06/16/2024 ~ Proper 6 ~ Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourth Sunday after Pentecost ~ 1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13; Psalm 20; Ezekiel 17:22-24; Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 4:26-34 ~ Father’s Day on the Secular Calendar ~ VIDEO OF THE FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/964820469

No Comparisons

“With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it, as much as they could understand; indeed, Jesus did not speak to them except in parables,….” — Mark 4:33.

I suspect everyone here has heard of Stephen Spielberg, one of the great story tellers of our time. And that’s a paradox: he tells stories but he’s not a writer. He directs movies. Among Stephen Spielberg’s movies are Jaws, Close Encounters of a Third Kind, ET, Lincoln, multiple versions of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park and, of course, Schindler’s List.

I find this interesting: those last two, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, were released in the same year. How could two stories be more different?

Why would I say a movie director, not a movie writer tells stories? Because that informs us about the medium we call cinema and how it works. Movies are a director’s medium, not a writer’s medium.

To explain, these are examples of mediums for writers— novels, plays, short stories to name just three. And the most important thing any writer who tells stories does in spinning out a tale is figure out how to tell a specific story no matter the form.

Put differently, in a writer’s medium the writer needs to ask ‘what scenes will be revealed in what sequence to convey the story?’ What scene must absolutely be revealed next, right after the one currently in focus, to make the whole story— not just this one scene but the whole story— work? That is the pivotal aspect of story telling.

Let me put that concept this way. It’s not what you say; it’s how you see it, how you sequence it. So the way you say it, the dialogue, the words, are less important than how you see it. Words, as important as they are, alone and on their own, do not carry a story. Words paint scenes. Scenes carry a story.

That’s why movies are a director’s medium, not a writer’s medium. The director has the final say in what we see next, in which sequence the scenes will be presented.

In fact, Spielberg has said all stories, any story, actually never starts and never ends. The story was moving and active before the point at which the story teller starts, before the first scene. And the story will continue after THE END flashes up on the screen. Stories never start and never end. We just see the segment being presented. (Slight pause.)

These words are found in the work known as Mark: “With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it, as much as they could understand; indeed, Jesus did not speak to them except in parables,….” (Slight pause.)

Now that I’ve said all that about story telling I hope this is obvious. The medium in which a story is told is an important aspect of how a story is conveyed. A movie is different than a play, different than a short story, different than a novel. All mediums tell stories but in different ways.

In the New Testament we get four Gospels. The Gospels are their own exclusive medium, like nothing else, like no other kind of literature. What do we get in the medium called Gospel? What is presented?

It’s often said the Gospels contain the “good news.” But what is the good news in the story the Gospels tell? Many would argue the Gospels tell the story of the life and crucifixion, the life and death of the Christ. I respectfully disagree. I would even suggest that interpretation misses the point of the story.

Precisely because of how the scenes of the Gospels unfold, the scene we are shown last is the scene which has the good news, contains the point of the story. It therefore is simple and easy to identify. It sits right in front of us. At the end of the story Christ is risen. God is with us.

We also need to realize the four Gospels each tell that story in different ways. Each one presents the story by selecting different scenes. Each Gospel has similarities but each Gospel has a different way of unfolding the scenes to express the good news.

We also need to realize the Gospels are, both individually and collectively, complex, unquestionably complex. They say many things in a multitude of ways. There are many scenes, many stories found therein. But I again insist the Gospels transmit a singular message when it comes to the point of the story. Christ is risen. God is with us.

All that is to say the Gospels are complex stories with a simple message. So now let’s turn to the parables, stories which are also complex.

As you heard when this Gospel reading was introduced, if you read a parable and glean only one meaning from it, you mis-read it. Parables are meant to spark the imagination, provoke more than one meaning. Therefore, you have within the complex story form called Gospels, a smaller complex story form called parables.

Now, it’s sometimes said parables are meant to be metaphors. So, what is a metaphor? A metaphor is a way of saying what something is by saying what it is like. Therefore, you use something which, by definition, it is not exactly alike to describe it.

So a parable is not an exact description. Further, the words from this reading say (quote:) “Jesus did not speak to them except in parables,….” Put differently, even Jesus lacked the language to exactly describe the Dominion of God.

Of course, that begs the question, what is the Dominion of God like? Tell me, what does your imagination tell you about what the Dominion of God is like? (Slight pause.)

Earlier I said the good news, the basic Gospel message, says and means Christ is risen. God is with us. It’s that simple.

If my premise is right, that the metaphors known as parables are meant to draw us in, to spark our imagination, then perhaps understanding the parables might be simpler than we realize. This is what I think: the parables say the Dominion of God— note: not heaven but the Dominion of God, the reality of God— the parables say the Dominion of God is available right here, right now. You see, if Christ is risen, then it is a given that God is with us; God walks with us, right here, right now.

Further, I want to suggest the specific parables we heard today say the Dominion of God is a place where things grow. Therefore, in the Dominion of God which is right here, right now, we need to help the world grow around us.

We need to help the world around us grow in justice— God’s justice. We need to help the world around us grow in equity— God’s equity. We need to help the world around us grow in peace— God’s peace. We need to help the world around us grow in hope— God’s hope.

We need to help the world around us grow in freedom— God’s freedom. We need to help the world around us grow in love— God’s love. (Slight pause.)

What is the Dominion of God like? The Dominion of God is like nothing we fully know. But the Dominion of God can be more real for us when we acknowledge the presence of Christ is with us always. The Dominion of God can be more real for us when we strive to seek God’s will. (Slight pause.)

So yes, story telling is a complicated, complex business. The Gospels and the parables within them tell a complicated, complex story. But the complicated, complex stories found in Scripture are not the Dominion of God.

Rather, the stories point toward the Dominion of God. And so where is this dominion of God? The story the Gospels convey say God is present with us. When we acknowledge God is with us we can then be empowered to strive to work on helping the world grow in God’s love, on letting the love of God be active, right here, right now.

In short, the Dominion of God is right here, right now… if we are simply aware of the presence of God and act in ways which say that. And perhaps that is the real message of all the parables. God walks with us. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
06/16/2024

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Here’s a paradox. The scenes which make a good story never tell us what its message is. Good story telling simply invites you to explore the message. For instance, is The Wizard of Oz about killing witches and tornados in Kansas? Or is it about home being in your heart? The Gospels and the parables within the Gospels invite us to explore the idea that possibilities abound when we become aware God is present with us. Hence, one message is it becomes incumbent on us to work with God and do the work of God which might enhance a fulness of the Reign of God.”

BENEDICTION: Let God’s love be our first awareness each day. Let God’s love flow through our every activity. Let us rejoice that God frees us to be witnesses for God. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith because the Creator draws us into community. And may we love God so much that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.