Something tiny can be destructive, but equally can be life giving, as it works together with its fellow creatures- part of God's created order, fulfilling its purpose, a purpose which may not be obvious or even comprehensible…

We are a tiny part of the universe of God's created order, we can be destructive, or we can be life giving - fulfilling God's purpose carrying our tiny seed of faith which will grow and flourish if we allow God to nurture it.

I'd like us to consider two things, how do we do we allow the tiny seed of faith God gives us to grow?
And how do we deal with difficult, even destructive circumstances and situations which can slow or even stop the growth of that tiny seed of faith.

Words from the first part of Psalm 37 which the choir sung today, give direction, guidance and something we could use as part of a Rule of Life, something which is not just for monastic communities, but which as Christians we should all have.

The book of psalms is a beautiful collection of Hebrew poetry and prayer, every aspect of prayer is there - praise, intercession, petition, confession, adoration…..The psalmist also express a whole range of feelings of from joy to fear and desperation. There is a tendency to think of the psalms mainly as prayers, but actually they are also a source of instruction, there is a collection of wisdom psalms which offer direction for living out our faith and nurturing the seeds of faith and trust within us.

Psalm 37, is a Wisdom psalm, if you're interested in the way literature's constructed, it is a typical example working through the Hebrew alphabet, at the beginning of alternate verses, Also typical of wisdom literature it begins with instruction (Do not fret - the opening words, and includes "proverb-like phrases", evil men… like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

Example/Illustration: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him". In my Bible I use for prayer and reflection, parts of Psalm 37 underlined and dated July 1997.

A reminder of a time when a friend and I used to meet and pray together, we were also prayed for by others, and from our tiny seeds of faith something quite extraordinary emerged - we shared a vision, borne out of the needs of people in the local church, for a space to, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him". It came to us that we should put together a simple, service of prayer and contemplation based on the songs from the Taizé community.

I knew nothing about Taizé, or indeed about leading worship, it was before I'd even thought about ministry, but I knew it was right to pursue the idea in faith and trust.

"We began with nothing more than a desire to enable people to be still in God's presence,; we hadn't a clue what we were doing or how we going to do to, but I had a sense, "It would all come together as we worked it through".. and indeed day by day we were given direction, scripture, words, songs - we knew the Lord was with us every step of the way - because we could never have created that…our tiny seeds faith were beginning to grow…as a simple theme emerged… of trust, forgiveness and reconciliation, the very heart of what the Taizé community is about.

It was only when I went to Taizé for the first time last year - I actually realised how God had used us; and the impact on, not only us, but those who came, and fairly recently someone referred to it, ten years later!

Shortly after that evening I was asked to speak at a Sunday service about the Taizé community and prayer, something I'd never done before. I can see now it was the beginning of my public ministry, a seed of faith which has grown, into something which now underpins all I do - and 10 years later, the Taizé Rule of Life has become increasingly an important part of my life and I have the privilege and delight of taking young people to Taizé. Sharing their experiences and questions; exploring what trust, forgiveness and reconciliation mean in the context of our daily life and how prayer and meditation enables faith to grow. Personal experience gives a deeper understanding and empathy that is probably impossible to "learn" but arises from prayer and meditation.
Meditating on the Bible means becoming part of a story of love and of trust. The Taizé songs are based on words from scripture, many from the Psalms. As the community explains, songs which express God's love; a story of love, revealing God's infinite love and his burning desire that each person discovering they are loved, may one day desire to love God with all their heart in return.
It is a story of trust; scripture discloses a God, who even when rejected and abandoned still believes in human beings. He loves them to the end and does all in his power to awaken their trust. To plant the tiny seed of faith, in order to put down deep roots in the human heart, to be brought to fruition there over time.
But, this trust needs first to overcome a host of fears, worries and difficulties and then be constantly nourished, protected and renewed.
The words from Psalm 37 give us wise instruction how we might do that…
Jesus was an absolute master of using stories and images to express not only the nature of God and meaning of faith, but also in a very practical sense, to show how people can live by faith, demonstrated in word and action. Jesus demonstrated love, trust, forgiveness and reconciliation.

its not always easy to trust and forgive, especially when we are on the receiving end of something that is wrong and maybe outside our control; neither does it mean ignoring or colluding with wrong doing, but how ever we deal with situations on the outside, deep within the seed of faith grows into an attitude of trust, and even if we can't find forgiveness in our hearts because of how we feel, we can pray for grace. So forgiveness, becomes an act of will, an act of self-control….not easy, but not impossible! The psalmist tells us, do not fret because of evil men or those who do wrong…. God will deal with them and as we trust the psalmist promises:
The Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. And isn't that a wonderful promise?
Paul wrote to his beloved co-worker, Timothy, God did not give us a Spirit of timidity, but a spirit of inward strength, of love and of self-control. Faith is a gift from God but it also involves an act of will and there are times when we have to exert self-control to cope with situations and deal with difficulties.
In each of us God has placed a gift. A tiny seed of faith and only by praying, can we begin to discern the gift God has placed in us. In the silence of our heart, as we are still before the Lord, we discover that all God asks us, is to welcome the gift of his love.
God believes in our humanity. He trusts us for what we are and has given us that " spirit of strength, love and self-control" (2 Tim 1:7).
But each gift involves a call, Timothy was called to give his life for the Gospel. He placed his trust in God's power (2 Tim 1:8), the mighty God, whose power is the resurrection, which causes life to shine out in suffering and which gives us the inner strength to dare to give our life for others.