Stories

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
July 16, 2023

10 Proper A

My former parish sat on the edge of the poorest neighborhood in the city.  The neighborhood was not the most crime ridden, although there was certainly plenty of crime, nor was it the most drug infested, although there was certainly an abundance available.  But the neighborhood was the poorest in town.  So every year the church would throw an epic neighborhood fair with free games, prizes, a rummage giveaway, a mobile food pantry, and food.  Lots and lots of food.  Hot dogs, walking tacos, ice cream, cookies, and all sorts of fair food was free for the taking and folks could have as much as they could eat, no questions asked.  The church wanted to be a good neighbor and to create good will in the neighborhood.  While we expected nothing in return, we knew that when the neighbors felt like we cared about them, they cared about us, and the neighborhood was a much better place to be.  And because we engaged the neighbors in conversation and sometimes even in prayer, we were often moved by stories of deep faith in the midst of circumstances more trying and more complex than any of us could imagine. 

I think about the neighborhood fair when I read about the extravagance of the sower this morning.  The sower is just flinging seed around like we were flinging hot dogs and walking tacos, with no thought to whether the ground deserved the seed or not.  The sowers job is simply to sow. 

Jesus’ explanation of the parable is interesting, for the explanation is without judgement.  If someone hears the word and does not understand it, which could be any of us from time to time, the evil one comes and snatches away what is in the heart.  If the word is sown on rocky ground, it does not take root.  If the word is sown among thorns, the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word.  But if the word is sown on good soil, the seed grows and bears fruit.  There is no judgement; just an explanation for why the seed does not grow.

Jesus’ gardening tips, however, are common sense.  Even I, with my 10 green thumbs, know that if you plant seed on rocky ground, or among thorns, or on hard soil, not much will happen.  But rather than tell us to only throw seed on the good soil, the parable tells us to scatter seed everywhere, regardless of what common sense tells us. 

Jesus’ gardening advice is completely consistent with Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners, and not too many folks of his time would have thought of those people as good soil.  In the passage from Genesis, we hear the story in which Jacob, the younger twin of Esau, cheats Esau out of his birthright as the eldest son.  This cheat is the one through whom God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah will be carried.  We do not get to decide which ground is good and which ground is not good because our ways are not God’s ways.  Perhaps God is a bit skeptical about our ability to discern God’s thoughts about which ground is good and which is not, so God would prefer that we just scatter seed and let God do the rest.  And, of course, the parable calls us to think about what kind of soil we are as individuals and as a church.  Do we have deep roots that get us through hard times, or shallow roots that leave us with little endurance?  Do the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke out our faith or are we soil that bears much fruit? 

          However, I think there is more going on in this parable.  The sower throws seed all over the place with no thought to where it lands, and Jesus never criticizes the sower for doing so.  But I wonder, and this is a wonder, why the ground is so hard that the seed will not take, or why there are so many thorns, or where all those rocks came from.  I wonder if the parable calls us to think about what we can do to loosen the dirt, or pull up the thorns, or remove the rocks so that the seed can take root.  I wonder if Jesus is also calling us to prepare the ground as extravagantly as we are to sow seed so that more of the seed does take.

Our first thought can easily be to serve those in need, that by providing people with food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care, we can improve the soil.  While those things are extremely important, I know from serving in a very poor neighborhood that many people who live in poverty already have very deep faith.  The people I met at the neighborhood fair year after year know that they have not much other than God to rely on and their faith is humbling to those of us who have plenty.  I know of their faith because they shared their stories with me in ways that moved my heart and strengthened my own faith.  I wonder if the way we prepare soil, the way we break up hard ground, pull thorns, and move rocks is to be willing to tell our own stories, to share our own faith in ways that others can hear.  Perhaps the seeds we are called to spread so extravagantly without thought to where they land are the words of our own stories of how our faith has gotten us through hard times, or shaped our values, or made a difference in our own lives in other ways.  Stories change lives.  Jesus tells us that the seed is the word of the kingdom, which is a story.  Jesus calls us to be like the sower, spread seed and tell the story with extravagance, and see what happens.

                                                                                      Amen.

Yoked

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
July 10, 2023

9 Proper A 

          What drew me to the Episcopal Church as a young teenager, in addition to adults who took an interest in me and the chance to sing in a wonderful youth choir, was the clear message that we humans are made in the image of God, redeemed in Christ, and are, therefore, inherently good.  This was music to young ears who heard a consistent message from the world around me that a person could not be too thin, too smart, too popular, or too athletic, and I was none of those things.  But at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock, all of the youth were valued equally as children of God.  In the Episcopal Church, at every baptism we promise to seek and serve Christ in all people.  In each and every person, we believe that we can find Christ, which makes each and every person inherently good.

          So when I read the passage from Romans this morning, my heart does not exactly sing with joy.  Val’s music, the hymns this morning, Liz and Heather’s voices, (this lovely garden, the sound of the fountain, the quiet of the early morning), and you make my heart sing this morning, but not Paul’s words to the Romans.  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  Ugh.

          However, I have to admit that on one level Paul’s words do resonate.  Certainly I have experienced times when I want to do right, but do wrong, sometimes on a daily basis.  I would guess that this is true of most of us.  However, does that mean that nothing good dwells within me?  Is the sin that Paul says dwells in me to blame or my own inability to self-correct?  Not only does Paul seem to put blame on the sin that dwells within us, he has us captive to “the law of sin that dwells in our members.”  What are we do to with Paul’s words this morning, other than to find a different reading to preach on….which was the advice of some of my colleagues this week!

          Since, at the end of the gospel reading, we have Jesus’ beloved words “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest….for my yoke is easy and my burden is light,”  perhaps Jesus can shed some light this morning on how we are to understand Paul’s words.  Jesus hung out with sinners and ate with tax collectors to the extent that some people saw him as a glutton and a drunkard, two notorious sins.  So, Jesus knows something about sin, even if he never partook.

          Jesus seems to express a bit of frustration in this passage.  To the crowds that were gathered, Jesus says “John came neither eating or drinking and they say ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”  There is no pleasing whoever Jesus is talking about, which is not clear in the reading.  Yet, Jesus says, Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds, not by popular opinion.

          Then Jesus says “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden this things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”  Admittedly, I love any time Jesus talks about babies!  But, how do infants know they are loved?  By the actions of those around them.  They know that they are fed, held, rocked, cuddled, and they know they are loved by the sound of our voices not what our words say. They know they are loved by our actions.  And that is true for all of us, regardless of our age.  We know when someone’s actions do not match their words.  We can wax eloquent about “God loves you, no exceptions” or promise to seek and serve Christ in all people until we are blue in the face, but if our actions do not match our words, the words are meaningless.

          In the baptismal covenant, when we promise to do outrageously hard things, like seek and serve the Christ we know is in every person, or resist evil, or proclaim by word AND example the good news of God in Christ, or even be faithful in worship, our answer is “I will with God’s help.”  This work is so hard that we cannot do it alone.  We do that work together with each other and with God.  Jesus says something similar in that beloved verse at the end of the passage.  “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and there you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  In baptism, we are yoked with Jesus so that we never do the work we are called to do alone, and we are defined not by our success or failure at that work, but by the one with whom we are yoked.

          Both Jesus and Paul agree that our actions, our work, matters.  Our work shows the world who we are and what we believe.  Sometimes we succeed in showing the world the love of God with our lives, and sometimes we want to do that, but we fail.  At the end of the day, despite Paul’s claim to be a wretched man, captive in a body of death, I think both Paul and Jesus agree that we are not defined by the sum of our successes minus our failures, much less our failures alone.  After asking “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”, Paul says “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Our worth is defined by Jesus.  Jesus says “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.”  Learn from Jesus that all people, including ourselves, are infinitely loved by God.  Learn from both Paul and Jesus that our actions matter.  What we do shows the world the love of God, whether we are in the mood to be God’s vessels that day or not.  But good day or bad, at the end of the day, we are still made in the image of God and yoked with Jesus. 

                                                                                      Amen.