Sermon: "The Mustard Seed"

Have you ever seen a mustard seed?  If you have, how would you describe it? 

Well I haven't seen one but I know that they're very small.  They have a diameter of less than mm. 

Have you ever tried talking to a tree?  And if you have, did it do as you asked? 

Have you ever uprooted a tree? 

Well I have.  When I lived in Cambridge we had a tree in our garden which was growing and blocking out the light to our kitchen.  It wasn't big for a tree, it was perhaps about 15 feet tall.  It was an ever green that just shoots up into the air?  I thought I'd try and remove it so first I took a hand saw and started cutting off the outer branches.  And in no time at all my whole garden was full of branches and greenery; and the tree looked almost the same! 

After that first naive forray I left it for about a week and then went back at it.  And when the same thing happened again I phoned a friend with a chain saw.  It was about two months later that we finally had it down to the stump and then it took three of us, a lot of heaving, and a lot of, "you stand there like that, and I'll stand here and pull this while you push with all your weight from there."  The root system was frigtheningly large when we eventually saw it.  And the piece which came out of the ground was like the size of a piece of furniture.   

I was hard work and heavy work.  And yet, Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed can make a tree uproot itself. 

The disciples are asking Jesus for more faith:  "Jesus, can you provide us with faith?" they are saying. 

You can imagine them having a meeting and one of them saying, "how is going, do you think?  We've been on the road, now, with Jesus for almost a year.  What do you think about it all?"  And after some silence, one of them gingerly speaks up and says, "I don't know about you but I think I need more faith."  And then one by one they all start agreeing, "yes, we need more faith."  And by the end of the meeting they've decided to ask Jesus if he can give them more faith. 

"Jesus, can you provide us with faith?  We all feel that it would all be a lot easier if we had more faith, you see.  We'v been putting our heads together and we think things would just run a lot smoother if you could give us more faith." 

Jesus' response is to talk about mustard seeds and mulberry trees. 

Because it's not how much faith you have that matters.  It's whether or not you employ the faith that you have.  It's the exercise of the faith that you have: even a tiny amount can lead to the impossible happening.  And it's the exercise of faith that leads to more faith. 

Let us pray: 

Father, I thank you for giving me faith,

for that is the foundation of my prayers.

I believe that I am your child,

living in your world in your day.

My faith is shaky and suffers many knocks.

There are times when I push you out of my mind

and days when I cannot hear your voice.

Yet deep in my heart I believe in you,

your abiding, your holy love.

Thank you for giving me that seed of faith.

As I pray, I know that the little seed

is also fruit of a great tree of faith,

which stretches across the years and the continents

and links me to the apostles.

Great God, faith is the powerful bond

which links all Christian people.

We praise you for faith and faithfulness

            in the ages of darkness,

            in disappointments and disasters,

            in hostile societies where faith is called madness,

            amid affluent agnostics,

            expressed in every human laguage,

            victorious in pain and in death,

this is the work of your Spirit.

May this great tree of faith continue to grow,

deelpy rooted in your word,

and offering to all a living faith

for the healing of the nations.

Bernard Thorogood