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Hi, I'm Chris Tufnel, a vicar in the Church of England
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A British astronaut, soon after arriving at the International Space Station, was allowed to make one phone call down to Earth
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so he chose to give his parents the special honour. The only problem, it went to voicemail
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Turns out they were visiting his sister and missed a once-in-a-lifetime communication
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One of the stories Jesus told was of a sower throwing seed on the ground
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The seed represented the message about him. The different types of ground represented the different types of hearer
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Some missed the message altogether. Others heard it, but it never really took root
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But Jesus said that when the seed falls on good soil, it's heard, held onto, and over time it bears fruit
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That's a simple but searching idea. The Christian claim is that God has something to say to us
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not just about how to live, but about who he is and what he's done for us in Jesus
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But like that missed phone call from space, it's possible to be so busy, so distracted or so closed off that we never really receive it
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Being good soil isn't about being moral. It means being open. Open enough to listen
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Open enough to let Jesus' words sink in. And open enough to let them change us
