8th Sun Pentecost-Proper 11
Mother Christina Cernansky
I speak to you in the name of Source, God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, mother of us all.
Good morning All Saints. This is the second week that we get to sit and discern on the seed parables of Jesus. Seeds are the foundation of life. Seeds are a food source and a source of creation. Seeds can grow into shade-giving trees; they can grow big and create habitats for our animal kingdom friends.
I appreciate how we get to get these parables together, last week and this week, to hammer home, maybe something that might be obvious in life that we need to chew on a bit more!
As some of you may know, I spent a month in military chaplaincy training. The lessons learned and the friends I made were miraculous and spirit-filled. I was, and still am, in sheer awe at the unbelievable miracles my body was able to perform while being supervised by a Marine Corps drill sergeant during physical fitness practices. Sometimes I question God’s decision to send me on this path, but time and time again, God proves to me that I am fully capable of doing hard things, of course, with God’s help. Imagine that!
You know what else God taught me? To love my neighbor.
In my class, there were 52 students, and we all came from different backgrounds. There were five women, so almost 10% of the class were female. Most of the class supported female chaplains, because we are called to serve in spaces men couldn’t reach. There were some men who didn’t support women clergy, and it was made known. Sometimes publicly and sometimes in private with our other classmates.
Now, this is not going to be a sermon on the mistranslation of the word deaconess when referring to Pheobe, or how Lydia financially floated the church when it expanded to Europe, or how Mary Magdanline showed up for Jesus in a very different way than the men did…but of course I did share those points when the time was appropriate!
But yes, I digress.
So here I am, asking God to show me the way, to show up with compassion and grace. There were times when I thought there were many weeds around me. And I am sure, there were some students who thought that they were surrounded, maybe by weeds. Or that maybe I was a weed.
I pushed myself not to simplify our experiences into who was and who was not a weed. I mean, we can get pretty distracted by judgment talk, amongst the plentiful crop of wheat! What shall we do?!?!?!
Through thoughtful prayer and meditation, I wanted to learn, I wanted to grow, and I wanted to deepen my roots of understanding of my community as well as who I am as a Christian. I showed up for these chaplains, you know my love language is food and giving gifts. So I handed out a bunch of snacks.
We did a volunteer service day, and I walked around and made sure my classmates had sunscreen & water. I asked them what their calling was about, where they were from, where they worship, and asked them about their families. We prayed together, broke bread together, went shopping together, and compared notes on the best way to prepare for the task at hand.
I did not rush to pull out the weeds; I did not rush to judge. I patiently tended to my siblings in Christ, the same way I show up for you all here at All Saints. Now, did I lose my patience and get annoyed about some things that I saw and heard? Absolutely, but I saw the light in them, and I challenged myself to fully embody their hearts and minds.
I tried to avoid anything that might have kept me from showing up for my classmates. I got to know them, and I wanted to build my relationship with them so that our next encounter out in the fleet, we could pick up where we left off.
Now, in a couple of instances, I asked what version of the Bible they read and inquired about the term used to describe Phoebe’s role in the Church, and I pray I may have planted a seed of curiosity!
Jesus asks us to tend to the flock, to oversee the harvest, to not be quick to make everything perfect in “our eyes” but to let God do the work. To allow for space for the Holy Spirit to cultivate, to grow, to nourish, to fertilize the souls of our siblings.
Sometimes that might be challenging. Sometimes we are asked to step out of our ego and live a more righteous life. We are called to lead a path for all, for all to reach for a higher good, a higher purpose, to repent and be renewed. If we are stepping into God’s path, into the light of the Holy Spirit, we are tending the harvest Jesus has taught us to tend.
In today’s readings, we hear of the grace God gave Jacob; we hear the Psalmists searching and looking to be found, humbly allowing faith to work in them. And in Paul’s letters to the Romans, we are constantly being shaped and formed; our Great Creator is busy creating us, molding us, shaping us as we learn from one another and gain wisdom in this thing we call life. We are all going through growing pains, sometimes more than others, at various points in our lives. And we are asked to repent, to be renewed, to turn anew as we love God and love our neighbors, in this wheat field with beautiful dandelions popping up that still have a lot to share with the world. If there are enough of us in the wheat field, and we know there is plenty, maybe we can dilute the message of hate, of greed, of selfishness, of injustice. We can stand tall and know that we can support one another, and maybe sometimes those who are curious, wondering about other ways to grow, we are there to share so they might receive spiritual nourishment. I know I had many conversations that might lead to further discernment. And I certainly learned more about my faith and my relationship with God, which got stronger. And most certainly, my role as a priest, leading a life within the Christian framework, got a little bit steadier because I saw the beauty of the work that needs to be done, tending to the crops, weeds, and all.