The Collect 

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

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 as he sowed, some seeds fell on the 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 root, 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. Let anyone with ears listen!"
 

"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

The Parable of Tall Trees and Other Perplexities 

We are experiencing a historic drought in the Texas Panhandle - in case you havn't noticed.  

The soil is extremely dry and hard. These poor old native Chinese Elm trees are even struggling to survive. As we all know - those roots will permeate almost anything ( especially our sewer lines, now there is a parable for ya !! ).  The parable of the seed and the sower will always be a timeless guide for us as we live out our daily lives before our families, co-workers and the world at large.  

Invariably, we will all face a crisis or emotional  situation that will test our "root" beliefs, internal compass and patience.

I was taught a very specific code of social behavior growing up here in the Panhandle.  The privacy of our home was the place where we could express ourselves, our feelings, frustrations and basic human behavior.  But, when we were in public - my brothers and I were expected to behave as gentlemen - polite, balanced and astute.

No exceptions.

Our "behavioral seeds" were being planted as early as I can remember.  We were not only taught by example but by an expected level of personal behavioral discipline that was intended to carry us through lots of rough spots in daily life.   

It seems odd that all that "seed planting" almost became a curse during my life as a church musician.  That discipline was so indelibly etched on my consciousness that I probably seemed arrogant.   

According to my own personal expectations - there was no room for temper tantrums, pettiness and discord.  Boy was I naive and a great part of my "internal compass" was also cosmic.

Good old fashioned Libra balance...  As a kid -it was easy for me to conform and be quiet.

Now as an adult - I secretly often want to throw out every discipline, belief and internal mechanism.  But those "seeds" were imbedded deep inside me in some very fertile soil.  

During my days in evangelical churches I witnessed some pretty petty issues because of the enormous duplicity within those institutions.   

One Sunday in particular I witnessed something that forever changed my thinking about "polite behavior".  One Sunday morning, the infamous and notorious W. A. Criswell  suddenly launched into a tirade at the sound technician in the balcony in front of 2000 people for a sudden feedback in the sound system. After the service, I was clearing up around the organ and saw the sound technician walk up to W.A. and grab him by the collar and said "if you ever do that to me again I will knock your *^&(%  lights out".  W.A. could just as easily have waited until a reasonable time to "redress" the technician (who remained in that position long after W.A. was dead.).    

Is there a time in life when all those "seeds" of self discipline and teaching that have grown into massive trees need to be uprooted?  Didn't Jesus throw money lenders out of the temple in outrage?  Do you think his mama asked him what on earth he was thinking? 
 

Perhaps the lesson is this - retain your deep roots and convictions, be circumspect but not lethargic, disciplined but not wimpy...there may come a time when you will have to rip off a BIG branch of your "tree of life" and hit someone over the head with it.  RDL