Weekly Sermon: 06-21-2026 - Grounded in Creation - Earth

All right, the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.

That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there

while the whole crowd stood on the beach.

And he told them many things in parables, saying, Listen, a sower went out to

sow, and he sowed some seeds that fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil and they

sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched and since they had no roots, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold,

some sixty, some thirty.

If you have ears, hear the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Many of you know that at the beginning of June, I went to St.

Louis to go wedding dress shopping with my daughter and her fiancé, Jenna.

I stayed in the second bedroom of their apartment, where they like a chilly

68 setting for the AC at night.

I wake up earlier than they do, so I could sit wrapped in bathrobes and blankets on the couch.

But I think, although it's a beautiful couch, it's half sofa,

half jet puff marshmallow.

And I'm never quite certain if once I sit down, I'm actually going to be able to get out.

So in the mornings, I took my cup of coffee out on the small deck off the bedroom.

So that I could warm up and I could enjoy the trees that were out in the back.

The second morning that I was there, quite suddenly a bright green hummingbird

flew up and hovered right in my face,

about eight inches from my nose.

It looked straight at me for about three full seconds.

Three seconds is a long time for a hummingbird.

They are usually all motions and buzzing and wings and darting and they're here

and there before you can even say, look, there's a hummingbird.

But it stopped, and it hovered, and it looked right at me.

A dear friend of mine in St. Louis, DJ, passed away a few months ago.

DJ had three hummingbird feeders on her back porch.

And when that hummingbird came

and looked at me, I had this overwhelming feeling that DJ came to see me.

Now, I'm not trying to build a whole theology of hummingbirds.

I'm simply telling you what happened in my soul.

I said, good morning. And as she flew away, I said, thanks for visiting.

It was one of those moments where creation became a doorway,

connecting heaven and earth.

And God blessed me through this wild, small, beautiful creature.

I did not make it happen. I didn't even ask for it.

I didn't schedule it or download it.

I was simply available.

And that's what our summer series is really about, Grounded in Creation,

how to refresh your soul this summer.

We start today with the earth touching soil and your soul at the same time.

Why? Why are we doing this? Because we all need refreshment.

Most of us are tired in a way that a nap doesn't really fix.

We are busy, but not always fruitful.

We're connected, but often lonely. We're informed, but anxious.

We're entertained, but not really restored.

Americans spend about 90% of our time indoors.

And even when we are resting, our rest is often processed through a screen.

Phones, computers, television, newsreels, games, messages, reminders.

Our minds are always being fed something. But our souls need unprocessed time.

Unprocessed time is time when no device is telling us what to think,

what to say, whom to fear, whom to compare ourselves with.

It is a walk without your phone, a porch chair,

a watering hose, a conversation with a real person, watching a lizard climb

the brick, sitting under a tree, putting your hands in dirt,

listening for birds, letting your mind wander long enough that a prayer can

rise up underneath all the noise.

This is not just good for our bodies and our minds. It is good for our souls,

for our faith, because God is still speaking.

And God's first language is creation.

And our first language is awe and wonder at what God has made.

And this is where Genesis begins. In the beginning, when God created the heavens

and the earth, that is before a temple.

Before a church building, a pulpit, a hymnal, a committee meeting.

There is God speaking creation into being.

And God calls forth light and sky, seas and dry land, plants and trees,

sun and moon, galaxies, birds and living creatures.

And then God creates all of us, humankind in God's image. And again,

and again, God looks at what God has made and calls it good.

Not productive, not profitable, just good.

Very good.

God does not place us above creation as owners who can use up creation however we please.

God places us within creation as embodied souls.

We are earthlings made of the earth, made from dust and dirt and filled with

breath and water and minerals in our bones.

The stuff of the earth and blessed to care for this planet and the life that God loves.

And at the end of the story, what does God do? God rests and God blesses the

seventh day and he makes rest holy.

And so the very first act of creation care is to stop consuming and producing,

stop scrolling and striving and just be available,

to receive creation as the gift that it is with awe and with wonder.

In our gospel story today, Jesus also tells us a story about dirt,

but it is not all behaving like good soil.

A sower goes out to sow and the seed falls everywhere.

Seed on the path is snatched away. Seed on rocky ground springs up quickly, but has no root.

Some seed gets choked out by thorns, but some seed falls on good soil and bears fruit.

30, 60, 100 fold.

Of course, we would all like to be good soil, but we probably have been all

four kinds of soil at one time or another in our life.

Sometimes our soil is like the path.

We feel walked on so much it's been packed down.

Grief and stress and life have walked over us and we have to be strong.

And we've had to be strong for so long that the surface of our soul has gotten hard.

Maybe today you need refreshment from the rocky ground where the dirt has no depths.

We are running from thing to thing, reacting to the next demand with no depths,

left for joy or wonder or prayer.

Sometimes our soil feels like thorny ground. It's just too crowded in here.

Jesus calls the thorns the cares of the world and the lure of wealth.

We might add notifications, just the pressure to keep up, the fear that we're

behind, the endless stream of bad news.

And good soil? Good soil is ready to grow dirt. It's open. It's available. It has room.

It receives the seed. It allows its roots to grow.

It bears fruit, not by force, but by being available for what God plants.

This is why touching soil can touch your soul.

Because good soil teaches us what the kingdom of God is light.

You know, I find this so fascinating because soil on the surface does not look like much.

It doesn't look like anything, at least at my age, I want to spend a lot of

time in, especially since I fell flat on my face and broke my fingers trying

to scrape the soil off my shoes and my shoe fell off.

So I'm not really keen on soil until I started.

Not really. And I'm like, oh, shoot, I'm preaching on earth this week. That's a bad idea.

But did you know that beneath the surface the soil is amazingly alive,

I just every scientific discovery makes me more and more fascinated with the

awesomeness of God scientists are discovering more and more about mycorrhizal

fungi have you heard of this,

okay tiny underground threads that connect with plant roots and help exchange

nutrients and water and carbon underneath the dirt.

A very recent global mapping study estimates, are you ready for this,

110 quadrillion kilometers of these fungal networks in the topsoil.

Oh my gosh! Is that not the coolest thing you've ever heard?

There is a hidden world beneath our feet,

a living network that supports growth in ways that we cannot see and previously

had never imagined. At least I had not.

But is that not how God works?

Grace is often underground before it is visible.

Healing is often hidden before it is obvious.

I'm not seeing much healing here yet, but something is happening because I can start to go like this.

I don't see it, but maybe a little.

God works resurrection behind the tomb before anyone can see it.

Hello, Crucifixion Friday, Resurrection Sunday, something is happening there,

but nobody can see it. Everybody is weeping.

The morning of Sunday comes, Easter morning comes, Christ rises from the dead,

and new life springs forth.

Faith grows through 110 quadrillion quiet connections of prayer,

worship, friendship, service, creation, rest.

That is how we stay good soil.

Connected to Christ. Connected to creation. Connected to one another.

God is tending to more than we can see.

Sometimes we do not recognize it until we look back on our life or until a hummingbird

flies right up into our face.

The truth is, God is still speaking in creation, through creation,

and using it to connect heaven and earth.

And how does this happen? Of course, this happens through Christ our Lord,

who is the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God,

and all things came into being through him.

And without him, not one thing came into being.

And what has come into being in him was life. And the life is the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

So here is the invitation for this week. Touch some soil.

But for the love of God, if you're going to get it off your shoes, God made doormats.

And do not do this and have your shoe go flying off your feet and land on your

body and break your fingers, okay?

So that's my tip for the day. Okay, your invitation for the week is touch some soil and use a doormat.

You do not need a farm or even a yard.

Plant a basil pot. Put a flower on the windowsill. Sit outside with your morning coffee.

Walk to the mailbox without your phone. Take a slow lap around the block.

If you use a wheelchair, let someone push you into the shade.

If you use a walker, ask for assistance. Or if you cannot get outside easily,

sit near a window and watch the light change on a tree.

And while you do this, do not make it another chore that you tick off your to-do list. Make it a prayer.

Put your hand in the dirt and say, God, make me good soil.

Feel the sun and say, God, let your light reach me.

Notice a bird and say, Thanks for visiting!

Watch a seedling and say, grow in me what I cannot grow in myself.

And when you have a God moment in creation, pick up one of our Holy Spirit creation

cards and take a picture.

We've done Jesus the last two years, so now we're doing the Holy Spirit.

Share it. Share it. Not because we need one more thing to post,

but because testimony matters.

Use your process time to share your God moments.

So that we all become good soil together, like 110 quadrillion connections of grace.

Let's use all those Instagram and Facebook connections for grace, for creating good soil.

Through sharing Christ and his presence in creation, the hard places are softened,

the shallow places are deepened, the crowded places are cleared,

the weary places are refreshed and energized.

Through Christ, we discover again and again that the God who created the heavens,

the galaxies, and the earth is still creating and recreating

life in us, one seed, one breath, one patch of soil, one hummingbird, one

holy moment at a time.

And so as you touch soil this week, be available for God to touch your soul as well.

Let the church say amen.

Go now, grounded in the goodness of God's creation.

Earth beneath you, air around you, water within you, fire to guide you,

plants and creatures beside you, and galaxies above, you declaring God's wonder.

Honor creation, share her gifts, walk gently for the sake of your neighbors

and generations to come.

Go in peace as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks for God, and we will. If you're inspired by this week.