

12/6 - Saturday afternoon. Church decorating and card making! Check back for details.
12/24 - Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. 7PM
12/28 - Deacons Meeting (After Sunday service)

November/December newsletter

2008-11-21T15:12:00.001-08:00

Here's the link: November/December Newsletter(pdf)

Thanks Lois!

September meetings

2008-08-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

The schedule is someone different than normal this month.
Trustees: September 24th - 7PM
Deacons: October 1st - 7PM.

Fall Sunday School details

2008-08-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Children's Sunday School will be three groups. "Pre-readers", "Young readers", and "5th Grade and Up". We'd like to recruit enough teachers to rotate class assignments more often.

The Adult study class will be offered twice in two seperate sessions. The topic will be based on the book "Heart Knowledge: Spiritual Discipline and the Experience of God".

September/October Newsletter

2008-08-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

This time in PDF Format. Click here.

Thanks to Lois for putting this together

September 7 is Rally Day

2008-08-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

And the kick-off of regular 10AM Sunday school

Coming Soon - middle-school youth group

2008-08-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

A youth group for 5th-grade to 8th-grade range will begin later this year. Details are not final, but meetings will be monthly.

August Meetings

2008-08-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Trustees - Wednesday, August 20 - 7PM
Deacons - Wednesday, August 27 - 7PM

What's the Question?

2008-08-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Pastor Matthew asked me to post this sermon from July 27:

What’s the Question?
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (parables)

Some people are just great storytellers. You ask them something and before you know it, you find yourself so spellbound by their story you no longer remember what your question was to begin with! Children of a certain age, say around 10 or so, can be especially good at this.
Question: “Did you brush your teeth? Response: “There are three different of teeth in a snakes mouth Daddy – that’s what Patrick said and he found a snake with a tooth sticking right out of the middle of it’s belly! And it was a shiny, like a sharks tooth but not as ancient. I found a shark’s tooth once,…”

I wonder how many great writers started out like this?

One of the most exciting and bewildering things about the stories Jesus tells is that we don’t always get to hear the questions that prompted Jesus’ stories. Matthew, the gospel writer, strings together several such stories for us this morning…and we never know what inquiry led to Jesus’ answer. What we do know is that if you break into them, the parables open us to a whole new world of questions and possibilities than would not have existed without them.
[read] Mt 13:31-33,44-52… (link to Matthew 13)

Some questions require a story for an answer. For instance, Why did you become a pastor? How did you know you were called to be an elder? How do plants grow? How can we help the church grow? What is the kingdom of heaven really like?...
If any of these questions were asked of our Lord, we might here the introduction to his response come out the same: And he put before them a parable…
OK, we can take the first line for what it is worth. Heaven is big, more enormous that we can imagine. And, the Kingdom of Heaven, with all its royal and divine splendor must be amazing. To compare such a thing to a tiny mustard seed is intriguing. Jesus must be ready to spin quite a yarn….
He reiterates the smallest of the seeds – we get that already – and then he describes how it grows and grows into the ‘greatest of shrubs.”. Well, that part is debatable. I have a willow from Japan in my back yard that is much greater than any other shrub I’ve ever seen. It takes up half the width of the garage and it is over six feet high. It would be even bigger if we didn’t keep it trimmed…and probably wider if it were not for our battle with the Japanese Beetles that come and eat its leaves.

But I’ll give him his point – ‘greatest’ is a fairly subjective word. Whether his mustard shrub or my Hakuro Nashiki Willow is greater depends on our relative love of our bushes…and I love that willow. Whether one preacher is “greater” than another depends at least as much upon the parishioners’ preparations to hear the Word of the Lord, as it does upon the words, tone or style of the sermon maker.
At this point in the parable, things begin to break down. Logic seems to go out the window when Jesus tells his listeners that the mustard shrub becomes a tree. “The greatest of shrubs is becoming a tree? ???? A shrub is a shrub and a tree is a tree last time I looked. The commentators suggest that Jesus may have been lampooning one of the symbols of the Roman Empire here: The empire as a mighty tree – and everyone agrees that Jesus knew full well that no bird was small enough or confident enough to nest in a mustard bush. So why did he choose to defy logic and his own experience in creating the mustard tree that doesn’t exist? Was it just for a political joke, or did he wish his hearers to all give themselves over to him and join in imagining, “what if”?
Apparently, the Kingdom of God does defy both nature and logic. Perhaps it really is like an impossible mustard tree filled with nesting birds. We human beings are often given over to the absurd. We can even learn from it. For instance, what does Smokey the Bear say from beneath the broad rim of his Ranger Hat? [Only you can prevent forest fires!] Never mind that bears seldom wear hats and never speak. The lesson stays with us nonetheless….be careful with fire when you are camping or cooking out.

And what might be some lessons of the mustard tree? It depends upon what the question is you bring to it. Does anyone remember the question? ….. If you do, your memory fails you, because there is no question in the scripture. Jesus simply begins in the middle of a story unprompted.

Let me come at it another way. What happens to the story when we bring another story to it and let them stand alongside each other? Where one story ends, the next may add to the understanding of the first.
The prolific preacher and writer Will Willamon of Duke University tells about an 85 year old woman he knows.
Every week she would bake two batches of oatmeal cookies – about 30 cookies each. She would place a couple in small brown paper bags and take them to a nearby prison for juvenile offenders. Willamon thought this was a ‘nice way for an elderly lady to occupy herself.”
One day, he went to the prison on a visit. While he was speaking with the Superintendent, the man said, “Those cookies have changed everything around here”. The young men stand behind their barred doors at night and wait eagerly to get their little brown bag of cookies. For some of them, the cookies are the only gift they have ever been given”.
Willamon says, “I’ve never looked at an oatmeal cookie the same way.”

Apparently, the Kingdom of Heaven is not just like a mustard seed, it is also like an oatmeal cookie. It is the least liked cookie, but when it is made in small batches and given to hardened criminals, it becomes a way of changing the world for the better and setting men free.

We don’t know the original question that prompted Jesus’ parables as they are recorded in Matthew, but we do know they can still answer our questions. If we come to them with an attitude of openness, and prepare our hearts to be taken away by their strange juxtapositions, anachronistic language and illogic, we will discover new ways of being the church, participating in the kingdom of heaven.

And the discoveries we make will be truly surprising, truly counter-intuitive. For instance, if we bring the questions, “how can the church grow?” to the parable of the mustard seed several things happen. First, our mantra that ‘bigger is better’ gets left outside; for the mustard seed being sown in the field of Jesus parable is the smallest seed of all.

A few years ago, when I led church growth retreats and spent time studying demographics, parking lots and worship styles and their relationship to church size, the notion that small congregations can be vital growing edges of the Kingdom of God was often overlooked. People would give the idea a nod as if such small places might one day be the church, if they would just get their act together and do some of the things that were being taught at the seminar. And then they would “move-on” to speaking about programs and mega churches that they felt truly made a difference. Important things, they conjectured, could never come out of so small a seed.

But perhaps all of us – those who study church growth and those who simply wonder what makes a church a church should stop and reconsider this small parable from Matthew. For here God in Jesus Christ tells us what he means by church growth and asks us to honor what he honors. The kingdom of God begins with Tiny seeds growing into impossible trees; it is nourished by oatmeal cookies filled with raisins and hope; and everything is changed when large and small congregations set aside what they think they know and open their hearts to God’s imagination.
There are many other questions we can bring to the many parables that Jesus tells, but the word to hear from bringing our one question about church growth to this one parable about the mustard seed seems to be this:
Congratulations, the influence of your church’s ministry is like the “mighty
roar of the tiniest mouse”
It is like two little oatmeal cookies given to a desperately lost and hungering
child.
It is like the smallest of the seeds growing into a little bush.
AND thus the influence of your church’s ministry is exactly like the impact
of the Kingdom of Heaven…