The Parable of the Sower

I preface this with the admission that I do not always listen to the Sunday sermon as carefully as I should, especially when the preacher sort of misses the point (sir, we would see Jesus). This is where the following poem comes from, embarassing as it is to admit. The Gospel lesson in the 3-year series on July 13 was the parable of the sower, and I wrote this poem in my bulletin. I have been working to edit it, and now I present it to you. I welcome comments and yes, even corrections, if you find it to be amiss.

Consider the crazy sower,
The indiscriminate planter,
Carelessly tossing precious seed
To any unworthy-type ground.
Each single seed
More precious than jewels.
Left to become birdseed;
Never to take root;
Shallow, wither and die;
Scorched by summer’s sun;
Choked by thorn.
Weeds supplant the good,
Yet the good thrives.
For the Sower’s foresight
Knows
The seed is the Word
Which was snatched by the Evil one;
Left to die in the Passover Sun--

Until that light from want of Light went out--
Crowned with thorn,
Choked out.
The Seed died
Planted in the ground
Springing to life
So that the Word might give life,
Thirty, sixty, a hundredfold
To those to whom
The Word comes--
Not empty,
But life-giving.
For the sower is not crazy;
Indiscriminate only in His love.

[Sower photo from Lee Lawrie]