Harvest - and the parable of the mustard seed revisited

Matthew 13: 31-32

 This Sunday is our chapel anniversary as well as a harvest celebration. As we're currently in the middle of big changes to the building, I thought we might reflect on our 'journey so far' in the light of Jesus' parable of the mustard seed.

 

   Reflection

The kingdom of God is like a small pane of glass – which fell out of a window.

And when the people in the chapel saw it they thought ‘we’d better get that mended’. But when they looked at the window they could see that all the other panes were in danger of falling out, too.

And when they looked at the other windows they realised they were all in danger of falling out.

And what started as a small job had become a bigger one.

 

And the people in the chapel got a double-glazing firm to look at the windows, and the cost of replacement was about twice as much as they had in the bank.

So they contacted the Synod for help, hoping that they Synod would give them the money they needed to get the windows replaced.

But even that quite big job became much bigger when the helpful person from the Synod said “think bigger – what other changes do you need to see?”.

 

And an architect came and looked at the building and said “before you replace the windows you need to repair the wall”.

And a green energy consultant came and said “after you replace the windows you need to replace your insulation, lighting and heating”.

And what started as a repair became a re-think.

 

And the little job became a big vision.

And the people in the chapel dreamt of a place which would be warm and dry and inviting – and flexible for the needs of the community.

And people from the village came with their dreams and hopes and visions.

 

And with lots more work and prayer the vision will become a reality.

 

And Jesus might have said

“that pane of glass was rather like a seed, wasn’t it…and so the kingdom of God grows”.     

Amen