Our neighbour, John Haywood, is a treasure trove of knowledge about Gloucestershire, its geology, its history and its towns and cities. As I was thinking about the parable we are reading this Sunday ‘The parable of the soils’ I thought I might consult him about the soils of Gloucestershire. He has lent me a fascinating book ‘The story of Gloucestershire’ dated 1907 and bought by John in a secondhand book shop for £20 (an enormous price for such a small book!) The author speaks about the millions of years during which Gloucestershire had many times been a sea, at other times a tropical forest. How it had been bent and folded by enormous subterranean forces and torn apart by huge volcanic eruptions, carved up by huge rivers and molded by glaciers.

I was curious to find out how this had produced the different types of soils. Various types of clay, coal, sandstone, millstone grit and Cotswold stone and what they were made up of. I remembered how Tim Morris, who, as you will know, farms at Coneygar farm had shown me where in some parts of a field the crop he had planted had shrivelled up and died, how in other places the soil was rich and deep. He had pointed out which crops were best planted where, and in some places where the soil was waterlogged he couldn’t plant at all until it was dry enough.

It all sounded very much like the story that Jesus tells us about the kinds of soils where some plants thrive and others where only weeds grow. Jesus points out to his disciples that the human spirit is very much like this. If the human spirit is to thrive it needs the right conditions and a little help.

The Parable of the Soils

To find the heart of a parable we need to look at the last sentence and here we discover that this is a parable about the soil and not the sower.

“The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it.” Matt. 13: 23.

God, is the Sower, and will fulfil His purpose – there will be a harvest, though it might look doubtful in such poor conditions. The seed is good, the sower is faithful, but the soil is poor.

As we look back into God’s purpose for man in Genesis we discover that He created us in His own image, but this image has become distorted because of man’s sin. God now seeks to restore that perfect image in us and Paul in his letter to the Romans sets out how he has done this.

‘No condemnation’ Rom. 8:1. God in His mercy has taken away the stain of sin by ‘sending His own Son’. We now have a new identity ‘in Christ Jesus’. As God looks at us, he looks for sons and daughters who are like Jesus Christ, just as a farmer is looking for the very best strains of crops, or a stockman is looking for the best breeds of cattle or sheep. We are then called to be like Jesus Christ.

‘Controlled by the Spirit’ Rom. 8:9. To make this possible God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. There is now a new power at work in us, God’s Spirit. The Spirit of Christ within us produces a harvest of ‘life and peace’. Maybe we could describe this as ‘genetic engineering’, God has placed in us a new ‘Christ gene’ which reproduces the character of Christ in us.

‘Children of God’ Rom. 8:16. Jesus spends some time explaining the various types of soil that the seed falls into because this growth can be stolen (the birds), scorched (the rocks), or choked (the thorns). The seed must be nurtured by good soil, (the body). The children of God need to be continually aware of all that can steal, scorch or choke the life of God in them.

The prayer of God’s children, then, as we struggle with all that threatens to overwhelm us each day is ‘Abba, Father’. It is the prayer of the Spirit of God in us which strengthens and renews us each day.

The harvest is certain even in the poor conditions of this soil even the ‘sufferings’ as Paul describes them can be, with Christ, the means by which the crop grows strong!

Rev Simon Brignall

I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.

This week we especially hold in our prayers the families of Derek Daly and and Gerald Hartshorn as we remember them and celebrate their lives.

A prayer for peace in the Holy land

O God of all justice and peace
we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma
of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.
Be with those who need you in these days of suffering;
we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians

and for all people of the land.
While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace,
we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.
Guide us into your kingdom
where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children
for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.