Proper 11 2014

Proper 11 2014

For those who were with us for the Lenten Season, you might remember that I talked a lot about clearing away all of the externals of our faith practice so that we might go deeper in our faith journey. And this wasn’t simply an intellectual exercise, because as many other Episcopal churches have done every year during Lent; we veiled many of the symbols of our faith (the crosses and statues). We refrained from using “Alleluia,” had no water in the Baptismal font, and began our worship services with a Penitential Rite.

The point of all of this, of course, is meant to help us refocus on what’s most important, by challenging us to put aside distractions; and it prepares us to celebrate the mystery of Easter. What it also does is gives us the new start we might need, and helps us to grow into healthier people…”hopefully.”

Because if you know yourself as well as I know myself; then we all know that sometimes the best intentions that we have at the beginning of Lent seem to get a little lost as the Easter season comes and the year progresses. So, whether you’ve given up caffeine and smoking, or had every intention of learning Coptic to read ancient Christian texts. Whatever the case, sometimes the positive things we want to cultivate never seem to stick, and those annoying things we want to be rid of somehow crop up again.

  

That’s just how life is… No matter how intentional, or preemptive we try to be about having a healthy and meaningful life and faith; there is still always the reality that perfection is a flawed ambition. If anyone tells you differently, they’re probably also trying to sell you the Golden Gate Bridge.

All the same, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be discouraged, either. Because the work of being whole and spiritually healthy is meant to be a lifelong process, and we ought not to give up just because we have some places in our lives that will regularly need tending. And like the parable in today’s Gospel reading, we shouldn’t be overly hasty about what we think we need to fix.

As you recall, Jesus continues on his agricultural allegory kick, and brings us yet another story about sowing seeds. In this particular parable, however, we find that a man sowed good seed in his field. However, during the night, some jerk came along and planted weeds with the wheat.

When everything finally began to grow, then, the wheat came up, but so did the weeds—and the slaves came to the householder freaking out. They were all set to start tearing out the weeds. But the householder said, no—calm down. We have to be cool about this (we have to be like a bunch of little Fonzies), or we might uproot the wheat with the weeds, and then all of our work will be for nothing. But, once everything has had time to grow fully, then we’ll take care of the weeds.

  

The point of the parable, Jesus says, is that the Son of Man has planted the good seed (those who are children of the kingdom) in the world. The weeds, which were planted by the devil (lower case devil), are the evil people in the world. At the end of the age, the angels will be called to gather up the evil people and things that cause sin, and these will be thrown into “the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…” (I love when he says that.)

*I would like to say just a couple of things about this. First off, Jesus is telling a parable, so he’s using some very strong allegory to make his point. So, we can’t read this as a literal depiction of future events—but instead, a promise that everything will be made right in God’s time. Something that would be very important to hear for persecuted believers in the Early Church. Secondly, I don’t think we can take his statement about the devil sowing bad seeds too literally, either. It’s not that I don’t believe in the possibility of the devil, and dark forces—but I think we blame the devil for too many of our own negative actions as a way to avoid having to take responsibility.

Anyway, what can be interpreted from this parable about the condition of the world could likewise be applied to our own hearts. We can say with honesty that each of us has not only places in our hearts that need weeding, but others that should be cultivated, and cared for, as well.

  

And, of course, the process by which we grow and nurture our spiritual lives can be seen in the Church seasons. As I mentioned before, Lent is the time when we cultivate the soil of our hearts through meditation on Christ’s Passion, and doing good works—thus preparing ourselves for the mystery of Easter.

Likewise Easter is a time of hope and new growth. In the Easter season, all of the penitent work that we’ve done in Lent comes to fruition, and we’re given a clean slate. And just like the signs of spring all around us, we find in Christ’s resurrection that there is hope and promise with new growth.

With the Feast of Pentecost, then, we are enlivened and re-inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to be the Church, and share the fruits of our gifts with the world. We’re challenged to more fully live and grow into our identity as the Church, and thereby give ourselves more fully to Christ’s continued work of redemption in the world. No small task…

Finally, in the Season After Pentecost, we’re called to continue to grow and flourish, always tending the garden, until we once again begin the Church year with Advent; and begin preparing ourselves to celebrate Christ’s birth, as well as look forward to the Second Advent and his return…

  

We do this every year… And we do it not because we’re lacking the creativity to do something else—but, we commit to applying ourselves to these seasons because we know we need them. We know that no matter how penitent and pious we might be throughout Lent; we also know that we’ll still need more work. We’ll still have weeds.

But this is okay, because not only are we human, and continually finding new challenges; we’re also always in the formation process of being better people. Likewise, there may be things about us that we may try to treat as a weed, when it’s really wheat—and vice versa. So, it’s important that we take the time to allow things in us to fully mature before we start plucking things out…and that takes time. So, even if we don’t feel that we’ve figured it all out in the Season After Pentecost, or gotten our lives completely straightened out after Lent—just as Indians and Cubs fans say: “There’s always next year…”

But in all seriousness, we always have to begin again. We always have to be encouraged by the good that we’ve cultivated in our hearts. And, we can likewise never settle into a place where we believe that the work of growing into the person God has created us to be is completely finished.      

  

After all, the work of cultivating a healthy life and spiritual center is a lifelong process, and it’s a tough one besides. However, not only do we have the Church seasons to help us work through things again and again; we also have a community of faith that challenges us, and forms us. More importantly, we have the love of Jesus Christ to empower us to always be better; as well as the Holy Spirit to help us to grow into the people God has created us to be. But it takes time, and we can neither rush the process, nor force it—we can only wait and tend to things as we’re able, and allow God to bring that work to completion in God’s time. So be patient, but never stop the work.