i'm a proud auntie...

October has been declared youth month in our church, 

which means every sunday this month a member of our youth group is giving the sermon. 
Or *ahem* a sermonette.

My niece gave the sermon in church yesterday on Luke 8:5-15

she rocked it.

Here's what she said.

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Gospel of Luke talked about a sower who went out to sow some seeds.  Of the seeds some fell among the path, some on the rocks, some in the thorns, and some among good soil.

As the Gospel says, the seed is the word of God.

Father Theodore Stylianopoulos said that Jesus teaches that both the see and the soil are important for growth.  The seed being the living word of God and the soil is the life and heart of every human being.

In order for the seed to grow, the soil must be good.

Though the seeds do not get to choose where they land, however, being the soil, we get to choose how we act.  By doing so, we control whether the seed will grow or not.

For those who have fallen into the wrong surroundings, might have been those who fell into the thorns.  Meaning, they hear the word of God, but they do not take it to heart for they are distracted by the pleasures in life.

As Father Theodore also said, spiritual grown requires the exercise of personal freedom through intellectual, moral, and spiritual decisions, commitments, and actions.

If we are to surround ourselves with bad temptations, how are we expected to grow?

As people we are easily influenced by our surroundings.  We often tend to do what we see and hear.   When we surround ourselves with things such as innapropriate music, cursing, drugs, and more, how do we expect to grow closer with Christ?  How can we hear the word of God with all the distractions?

If we surround ourselves with such things, we are like the seeds among the thorns.  We cannot expect ourselves to grow under such circumstances.

In this parable, Jesus tells us that the seeds on the path are the ones who hear the word, but the devil comes and takes it away.  We must take in the word of God with an open and welcoming heart in order for us to hear the word of God.

The seeds on the rock are those who hear the word and take it in, but they do not keep it, and after time soon fall back in life’s temptations.

In order for us to become closer with God, we cannot just simply make a change in ourselves for a day, then continue going back to the distractions in life the next.  If we do not continue to stay close with God on a regular basis, we will only get nowhere.  Like the plants on the rocks, we have no roots, we cannot continue to grow without a strong foundation.

Lastly, the seeds who fell into the good soil were the ones who grew and continued to grow.  They heard the word of God and took it in with an open, honest, and good heart.

In order to do this, we must keep our relationship with God close.  We must not get distracted by the many temptations in life.   We can achieve this by going to Church, by praying, surround yourself with positive influences, and the right people.

With the seed being the word of God and us humans as the soil, we must continue to stay strong.  We must be good soil in order for the seed to grow, for the word of God to spread.  We have to work together with God to build ourselves as good soil.

We must stay away from distractions and make sure not to fall into life’s many temptations.  If we continue to be good soil, then the seed will continue to grow, and the word of God will be heard through us.

And as long as we keep the seed alive and growing, then the word of God will be alive and growing as well. 

Through the Prayer of our Holy Father, Lord Jesus Christ Our God Have Mercy on us and save us. 

Amen

you guys...she's only 14.

i'm a proud auntie.

i may or may not be trying to put the bug in my son's ear to give the sermon this sunday. ha!