Sunday 16 July 2023 was the occasion of Eddie Sykes’ last visit to Rosyth before retirement. An emotional morning, when he and Susan were presented with gifts in acknowledgment of five years spent with us, and prayers were offered for their future. Eddie used the opportunity to talk about Christian growth: in his sermon, his reflection on the Gospel of the day started:

Often when we read the parable of the sower, we think of the way in which the seed falling on different kinds of terrain produces different results. We see the ‘responses’ as the different ways in which different people respond to the message of the kingdom of God. Indeed, that is what Jesus’ intent was – when he told the parable.

However, there is another side to the story, and that is the seed falling on the different types of ground can actually show the different stages or experiences in our life of faith. Then, the harvest or otherwise, as it were, is about the growth of the seed or otherwise in the soil of our lives.

The soil, if you like, can thus represent for us the ways in life in which we handle different issues that come our way. The sower, seed and soil picture is an extremely effective way of communicating the message of the kingdom – especially as we are reminded in Genesis that we are made from dust and to dust we shall one day return. Dust into which God has breathed life – his life breath.

So, yes, we are soil – and our hospitality towards the good news message – thus from this parable we can see four different ways in which we respond to the message of the kingdom. …

… You’ll have to read the rest of Eddie’s sermon at this link.

The picture, entitled “The parable of the sower by Madison Murphy”, appeared on a small number of websites in the early 2010s, but is nowhere attributed.