God Gives the growth 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

As we do, I want you to think with me back into your own personal history -who are the people or situations that first planted the seeds of faith in your life? It might have been a lifetime ago or only yesterday, but think about who planted the seed of faith, the seed of trust, the awareness that God had planted the seed of a dream in your life?

For me the seed planters were my parents. As the story goes, my first trip outside the house after I came home from the hospital was to church to be baptized. But when I think about it, if my grandmother and grandfather Pfaltzgraf had not given themselves as charter members of our little Lutheran congregation that church would not have been there to baptize me. So they too had a hand in planting the seeds in my life. I suppose I could push back even further to those people who planted the seeds of faith in my grandparents and their parents. But however far back I push, I am grateful for those planters -all of them! Because they gave of their gifts and shared their love I have had a lifetime to grow my faith and the fruit of the spirit that spring from it.

So pause with me for a moment to give thanks... take a deep breath in and out and say a silent prayer of gratitude for the seed planters in your life...

Now we all know that once a seed is planted, it needs tending, if it is to grow into a healthy plant, bearing its fruit or sharing its beauty with the world. Water, the right amount of sunlight or shade, the proper balance of nutrients, and weed free space to grow -all vital and important aspects for the growth of healthy plants and fruitful gardens.

Each of us has had and will continue to have those who have tended the garden of our faith; Sunday School or Kid's Quest teachers, youth group leaders, pastors, co-workers, friends, people of all ages who have affirmed us, listened to our dreams, supported our faltering steps, shared their stories and listened lovingly to ours. Sometimes we needed them to stand with us in dark nights of the soul and hold for us the rainbow promise that God's new day will surely come. Sometimes we needed them to help us weed out all the things in our lives that would choke us, stunt our growth and spoil our fruit.

Who are the people who have tended your growth? When I try to answer that question a parade of people dance across my mind -each person coming at just the right time with just the right stuff. They are far too numerous to name, but each one has been a special gift from God. Who are some of the garden tending people in your life? Let them dance in your heart and shine in your minds eye. Take a few deep breaths and say a silent prayer of gratitude for each person as they dance through your memory....

The ones who plant and the ones who tend and nurture, weed and cultivate all have a common purpose. They are God's servants, God's agents -whether they know it or not- working together in God's good time to grow each of us into the fullness of God's dream for our lives.

Today we are celebrating 175 years of our history as a community of God's people, a church, a garden where many people have joined God -using their unique gifts and talents- to plant and water and tend and create a garden where so many, many, many people have come to know God's love and grow in faith. In a little while we will share together in a Litany of Thanksgiving where we will speak some of those names. But for every name we speak there are hundreds more that we could mention, each and every one playing a vital part in the life of this congregation; each and every one a servant of God, laboring in God's garden, God's vineyard so that the light of God's compassionate grace and healing love might be seen and experienced through the life of the community of faith called Plainfield Congregational United Church of Christ.

Now, if we look carefully at our history -both our personal history and the history of this congregation- we will see that not every moment looks like a growing time. There have been times of pain as well as times of joy; times of drought and times of flooding; times where we seem to lie fallow and times when the growth is almost more than we know how to handle. As I was thinking about this I remembered something that happened this summer when Tom and I were in California. We took a private winery tour which allowed us about 2 hours to sit with one of the vintners and ask questions about winemaking as we sampled some of the most exquisite wine I have ever tasted. The vintner kept talking about stressing the vines. Finally I asked, "What does it mean to stress the vines and why do you do it."

"Well," he said, "you stress the vines by an irregular watering schedule that keeps the vines thirsty. You do it because if the vines have plenty of water they grow big and beautiful leaves, but very little fruit. If the vines have a little less water than they need, all the energy of the plant goes toward producing the fruit, since that's what the vine is made to do. Since the fruit is what we want for winemaking, we stress the vine so that there will be more and better fruit."

Perhaps the same is true of this congregation and our lives. I know it is true for me that the greatest growth in my life has come from those difficult moments. So as we celebrate and give thanks, I encourage us to celebrate and give thanks for all the seasons of this congregation and our lives and for all the people who have been a part of them both; for it is true that in God's good time, all things work together to bring a rich abundant harvest.

We are also gathered today to kick off another season in our congregation's life. All of our educational programs are back in full gear. We are looking forward to the cycle of programs that give shape to our lives and our faith. I have so many exciting things to share with you from my sabbatical experience, so many ideas and thoughts about where I think God may be calling us to go; ways we may be asked to plant new seeds in new lives and create new fields for God to use in growing a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control -the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and in the community of faith known as Plainfield Congregational United Church of Christ.