Sea Sunday (The
Eighth Sunday after Trinity)
13th July 2008 : 9:00am & 11:45am
Preacher: The
SEA SUNDAY : THE
MATTHEW 13
: 1-9 18 – 23
Today we join with Anglicans
Lutherans and Roman Catholics as we celebrate Sea Sunday or the work of The
Mission to Seafarers around the world.
We depend on seafarers all the
year round as they bring us food to sell in our shops clothes that we buy
industrial equipment flour corn oil dairy produce and most things we take for
granted for everyday living.
Sea Sunday is the day in the
church’s year when we especially remember and pray for seafarers and the
Church’s ministry to them...
Jesus often taught through the
use of parables, that is by providing a story as a
comparison.
He used parables for different
reasons, sometimes to explain something to a large audience, and sometimes as a
riddle which would need explaining to his inner circle, the disciples at a
later time.
In today’s Gospel we hear the
parable of the sower and we will apply this to our
daily life and the work of the
A seed is a marvelous thing
_____ it can make barren ground fruitful. But a seed is an extremely weak and
vulnerable thing.
It depends entirely on the kind
of soil in which it is sown . if
the soil is lacking, the seed will come to nothing, if the soil is good, it
will produce a rich harvest.
So it is with a word. A word is
a powerful thing. It can comfort, inspire, teach, correct, challenge, change a
life ….or it can come to nothing.
It is completely dependant on
the attitude of the one who hears it.
In the parable some seed fell
on a hard path where it had no chance of putting down roots. Exposed to full view , it was eaten up by the birds.
So it is with words that are
spoken to people with closed minds. Prejudice closes a persons mind.
So does Pride, the case of the
person who thinks he knows it all.
So does Fear…….fear of new truth , or fear of hearing a disturbing truth.
Then some people seem to be unteachable. Trying to get through to them is like knocking
your head against a wall. There are none so deaf as to
those who will not hear.
Some fell on stony ground. It
took root to quickly, but soon withered away because of the lack of soil and
moisture.
Some hear the word and receive
it with enthusiasm, but soon withered away because of lack of moisture.
Some hear the word and receive
it with enthusiasm , but when the carrying out of it
becomes difficult, their enthusiasm wanes and they quickly abandon it.
The lives of some people are
littered with things started but never finished.
Some seed fell into ground
where weeds and thorns lay in wait. It got off to a good start. But then the
weeds appeared, and the seed got smothered .
People may receive the word of
God, but there are so many other interests in their lives that the most
important thing gets crowded out.
People are to busy to pray.
People are so involved in their careers that they have no time or energy left
for the things of the spirit.
Finally some seed fell on good
soil where it put down deep roots, found nourishment and produced harvest.
So there are people who hear
the word, understand it and then act on it, and there lives are enriched by it.
Today The Mission to Seafarers
chaplains and ships visitors are like farmers and gardeners sowing seed when
they visit ships, because they are sharing God’s love with the seafarers they
meet.
BY visiting seafarers when they
are a long way from home sometimes lonely and worried, the Mission is able to
show seafarers God’s love in a real and practical way.
In Aquaba
the port is 24km from the town centre and seafarers often don’t have the time
or means to get into town to buy the toiletries they need as well as being able
to phone home.
So Cameron the
The centre has two computers
for internet access, telephones, a book library, and magazines, newspapers, and
refreshments on sale.
Jiang Liang, a Chinese seafarer , was badly injured in an accident at sea. Because
of bad weather it was two days before he could be Airlifted
to the nearest port, he was then transferred to the local hospital for ten
days.
Before returning home to
recuperate he was befriended by the local Seafarers Mission and visited by its
staff. Jiang was able to visit the Mission each day to keep in touch with his
family by phone, by receiving free meals and a place for fellowship and clothes
from the Mission Shop, he also received a one of 200,000 Bibles the Mission
give away each year written in English/Mandarin.
Here in Hong Kong hundreds of
stories could be told of the work of the
Perhaps God may be calling you
to work at the
Or perhaps God is calling you
to be a server or a reader or a welcomer or some
other ministry of this cathedral church.
Jesus taught his disciples that
they should be like the seeds grown on good soil.
When we hear the word of god
and understand what he is calling us to do, we should act accordingly.
When we act upon God’s call, we
are producing good fruit.
God doesn’t speak to us only in
the scriptures, he also speaks to us through the
events of our lives.
But it is the word s of
scripture that help us to interpret what God is saying to us in those events.
We will not be judged by
results but only by the efforts we have made.