Sermon, 6/15/97
spacer spacer St.Peter's
Luther Rose

History
Schedule
Location
Events
Newsletter
Pastor
Sermons
Faith
Links

Sermon for June 15, 1997

Pastor Gunnar L. Anderson

"Pretty in Pink"

Text: Mark 4:26-34

This is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. Now, red is the color of the Day of Pentecost, symbolic of the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit brings light and passion into the Christian community. Green, however, is the color of the Pentecost season, as you see around me today; green, marking Pentecost as the season of spiritual growth for those who are in Christ. But, pink is the color of the geraniums that a friend gave to me the other day, and planted for me in the flower box alongside the front steps of my house. To which I responded, "Thank you. I've often been told I look 'Pretty in Pink!'" So, for me, this spring, this summer, this Pentecost season, the color of growth will be pink; but growth is pretty in any color!

As many of you know, at last month's Synod Assembly, I stood for election for the office of Secretary of our New Jersey Synod, a position that would have put me at the Bishop's right hand. Now I fell a few votes short of that goal; but thereafter something happened that I found even more rewarding. My Aunt Ruth, there with her husband, Rev. Tore Fryhle, pulled me aside to say, "your mother and father would be very proud of you today; to see how far you've come, what you've accomplished, how you have grown!"

And on Father's Day, parents, as you look at your children, isn't growth pretty? Jack Nicklaus, playing in the U. S. Open Golf Tournament this weekend has been quoted as saying, "I'm so proud to have come to the day that I am playing in the Open with my son!"

And on Father's Day, which is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, I look out at this congregation, my congregation, if you'll allow me to be proud and possessive for a moment, and I think of a young girl who recently celebrated her birthday as well as her First Communion, whom I have known since she was two months old! I think of a young man who was only six years old when I came to this church in 1974 and who, over the years, has grown and developed and served St. Peter's as a trusted and valued leader in many capacities. I think of a teenager in 1974, here this morning, who has been and continues to be a servant of this congregation and also the wider church. I think of a woman who, when I first knew her, would hardly ever leave the house, but now has become one of the most committed and talented church persons it has ever been my pleasure to know! How she has grown! How so many of us have grown, and I could have given many more examples! And growth is pretty in any color!

I look out at the congregation once more this morning, and I see growth! I see growth in worship. Earlier today, at 8:30 AM, we concluded for the summer our "New Songs" alternative worship experience, an experiment we initiated on a trial basis which has now lasted two and a half years! And with this service has come weekly communion to St. Peter's. And in our traditional worship here we have grown from one communion service, once a month to celebrating the Lord's Supper every first, third, and fifth Sundays as well as on festival days! And even more than that, Holy Communion is offered weekly now at our main service during Advent and the month of May when our "With One Voice" supplementary hymnal is used! And we have grown in worship in this way too, incorporating this rich new resource of liturgy and hymnody into our regular worship life. Put all this together with lay readers and communion assistants and worship leaders, and we can see growth!

I can see growth in service. And so can you, and this morning we don't have to look very far. Our homeless guests arrive on our doorstep once more in only one week's time! Though we still need more help, I'm sure we will carry forth this urgently important ministry again as we have been doing now for over seven years!

I can see growth in Christian Education. Literally we had to set up more chairs in Sunday Church School this year. And Vacation Church School is set to begin a week from tomorrow, though a few days ago that seemed in doubt! Then one of you, a woman recently retired, stepped forward to say, "I'll help!" And two young men, a high school junior and a college freshman, said the same; two young men whom years ago I baptized right here!

Oh, and I can see growth in Evangelism from the first day that I mentioned to a few people the idea of "The Welcome Place." And we have become that! How active we have been! And counting new members and confirmands, we are plus fourteen for 1997 after only half a year!

And though our situation is at present difficult, if not dismal, I am yet hopeful and confident to see growth in Stewardship, in giving, in your offering envelopes!

"'Oh, God!' is a favorite movie of many people. In it George Burns plays "God who decides to communicate his love to the world through a grocery store manager," played by John Denver. "God appears to the manager while he is taking a shower. At first the manager tries to avoid being God's spokesman. Finally, he holds a news conference to deliver God's message, which precipitates embarrassment and chaos for himself and his family. Toward the end of the movie, the two are evaluating the success of their mission. The manager judges it to be a failure. 'Oh, I don't think so, says God. 'You never know; a seed here and a seed there, something will catch hold and grow.'"

And Jesus said:

'The kingdom of God is as if someone
would scatter seed upon the ground,
and would sleep and rise night and day,
and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how...'
Folks, my thumb is not green! If those pink geraniums survive, it will not be because of my skills. Growth is of God! Jesus teaches us today about growth, Christian growth, church growth, and that growth is of God! What does Luther say in the catechism? "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him." Faith in Christ does not come about in us by our own efforts. Faith grows in us, the gift of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Pentecost, the color red emblazoning within us God's power and our passion! While we can sometimes nurture growth, we cannot bring it about! Growth is of God! And we need to know that. For sometimes we shoulder too much of the responsibility, and shy away overwhelmed and frustrated by the work of the Lord and the seeming lack of result. But growth is of God! We plant the seed. God will make it grow! We plant the seed. God will make it sprout and grow!

And Jesus also said:

'With what can we compare the kingdom
of god, or what parable will we use
for it? It is like a mustard seed, which,
when sown upon the ground, is the
smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes
the greatest of all shrubs...'
And we need to know this too! From small beginnings, great things can happen! We plant the seed. God will make it grow! And we have seen it happen! We have seen growth!

"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed upon the ground...the kingdom of God...is like a mustard seed." And the kingdom of God exists wherever God rules in the hearts and lives of his people! "For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and raised for them."

And growth is "Pretty in Pink," or red, or green, or any color!

AMEN


Copyright © 1997 Gunnar L. Anderson. All Rights Reserved.
Return to St. Peter's Home Page

HTML prepared by Walter G. Blenderman


Last modified 6/28/97