Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday, 2022

SERMON FOR SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

The Rev. James F. Sweeney, MTS, JD

“And some [seed] fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.”

–From the eighth verse of the eighth chapter of the

Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Luke.

✠ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

For many years, our family lived in the San Joaquin Valley in California. For those of you not

familiar with California, the Big Valley, as it is sometimes called, runs for several hundred miles

smack-dab through the center of the state and lies between the California coastal mountain

range and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Until fairly recently, it led the nation in agricultural

output, producing nearly all the almonds, pistachios, table grapes, and plums produced in the

United States. We lived on a little ranch in the Sierra foothills, where, like many other people in

the region, we did a bit of hobby ranching and farming. About an acre of our little ranch was

set-aside for growing fruits and vegetables.

We took particular pleasure in growing fresh fruits and vegetables each year. Each year, in late

winter, we would undertake the process of readying our beds for the upcoming growing season.

We would remove the dead growth from the prior season, pull any weeds that might have

sprouted up, service our irrigation lines, and till the soil to ready it for the seeds and seedlings

we would soon plant. Having rich, properly prepared soil was the key to ensuring a good

harvest in the late summer and early fall. Once the seeds were sowed and the seedlings

planted, it was essential to make sure that we regularly watered the beds, periodically fertilized

them, controlled insects, and pulled weeds as they appeared. If we did all these things, barring

a spate of bad weather or an unexpected infestation of insects, we would enjoy a harvest of

wonderful plums, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and squashes later in the year. On the other

hand, if our irrigation system conked out, we forgot to spray for insects, or we let the weeds

overtake the beds, our crop would be pretty poor. The key to growing produce was to tend the

soil and to make sure that the seeds we planted had the best possible chance to grow, flourish,

and to produce a rich, abundant crop.

And, as the Lord tells his disciples in this morning’s Gospel lesson, our faith works the same

way. We are the seedbeds in which the seeds of faith–that is, the Word of God–have been

planted. What happens to those seeds, like tending vegetable beds, depends upon how we

care for the seedbed. If we spiritually water, fertilize, and weed ourselves regularly, we shall

grow in faith and godliness and “bring forth fruit.” In other words, the seed that was planted at

the moment of our baptism requires care and tending so that we fully and completely live out the

Word of God. The fruit to be harvested from this effort, of course, is ultimately union with Christ

and eternal life in the restored Kingdom of God. On the other hand, if the seeds get planted

where the bed is not tended, they get overtaken by weeds and eventually die–that is, other

things in our lives receive our attention and, through neglect, the power of the Word in our lives

is choked out just like weeds choke out healthy plants. The bottom line is this: Growing in faith

requires care and effort, just like the seeds planted in a vegetable garden. We are saved by our

faith in Jesus Christ, but growing in faith requires care, attention, and work if it is to mature and

flourish.

So, you might ask yourself, why is this Gospel reading assigned for today? Nothing in the Book

of Common Prayer is there by chance. Every single jot and tittle of its text has a purpose and

has been included for some pastoral purpose. What is the pastoral purpose for this Gospel

lesson today of all days? And the answer is that in just about a week-and-a-half, we begin our

Lenten journey. The Prayer Book is issuing a call to ready ourselves for our upcoming Lenten

journey. Many of you are new to our Anglican tradition. You may be asking yourself: Why is

there such emphasis upon Lent and Lenten discipline in Anglican Christianity? Certainly, in

other Christian traditions, the season of Lent is not something that requires us to alter

significantly the way we live our lives in the lead up to Easter–it’s simply the forty days that

precede Easter Sunday. But, for Anglican Christians, whose tradition remains deeply rooted in

the ancient undivided Church, Lent is a season of great spiritual significance.

St. Mark (Mk 1:12) and St. Matthew (Mt 4:1-11) record that Jesus, before beginning his public

ministry, retreated into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray. The ancient Apostolic Church

instituted Lent as a time likewise to retreat with the Lord into a spiritual desert in order to fast

and pray for forty days in preparation for the great high feast of Easter. The Church summons

us as disciples to join the Lord in the wilderness, fasting and praying as we ready ourselves to

celebrate the most important event in the history of creation, His glorious resurrection and

triumph over sin and death. During the season of Lent, we both prepare ourselves spiritually, as

well as exalt Him, while tending to our spiritual seedbed by focusing upon the Word of God and

doing those things that permit our seeds of faith to grow and flourish. Each year, we set aside

forty days to concentrate on tending our spiritual gardens by growing in faith and holiness.

Because we are broken and fallen, this is a life-long effort taken year-by-year, forty days at a

time. The work during this time must be intense, focused, and, like the Lord’s time in the desert,

spiritually, personally, and physically challenging.

The Church calls us each to till, fertilize, water, and weed ourselves spiritually. The seeds of

faith have been planted in each of us in baptism. And, like those tomato and eggplant seedlings

in our old vegetable garden, if they are to grow and produce a robust crop, we must make

certain that the spiritual soil in which those seeds of faith are planted is kept vibrant and healthy,

gets plenty of water and sunshine, and that the seedlings don’t get overtaken by weeds and

insects and die. To get the job done right, the Church has equipped us with some tools. And,

those tools are prayer, penance, fasting, and almsgiving. The Church has put them in our

proverbial garden sheds and made them available to us to use during this Lenten season. And,

like any good gardener or grower, we each need a strategy and a plan for Lent. How are we

going to cultivate and fertilize the spiritual soil in which the seeds of our faith are growing? What

are we going to do to control the weeds and prevent insects from damaging our seedlings?

What is our Lenten plan? We have only a week-and-a-half to go. We need to come up with a

strategy before we enter the desert. And, that is what the Prayer Book is calling us to do this

week. So, let’s give it a go, shall we? Looking in our tool shed, we need to figure out how

we’re going to use those tools.

The first tool available to us is prayer. Prayer is, in many ways, the water we will use to keep

our spiritual garden properly irrigated during this season. How are we going to increase our

time spent in prayer? Maybe we should consider praying Morning or Evening Prayer from the

BCP each day during Lent. It’s a marvelous discipline. And, technology has made it simple and

easy to do. There are a number of websites that host the BCP morning and evening prayer

texts, with all the scriptural readings for the day included in the prayer texts. We also stream it

each weekday morning from our own church on Facebook. Morning Prayer takes about 15 or

20 minutes to do well–and you’ll not only pray, you’ll also immerse yourself in the Scriptures by

doing so. That’s one idea. There are many others, but, as a starting point, you need to come

up with a prayer plan. You need to water your spiritual seedbed.

The second tool is penance. Penance is the spiritual equivalent to weeding. If you’ve ever

weeded your garden, you know it’s not a lot of fun. In fact, it can be back-breaking work, but,

once you’re done, your garden looks great. Penance works the same way. It’s painful, but,

after you’ve done it, you feel relieved. You need to come up with a plan regularly to examine

your conscience. This means spending some quiet time examining your behavior and

identifying where you have failed to meet God’s expectations of you. There are some good

resources out there to help you do this, if you need to get started. Examining your conscience

is always challenging, because as prideful, fallen creatures we don’t like to admit we’re wrong or

that we’ve failed. Once you have identified your faults and sins, you need to repent of them and

firmly commit yourself to amend your life so as to not sin in that manner again. Finally, having

done this, you should pray for absolution and the mercy of God. If need be, you might also

consider making an oral confession to a priest, during which you will receive a formal grant of

absolution from the Lord. In Anglicanism, oral confession is totally optional–the principle is

“none must, some should, all may.” But for some, the making of an oral confession is hugely

beneficial and spiritually healing, particularly if someone is afflicted greatly by the burden of past

sins. It’s a tool optionally available from the Church to help you with your “weeding.” How you

practice penance is highly personal and a matter of individual choice. The most important thing

is to do it– in whatever form works best for you.

The third tool in our shed is “fasting.” Fasting is a worthy discipline, widely practiced in the

Christian church since the very beginning. Fasting reminds us, by way of the inconvenience

and discomfort of hunger, that our focus in life must not be upon the material things in this world,

but upon God and His will for us. This is our spiritual “insect control.” There are many things in

this world–bright, shiny things–that distract us from keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord. These

things, like bugs, buzz around and bite us, damaging us spiritually. Fasting is one form of

spiritual insect repellant, reminding us that our focus should not be on material things, but on

those spiritual things that draw us closer to the Lord. One very old and ancient practice, which

still remains a spiritually useful discipline, is to fast on Fridays and abstain from eating meat.

Why Friday? Why abstain from meat? Because in the ancient world, meat was available to the

wealthy. The poor generally ate only fish and vegetables. By fasting and eating a single simple

meal of only fish, vegetables, or dairy on Fridays during Lent, we act in solidarity with the

poverty and suffering of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for us upon the cross on a Friday. How

appropriate! We are joining ourselves in a very personal way to the poverty and suffering of

Christ. It’s a deeply meaningful discipline. In any case, regardless of what you choose, you

need to come up with a plan to fast at some point during Lent.

Finally, our last tool is almsgiving. There is a great old Latin chant that goes: “Ubi caritas et

amor, Deus ibi est.” This means “where there is charity and love, there is God.” When we give

to others in charity, we are in the presence of God. God is the sunshine that our spiritual garden

needs to grow and flourish. Almsgiving cuts through the clouds and lets the sun shine on our

seedbeds. How might we do this during Lent? Almsgiving takes many forms. Perhaps, there is

a needy family that needs assistance. Cook them a meal or buy them some groceries. Closer to

home, our church is in need of prayerbooks, hymnals, altar furnishings, and other things

necessary to our worship. Maybe consider donating some of these items to our church? The

REC has overseas missions in need of support. Perhaps a contribution to share the gospel

abroad would be appropriate? It depends upon your personal preference. All of these things

are opportunities to give in charity. Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Let the sun shine. You

need to come up with a plan to give alms, in some form or fashion, during Lent.

The season of Lent, brothers and sisters, is upon us shortly, Time is of the essence. We have

only ten days to go until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Let us commit ourselves

together this morning to leave this place with the intention to spend the next week prayerfully

considering how we may tend our own spiritual gardens during this coming Lenten season,

preparing ourselves to celebrate the great Easter Feast of Christ’s resurrection.

Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever! Amen.