Season Of Pentecost - Year A -- 2017
Indexed by Date. Sermons for the Season Of Pentecost Year A
Acts 2: 1-21
Psalm 104
John 7: 37-39
Today we will be celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion. We will do it in the tradition of the United Church; served in the pews and holding the elements until all of you can received together. But, in the United Church at least, that tradition is really only as old as “living memory”. But, that’s a long time when it comes to human experience. About 20 years ago, I was having a discussion with the session about forms of communion. We were discussing “intinction”, which is when everyone comes to the front and dips the bread in the cup and receives both elements together, one at a time. We’ve done that here on occasion. On that night, one of my older elders said that “that’s not what communion is - communion is everyone eating the elements all at the same time.”
In actual fact, the first time that this happened (that we have recorded that is) is during the serving of communion on June 10, 1925 at the Inaugural Service of the United Church. The instruction was not printed in the bulletin and when it was reported in the church press later, it was regarded as an “innovation.” 92 years later many United Churches are still doing communion in what might be called “cup and cube” or simply, “in the pews”.
In fact, individual glasses are only relatively recent (one of our sets is under a US patent issued in 1895) and it may have more to do with fear of germs than theology.
I served a church that had a bank of pews that could be removed for communion. They set up narrow tables for people to sit around for the serving of communion. The large flagons would be used to refill the cups. Before the invention of grape juice, and the use of individual cups, real wine was used.
This is also Church Anniversary Sunday - we celebrate a church 92 years young. It is a church founded on the principle, “In things essential, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love”.
Of course there can be a lot of debate about what is essential and what is not. In the early days of church union many decisions had to be made with regard to property and buildings especially where some congregations had two buildings and some others ended up with none. The church in which I was babtized was built after Union because the “continuing Presbyterians” got to keep their building. One of the communities I once served ended up with two United Church buildings and two manses. The United Church decided to keep the Methodist church and sell the former Presbyterian church back to the people who wished to remain Presbyterian. That’s a long story. I was still dealing some of the residual feelings of this in the 1990s.
Presbyterians and Methodists entered Union with very different practices and I’m sure many lively discussions took place at session meetings and at Presbytery.
This is one of the reasons why the United Church does not mandate one form of worship and leaves it to the congregation and it’s session to decide. Its sometimes referred to as “ordered liberty”.
When people are deeply invested in something, its often hard to see the other side, hard to entertain other views and opinions. We know this!
We are also observing Pentecost Sunday - which for the Christian church marks the day on which the first followers had a powerful and unmistakable experience of the Holy Spirit which enabled them to overcome their fear of the authorities and proclaim the good news of Jesus the Christ.
The book tells of this event in some detail but no matter how many times I read it, there is still a great deal of mystery and confusion in the passage. It was a day filled with wonder, mystery and confusion - perhaps they weren’t even sure themselves what had just happened.
“The facts, just the facts, Ma’am” is a line attributed to Joe Friday in the show Dragnet. What are the facts of this story? The disciples were gathered together and had a powerful experience of the Spirit. It is described as a time during which literal flames rested on each one there - like a tea-light was sprouting from each head. The sound of this was so loud it attracted a crowd. Were they all inside and then rushed outside? Did the crowds rush into a private home?
Was this a miracle of hearing or a miracle of speaking? In other words, were the disciples actually speaking other languages or were the people from all over the know world, from countries with all those strange sounding names, just hearing them in their own native tongues? If they were all talking in different languages at the same time it would seem to me to be more like Babel.
Of course you remember the story of the tower of Babel. It was early in the book of Genesis. As the story goes, the people were getting too big for their britches and started to build towers that reached into the heavens in a quest to “be like God”. In punishment God come down and confused their languages so that they abandoned these projects and scattered over the face of the earth - with people who could understand one another gathering in separate places.
I think that this is a story to explain both the strange, seemingly long abandoned towers that could be found here and there, and how different languages and cultures came about.
It seems clear to me that this event is the REVERSAL of Babel. People of different cultures and languages are now able to understand one another.
It seems to me that the call to be the church is a call to overcome barriers and to begin to understand one another on a deeper level. Division and conflict are not the will of the Spirit but the will of the spirit is love, unity and understanding.
How many times in our own lives have we struggled with something, only to have our circumstances change and be forced to either change or lose a relationship with someone who is very important to us.
This happens frequently in families. People are able to put aside their preconceived notions about who should and should not belong - when they meet face to face with someone who has love to give and to receive. This can be seen when a son or daughter becomes engaged to someone of another denomination or religion, or if a child has a baby without being married (that baby is loved without prejudice) or if a child “comes out” to the family.
Perhaps it is not human effort that enables understanding over seemingly unsurmountable barriers, but it is a work of the Spirit.
The spirit calls us to unity, not uniformity. At the same time the Spirit’s call to understanding presupposes a level of acceptance in which we can recognize the fundamental value in the other. The Spirit calls us each to recognize that we are all God’s children and beloved of God.
The next time you think someone else is talking in another language, listen deeper and maybe, just maybe the Spirit of Pentecost will enable a deeper understanding.
Amen.
Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a
Psalm 8
Matthew 28: 16-20
There was once a child who asked his mom, “Mom, where did I come from?” His mom took a deep breath and decided that this was the time to tell him about the “birds and the bees”. After she finished telling him what she thought was “enough information,” the child replied, “Awh, Mom, I already knew THAT stuff; I only asked because my new friend Sam says he comes from Vancouver. Where do I come from?” With children you sometimes need to know what their point of reference is!
Where did we come from Gramma? Some Grandmas would be able to answer, “Our people came here in 1773 on the Hector”. In the past 400 or so years, there have been many waves of immigration to the Maritimes. But, at this point another question might be asked: “Where did we come from, BEFORE THAT?
Only our first nations people have the right to say, “we were always here.” Perhaps we would all do well to remember that many of our ancestors were, essentially, what we now call “refugees”. The “Highland Clearances”, the “Irish Potato Famine,” and the “Loyalist” influx created by the American Revolution, are three of the “refugee influxes” I can name off the top of my head. Then there were the Planters who were invited here by Lieutenant Governor, Charles Lawrence, to take over Acadian lands.
Some families are very connected to their history and even the kids know where their ancestors lived before they came to Canada. Some aren’t and don’t seem to have any desire to be.
Sometimes young adults know next to nothing about their parents lives! When I am completing the paperwork for a couple being married, the bride and groom are required to give their mothers’ maiden names and both parents’ places of birth. It used to surprise me that many times the prospective bride or groom had no clue and had to phone home to get this information. If I know the family well, I can sometimes provide some of the answers!
A number of years ago, one of my nephews was required to fill in a family tree for a school project. He asked ME to fill out the form for our side of the family. I told him that I had already passed that grade in school - and the point of the exercise was to get him talking to older members of the family and hearing the family stories.
In one sense, the Bible is a collection of family stories. But that’s not all they are! The first chapters of Genesis are not only, “where are we from,” stories; they are also stories which proclaim the nature of the God in whom they placed their faith and a call for us to do the same.
Similarly, the gospels and the book of Acts are the foundation stories for the Christian church; they proclaim tell the family story of the sisters and brothers in Christ and their allegiance to the Way. They tell the church where we came from and invite us to continue the journey.
The United Church’s Statement of Faith, begins and ends with God and with creation:
We are not alone, we live in God’s world We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.
The first chapters of Genesis speak primarily of “call” and “response”. The God who created is the God who, not only, calls that creation into being, but also, calls it into responsible relationship. As part of the created order, we are not free to do as we please on this spinning blue planet. That’s not what dominion means! This God promises an enduring presence that must, at all times, be recognized and cannot be escaped; this is both warning and promise and is not always taken as “Good News”.
The story in Genesis proclaims that even though it was unknown to them, the sea, the sky, the mountaintops, and everything else, was a part of God’s good creation.
You may, or may not know, that the first two chapters of our Bible contain not one, but two, separate creation stories; stories that are not easily harmonized.
However, we really don’t need to worry about these contradictions; they are neither science or history as we understand those terms. Trying to make those stories fit into the mould of either does not do them justice as “scripture”.
When the book of Genesis was put together in the form we find it today the editors saw no reason to change the stories or remove the duplications and contradictions.
We now know the earth is not flat as Genesis seems to assume. Long before the 21st century we might have asked, “where did the light come from on day one, when the sun was not created until day four.” We have known for centuries that the moon is not a “the lesser light to rule the night”. In fact it’s not a light at all, but reflects the light of the sun. I could go on but it is a fruitless task to apply 21st century science to a story that is proclamation, not science or history.
The first part of Genesis is, as I said, primarily proclamation; these old, old stories call out to a people, saying, “Here is your God”. These chapters speak of holy mystery; they speak of God’s relationship with creation and with human beings who are seeking comfort, strength, identity and purpose.
Scholars tell us that the part of Genesis we heard this morning was written down when they were in exile in Babylon.
The Exile was a critically defining moment in their history. Their small and divided nation had been invaded and defeated in battle by the mighty superpower, Babylon and they had been deported, en masse, to Babylon. I don’t know what the quality of their life was there, but whether they were slaves, or in a refugee camp, or allowed to “live freely,” they were not “in Israel”. THAT was all that mattered!
When I was in high school the vocal group “Boney M” made this experience of exile into a popular song, “Rivers of Babylon”. An older cousin returned from a trip to England singing the song - months before it hit the radio waves in PEI! I also recall having an argument with my younger brother about this song. I said that it came from the Bible and he insisted that it did not! We argued a lot, much to our father’s chagrin!
This creation story affirmed for them that their God was the one who had created all that is - not “Marduk,” the god of the Babylonians. Their God was the one who called them into a continuing relationship - even in Babylon. Even when their defeat was justly “blamed” on their lack of faithfulness to the covenant, they were assured that their God had not abandoned them! They were not alone!
When I was in Junior High school, I read the novel “Roots” and watched the epic tv series. I can recall very clearly a scene in which Kunta Kinte, fresh off the slave ship, looks at the moon in America and wonders if it can be the same moon that shines over his village of Juffureh, on the Kamby Bolongo. Such questions must be common for people who have been displaced, especially by force.
The first chapters of Genesis are a resounding affirmation of their relationship to God. This passage, among others, served as an affirmation for those who were in a state of despair and had begin to doubt their whole identity and existence. If they had been defeated, what about their God? The answer: “No” God had not been defeated. God was still with them; they had not been abandoned. “No,” even though they were no longer in the land promised to Abraham and Sarah, the God of Abraham and Sarah, their God, had not abandoned them.
The story of creation affirms the power of their God and God’s call to them. It is their God who called the world into being. It is their God who gave the whole of creation meaning and purpose.
We have entered the longest season of the church year, Pentecost, during which we are invited to grow and mature in faith.
Today is Trinity Sunday which always comes the Sunday after Pentecost. The trinity is one of the ways we speak of our “ONE God in THREE persons”. The “trinity” is a doctrine, based in scripture, that developed in the very early church and speaks of the God known to us as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer; or, more traditionally, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I’m told the beatnik generation of the 1960s referred to the “trinity” as Daddyo, Laddyo and Spook. Most of what I have read about the Trinity, I have forgotten and the more I try to write about it, the more I suspect I am in danger of falling into one of the “recognized heresies” over which the church has squabbled in the past 2000 years!
While this Genesis passage seems to be “pre-Trinitarian” in terms of our understanding of God there are definite glimpses of those other ways we understand and experience God.
For generations hymn writers have sought to convey their understanding in verse and set it to music. For example, the hymn, “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness” speaks of creation like this:
You moved on the waters, you called to the deep, then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep; and over the eons you called to each thing: wake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.
When I was in my first year at Mount A, my room-mate loved to play “Morning has Broken” on her stereo. When I went to the Festival for Youth I learned a piece by Fred Kaan and Ron Klusmeier. “Worship the Lord” which contains all sorts of scripture references and Trinitarian language.
The gospel passage read today is a post-Easter passage which speaks of the mandate to spread the good news and make disciples. As is still the case, baptism is to be in the name of the “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. Throughout the centuries this call comes to us - we are the ones now responsible for proclaiming the good news, for telling others that we are cared for by the God, the life force, that undergirds all of creation and calls it into being.
This same God, active in the life of Jesus, who brooded over the waters of creation, calls each one of us into a life of relationship with all of Creation and with the God we have met in Jesus of Nazareth.
On our Anniversary Sunday, even though we at Avon United only have three years under our belts, we also recognize that we have our founding congregations, and, before that those congregations had others before them.
We also have those who joined us from other places - in short a rich history of those who have sought to be faithful to the gospel call to be in a relationship with the God of heaven and earth and to proclaim this life giving relationship in word and in deed.
We serve creation by caring for the earth in a way that continues to create and does not destroy. We care for other animals in ways which promote life and beauty and fullness. We proclaim the gospel in word and deed in our communities and beyond, and seek to be all that we can be by God’s grace.
May we continue to call on God’s name as we move into our next year as a congregation.
Amen
Romans 6: 1b - 11
Psalm 86
Matthew 10: 24-39
Sometimes you just know that you heard or saw something that just had to be a mistake. I ran across a website last week where there were a number of pictures, mostly of business signs, upon which improper word spacing completely changed the meaning of the sign. Consider the difference between “MASSAGE THERAPIST - and MASSAGE THE RAPIST! One misplaced space! Or between these two: MORE THAN JUST ICE CREAM and MORE THAN JUSTICE CREAM. Again, one misplaced space leaves us wondering, “What is “justice cream”? I’ll let you Google the rest of the signs but I’ll warn you that most of the rest of the spacing errors chosen for posting, do have obvious sexual connotations.
Misspellings and typographical errors are another matter. I think of the “famous” bulletin blooper asking people to “pray for those sick of our church.” Then there was a printing of the Bible in which the “not” was left out of one of the “10 Commandments”!
For the past few weeks most of the world has been asking, “What does “covfefe” mean?” This Presidential twitter-typo has become a news-maker and at least one entrepreneur is selling t-shirts emblazoned with the word.
Today’s gospel passage is one which may leave us scratching our heads. As the passage concludes we may wonder if it sounds like Jesus at all! We may wonder if there is a rhetorical question in here somewhere, just as there is in the epistle passage. Some of it sounds like Jesus, but not all of it! Maybe someone goofed up and forgot a line when Matthew’s gospel was being copied by hand, as all the books of the Bible were, at one time? Surely Jesus would want our family to be important, wouldn’t he?
This is certainly a challenging passage for our modern, western, ears to hear. Some, more conservative churches, place a great deal of emphasis on “family values” - the value of the “traditional” nuclear family. Inevitably this means a Dad. A Mom. 3.2 children. In this family the Dad is the head of the house, a mom who never disagrees with Dad and a bunch of kids who are all well groomed, obedient and NOT gay! They all go to church and Sunday school every Sunday and are model citizens.
I think this model has much more to do with the ideals of the “Leave it to Beaver” generation than it does with the gospel. It is human nature to read back into scripture what we think of as “normal” or “ideal” and to look to scripture to support what we want it to.
If we look at many of the families from scripture, particularly from the Old Testament, we find a different picture. We see polygamy, adultery, lust, violence, deceit and all sorts of things we would not want to promote today. In short, we see normal, flawed people who were, by God’s grace, able to find a place in God’s gracious plans.
In addition, for at least the last generation or so, the United Church has emphasized the radical welcome it sees in the gospel - we believe that “all are welcome” and that many different configurations can be called “a family”. Jesus radical welcoming of others was a large part of the reason he was disliked so much.
When it comes to our “mind-set”, part of the problem, I think, is that once the emperor converted to Christianity and it became the “religion of the empire” it came to pass that there was no essential difference between the faith of the church and the “status quo”. Over time Christianity lost its edge, its challenge, it’s voice of “resistance to what was popular” and instead of “speaking truth to power” it came to be the “voice of the powerful.” Being a good Christian was equated with being a good citizen!
If we look at the original context of this passage, the first followers of Jesus did indeed suffer for their allegiance to the way of Jesus. The early followers of Jesus were people who rocked the boat, by their very allegiance to Jesus, within a religion that was barely tolerated by the Romans. Early on, they remained a part of the life of the synagogue but eventually the two parted ways.
After this happened, becoming a follower of Jesus was a way to lose your family, friends and even your livelihood and security. It is in this context that Matthew wrote his gospel and it was to this early church that these words of Jesus were passed on and eventually written down.
Some people believe in a prosperity gospel. Some pastors preach it. “God rewards the faithful”. As far as I am concerned this is NOT the gospel. It is possible to be well off and be a faithful Christian, but our wealth, or health is not God’s “reward” for a faithful life.
In fact, for many of the world’s Christians, the opposite is true. One of the churches we hear about too often these days are the churches in Egypt which seem to be a target for the terrorists who don’t want any other religion in their country. The Muslims who are supporting the existence of the churches are proof that it is not all Muslims.
Until fairly recently, the dividing line between church and culture, tended to centre on “moral issues” - drinking, pre-marital sex, smoking, gambling and Sunday Shopping- to name a few.
I will go out on a bit of a limb here and take a stand against gambling and lotteries - hey, aren’t clergy supposed to do that? I’ve wondered why it is so much easier to appeal to “human greed” than simply ask for support for a good cause? The government has turned the lottery into a good cause as well.
Maybe if I played the 649 each week I would have won enough to pay off my mortgage and if I hadnt would feel good about supporting my community. We look at those commercials, which are oh, so, tempting - “set for life” - wouldn’t that be nice, or the one where “its great to live in Atlantic Canada where a million dollars goes as far as a million should.” I believe that it’s the government who has the biggest addiction to the lottery.
I have not heard many stories about people gambling their life savings on tickets, or losing their houses, but I’ve heard them about VLTs and race tracks. Chase the Ace has become a popular money maker for many communities, including our own, but I wonder if the most avid players can really afford to spend what they do on it?
I’m not against people getting together for a good time but why does it have to be tied up with the holding on to, and promoting, of the dream that money and more stuff will bring true happiness. That is not true. It’s not what Jesus taught.
Next time you see the lottery tickets and just have to lighten your wallet, the Food Bank donation box is nearby or you can easily get an address for the Red Cross campaign for the African Famine and I am sure the Community Centre will take your donation.
We can see the direct “cost of faithfulness” in areas where the church is concerned for the poor and the marginalized and they must go against foreign multi-nationals who have brought both jobs and environmental destruction to their own impoverished countries and money to the corrupt governments.
Back when I was in university, I saw a poster and on this poster was a picture of Dom Helder Camara, a former archbishop of Brazil, and the words were something like this, “When I fed the poor they called me a saint, but when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” It was dangerous for him to take his faith from feeding the hungry to the next level and ask why there were people with no food.
Oscar Romero, a Bishop from El Salvador spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture. One day in 1980, while saying Mass, he was assassinated by an as yet unidentified person not long after he called on Christians in the military to disobey immoral orders. The Roman Catholic church is in the process of declaring that he is a saint. Pope Francis, the current Pope says that his voice “still resonates”.
We don’t live in Egypt, or South America but we are not off the hook, by any means. A great deal of the work of justice groups in our church these days is calling us to take a look at how our lives are impacting the lives of others in developing countries or in First Nations Communities within our own borders.
Are we willing to take a stand against North American companies that are posting greater profits, partially at the expense of our own indigenous peoples or impoverished people in the global south. More importantly, are we willing to admit our complicity and to try to advocate for change, a change that could cost us money - or even our standard of living.
The United Church of Canada has asked people to divest from a companies that damage the environment and look to “green energy”. They have also looked at a particular Canadian Company, Gold Corp. The problems created by the Marlin Mine, near Guatemala City, are well known by the people in our justice networks. We have been told by those most affected, “please tell the church to sell their shares”. Unfortunately, for reasons only they can understand, our own Pension Board refuses to sell their shares. We will keep trying - even if the replacements show a lesser profit and thus a lower pension when we retire. We are sure there are alternatives!
Each of us could look at our own hands, or jewellery boxes, for example, and ask, “where did the gold come from for this piece of gold?” What if its extraction caused great environmental harm and divided families and communities? Why are willing to use gold from mines which would not be allowed to operate in Canada - if they did not pull up their socks.
Another factor in Canadian society these days is our relationship with our First Nations peoples. When the rest of us are immigrants and we live on land that has never been formally granted to “the white people” it is long past time we addressed the justice issues involved.
The garment industry is a particularly big culprit. You may remember the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 when nearly 1,200 garment workers died. Workers are desperate for any kind of job and are forced into unsafe conditions for minimal wages - for profit - and so that we can have cheap clothing.
We may get serious about it in the weeks and months following a building collapse or fire, but do we stay involved long enough to insist on read change - and pay the cost in higher prices and lower share values.
In the time of Matthew’s gospel many in those Christian communities gave up a gereat deal to follow Jesus. Jesus was not anti- family, he just knew that this could well be the end result of marching to the beat of a different drummer, of going in a new way.
Jesus did not promise us fame and popularity, sunshine and roses, and the best of everything. Jesus promised us enduring presence and called us on a life of faithfulness. That’s what taking up the cross is about - making a decision and staying with it, despite the cost.
Amen.
Romans 6: 12-23
Psalm 13
Matthew 10: 40-42
Many years ago, one of my brothers and I were driving somewhere in the truck with our father. We did that a lot! My brother and I announced that we were thirsty. I suppose that what we were really hoping for was that dad would stop at a store and buy a couple of bottles of pop for us. Our grandfather probably would have done so, but not Dad! No! He simply stopped at a random house and asked the woman who answered the door for some water for his kids. The woman went to a shed and started a pump and soon cold fresh water was gushing from a pipe sticking out of the side of the building. We could have as much of the cold fresh water as we could drink.
Over the course of my ministry I have known a number of people who were known for being welcoming. The people they had the reputation for welcoming and, inevitably feeding, would generally be single men who had only an occasional acquaintance with soap and water. These women also had the reputation of being good cooks. Their welcome was always with a smile and a genuine offer, “Will you have a cup of tea and something to eat. And can I get you anything else to eat?” When asked how they managed it on a moment’s notice they would say, “I’ve always got something in the cupboard” or “They don’t eat nearly as much as my kids used to” and they would shrug their shoulders - “it’s only a little lunch”. They never wanted to accept any special praise for their hospitality at all.
For some others I know it’s not the older, single, “n’er do well”, but it’s the needy teenagers. It might be teens who aren’t comfortable at home for various reasons, or who have been kicked out because of some disagreement with a parent, or who a kid who just needs to talk, (and eat). They provide a welcome for a couple of hours, a few days or even a few months for someone who needs to be accepted, who needs a place to belong.
Then, there are those who are officially foster parents who, in some cases, take in childen without notice, at all hours of the day or night. I did a funeral for a woman whose kids told me, “We never knew if there would be an extra kid at breakfast, or not.”
Whenever we hear of a societal problem, such as hunger or homelessness, we employ various phrases which can serve to distance ourselves and insulate us from the issue and the people affected. “Its not my problem; its not my responsibility. There’s a government program for that!” Or we blame them for their situation. “They should get a job” ..... or “sober up”, or “get off of drugs”, or “stop smoking and they would have food”. The rhetoric around health care in the USA and Obamacare vs Trumpcare seems to be along those lines. Or. Or.
Mother Teresa, who died 20 years ago this fall, spend much of her life serving the poorest of the poor in India, reminded us that every day we “encounter Christ in distressing disguise in those hungry not only for bread but hungry for love; naked not only for clothing, but naked of human dignity and respect; homeless not only for want of a room of bricks, but homeless because of rejection” Words To Live By”. Even though there was much controversy surrounding her work, she was named a saint in the Roman Catholic Church last year. It was one of the shortest periods in history - between her death and her canonization.
One of the courses I took in my first year of University was New Testament Greek. I passed, just barely! During the year one of the phrases my friends used to taunt me was, “it’s all Greek to me”. Three years later I took New Testament Greek again at Atlantic School of Theology and this time I think I got B. None of my classmates taunted me this time as they were ALL taking either Greek or Hebrew. One the other was required and I figured Greek the second time had to be easier than Hebrew the first time!
There are a few common, “profession based”, sayings that are used to emphasize how simple the task at hand is, when compared with something else. For example, we might say, “washing and waxing a car is easy”, after all, “its not rocket science” or “it’s not brain surgery”.
You may be familiar with the tv show, Big Bang Theory in which a group of nerds most of whom have PhDs, in several disciplines, one of which IS rocket science, try to relate to one another and to real life. In this show, rocket science may be comprised of complex equations, the like of which I have never seen, but it’s designed to be funny.
I would dare to say that today’s passage presents us with a problem, whose immediate solution is not really all that complicated. Its simply about simple acts done because they need to be done.
The passage from Matthew’s gospel is part of a larger passage, addressed to the disciples, as they prepare to go out on their mission work to proclaim the Good News of God.
While this is addressed to a rather particular situation we can still find a message in it, if we turn it around and see ourselves as the ones giving, rather than receiving, this kind of hospitality. It has a lot to say about our mission as individuals and as a church. In the culture of the middle-east hospitality was a duty and an obligation.
To neglect to offer hospitality was an affront and a disgrace and, if that person was someone else’s emissary, it was just as if that person was refused. Of course, in the climate of the middle-east, hospitality was necessary for the very survival of travellers. Sometimes this hospitality required offering sanctuary, active protection from harm.
Every so often I read a passage and notice something for the very first time, even though I have read and even preached on the passage many times - NOTE that this passage refers to COLD water. I have access to cold water, or at least cool water, 24/7 in my kitchen, or bathroom or from my outside tap. But, keep in mind it is the middle east. Keep in mind there are no refrigerators or ice machines or running water. The only cold water you get is fresh well water. In hot weather how long would it take for a pitcher of water to warm up! Getting the cold water implied extra effort, perhaps a special trip to the well. It was still a simple, everyday thing! But, intentional. Interesting!
This passage causes my mind to wonder a bit.
What if? I wonder what if we could see other human beings as embodiments of God’s love in Jesus. What if we saw all other people; ALL other people as embodiments of God’s love in Jesus. What if we saw them all as TEACHERS of God’s grace. If we could see people in this way, would we then welcome anyone, as if we were welcoming Jesus?
The best teachers I know are those who readily admit they learn as much from their students as their students learn from them. What if we were able to learn spiritual truths from those in need: from the homeless, the hungry, the lonely, the thirsty?
What if the “reward” we receive is not “a star in our crown” (a kind of spiritual “brownie point”) but a deeper appreciation of God’s grace and God’s hospitality toward us. It’s not about being like “Little Jack Horner” coming to the conclusion, “what a good boy am I” , it’s about coming to our own appreciation of our own need for God’s grace and a healthy dose of humility.
As we celebrate Canada 150 we need this dose of humility as a whole country. On Friday morning the CBC morning show was on location at Peir 21 in Halifax, the site where many imigrants came ashore. As part of the presentation was the acknowledgement that many of the early settlers would not have survived those first winters without the help of the First Nations peoples. Even if our ancestors came after settlements were established and the know-how was absorbed we all benefit from these relationships developed at first contact. Several hundred years later we need to remember this.
None of us is self-made. Many of today’s rich, who refuse to help the poor, would do well to remember that!
Emelie Tomes (in the Feasting on the Word commentary series) writes, “Compassionate Welcome means approaching each other through God”.
Perhaps, during the hazy and lazy days of summer what this passage is saying to us is: LOOK around you, SEE the person in need. And ACT on it. Perhaps this is the time of year to focus on those folks who you used to know well but may have lost touch with over the busyness of the year. Perhaps the stranger is simply someone with whom you need to be reacquainted!
Sometimes, simple, basic acts are what is required and which mean so much.
One day a man was walking on a beach and he observed a child tossing starfish back into the water. There were thousands of starfish dying on the beach. I guess there had been a bad storm the night before and the child was trying to save their lives, The man said, “How much difference can yoo possibly make. There are thousands you will never be able to save”.
The child picked up a starfish, and said, “But I CAN save this one.”
Theologian, Frederick Buechner wrote, “We have it in us to be Christ to each other .... to work miracles of love and healing as well as to have them worked upon us.”
So, even in these summer days, this is our call as individuals and as Christian community. “We must remember that the church is not the purpose of he gospel but it’s witness”, Daniel Guder. Presbyterian minister and professor at Princeton.
There will be other days to look at the causes of poverty and to advocate for the social change necessary to help alleviate it, which is essential and important work, but on this day we have a passage which calls us to look at the basic needs of those who cross our path and to whom we can reach out in love.
Amen!
Romans 7: 15-25a
Psalm 45
Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30
I always welcome an opportunity to learn something new, especially if I can find a use for information on an obscure topic.
I decided to research the training of oxen.
Yes, oxen!
Oxen are not, as some people think, a separate kind of animal but are, regular cattle that have been trained by a handler, or “teamster” to “work, ” usually in pairs, by means of a wooden yoke which designed to make the best use of their strength. I think they are all steers and supposed to be at least 4 before they are fully trained and “qualified” to be called “oxen.” The training is best started when they are very young calves but the ones I have seen were at an historic site, were fully trained, very heavy, strong and sedate. They were obviously used to their work. I guess you couldn’t have 2000 pound unpredictable animals around the public.
If I were preaching this sermon 20 or more years ago I would have found an elderly farmer who knew about working with oxen or gone to one of those historic sites, such as the “Ross Farm Museum,” and asked the nice man dressed in period costume all about working with these animals.
However, since Google became a friend of mine, I now ask Google. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet these days!
What did I learn? Well, it seems that the first and most important tip in training an ox is this: “Never let the animal realize that he is bigger and stronger than you are”. Remember, on average they do weigh about 2000 pounds!
AND the first and most important command is whoa. Other commands can come later!
I assumed that you usually want your oxen who work in pairs to be, “equally yoked”, that is, of similar size and strength, but according to my internet research, there are situations where you want a stronger or larger animal paired with a smaller or weaker one. It is easier to train a green ox while yoked with a mature one, than it is to train a green pair.
In days gone by, a nation would conquer another in war and its captives would be made to parade through a gate, at the top of which was a yoke. Symbolically, it meant that “you have a new boss now!”
Oxen were a common and necessary feature of life in Bible times. In the Bible there are 173 references to oxen and 70 to a “yoke.” Many of the references to oxen have to do with liability and compensation with regard to oxen. What happens if you loan your ox to a neighbour and the ox dies? What happens if your ox gores your neighbour?
And, in some verses the yoke is a symbol of oppression. It was an easily understandable image.
So, back to the scripture. The passage begins with a question posed by disciples of John the Baptizer. The question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” When John was preaching he spoke of the prophecy of Isaiah and “the one who was to come”. It seems that he continued to preach at least in some fashion or another after Jesus met him that day by the Jordan River. It was his condemnation of King Herod’s marriage that got him in hot water and he ended up in prison. “ARE you the one?” “Are you the one to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives and sight to the blind.” It seems strange for John to ask this question since he clearly recognized him as the messiah the day he baptized him. Perhaps he did not like the results. The Romans were still in power. Jesus had led no revolution. The religious leaders were still requiring an adherence to the law that did not “help” the people in any real way!
Jesus simply says: “look at the results”. Don’t look at what I’ve not done but at what I have. There IS good work being done - feeding, healing, consoling. The proof should be in the pudding.
Wait a minute! Who is this John? You remember John. He was a wilderness preacher who called people to be baptized, in the muddy Jordan! He was also, decidedly, odd. He wore garments made of camel’s hair. In case you missed that; that is spelled “ITCHY” with a capital I. He was an ascetic; he did not drink alcohol and lived on bugs and honey. (I wont tell you that the internet also claims that insects will be the major protein source for the 21st century. ) And the religious leaders complained about him and accused him of being possessed.
Then came Jesus who lived in normal conditions and wore normal clothing, for his time, as far as we know. The problem that the religious people had with him was that he associated with tax collectors and sinners and liked to have a good time. He was dismissed by some as a glutton and a drunkard.
Jesus compares this situation with kids in the local marketplace. Some of them want to play happy games but the others want sad games and the one group will not play with the other. Ya can’t win!
Today’s passage concludes with Jesus invitation to take on his light and easy yoke. The people were accustomed to this image when applied to human obligations. They would have had too much experience of the hard and autocratic demands of a brutal Roman occupation. The religious leaders were of no help or comfort. Jesus frequently accused them of laying extra burdens on the backs of the people, without any assistance, and of having too cosy a relationship with the Roman occupation. For the elites of Jesus’ day, the letter of the law, and their positions of privilege, were more important than the call to justice.
He says that, by contrast, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Following him is not a hard slog at the whip of a hard taskmaster, it is an easy and light way.
I think it is easy, not because there are no standards, not because there is no work, but because there is someone to help. Just as Moses was promised rest in the wilderness in that he would not be alone so too the disciple is promised a light yoke.
A number of years ago, a child took up the offering in church. Were it not for her father’s pinkie finger placed just behind her back at the edge of the plate, the money would have been like “magic pennies”, rolling all over floor. She was proud to have accomplished this adult task and he was happy that she was none the wiser for his help.
This is where I get back to training oxen. As individual Christians, we are not expected to do this work of faithfulness, of mission, of outreach, alone - the yoke is designed to help oxen work together.
Perhaps we are yoked with God, the Spirit, Jesus, the power of the holy, or whatever you might call it or perhaps we are yoked in community and Jesus is the teamster.
The first thing we have to do is to answer John’s question for ourselves. Is the Gospel of Jesus the answer to the promises of God? Is the gospel the answer to the problems of the world? When we have answered “yes” for ourselves we have to answer Jesus’ question. What do the people see when they look at us?
Do they see a group concerned only with maintaining the status quo or do we see a group on a shared journey ready to live into God’s vision for creation?
Are we a people who live out God’s vision of justice, mercy and faith?
What Do they see? They see regular worship services where good news is proclaimed in word and song.
They see the pyramid of Peanut Butter and the Leaning Tower of Pasta, the fort of cereal, the response to the Clean Up for Lent Campaign and the any and miscellaneous bags of groceries we leave in the basement or in the bins at the grocery store, to say nothing of the hours spent by some of you AT the food bank, sorting, boxing, carrying, caring for those who don’t have enough to eat.
They see the UCW taking caring bouquets to shut-ins and visiting them at other times.
They see food brought to funeral luncheons and to people’s houses when there is a death or a need.
They see our doors open to AA on Monday and Friday nights.
They see our support of young people.
They see how individuals among us try to bring about God’s vision for creation.
We could do more.
This fall I’m going to be asking for fresh produce for a garden of plenty. Since produce is perishable, and we don’t have any cold storage, it will have to come in on a very defined time-line. More information will be going out later. For now put Thanksgiving Sunday on your calendar as produce Sunday. Together we’ll transform the front of the church into a garden ready to harvest.
We also need to look at ways we can help to alleviate poverty itself. This involves advocacy and placing pressure on governments. Far from being "political”, in a democracy, it is the way we have to do this part of the call of the gospel.
There is a group in Hantsport seeking to raise money and person power to welcome a refugee family to this community. This is a long term project. This is one area where a small and ageing group such as ourselves does not have the ability to do something like this on our own, but together - with this community all working together it is possible! We can share the “haven of hospitality” with those badly in need of it.
As a congregation, we need to put our heads together to figure out how to support families with young children and provide Christian development in the midst of their busy and demanding lives. It may involve “thinking outside the box” and perhaps the box is “Sunday Morning”. What about a truly all ages program on a weeknight?
This is the work ahead of us. We are not called to do it alone - we have one another and we have the Spirit who goes with us, encouraging, prompting, supporting and gently calling.
Be my disciple.
Make a difference.
Follow me.
I will give you rest and call you to give rest to others.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Amen.
Genesis 25: 19-34
Psalm 119 (Part 5)
Matthew 13: 1-9
For many years my mother planted a big garden. Of all the vegetables she planted she was most serious about her tomatoes. She would start them in the house. I remember when she discovered “peat pellets” which she bought with the seed from Veseys. In case you are not familiar with them, they look like little cookies made out of blackish dirt, but when you add water they puff up and you can plant seeds in them. The seeds were planted, in her characteristically “Scots” fashion, several seeds to a pellet, and not the recommended “one” and placed in old fashioned ice cube trays on the windowsills. After a time she transferred them to soup cans with one plant per can. Then, after a time of being on the window sill she put them outside in a big wooden box which she covered at night for the first while. Finally, they were taken out of the cans and planted in the garden, staked AND also protected for another period of time by little greenhouses she made from fertilizer bags. She considered it quite an innovation when she discovered she could re-purpose old “digger chain” to support these little greenhouses at each corner. I don’t know where the chain came from nor how she managed to persuade someone to cut off one end of each rod and sharpen it. (I actually have a couple of pieces in my garden here.) When it was “safe”, these greenhouses were removed and stored for the next year. Eventually there were enough tomatoes for the table and to make gallons and gallons of tomato juice, bottled in Mason jars or any re-purposed bottle with a sealing lid, such as cheese whiz!
Most of the other plants were planted directly in the garden in hills made by combining several rows made by a machine designed to hill potatoes. Bigger seeds such as beans, corn and pumpkins were planted carefully, at the right distance apart. Carrots and beets were planted close together but eventually had to be thinned so they would grow to a decent size.
By contrast, when my father went to sow grain, he poured the seed into bins on the seed drill and fertilizer into other bins making sure not to wreck the bag because Mom used them for her tomatoes! Then he planted the seed using the seeder which was, of course, pulled by a tractor.
In both cases it was a beautiful sight to see a row of newly sprouted carrots, beets, or beans or an entire field of green shoots, in neat rows, from one side of the field to the other.
At all times and places seed is valuable. Seed is not something you waste. You don’t cast it to the wind, “willy nilly.” The ancient sower in Jesus’ parable, is not planting a lawn by casting seed on one carefully measured area after another and then raking it in, but is perhaps walking back and forth across the field as he makes his way from one side to the other. There is most likely more “method to his madness” than we can detect. I doubt that he deliberately throws the seed onto the path or into thorns, but some just ends up there!
Apparently this was the most efficient way to do it by hand. I’m told that the ground was tilled after planting so the stony ground would not have been as obvious. I’ve seen some pictures of the area around Nazareth and I find it amazing that they are able to grow anything at all. As the parable indicates though, when the soil is good, the harvest is beyond all expectations.
I have read that seven and a half to ten times would be good; thirty, sixty and a hundred would all be very extraordinary. The people in his audience would have known what was normal and would have known in an instant that this was an amazing result.
Of course, Jesus is not giving a guest lecture on how to increase crop yields at the Royal Palestine Agricultural College, he is talking about the Kingdom of God. Horticultural accuracy is not his aim. While later in the story Matthew adds an interpretation, I think we, like the crowds, should be left to our own devices to reflect on its meaning. What does this parable mean to the church?
I have some food for thought. I don’t know about you, but I think best by rolling questions around in my mind.
While we cannot be all things to all people and we cannot just “spend” in terms of ideas, time and human resources, we do have to sow. If I have a bushel of seed in the garage I am not guaranteed a harvest if I plant it BUT I wont have any harvest if I don’t plant. All I will have is a bag of grain that’s a little drier and may be less likely to grow the following season.
I remember seeing a bag of some kind of grain leaning on the outside wall of one of the buildings on the farm. It had gotten damp. Thinking about it now, it looked like a giant chia-pet; fuzzy and green but good for nothing.
Perhaps that is an apt analogy of a church that never opens its doors to the world and never lets the world know what is happening on Sunday morning! This kind of church takes no risks but maybe what is good about it has just gone to waste!
Elsewhere Jesus talked about the grain of wheat needing to die in order that more grain be produced. We know this. Yet, in hard economic times, we sometimes feel as if we are going to lose what little we have it we don’t keep it held tightly. Again the danger is that it might go to waste.
Usually it is the parents, or sometimes the grandparents, who come to me and ask that I baptize a child. I hope they are church attenders and hope that the welcoming of baptism will bring them to greater faith. Sometimes it does; sometimes not!
Sometimes, things don’t even begin as I expected. One day a couple of children, who lived next to the manse, and had been coming to Sunday school, arrived on my doorstep and asked me to baptize them. I told them that we would have to ask their parents. They replied, “We already did and they told us to come to ask you.” Of course, I baptized them. To give them a feeling of belonging, the worship committee and I gave them little “jobs” in the worship service, such as lighting the candles and carrying in the pulpit Bible (tasks which were more or less invented just for them) and then reading scripture and offering prayers when they were old enough. Deciding a sports analogy was apt for the boy I told him to carry the candle lighter like a baseball bat and not like a hockey stick, in case he set someone’s pant leg on fire! After I left, the church continued to accept their gifts and to nurture their faith. They sponsored their participation in youth events and weekends at Tatamagouche Centre. The young man grew up and moved away and I’m not sure what he is doing but the young woman went to Acadia University, of all places, (An attempt at humour as it’s about 20kms away!) I would see her from time to time with the youth at the Conference Annual Meeting and eventually offering leadership on a Conference committee. She is now serving as a student minister in three small churches in western New Brunswick, attending Atlantic School of Theology in the summer and expects to be ordained when she is finished her program, a few years before I retire.
I saw her dad at a funeral a few years ago and he asked me, “Did you know what you were starting when you baptized her?” I’m sure they didn’t. When you plant a seed and care for it a little, you just never know.
I thought a long time about how the passage from the Older Testament - today’s is an example of some of their less than stellar actions. Yet it is part of the continuing saga of a people who - when God began to call them, were just two - a man and his wife - and were promised descendants numbering more than the stars - now that’s a good return if you ask me!
Time and again in this story God continues to call a people who aren’t always very good soil; a people who sometimes eat the seed, or sell it, and still there manages to be a harvest, the story carries on!
Some of the most powerful films I have ever seen, I saw way back when I was a student. One was The Hiding Place which I saw when I was in high school. In this movie the entire family of a Dutch watchmaker is sent to a concentration camp for hiding Jewish people from the Nazis. The next powerful film was Gandhi, the story of the lawyer who became a religious leader in his native India and who advocated for non-violent resistance. Another was, The Mission, a film about the plight of indigenous people of South America as they became pawns in the power politics of Europe. As things are coming to a violent conclusion in the film, Fr Gabriel, one of the main characters, is asked for a blessing for the success of the upcoming battle, against the oppressive powers, but says instead, “If might is right, then love has no place in the world; it may be so, but I have no strength to live in a world like that”.
Sometimes I think we are sowing a crop that takes many seasons to mature. We harvest a crop almost immediately and then we wait. Perhaps it takes a while for the next one to come along - perhaps it takes a long while. But we are all sowers, farmers of the Kindom, we have to plant!
The Canadian Bible Society has, for a long time, had the image of a person sowing seed as its official “logo” - perhaps that’s all we can do - sow seed. Perhaps its God who gives the conditions for growth.
The seed itself came from other seed, planted in other seasons or in other fields and depended upon the work of another - we can only do so much and can only be responsible for so much -
Food for thought - about seed, about planting, growing and harvesting.
Those with ears, listen.
Genesis 28: 10-19a
Psalm 139
Matthew 13: 24-30,
I remember a TV commercial from a few years ago in which a small child was preparing to run away from home. In the end, all he could fit into his suitcase was his teddy bear - we finally saw him walking down the street, lugging an enormous suitcase, too big for him, really, with the head and feet of the bear protruding from barely closed suitcase.
There are very few TRUE heart-warming tales about run-away teenagers. The streets of our cities are filled with run-aways! Some run away because of abuse at home; some because they want “freedom”; some because their parents wont accept a gay child, or a pregnant one; some because of bullying at school; some because of that proverbial “greener grass”. Without the appropriate support, many end up in trouble with the law, addicted to drugs and resorting to pan-handling or prostitution to feed their habit and survive - and some don’t!.
I recall very vividly the trip I took to Toronto for church business one year. For some reason, this particular year, there seemed to ne many more people sleeping in the doorways of businesses than there usually were! This particular year, a cold drizzle had settled over the city and these folks were in sleeping bags, surrounded by a few possessions, protected only by thin plastic sheets. I also noticed that restaurant bathrooms were “for customers only”; they were locked, you had to ask your waitress for a key. I thought of my own hotel room, warm and dry but, of course, could not help even one of those sleeping strangers.
Once, I told Vince Alfano, the head of the department that raised and managed the Mission and Service Fund, that many of my people in my rural New Brunswick churches did not feel much connection with street ministries in Toronto (where some of the mission and Service monies end up). Her replied, “Tell them that a lot of teenagers from the Maritimes end up living on the streets of Toronto!``
As Canadians, one of the “things” we have become more aware of in the last few years is the stone structure called the “Inuksuk” - or more properly, the “ inunguaq” which is what the ones that resemble humans are more properly called. I have one in my china cabinet; its about 1 1/2 inches tall; my neighbour has one on her doorstep, about a foot tall. I think I have even seen one at the entrance to a subdivision somewhere around here!
Yet they are not meant to be decorations! Inuksuk can be found from Alaska to Greenland and can be navigational aids, temporarily point to dangerous conditions or food caches or serve various other purposes. Some are erected seasonally. They were essential to human survival in that beautiful, but harsh, land.
Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham was, in essence, a runaway - and he had good reason to run. The story of Jacob and Esau is a tale of “sibling rivalry” in the extreme! Esau was his Dad’s favourite and Jacob, his mother’s. That’s always a recipe for disaster. According to their mother, each had been in competition since their conception - and in the latest escapade, Rebecca helped her favourite win his father’s blessing - by tricking the old man! This “blessing for the eldest son” was very important. It could not be retracted, even if it was bestowed in error. Esau was furious; the “I’m going to kill you”, kind of furious and Jacob knew it.
So, with the help of his mother once again, on a cooked up errand to go “wife hunting”, Jacob takes off and spends the night in the wilderness with a rock for a pillow! In case we missed it’ I’ll say it another way, “Jacob, who liked to hang around home, near the tents and the good food, ends up sleeping on a rock in the wilderness. No contour pillow made of memory-foam. No goose-down duvet (it does get very cold in the desert at night). No Sealy Perfect Sleeper. No “balled up t-shirt on top of his hiking boots” under his head. Just a rock! Perhaps, for the first time in his life he does not have the protection of his extended family and the servants in tents all around him- he was in peril!
And on this night he has a dream. It was not a nightmare of Esau catching up with him or of being eaten my wild animals but a dream of angels and of good news from God. When he awakens he turns that rock into some kind of ‘marker’ or “Palestinian inuksuk” and names the place, Bethel - which literally means “house of God.”
The dream is probably better known to us in the African-American Spiritual, “We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” However, the song takes a few liberties with the story! In the story, in his dream, Jacob remains “earth- bound”. It’s the angels that do the climbing, and God comes and stands beside him to give his a message.
Now, if you want to take on a challenge, and climb “Jacob’s Ladder” yourself, go to Victoria Park in Truro. This staircase has 175 steps. I’ve climbed it; ONCE!
So, in THIS biblical story, THIS was the place where heaven and earth connected, THIS was the place where God came to him and despite his life of jealousy and deceit, re-affirmed the promise of “becoming a great nation”, to him. Like the promise given to his own grandfather, this one was given to someone with no children! Clearly more than human actions would have to be in play in order for the promise to come to pass.
At the end of the day, this story, like all biblical stories, has to become our story! The place was Beth-el! It means, literally, “House of God. The question is, “Where is our Bethel? Have we ever sat down to realize that God is with us, here and now and not in some past or future time or place?
The Very Rev Stan MacKay, a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation served the United Church as Moderator from 1992 to 1994. One of the things I remember him saying is that the “holy Land” is not that place over there where Jesus used to live, but this place, this land, where we live and move and have our being. This is a place blessed by the Creator.
Fisher River Manitoba is the “holy land.” Hantsport Nova Scotia is the “holy land” - its not just PEI, Cape Breton and Pictou Co.; (all places whose residents unabashedly claim to the holy land, if not the centre of the universe!) And God’s call does not come when we “have the time”, when “its convenient” or “later”; its not something we can get away from.
Another question is: What are we trying to run away from and why?
Once we realize that this promise is twofold - to be blessed and TO BE A BLESSING, we have to ask if we are running from God’s call to greatness.
We have to ask if we are we running from God`s call to make a difference.
Or are we just doing a good job of procrastinating - I`ll follow and recognize God`s presence, call and promise when I have more time!
Jacob was a downright scoundrel - a man from a highly dysfunctional family who became the ancestor of a great nation - even though he was a liar and a cheat so let none of us say that we are “not blessed”. Let none of us say that we are “not good enough”. Let none of us say that we can do nothing to be a blessing to others.
May this building and we who worship here be a sign, an inuksuk, to God’s presence in our lives and call to be a blessing to others. May others look at this place and us and say “surely God is in this place and with these people.”
Amen!
Genesis 29: 15-28
Psalm 105
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52
When I was in grade 6 I took PEI history. The history of your own province should always be on the school curriculum at some point! One of the things I learned from the history book was that the “Great Silver Seal of the Island” had disappeared long ago and never recovered. Being a child, who loved children’s mystery novels, I dreamed of finding this object somewhere on our farm and becoming famous.
In the textbook there was a drawing of the impression made by the seal but as I recall the book never really described what a “seal” actually was. I imagined it to be a round, flat, silver disc like one of the fancy pates my mom kept in the china cabinet. After all it was “THE GREAT SILVER SEAL”. How does an 11 year old know what a seal is? I now know that a seal is a metal “do hickey” that puts an impression in and on paper documents such as wills, diplomas, birth certificates, transcripts, even ordination parchments, to make them official. Modern ones look a little like a heavy duty stapler with two brass discs that interlock and make the “impression”. Some are hand held and used to make sure a wax seal is original. They are not at all like what I originally thought.
The other day I asked my friend Google about this object and was informed that it is STILL missing. It had been stolen by George Washington’s troops in 1775 and was believed to have been taken to Massachusetts.
That is the clue I was missing for the past 45 years! I’ll see my friend who was born in Massachusetts later today. If she does not know where it is, I’ll put in a call to the White House and ask a certain President Trump. He’ll be sure to know! How much is it worth though?
You see, I’m still on the path to fame and perhaps even wealth! Surely the province of my birth would come up with both the price and a reward for finding this object.
Pause
All joking aside, what is your heart’s desire? What is the most valuable thing you can imagine? Is there something so valuable that you would sell everything you had in order to obtain that one item or achieve that goal?
What about the Kingdom of Heaven, or as we tend to call it these days, “the Realm of God”. By this I mean, the world as God intends it; the world as God created it to be. By this I mean a world where everything and everyone is in harmony - a state of utter and complete perfection.
Today’s string of parables talk about the kingdom of heaven using images that come from the commonplace and every-day life of first century Palestine.
I think that what Jesus was trying to get at here was that you didn’t have to be an educated rabbi or scribe with special knowledge of Hebrew and the traditions of the people in order to get a grasp on what the kingdom of heaven was. He was saying that there didn’t have to be a political insurrection for the kingdom of God to come about. He was saying you DIDN’T have to die in order to GLIMPSE or GET A SENSE of it. The kingdom could be seen and experienced, in a small way, in the here and now; not just in the “sweet by and by”. These commonplace images tell us that the realm of God is also in the here and now, growing in secret, nearby, and not requiring complicated and secret rituals and formulas.
Today’s parables, as I said, use images and activities common to everyday life in first century Palestine. We are lucky here, in almost rural Nova Scotia, we still know what fishing boats, vineyards and fields of grain look like. Yet, we can’t assume that we can make an easy transition to their meaning. As 21st century Canadians we need to dig a little deeper to find the “edge” that was there when Jesus first uttered these words - the surprising details that would have left the people wondering.
Some of the images are not necessarily positive. Lets go back to the treasure in the field image for a minute. In Jesus’ day, “merchants” were not exactly the most trusted people. It was assumed they gouged their customers and made sure to extract maximum profit. If we used the phrase “horse trader” - that might be more accurate and understandable.
One of the TV shows I watch from time to time is “Storage Wars.” Each show begins with an explanation that these storage lockers have been abandoned and the owner is entitled to sell the contents to recoup the rent. On this show the prospective buyers are allowed to look before they bid but that’s it. Once they have outbid all others they get to haul the stuff out to see if what they have is of any value. Its surprising sometimes what some people pay to store but sometimes it’s even more surprising what they abandon! The buyers throw out the trash and revel when they find something very valuable. And of course its “made for TV” with the same two or three groups of people each week, bidding against one another, trying to win the most profit.
Once upon a time a family lost their home to a fire. No one was hurt but many precious items were lost that could never be replaced by any amount of insurance, including photo albums and family heirlooms. Some things were relatively easy to replace while others took the family more effort, lots of looking in antique stores and used record and book stores. Many years later she mentioned to a friend that one of the things she was still missing was a certain record album. Well, her friend was well versed in “e-bay” and that friend went on e-bay and searched for that one item, every few months, not 100% sure what she was really looking for, until lo and behold, it appeared. The seller was located in Germany. The friend bought ten albums and instructed the seller to send only one and do what he wished with the rest. A few weeks, a few dollars and a lot of postage later her friend had a replacement for her old album and many more happy hours listening to favourite music after she had it converted to a CD!
Sometimes it’s only a pearl of great price to one person but if its important, it’s worth the effort.
Imagine going to a yard sale and finding an original Maud Lewis on sale for .50cents. Do you snap it up and then sell it to someone who appreciates its true value? What if you know that a certain house is being sold and you know for certain that there is a valuable treasure buried on the property? Will you sell your house and all that you have to raise the money to buy the property?
A closer reading of the parable is intriguing on this matter. What if you found a paper-bag filled with hundred dollar bills; hid it in the backyard of a house with a “for sale” sign out front and then went and bought that house and its yard so that you could “discover” the treasure.
What about the real owner of the “found” treasure? The parable does not say.
My mother made a lot of bread when I was growing up. Almost all the bread we ate was home-made! Every batch required two envelopes of yeast, which she started in two teacups. In bread-making, yeast is a good thing and is absolutely essential.
In Jesus day yeast was a little more complicated. When it came time for Passover it was necessary for the housewife to scour the house to rid it of yeast before the observation began. The tradition goes back to the time when the children of Israel ate unleavened bread on the way out of Egypt because it did not have time to rise.
It seems that the yeast in this parable is a symbol of something hidden, something almost “subversive”, in a way like the enemy sowing weeds in your field when you weren’t looking! That’s as creative an explanation for weeds as I’ve heard in a long time!
A time honoured PEI tradition for farm children was “pulling mustard”. Kids were sent to the grainfields to pull mustard plants out by the roots. I guess if we didn’t pull it, it would spread and take over the field, crowding out the oats. These days, I suppose, herbicides are used as willing children are in short supply.
I’m sure the mustard my mom bought for her “mustard pickles” was not grown in PEI!
Lobster traps catch many different sizes of lobster but the fishermen have to sort them on the boat and those that are not big enough have to be thrown back - with the hope they will live long enough to be caught when they are bigger.
The kingdom is at hand.
The kingdom shows up when you least expect it.
The kingdom is subversive, working in secret, turning our assumptions on their heads, changing the outcomes.
The kingdom is worth everything we have.
The kingdom is worth all the effort we expend, making a living, getting ahead; it’s not something that should be relegated to the “if I have anything leftover” category, in terms of time, talent, attention, effort. Yet, it does not depend solely on our efforts.
Amen!