Words for Worship

Ministry Today

 

Text: Matthew 13.1 - 9

 

I  have a quiz for you.

 

Here are the clues.

 

This iconic film was set in the fictional fishing village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland.  It is there  that a typical 80s hot-shot executive called Mac is sent from Houston, Texas, by his billionaire boss. Now, his job was to buy up this idyllic shoreline for an oil development. However, as the days pass Mac’s world of telex machines and conference calls fades into the tranquillity of the highlands and the welcome of a quirky and warm hearted people. And so he is in an increasing turmoil as he presses closer to a deal that will spell the end of the quaint little village he has come to love.  What else can that movie be than that wonderfully prophetic film of Bill Forsyth – Local Hero.

 

It is prophetic because it so neatly sums up the 21st Century quandary we are all ,to some degree, falling into today. And that is the pressures for growth, prosperity and progress conflicting with the necessity to husband and conserve and hand on.

 

Well Mac’s boss played by Burt Lancaster is an astronomy buff and he eventually solves the problem by making the locals rich by buying their land to build only an observatory.  If only our climate problems of today could be so easily solved!

 

Yet in a way, astronomy – looking out from this world – is no bad place to start. For who cannot view the heavens and not feel overawed and very small against an infinite and unknown universe. Yet at the same time, we can also feel part of something greater, something wonderful and something awe-inspiring. Since, to look into the night sky, is to be at once daunted by being part the universe and inspired being part of creation.  Put simply; the planets, stars and galaxies remind us that individually we are mighty small but together with creation we can be mighty. Moreover, with the aid of our creator we can overcome anything; we can aspire to anything; we can in all honesty achieve anything.

  

 

To make my point, I want to take those seeds that were scattered onto various qualities of ground. Now, most of the time in sermons, we consider the ones that go astray. But what about those that found good ground and took root? What did they do next? How indeed did they produce something worthwhile? Well, they did that first by being small. Small in the sense that they realised they were surrounded by good things and they needed to make the most of them. They were small too by sensing that while they could only make a tiny contribution that nevertheless could be vital. Moreover, they were small by realising they each were entirely responsible for no one else’s actions but their own. But they were large as well – they were large enough to see that together they could meet the need of the moment- that together they could make a big change – that together they could indeed produce a magnificent crop of a hundred-fold.

 

 

Here then is the lesson for us. For individually, the global problems of the hour seem to diminish us to impotence; they can indeed truly makes us feel small. But small is not that bad if we remember the seed of grain. For how better can we give thanks for our individual benefits from God than by rising to our own ecological commitments; by doing our own bit for planet earth; by realising our own part in the greater whole.  For together as a community, as a nation and as a species, without a doubt, we can see the needy fed and clothed, we can enjoy a fair prosperity and can we maintain this ark planet atmosphere. Moreover, together – creation and creator again in harmony – we can rediscover how to walk lightly. For as Linda Jones’ poem says:

 

 

Each leaf, each petal, each grain, each person, sings your praises, Creator God.

 

Each creature on the earth, all the mountains and great seas, show your glory, Spirit of love.

 

And yet, the hand of greed has patented and plundered your splendour,

 

has taken and not shared your gift, has lived as owner of the earth, not guest.

 

And so, the ice is cracked, the rivers dry, the valleys flooded and the snow caps melt.

 

God our Father, show us how to step gently, how to live simply, how to walk lightly with respect and love for all that you have made.  

 

 

 

The penultimate scene of the film ‘Local Hero’, shows Mac now back in his city condo with it windows open to a steaming Texas night. With an incessant rumble of traffic in the background, he forlornly looks at the pebbles he picked up on quiet Scottish beach; a paradise now 24 hours and half world away.   Yet the real reason for his sombre mood is that he has been deeply moved by his recent exposure to a simpler mode of life and is now dismayed at finding himself back in the chaotic and impersonal centre of Houston.

 

We too from time to time can feel something similar. For the clean, simple and sunlit harvests of childhood seems a lost world away.  In fact, much around us now seems chaotic. Worse still, we can look up at the once friendly stars and see nothing but a cold and disinterested universe.

 

But at the last moment our film cuts back to a shot of the red telephone box on the shore at the still idyllic Ferness. The phone starts to ring and goes on ringing unanswered as the titles roll to the music of Mark Knopfler's famous theme tune to Local Hero called going home.

 

Well today, whether we look at the distant galaxies or our paradise planet, we are hearing God’s call as never before; calling to tell us how much he cares for us individually; calling us also to be satisfied with the gifts he has thoughtfully set before us. Above all, he is calling us to work with him in pulling back to cleaner and safer home for all our children.

 

That phone is ringing now.

 

Don’t’ you hear it – ring - ring  – ringing.

 

Will you let it go unanswered?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Festival - Local Hero