Mosley leads Bible study on parable of the sower
By Linda Worthington
UMConnection Staff
Two mornings of annual conference began with Bible study, led by the Rev. Albert Mosley, president of Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. His text was the Parable of the Sower, Mark 4:1-9, 13-20, which fit the 229th Annual Conference theme, “Sowing the Seed … Be Light.”
“Parables are puzzles that demand careful attention,” Mosley said to the 800 members gathered in the Grand Ballroom May 30. Though on the surface the verses seem to tell “a simple little story,” it is really a form of literature, like poetry, which demands a lot from the listener, he said.
Mark 4:1-9 offers clues about Jesus’ ministry and the Kingdom of God. Mosley asked the audience to see the seed being in different places, realizing it fell on different kinds of soil. “We must ask, what kind of soil am I? Do I need to get the weeds out of my life? Am I a shallow person?” But, he said, what if this parable is not about “us” at all?
Instead, focus on the farmer/sower. What does the sower tell us about God?
The sower moves quite randomly from place to place, being wasteful with the seeds, not concerned about the type of soil they fall on. “We’re told as a church to sow our seeds where we know they’ll take root. Today the soil takes priority over the seed.”
In order to have a harvest, the sower wastes a lot of seed. “In real life and ministry, there is always more waste than harvest,” Mosley said. By the end of Jesus’ ministry only a few seeds he sowed were productive.
“Some of us have weeds and thorns in our life, and no time for God, but God still threw a handful of seed in our direction” Mosley said. “I thank God for being wonderfully wasteful with the seeds, and not mindful of the kind of soil.”
“As the church of Jesus Christ, we are called to sow seeds no matter what, to sow seeds on the just and the unjust. Grace is not ours to give. It is God’s and God’s representatives on this earth,” he said. “There is nothing about your life style that deserves God’s grace.”
On the following morning, May 31, Mosley focused on Mark 4:13-20 and urged the audience to see a new perspective on God’s word. “Lives can’t be transformed unless there is a thorough examination of God’s Word,” he said. He asked three “volunteers” to read the three parts in the story in Mark 1-9, 13-20.
Soil has no choice in what type it is – fertile, rocky, poor, sandy – it is what it is. Nor does Jesus offer anything to change the soil. “So, church, we have to be careful of a moralistic attitude,” Mosley said. “We can’t change the type of soil we’re in,” but God does not withhold grace. “We sow seeds and trust God to do the rest.”
Members were given fortune cookies when they arrived that morning. Mosley instructed them to open the cookie, read their fortunes and for 90 seconds to reflect on what the fortune specifically says to each person. Randomly, members shared how they would act upon their fortune, all of which included the words: hope, love, peace or joy.
“Go out and sow the seeds of love, peace, joy and hope. The soil doesn’t choose, but you can sow seeds unconditionally. Once you’ve sown, step back and trust God to cultivate that seed for harvest,” he concluded.
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