Proper 12A July 30, 2017

This Sunday I was the preacher at St Matthew's Outdoor Eucharist and Parish Picnic. I jotted some notes down and it turned into a little homily. What I actually preached was connected to these thoughts. 
I think. ;-) 

Our Gospel today is chock full of parables---rapid fire parables that get a bit more obscure as they go on. From the tiniest of all seeds growing into the mightiest of all bushes to the net catching every kind of fish known to humankind, these parables are trying to tel
l us what the kingdom of heaven is like---what it is like when God’s vision for all creation is reached----It’s not easy to describe, although Jesus tries his best. The kingdom of heaven is like…well it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced and it, when you get a glimpse of it, is the most peaceful and real and awesome thing you’ve ever experienced. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven, the creation as God created it to be is…..
Something to be experienced more than described.
The kingdom of heaven is not much something you can figure out or go out and find.  You don’t shop for it at a store or order it at amazon.com.  You can’t decide you’re going to get the kingdom through 7 easy steps you heard on an infomercial.
No, the kingdom of heaven is more like something that you stumble upon while doing something else, such as making dinner, washing dishes or driving to work.
There is, for most of us, something of an “Ah ha!;” quality, an experience of “Oh my goodness, now I get it!” sensation about the kingdom of heaven.  It is not always sudden; indeed it is more often a slow, gradual and growing awareness of what God is really like and what God is actually expecting of God’s people in the world.
But it always has an epiphany feeling to it.  We go along, thinking thatby following the Golden rule, by trying to incorporate the teachings of Jesus into our daily lives we will, in the end, gain entrance into God’s kingdom.
 But here’s the deal---The kingdom of heaven isn’t supposed to be a place we end up, it’s supposed to be a place we create…right here on earth…or more accurately, the kingdom of heaven is here on earth---it’s right here, right among us, all the time…but we have a really difficult time noticing it, and it has a really difficult time breaking through, because we have all of the stuff of This World, blocking it.
But when we quiet ourselves enough, when we slow down enough, when we listen enough, when we look enough, when we turn away from the phones, and the computers and the traffic, and the to-do lists and and and….when we put ourselves in the position to receive—to notice—to see---to hear, we will, in the simplest things, in the mundane things, in the ordinary things, discover the great and awe-inspiring kingdom of heaven…right here on earth.