When my kids were very young, one of our favorite books was “Where’s Waldo?”

It was a pretty easy read, mostly because it had no words.  In fact, the whole point of every “Where’s Waldo” book/ card/ computer game/ T-shirt/ coffee mug/ and every imaginable marketing product, is to find Waldo.

He’s an ordinary-looking guy with glasses, a red and white striped shirt, and a goofy hat.

The author of every Where’s Waldo book assures us that Waldo is on every page, but I have my doubts, because Waldo is hard to find… he just looks so ordinary.

As John Newton puts it

The author has this knack for hiding Waldo in the very place that you least expect to find him.  And because Waldo looks so ordinary, finding him requires patience, and intentionality, and a decision to cling to the promise that Waldo really is there.

It turns out that finding what is special in the midst of what is ordinary is not a skill we are born with.  It is something we have to learn.  Jesus knew that.  Perhaps that was one reason he spent so much of his time telling stories, and using metaphors and similes to describe for us what it looks like to live in relationship to God.  Jesus knew that while the holy God inhabits every inch and every moment of every ordinary day with us, we may not notice the presence of the Divine.

So today, he tells us the Kingdom of Heaven – the Realm of God’s justice and peace and love – is like a tiny mustard seed.  It starts out so small, so insignificant, so seemingly ordinary, we might not notice it.  But then, that tiny seed grows to become “the greatest of all shrubs”, as Jesus said.

Now Jesus could have chosen a more regal image of a majestic kingdom.  Mustard plants are not even trees – they are more like invasive, fast-growing shrubs that can to top out at 6 feet, maybe 8 if they are lucky.  So why didn’t Jesus give us a kingdom metaphor we could really look up to?  He could have said the kingdom of heaven is like the seed pod of the mighty cedar.  When it is planted it does grow tall and straight and enlivens the imagination with its power.  But no – Jesus uses the image of a plant which some see as little more than a weed.

Finding what is special in the midst of what is ordinary is something we apparently have to learn – and re-learn over and over again.  We look for the Kingdom of God to be the way we would imagine it – something powerful and impressive and shiny, something extraordinary; but Jesus offers a kin-dom suffused with mercy rather than power, one that is found in the small and the unlikely and the ordinary. We have to learn, along with the first disciples – we have to learn how to find what is special in the midst of the ordinary, how to pay attention to little things that matter.  We have to learn to find the utterly absurd hope of God which resides even within our darkest fear or our deepest dread.

Jesus’ parables – like the Gospel message itself – are not meant to be like the comfort of a favorite blankie.  If we take Jesus seriously, and we take his description of God’s Realm to heart, then we are going to have to change.  We will have to change the ordinary aspects of our lives – how we shop, how we save, how we spend, how we give, how we share, how we love, how we live.  And change is nobody’s favorite thing to do!

I well remember the first time I was introduced to the notion of competing world views. I think it was in the sixth or seventh grade.  I remember being very annoyed … what do you mean, the way I see the world is not the only way to see it?  I remember thinking… well, this means I’m going to have to do a lot more work!  I really liked that old partial world view, the one I had grown up with, the one which felt familiar and comfortable and easy.

But Jesus didn’t come to tell us what is familiar and comfortable or to give us only what is easy. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed … which is always expanding, always growing, always present when people of faith take on seemingly simple acts of love and risk their own familiar, comfortable world views.  The Kingdom of God is always evolving, whenever people of faith pay attention to the little things that matter, as we seek to live into God’s vision – to live in this world as if God is in control, and we are not.

Someone else put it this way:

For all of the planning and precision and persistence it takes to build a kingdom of rule and reign of power and wealth and armies and empire and bloody wars and crushing our enemies to dust… in the kingdom of God – a dream, a vision, a provocation of something coming into the world –planning and precision and persistence give way to surprise and simplicity and sheer possibility.

So you’re not convinced God’s Realm is like a mustard seed?  Well, how about this –

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

No?  Well, try this on for size then…

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Or this…

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

It occurs to me the one thing these images all have in common is their invisibility – they are easily overlooked if you are not paying attention, hidden just like Waldo if you are not looking for the seed hidden in the ground, or the yeast hidden in the dough; the treasure hidden in the field, or the priceless pearl hidden among the ordinary ones.

If God’s Realm is likewise something you have to look for, something just below the surface, or beyond our limited world view, we might wonder where do we start looking for it?  Do we go to the holiest place we know, do we search in the most unusual, extraordinary settings? We could… but what if God has hidden God’s Realm right here?  In plain sight?

Barbara Brown Taylor suggests:

[What if God has hidden the Kingdom] in the last place any of us would think to look – in the ordinary circumstances of our everyday lives – like a silver spoon in the drawer with the stainless, like a diamond necklace on the bureau with the rhinestones – the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary…The kingdom of heaven is all mixed in with the humdrum and ho-hum of our days, as easy to find as an amaryllis bulb in the dark basement that suddenly sends forth a shoot, or a child’s smile when she awakes from sleep, or the first thunderstorm after a long drought, all of them signs of the kingdom of heaven, clues to all the holiness hidden in the dullest days.

There once was a man who was born to poor parents, did not have the advantages of good schools, and was considered by many to be a second class citizen.  He did not let poverty or any other disadvantage stop him, however, from growing into a strong, soulful leader, using all of his God-given passion and his gifts. Could it be Jesus about whom I speak?  Or the late Rep. John Lewis?  It could be either – or both… or any of countless other individuals who in spite of humble beginnings make great contributions to this world.  It could even be you and me … for whether we know it or not, each of our lives makes a difference.  Paying attention to little things that matter help us ensure the difference we make is a positive one.

I have in my office a small brass plaque which bears an inscription Carl Jung chose to hang over the doorway into his home…

            Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

Whether we notice or not, whether we invite God in or not, whether we believe or trust or accept God or not… God is present in the ordinary, making it extraordinary.  God is present when an ordinary conversation deepens to allow an extraordinary vulnerability.

God is present when an ordinary errand expands to offer an extraordinary moment of meaning.  God is present when an ordinary person finally understands the extraordinary possibilities of grace.

Jesus was particularly adept at noticing this bidden or unbidden presence, and suggests in these parables today that we would do well to pay similar attention.  Pay attention to the mustard seed moment you find too insignificant, or maybe too intrusive to value.  Pay attention  to the unexpected treasure you stumble over when you are so busy thinking about what comes next, that you almost miss what comes now.  Pay attention to the things which really matter, the priorities which bring meaning and value and hope to your life, today.

My friends, our treasure is not hidden in some exotic, far off place we cannot even travel to right now.  Our treasure is not buried in some long-lost musty old tome, weighed down by ancient world views. Our treasure does not demand high tech global positioning satellites or specialty exploration gear, because Christ marks the spot which is right here, right now.  Our treasure – God’s Realm – will be found in all the ordinary people and places and pursuits of our lives, in and through the “little things that matter”.

I leave you today with a few words from the late Rep. Lewis, who came to be known as the “conscience of Congress” for his never-ending pursuit of justice:

You are a light.  You are the light.  Never let anyone – any person or any force – dampen, dim, or diminish your light.  Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant.  Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates…

Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge.  Release all bitterness.

Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won.  Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up and speak out against injustice.

And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.

Thanks be to God!  Amen.