6th Sunday after Pentecost (2026)

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Smack in the middle of the summer growing season, we get this parable about a farmer – specifically, about one who sows the seeds – “The Sower.”

I know many of you have grown up or lived for a long time here in the Farmington Valley where there are many farms dotted around our landscape – both big and small. I grew up in the Midwest, a region renowned the world over for its massive capacity for farming. Though I grew up in a large city, it never took long to reach the edge of suburbia where you immediately found huge expanses of farmland stretching from one line of trees to another.

As you know, when you look on a farm field, there is perfectly strict order. Every ploughed row is perfectly straight. Corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley stand like regiments in the sun. Perfectly placed, perfectly spaced.

With all that care that farmers put into their crops, why in the world would Jesus describe to us today one who seems to fling seed willy-nilly? Our parable says that “the Sower went to sow and as he sowed some seeds fell onto the path, some seeds fell on rocky soil, some fell among the thorns and some fell on good soil.”

¾ of the sower’s seeds fall onto clearly undesirable soil?!? That does not square with those regimented fields I’m familiar with.

So, I did some research about this. It turns out that first century Palestinian farming practices were such that seed was scattered like this and the farmer would plough over the seeds to turn them into the soil. The plough would run through the good soil easily, it would also tear up the brambles and thorns, and it would frustratingly get hung up on the rocky soil just beneath a thin layer of topsoil. It seems like Jesus’ listeners would have likely known that this was the way of life for them. Scatter the seeds, plough the fields as best you can. Some seed gets lost – it’s just part of the gig.

And because this is a parable, it’s a story that points to something bigger than just first century farming practices. One of the bigger things this story speaks about is God’s Word being like seeds scattered. God’s Word is scattered around willy nilly and ploughed and tended the best it can be and then, trust God to do the rest.

When I was a senior in college, I got involved in a ministry called Lydia’s Place. It was a mission start in the St. Paul Area Synod and it’s what pulled me back to the church. Pastor Scott Simmons had an idea to experiment with a faith-based collaborative coworking space on University Avenue – a major east-west street in the city. The neighborhood was a mixture of students from the University of Minnesota living in tall apartment buildings, artist studios in former warehouses, and public housing residents who lived in a 10 story tower nearby.

Lydia’s Place met in the Dow Art Gallery next door to the Purrniture Cat Furniture store… I think you’re getting an idea of this neighborhood now… We gathered amongst the displays of pottery and paintings and worshipped together. During the day, there were opportunities to work together in a shared office space near the art Gallery. The workday at Lydia’s Place in the collaborative coworking space was punctuated by times of prayer and lots of collaboration on projects.

As Lydia’s Place became a bit more established, there came a request from a resident in the public housing tower to do a church service in their common space once a week. Pastor Scott agreed to lead it and the members of Lydia’s Place all helped out.

Many of the people were physically disabled or elderly in this community and  were largely scraping by on social security or Medicare due to old age, injuries from their work, illnesses, or sustained unemployment. So, it didn’t exactly fit the vision for a faith-based professional coworking space.

Despite the people in the tower not fitting the target demographic of Lydia’s Place it seemed to us that we were now called by the Spirit to bring God’s Word to this place.

Because this was not the vision or the mission of Lydia’s Place, we really felt like we were being asked to fling seeds into the wrong spot. We discerned together if this was the right way for Lydia’s Place to use the small amount of energy we had knowing that the co-working idea was starting to take hold and grow in the office center across the street.

The co-working space felt like the good soil, and we needed to tend that good soil.

The weekly service at the public housing block continued as we tried to work on a more sustainable plan for that community to have consistent worshipping opportunities, and so we could get back to tending our coworking space.

Well, guess what… the seeds of God’s Word entered that community, and they sprung to life. In just a few months, 50 to 60 residents were attending this worship service. People started bringing food to share afterward and neighbors who knew of each other began to know each other. It became a wonderfully chaotic and yet deeply fruitful place of God’s Word dwelling among faithful people and growing into a real glimpse of the Kingdom.

The seeds of God’s Word needed to be flung into that neighborhood – into that public housing tower; into that office building; and into that art museum. Lydia’s Place was called to be like the sower – to be the ones to help fling the seeds. And, it turns out that the ways of the Sower are good and, as the parable says, flinging God’s Word out like seed ends up producing thirtyfold, sixtyfold and one hundred fold yields.

And indeed God’s Word did just that in the University Ave neighborhood.

Turns out that God’s Word is very productive. God’s Word can be trusted to work. Let it wash over you and it will sprout! God’s Word inspires us, comforts us, lifts us up, and moves us into mission together on behalf of the Gospel. Grab a Bible and read a Psalm, a Prophet or a Gospel – let those seeds take root!

In fact, I think this parable assures us that the seeds of God's Word have the power to sprout and take root wherever they are scattered.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.  

Rev. Ryan Heckman | July 5, 2026