WHAT A GRAIN OF FAITH CAN DO
Mark 4: 26-34
Last summer when our son Chris and
daughter-in-law Amanda decided to have their wedding on 08/08/08 in Philadelphia, the price to be paid was having
that day fall on a Friday, and having people arrive for a 6:00 wedding at a church several miles away
from our hotels. On the way up to Chestnut Hill from the city, we crept along
the interstate, forcing the wedding to start 35 minutes late. On the way back
we decided to drive though the towns as we made our way downtown. As we drove
through one neighborhood that looked rather worn, all of a sudden the area started
looking better. We noticed that we were on the edge of the Temple University
campus with impressive buildings and walkways. Then there it was: the church with
the story that brought major support to the University: it was the famous Temple Baptist
Church! This was the
church that a little girl and her gift of 57 cents built! One December 1, 1912 the Rev.
Russell H. Conwell was preaching his sermon. He told his congregation of a
little girl he had known named Hattie May Wiatt. She lived near the church
where the Sunday School building was so crowded that there was no seat for her
(what a nice problem to have!) As she sobbed, telling him she him about it,
Rev. Conwell took her by the hand, walked her inside, and found her a chair,
and dried her tears. He said one day they would have enough money to build a
bigger building. The little girl never forgot his words. Some two years, the
little girl got ill and, sadly, she died. Her mother asked Rev. Conwell to do
her service. At their meeting about the service, she brought him her daughter’s
purse with money in it she had been saving to build a bigger church. He
carefully opened the little change purse and found 57 cents in it. Her mother
gave to him, saying maybe it could be a start for that church building her
daughter hoped could be built. Rev. Conwell told about Hattie May’s faith and
unselfish gift. People in the church, inspired by that little girl’s generosity,
started the Wiatt Mite Society, dedicated to making her money grow as much as
possible. They told others about Hattie May, and they wanted to give too. With
their initial gifts and investments, they bought some new property on which to
build a new Primary Sunday School department! Later a house was also purchased
nearby, in part from Hattie May’s money and those who were inspired by her,
where the first classes for Temple
College, later Temple University,
were held! From the faith of a little girl, and her 57 cents, Temple Baptist
Church with over 3,000
members, Temple University with alumni such as Bill
Cosby, and the Temple
University Hospital
nearby were all built. What a grain of
faith can do.
As we have watched some large
corporations crumble in the last year, we have also watched some small
businesses, whose leaders have faith and vision, take off. Sometimes big seems fabulous; at other times
it is the smaller the better: the more personal; the more special. Some are
enamored with big churches. The largest in our denomination is in Atlanta with 9,500
members, but there are some non-denominational churches in Indiana, Texas, and California with 15,000, 18,000, and 20,000
members. The largest claimed membership in the world is a church in Seoul, Korea
with 250,000 members. How enticing!? Or perhaps it is to you! Large churches
can do elaborate productions, and ministries, and can have a pastor to those
whose names start with A through G, another for those H through L, and another
for those M through Z. Sound absurd? A classmate of mine accepted a call out of
seminary to a church as the Associate Pastor to those whose last names started
with M through Z! Wild. On the way up
interstate 95 in Georgia is a sign for the world’s smallest church; Richard and
Mary Hills stopped to see it in April; it had 13 wooden chairs! I wonder what
evangelism means to them- the church is deeded in the name of Jesus Christ and
there is just room for our Lord and the 12 to be seated there! Certainly in NY
State, in Arizona,
Iowa, and Illinois there are other
tiny church buildings. Did you know that
fully half of the churches in America
today have 100 or fewer active members?
One hundred may be small to you, but to a congregation of 12 it is
large. What wonderful things have small churches done? Each month in the
Presbyterians Today journal, I read about yet another loving ministry. Central
Florida Presbytery just this month took the step of closing a church that just
had three people left on the roll, but none well enough to attend! They hadn’t
had a pastor in years, but they gave the care of those people to a neighboring
Presbyterian Church. That church was the smallest of our 75 congregations in
Central Florida Presbytery. At 740 members, we are the tenth largest. But every
congregation started with a grain of faith, a spark of vision, a few faithful
parishioners, and people who sacrificed time, talent, and money to make it a
church. Our own congregation started like that with Sunday School meetings in
1946 and the chartering service at the Wilbur By-the-Sea Boathouse in 1955. Who
among them didn’t think starting a new church was going to be costly or
difficult? Who among them thought it would happen, nevertheless, with God’s
help? How many seeds of a dream get planted on rocky soil and do not grow; or
how many get planted among the thorns of negative people, and the dream dies?
How many get planted in the midst of heat where they were scorched by adversity
brought on by others? But one seed, at
least one seed, was planted all those years ago that made Westminster
By-The-Sea flourish today. One seed took root at the turn of the 20th
century and Temple
Baptist Church,
University, and Hospital has a little girl’s 57 cents to thank. And before
either of those, a seed took root in old Jerusalem,
the city that to this day has its share of adversity and negativity. But a
sower named Jesus planted the Word of God there because he embodied it; he left
his mark on stairways, at healing pools, in the garden, and on a cross. And the
world has never been the same.
As we were over in Jerusalem in March, we visited the Mount of Olives and there we took pictures of olive trees
that were proven to have been there when Jesus and his disciples were there!
They have lived over 2000 years! All from someone taking an olive branch, and
planting it in a place conducive to growth. The scripture and anthems and hymns
today sound like that Jesus’ lessons were all about agriculture; we’ve heard
about seeds and planting, harvest and bounty.
But you do know that when
Christians talk about the harvest, they’re talking about the final Judgment,
don’t you? You do know that when we
talk about a mustard seed, it’s not about the seed; it’s about having at least
the faith of the smallest of seeds. You do
know that when you hear about the wheat getting stored in barns and the weeds
or tares being burned that it means … well, you
know by now. And when Jesus talks about planting seeds, going to sleep, and
waking up to see that they have grown, you now have more insight into what he
means. It reminds us that, when we have our times, like a child, when we say to
God: “I can do it myself!” that there are some things that we simply cannot do;
only God can do some things! No matter how loudly or emphatically the children
shout “GROW!” to their little
Easter sprouts planted in our new church
garden, they will only grow in God’s good time. What we can do is water
them, till the soil, and give them sunshine; even then they may not all grow,
or grow at the same pace. Some things are
just out of our hands. Some things are just a matter of faith. There are
certain things—like the way we care for our bodies, the nurturing we provide
our souls, and the stimulation we give our minds—that make us healthy and wise,
and perhaps even wealthy! But the rest is up to God. This parable also tells us
that sometimes the changes going on in our
souls or the souls of those around us
are imperceptible. They are happening, though we can’t notice them. When I was
growing up the signs I had that I was getting taller were not noticeable to me
day by day. But once a month or so I could stretch myself up very tall against
the inside of the bedroom closet door where pencil marks measured my height,
and I could see that I had grown. I would know it when I would put on a pair of
pants I hadn’t worn in a while and kids at school would tease me: “Are you
expecting a flood with those high waters on?” It was time to get new pants! We
cannot see the changes that a little faith, a little blessing, or a little
nurturing will do. But it is changing
you, and sometimes through it, you change the world!
My friends, it is hard to know when God
decides that it is harvest time for our souls. But your faith journey started at
some point in your life, with a grandparent, or friend, or pastor, or teacher
planting a seed in you: a faith seed.
God’s Spirit is watering it even now; and you are tending it by your attendance
today, by your daily prayer and any time spent in God’s Word. As we give thanks
to God in just a moment, join me in lifting up silently the names of those who,
sometime in your life, planted seeds of faith in you! How much they have grown!
And they are still growing! Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey A. Sumner
June 14, 2009