July 17, 2011
Pentecost + 5
Morning Prayers
Let us offer prayers to God who judges us with mildness and governs us with great forbearance.
For the people of God in every place.
Lord, have mercy.
For all nations, peoples, tribes, clans, and families.
Lord, have mercy.
For mercy, justice, and peace in the world.
Lord, have mercy.
For those who sow and those who reap the harvest, for those on vacation, and for safety from violent storms.
Lord, have mercy.
For all those in danger and need: the sick and the dying, the poor and the oppressed, travelers and prisoners, and for their families.
Lord, have mercy.
For those who rest in Christ and for all the dying.
Lord, have mercy.
For ourselves, our families, our companions, and all those we love.
Lord, have mercy.
O God of all, hear our prayers for those we love, whether spoken aloud or in silence. We pray through and with our Savior, Jesus. Amen.
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
“Leaving the Weeds to God”
A wonderful story is told of W.C. Bower, who taught at Lexington Seminary before my lifetime. The Professor was on a preaching assignment somewhere in Kentucky and read this passage prior to beginning his sermon.
As it happens sometimes in little churches in Kentucky people just blurt things out, and after his reading, a old woman jumped up from her pew, spit out a full set of uppers and lowers and yelled, “how can there be gnashing of teeth if ya’ ain’t got no teeth?”
Dr. Bower didn’t miss a beat. He looked at her calmly and said, “teeth will be provided.”
Before the weeping and gnashing of teeth, we hear a parable commonly known as the Wheat and the Tares. A tare is a darnel grass which looks remarkably like wheat until it goes to seed--and its seeds are poisonous. And the parable compares the wheat with good folks, the tares with not-so-good folks, and that the best way to deal with them is to leave it to God to sort the wheat from the tares.
Kate and I just returned from the General Assembly of the Christian Church in Nashville, TN. And we’re grateful to the Permanent Fund Committee and the Church Board for making that possible.
We visited the Disciples of Christ Historical Society--where Nina's daughter Sharmin works, and which I recommend to anyone--it’s even worth a special trip to Nashville.
In one of the exhibit rooms there is a display of famous Disciples--including our three Disciples Presidents--James A, Garfield, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Ronald Reagan.
Over in the corner, a display honoring Coach John Wooden, the late great Disciples’ Deacon and amazing Basketball Coach.
Carrie Nation--the women’s Temperance leader has a display.
Hoagy Carmichael, the great songwriter, is shown there.
Clara Hale Babcock, the first Disciples’ woman ordained to ministry in 1888, is there, too.
But right alongside these famous Disciples are some of a more infamous nature.
There’s Janis Joplin--who, if you like screaming, was one of the greatest rock and roll singers. She died of a heroin overdose at age 27. A note to that effect is written on the back of her baptismal record card--which is part of the exhibit.
Then there’s John Dillinger. There’s a picture of his home church and a copy of the sermon that was preached there on the occasion of his funeral. Even Dillinger got a Christian funeral.
And then, maybe the most infamous of all Disciples characters--Jim Jones--who became more important than the Gospel and took more that 700 people to their deaths in Guyana in 1978.
And there they all are--just like the wheat and the tares--right there together in the same display room, waiting for God to sort them out, so to speak.
Perhaps the most important thing that was said at General Assembly this year was in a sermon by Holly McKissick--a Kansas Pastor who did a masterful job with the opening sermon.
A theme she kept returning to was, “What do you say to someone who asks, 'your church seems to be important to you. Why is that?'”
Now the theme of the Assembly was “Tell It,” and so she kept answering that question until she got it right. What would you say? How about, “my church doesn’t have all the answers, but we welcome people who have questions. We don't spend all our time trying to divide the world into Gay or Straight, Black or White, or even Brown or White or Liberal or Conservative. Instead, we believe God calls us to be together and work together for all God's children.
In other words, we are not a weed pulling church. The weeds are best left to God's care. We don’t uproot others as if they have no worth--that’s God’s purview. We are called to take care of ourselves, encourage each other, but condemn? No. That’s up to God.
Jesus had another saying--one about not pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye if you’ve a massive block of wood in your own.
Perhaps that’s applicable here. Let’s not be hasty about pulling other weeds when our own souls are full of them.
David Ewart writes: “This is a parable about the field - about the collective experience. It should be interpreted as a comment on the collective experience of the whole world; or a whole church; or a whole person - in all cases we find an unavoidable, inseparable mixture of good and bad, wheat and weeds together sown. According to this parable, we should expect that to be true; and we should not expect that God is going to come and take out all the bad things and make everything and everyone wholly good and pure.
Notice that all is not lost; all is not left muddled and pointless. At the end, the weeds are separated and burned. At the end, what is pleasing to God is taken in to God's care and keeping. But remember, think of yourself as the field. At the harvest, the weeds in you are removed, and the wheat in you is gathered in to God’s heavenly kingdom.
What kind of field are you living in? If that field is the whole you--your whole being, you are probably a mix of weeds and wheat. The great psychologist Carl Jung posited that each of us--even the best of us--has a shadow side. Sounds a lot like weeds. Try as we might, that shadow side resists pulling. And yet, God pulls us to the good by his spirit.
And so, what answer would you give if someone who notices that you are a faithful person asks about your church. How would you answer someone who asks, “Your church seems important to you. Why is that?”
While you're thinking about it, let offer a possible answer:
My church is the kind of church where God loves everyone enough to accept them as they are, but too much to leave us as we are. We're accepted just as we are--warts and all--or should I say weeds and all. We don't judge each other and hold out hope for everyone. Some of us may believe that, in the end, teeth may be provided--but all of us believe that, more importantly, Grace will be provided.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a church worth having. Do you feel that way about your church?
Invitation
Holy Manna... bread from heaven... "Give us this day our daily bread," Jesus taught us to pray. God is faithful, meeting our basic needs day by day. Of course, our hands are involved in the making of this bread. But, in the returning of our offerings we are affirming, once again, that all good gifts originate in the hands of God. Our giving helps spread God's "sweet manna all around."
Prayer
Gracious God, you know us very well. As you see the giver behind each gift, look past our mixed motivations to our heart of hearts. May the seeds of your faithfulness grow there, such that our giving and living become acts of faith, not desperation. We pray in the name of the One who said, "I am the bread of life." Amen.
BENEDICTION
Go in peace, love and care for one another in the name of Christ; and may all the blessings of God - Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer-- rest upon you and abide with you, both now and forevermore. Amen.
