Preached on Saturday, October 5, 2024 at Camp Mitchell on Petit Jean Mountain for the Board of Visitors.

“Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around Him that He got into the boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And [Jesus] told them many things in parables.”

Here we all are, a great crowd sitting on the shoreline, gathered together to listen again to this Jesus. Today, His voice doesn’t speak from a boat anchored offshore, but from the pages of Holy Scripture, by Deacon’s proclamation, speaking to all of us here just as clearly and truly as He spoke all those years ago. Here we all are, a great crowd gathered together, ready to hear again another one of His parables.

And we’re in luck! We really like this parable. We like its relatability, so familiar to us Arkansans, especially those of us from these parts: mountains to the north and to the west, delta to the south and to the east, rocky soil and fertile soil converging in the central Arkansas foothills, with a scorching sun all around. We like this parable! And we like it’s clarity, too. After all, this parable comes with an answer key! Seeds snatched away by birds = Word of God snatched away by the Evil One. Seeds sown on rocky soil = Word of God in the life of someone who backs out at the first sign of difficulty. Seeds sown amongst thorns = Word of God choked by wealth and worldly desires. But seeds sown on good soil = Word of God truly heard, truly understood, and truly trusted. Crystal clear, as far as parables go. What’s not to like?

But really, I think that the reason those of us gathered here today like this parable is that we know that it’s true. We know that it takes good soil to welcome those seeds and to bring fruit forth from them. We know this because we have experienced it. Hear me out: y’all are some really good dirt. You are! Your lives bear witness to the truth of this parable: good soil receives the Word of God and then bears fruit––thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold over. Your ministries in this Church and across this state are faithful and fruitful. We know that Jesus is on to something: when the Word of God comes down to us and takes root in our lives, so many new things will happen.

And I imagine that many of us would credit all this to what God has done in us here at Camp Mitchell. For many of us, it was here that the soil of our hearts was softened and broken open. It was here that seeds were sown. It was here that roots began to take hold. That’s my story of this place––not at summer camp, but at diocesan youth retreats, AYE and Winterstar. I first learned how to pray the Daily Office from Fr. Chuck Chapman at Winterstar 2009 in this chapel, and that has transformed my life with God for the past 15 years. But for some of you, maybe it was summer camp, maybe even Dick Johnston or Robert R. Brown. For others, parish retreats. Maybe clergy conference. Maybe Happening or Vocare or Cursillo. Maybe Choir Camp back before it moved to Subiaco. Maybe ECW Summer Quest or Men’s Retreat. Or maybe all of the above or something else entirely. Fruits have been born in our lives because of what God has chosen to do in this place.

And yet, we have a particular task today as the Board of Visitors, and as such, I think we need to hear this parable a bit differently. Today, we focus not on quality of soil, but on quantity of seeds. That’s our calling today: to join with God in the ministry of seed-sowing.

It’s crucial that we get this distinction right, because I imagine we want to keep thinking about the soil. And that’s understandable! We want the gifts of God, our gifts to this camp, to take root and to produce lives of faithfulness and holiness, just as it did for us at one point or another. But as the Board of Visitors, that’s not really what we’re up to today, now is it? Today, we are giving of ourselves and of our resources––giving of our own wealth––to help further the mission of God in this place. We give to this place, generously and liberally, like seeds scattered all around, the Word of God falling on all kinds of terrains, on all kinds of lives. Financial giving requires a lot of faith in this way. We give to this place, beautifully painting the buildings across the whole property, not because we know exactly where and when and how God’s Word will take root, not because there’s a 100% guarantee of what will happen in any one person’s life, not because we know what will happen. No, we give to this place, because we know that the same God who has worked miracles in our lives continues to do so, here and now, not in ways we can expect, but in ways that will surprise us and delight us far more than we can possibly ask for or imagine. 

That’s what makes financial giving such a challenge: it requires faith. And frankly, that’s what makes ministry in the Church such a challenge: it requires faith. And so, thank goodness, we have you all here today, people who are good at this whole “faith” thing, people who know that Jesus is right––God’s Word will, in fact, take root somewhere––people who know what’s written in the book of Isaiah: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall [God’s] word be that goes out from [His] mouth; it shall not return to [Him] empty, but it shall accomplish that which [He] purpose, and succeed in the thing for which [He] sent it.”

We know this. We trust in this. And so, we give what we can, with generosity and with a readiness to be surprised by what God chooses to do. May such generosity be ours this day, and may God, by His grace, continue to bring forth fruit in this most holy place. Amen.