The Citizen, 2015-07-09, Page 21THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015. PAGE 21.
By Pastor Perry Chuipka
St. John’s and Trinity Anglican
Churches
Farmer Evans was driving his
John Deere tractor along the road
with a load of fertilizer. Tim, a little
boy of eight, was playing in his yard
when he saw the farmer and asked,
“What’ve you got in your trailer?”
“Manure,” Farmer Evans replied.
“What are you going to do with it?”
asked Tim.
“Put it on my strawberries,”
answered the farmer. Tim replied,
“You ought to come and eat with us,
we put ice-cream on our
strawberries.”
That little boy didn’t understand
what the farmer was doing with his
manure. The farmer, even before he
spreads the manure, can imagine in
his mind how the manure will help
his plants grow. I want to talk about
the power of imagining things in our
minds.
I remember meeting with a
teenage girl whose mother had died
in hospital. The girl kept telling me
over and over: all I can see in my
mind is when I visited my mother in
hospital and she always had a sad
long face. It makes me so sad.
Having a little experience in
visualizing techniques I asked the
girl if she wanted to try and change
that sad picture of her mother in her
mind. Immediately she said, “yes”.
So we went through a
visualization exercise. As we
finished she started to cry. I thought
the exercise didn’t work until she
looked at me and said, “they are
tears of joy. Now I can see my
mother in the hospital smiling at me
as she said good bye.”
Now she could always imagine her
mother with that smile. Like that
experience for that girl, the power
of imagination can change our
lives.
In our reading, Samuel uses the
power of imagination to anoint the
new King. Samuel goes through all
the rituals and procedures of looking
for the new king by assessing all of
Jesse’s seven sons. When he looked
at the eldest son Eliab Samuel said,
“Surely the Lord’s anointed is now
before the Lord.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do
not look on his appearance or on the
height of his stature, because I have
rejected him; for the Lord does not
see as mortals see; they look on the
outward appearance, but the Lord
looks on the heart. Then Samuel
went through assessing all 7 sons
and still couldn’t imagine anyone
them being a king. But then he
discovers that the youngest son is
out in the pasture caring for the
sheep. So he asks for one of the sons
to get him. When David comes back
from tending the sheep and Samuel
looks at him seeing his gentle look
and his healthy features he then
imagines David as a king who
would rule gently and have a
healthy outlook on the people. God
works through Samuel’s
imagination.
How many of us have done that
in our own minds before an
event even happens, we can
imagine how things will turn
out, and then we go and do it.
I still remember having some
anxiety on preparing my first ever
sermon. Someone helped me to do a
visualization technique. I wrote up
the whole sermon. Then I envisioned
in my mind being in the church’s
pulpit and delivering the sermon. It
didn’t take away all of my anxiety
but enough so that I could deliver the
sermon. Today, scientists are still
discovering the power of the brain’s
ability to imagine and visualize
outcomes.
In our Gospel story today, Jesus
emphasizes the power of
imagination through parables.
As the Greek root (para ballı)
suggests, parables are stories thrown
alongside our lives. In using these
short, provocative stories, Jesus
recognizes the importance of the
imagination. In using parables, Jesus
is seeking a shift in our
imaginations, a shift in the way we
see ourselves, see God, and see
others. Such a shift may seem small
and insignificant, but, here, he
compares it to a mustard seed; a tiny
particle that can have miraculous
powers.
The mustard seed was a common
metaphor in Palestine for “the
smallest thing”. The plant could
grow as tall as a house, and birds
seemed to love its little black seeds.
The mustard seed is a symbol of
life growing out of what seems not
only small but dead. Out of the most
hopeless situations, God creates
through our small steps a miraculous
outcome.
Let me return to the boy who did
not understand why the farmer was
spreading manure on his
strawberries. Sometimes we do not
understand people and our culture of
today. We become tired, frustrated
and sometimes hopeless through all
our work that seems futile. But God
calls us to have patience as we take
small steps of faith into the future.
He calls us to use our imagination to
see what can happen through our
small steps with him. He says you
will be like the smallest of mustard
seeds, which will grow into a huge
tree and house many birds. Therein
lies the metaphor of our church life.
Let us continue to take those small
steps forward imaging and believing
in God’s miraculous ways;
remembering that we are only
planting small seeds, let God do the
rest.
CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS
MINISTER
Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div.
All Welcome
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224
Sunday, July 12
Guest Speaker: Bob Kellington
Sunday, July 19
See The Play, Hear The Sermon ~ The Wilberforce Hotel
Worship Service & Sunday School at 10 a.m.
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.
Children
Welcome
Do I Have To?
At Huron Chapel you’ll want to!
huronchapel.com
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, July 12
Brussels Business & Cultural Centre
at 10:30 a.m. and at various homes
at 6:30 p.m. from July 5 to Sept. 6
Sunday School for children
4 to 12 years of age at 9:30 a.m.
Childcare provided for infants and
preschoolers during the sermon.
Coffee & cookies after the morning service.
For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621
Steve Klumpenhower 519.292.0965 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
Vacation Bible School ~ July 20-24
Register on line at www.brusselscommunitybiblechapel.com/vbsgetlivingwater.org
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
July 12: 2Sam. 12
Evangelical Missionary Church
David - Dealing with Difficulty, Pt. 5:
“Desire & Discipline
July 20-23
Community VBS
at Blyth United Church
tinyurl.com/blythvbs2015
250 Princess St., Brussels
Pastor Ken Gazley
519-887-6388
www.bmfchurch.com
Guests Expected
Jesus Is Lord!
Brussels Mennonite
Fellowship
Join Us For Worship
each Sunday
at 10:00 a.m.
during the summer months
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Rev. Elwin Garland
SUNDAY, JULY 12
Nursery care available
519-887-9017
Worship & Sunday School - 10 am
Coffee & Snacks - 11 am
We invite you to join our church family in:
Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm ~ Soup & More 2
- a free community meal held in Melville’s basement, and
made possible by the Brussels churches working together.
BRUSSELS
Brussels United Church
invites you to worship at
Melville Presbyterian Church at 10:00 am
or Blyth United Church at 10:00 am for the month of July.
United Church
Minister: Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M.Div.
Bulletin notices: 519-523-4224
blythunited@tcc.on.ca
Church bookings: 519-887-6377
Other concerns: 226-963-1175
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00 am
Evening Service 7:30 pm
Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743
Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen
You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
From the Minister’s Study
Have patience, take small steps and have faith
#1 And We
Still Try Harder
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