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  Deacon Richard's Homily- Father's Day 

  I saw this the other day and thought I’d pass this on. 

   

  God took the strength of a mountain, the majesty of an oak, the power of an eagle in flight, the joy of a spring morning, the patience of eternity, the generous soul of nature, the wisdom of the ages, the comfort of sunset, the serenity of the depths of the ocean, the faith of a mustard seed, and combined these qualities and called his creation: Dad. 

   

  And so on this 11^th Day of Ordinary Time, we celebrate all our fathers,  our dads, those with us and those who have passed on. We wish all dads and their families a most happy Father’s Day.  

   

  As you have heard, God has taken powerful and majestic elements of his creation and formed our fathers, but perhaps the most majestic and powerful isn’t a mountain, isn’t a soaring eagle, isn’t the depth of the seas, but is the tiny mustard seed, no bigger than a printed “period,” no bigger than the eye of an ant, and it is the mustard seed that grows into a 20 to 30 foot tree with a branches that span 20 feet outward.  ((Now don’t confuse this tiny black seed with the seed of a mustard plant.  The plant yields yellow or white seeds and these ground up seeds make our condiment, mustard, which the word comes from Latin. The Romans mixed unfermented grape juice, called “must” with ground up mustard plant seeds. The combination had some heat to it. The Romans called the heat, “ardens,” hence: moost-ardens, or mustard.))

   

  But the seed in our gospel today is tiny and from it comes a towering majesty of a tree. And this insight by Jesus in his parable helps us to understand that God is present quite ordinary things, like the tiny black mustard seed. 

   

  In the first parable today Jesus says the Kingdom of God The first is that the kingdom of God has a life of its own – with or without us.  The farmer sows his seeds and the seeds grow seemingly on their own, without any thought from the farmer. On its own the seed to plant to harvest grows without any urging from the farmer. 

   

  Our faith is a gift from God. He has placed faith in our hearts and we all should pray to give us more faith, stronger faith. Our faith is a gift from our creator.  Everything we have is a gift from God. 

   

  In our second parable, Jesus tells us that God can do very very much with very very little.  God uses us to accomplish great things for his kingdom.  God does not limit us in our endeavors for his Kingdom. God wants us to think big, very big when it comes to Kingdom, here on earth, and in eternity.  Jesus does not want us to assume that we are too small, too insignificant to accomplish the big, the bold, the beautiful  for His Kingdom. Anything is possible with God. 

   

  God, the sower, has planted many seeds of his Kingdom in you and me. In us is the seed of faith, of charity, of compassion, of justice, of hope, of courage. And it is Jesus and the Holy Spirit that waters our souls so these seeds can grow into magnificent heights. At least that is the potential and it is now upon us to determine whether the spiritual nutriments will flow into our souls to make our seeds respond. Do I allow these seeds to grow? How is my seed of charity, or love that Jesus speaks about? How strong is my hope? Is my seed of courage strong or do my seeds of fear and anger take over my spiritual mustard seeds that can be destined to grow the greatest accomplishments for this parish, for this diocese, for this world?    

   

  Do you carry seeds with you? Wherever you go, do you spread the seeds of God’s kingdom. A seed of love here? A seed of kindness there? A seed of forgiveness here and everywhere? Knowing our planted seeds can grow into lighted towers burning brightly leading people to God’s eternal kingdom. 

  When we wake up in the morning and start preparing for our day, a definite part of our preparation is to pack a plentitude of seeds so throughout our day we are God’s sower, spreading the seeds of the Kingdom of Good News, throughout our day, wherever we go. Are you ready to daily change people’s lives for the good because you have spread tiny seeds of love, of forgiveness, of hope, of faith? 

   

  Consider the opposite for a moment. Did you stub your toe in the morning giving you great pain and discontentment? Did you cut yourself shaving and ruined a good shirt collar? Then were you short and curt with your wife, that she was put in a bad mood, and did she snap at the kids because they were too slow getting ready for a trip to the aquarium, and did your son or daughter then stung with sharp admonishments, then snubbed a new friend who had just moved to town and also was visiting the aquarium and did that snub depress the new friend who then felt lonely all day? And then did the mother of that friend see her child depressed and sad, get angry at her husband for moving the family to this new town where loneliness was consuming her child? That one small seed of anger and discontentment from a stubbed toe or shaving cut, then grew exponentially into a harsh plant that yielded bitter fruit.  

   

   

I saw this the other day and thought I’d pass this on.

God took the strength of a mountain, the majesty of an oak, the power of an eagle in flight, the joy of a spring morning, the patience of eternity, the generous soul of nature, the wisdom of the ages, the comfort of sunset, the serenity of the depths of the ocean, the faith of a mustard seed, and combined these qualities and called his creation: Dad.

And so on this 11^th Day of Ordinary Time, we celebrate all our fathers,  our dads, those with us and those who have passed on. We wish all dads and their families a most happy Father’s Day. 

As you have heard, God has taken powerful and majestic elements of his creation and formed our fathers, but perhaps the most majestic and powerful isn’t a mountain, isn’t a soaring eagle, isn’t the depth of the seas, but is the tiny mustard seed, no bigger than a printed “period,” no bigger than the eye of an ant, and it is the mustard seed that grows into a 20 to 30 foot tree with a branches that span 20 feet outward.  ((Now don’t confuse this tiny black seed with the seed of a mustard plant.  The plant yields yellow or white seeds and these ground up seeds make our condiment, mustard, which the word comes from Latin. The Romans mixed unfermented grape juice, called “must” with ground up mustard plant seeds. The combination had some heat to it. The Romans called the heat, “ardens,” hence: moost-ardens, or mustard.))

But the seed in our gospel today is tiny and from it comes a towering majesty of a tree. And this insight by Jesus in his parable helps us to understand that God is present quite ordinary things, like the tiny black mustard seed.

In the first parable today Jesus says the Kingdom of God The first is that the kingdom of God has a life of its own – with or without us.  The farmer sows his seeds and the seeds grow seemingly on their own, without any thought from the farmer. On its own the seed to plant to harvest grows without any urging from the farmer.

Our faith is a gift from God. He has placed faith in our hearts and we all should pray to give us more faith, stronger faith. Our faith is a gift from our creator.  Everything we have is a gift from God.

In our second parable, Jesus tells us that God can do very very much with very very little.  God uses us to accomplish great things for his kingdom.  God does not limit us in our endeavors for his Kingdom. God wants us to think big, very big when it comes to Kingdom, here on earth, and in eternity.  Jesus does not want us to assume that we are too small, too insignificant to accomplish the big, the bold, the beautiful  for His Kingdom. Anything is possible with God.

God, the sower, has planted many seeds of his Kingdom in you and me. In us is the seed of faith, of charity, of compassion, of justice, of hope, of courage. And it is Jesus and the Holy Spirit that waters our souls so these seeds can grow into magnificent heights. At least that is the potential and it is now upon us to determine whether the spiritual nutriments will flow into our souls to make our seeds respond. Do I allow these seeds to grow? How is my seed of charity, or love that Jesus speaks about? How strong is my hope? Is my seed of courage strong or do my seeds of fear and anger take over my spiritual mustard seeds that can be destined to grow the greatest accomplishments for this parish, for this diocese, for this world?    

Do you carry seeds with you? Wherever you go, do you spread the seeds of God’s kingdom. A seed of love here? A seed of kindness there? A seed of forgiveness here and everywhere? Knowing our planted seeds can grow into lighted towers burning brightly leading people to God’s eternal kingdom.

When we wake up in the morning and start preparing for our day, a definite part of our preparation is to pack a plentitude of seeds so throughout our day we are God’s sower, spreading the seeds of the Kingdom of Good News, throughout our day, wherever we go. Are you ready to daily change people’s lives for the good because you have spread tiny seeds of love, of forgiveness, of hope, of faith?

Consider the opposite for a moment. Did you stub your toe in the morning giving you great pain and discontentment? Did you cut yourself shaving and ruined a good shirt collar? Then were you short and curt with your wife, that she was put in a bad mood, and did she snap at the kids because they were too slow getting ready for a trip to the aquarium, and did your son or daughter then stung with sharp admonishments, then snubbed a new friend who had just moved to town and also was visiting the aquarium and did that snub depress the new friend who then felt lonely all day? And then did the mother of that friend see her child depressed and sad, get angry at her husband for moving the family to this new town where loneliness was consuming her child? That one small seed of anger and discontentment from a stubbed toe or shaving cut, then grew exponentially into a harsh plant that yielded bitter fruit.