Ruth 1 : the least of these

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0029V1962?

Ruth 1: The Least of These

 

Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God…

 

The book of Ruth has been called an idyllic, romantic story. It just begins with famine, exile, and death.

As the story begins, it is a time of famine. From Bethlehem, their home, a couple travel with their sons east and south across the Jordan Valley and down to the land of Moab east of the Dead Sea. There they live, with their two sons, for ten years. During that time both sons marry; but then all three men die. Left alive are one mature woman and two younger, who are apparently as yet without children and young enough so they can remarry and find safety and refuge in new homes with new husbands, in their native land. That is what their mother-in-law urges them to do. 

One takes this sensible and commonplace advice and turns back to her family home. The other goes beyond the call of duty and stays beside her mother-in-law. Now who is the exile? And what hope does she have? 

She is not the first to find herself on foreign soil, unknown and unfamiliar.

Abraham had said to the Hittites “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you.” (Gen 23:3-4) When Zipporah and Moses had a son, his father named him Gershom, (ger means stranger) saying, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” (Ex 2.22) Now Ruth, without husband or home, is going to be the stranger.

For Naomi arriving in Bethlehem is a homecoming. Ruth ‘returned with her’ - but for Ruth it is to a land unknown. She is the stranger now.

What we know, that Ruth may not, is that this people to whom she has come has a tradition, a law even, about looking after the stranger and the widow, “for you were strangers once in Egypt.” (Ex 22.21, Lev 19.34)

She could not have come to a better place. Where she arrives as a foreigner - spoiler alert - she will find a home such as she has never known, thanks to the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings she has come for refuge. (Ruth 2.12b) He shall cover you, says the psalm, with his wings and you shall be safe under his feathers. (Ps 91.4a) 

And the people of Bethlehem will soon say to Ruth, you are no longer a stranger nor an alien, but you are a member of the household of God… (Eph 2.19)

As the first chapter closes, the barley harvest begins. That means it is spring, around the equinox, about seven weeks before the wheat harvest festival that we will hear more about in future chapters.

Let’s take some time to think about the place where Ruth is arriving. It is at about the same elevation as the base of A mountain, where Tucson’s Birthplace Mission Garden stands. The climate was different. Here the traditional feast of the wheat harvest falls on San Ysidro day, in mid-May; while in ancient Israel, and therefore among Jews today, the wheat harvest festival, called Shavuot, begins on an evening in June, this year on the 11th. Ruth and Naomi have come to Bethlehem, before that festival, about seven weeks earlier. 

Drawn by hope, or driven by fear, many people today travel across the desert places of the world: they may seek refuge, they may seek opportunity, but the journey is made every day, across the expanse of the Mediterranean (“water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”) or through the desert south of Tucson. The people who reach us aren’t always in good shape. A young family could be comforting each other, husband and wife, as they mourn the loss of a daughter or son who just barely survived the journey but dies in a Tucson hospital; or a single woman who miscarried is left alone – and so an opportunity is lost for two people, a chance lost to start a new life. 

In our story in the first chapter of the book of Ruth we see three women left without the protection of a husband or a safe place to live, in the midst of a famine that has lasted for 10 years. The story of Ruth is called an idyllic romance, but it begins with famine, exile, and the tragedies of death; it becomes a happy story only later, and later we will talk about those latter parts of the story, when the corner turns from trouble to glory, from past loss to future abundance. The empty shall become full, the foreigner family.

We may have crossed deserts of our own. We may have been accompanied, or we may have been alone. Or we may have been among those greeting others as they arrived. 

What the challenge is for us is to become one people, one family; all under the protection, under the wings, as it were, of one God. Whether we begin as refugees or hosts, we are all called to come together as one. And to care for each other as one.

There is a strange story, another journey story, of journey away and then back again, that has long been in our common cultural heritage. I was not thinking of  “The Hobbit” - though a good guess. I have been reading “The Odyssey” in a new translation. In it a veteran of the Trojan War, Odysseus aka Ulysses, is making his journey homeward. It is not easy: shipwreck, cannibals, the lure of satiety, and the loss of companions, all slow him down. Meanwhile his son has grown up and his wife is left to fend off suitors - who are after her not least for the land and wealth that would come with her hand. 

Odysseus has limited trust in the gods he knows, the gods he knows too well to trust entirely. One accompanies him from time to time, in strange and shifting disguises that he slowly unpeels, and others appear from time to time as helper or obstruction. One in particular has it in for him, and others are neutral. This is the pagan world - and to us worldview - in which this ancient Greek operates. It is really all up to him. “You dogs!” he says to the suitors hanging around his wife, “You thought I’d never make it.”

For the women in our story, it is not all up to them. By their own efforts they would never make it. But they are never alone. They are reaching a community - a community of kindness - that is imbued with the gifts and graces of the knowledge of a living God. God is with them, not in disguise, but in the way in which people treat each other. In the laws and customs, and practices and choices, of the people they come to live among.

As in the story of Naomi and Ruth, so in parables of the sower and of the mustard seed, the good news is that small beginnings lead to greater ends. 

Insignificant in its size a seed in the right ground germinates, and properly tended - by the unseen hand of God - yields abundance. God’s kingdom is present in minute, hidden form as seed … and therefore as already present. Unpromising beginnings, great endings.

The people who first relayed these stories to each other, with their simple symbolic pictures, passed on to us, carried the message to us, that there is hope for the future. 

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jer 29.11)

It is into that hopeful future that we, like Naomi and Ruth, shall journey together.

It is into that hopeful future that we, infused with faith and walking in the Spirit, shall arrive.

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Sermon Series: Ruth at Santa Cruz Lutheran Church, Tucson, Arizona. 

https://fb.watch/sUdy79sLwy/ June 16th 2024.

JRL+

June 16  ELW #681 “We Plow the Fields and Scatter”(Wir pflugen)  

First Reading: Ruth 1 

Psalm: Psalm 146

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

June 23 ELW #597 “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” 

First Reading: Ruth 2

Psalm: Psalm 147

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

June 30  ELW #612  “Healer of Our Every Ill” -

or ELW #733  "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" (one of these as closer?)

First Reading: Ruth 3

Canticle: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

July 7  ELW #676  “Lord Speak to Us that We may Speak”

First Reading: Ruth 4

Psalm: Psalm 127

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Gospel: Mark 6:1-13

First reading is from the Revised English Bible [REB] (Cambridge/Oxford, 1989).

Santa Cruz Lutheran Church, Tucson. June 16th 2024. https://fb.watch/sUdy79sLwy/

mustard

 

Mustard blooms between the rows of vines even before bud-break promises the arrival of grapes. And the mustard reaches above the heads of the vines, before the sprout of new growth. But it is not a tree. Why didn’t Jesus choose a redwood tree or a saguaro? They are big and their seeds are small. And birds nest in them. But as Michael Gibson pointed out Sunday, he was cooking a different fish. It wasn’t just about large from small, in the realm of seeds. It was about small to large among men and women. A few people, not noticed by the great, could rest in the convenient shade of an assuming bush, which thereby made itself and them mighty. Mighty -- that is, powerful -- because of their modesty. For they would depend not on their own size but on the size of God. And that is big enough for anyone. 

In Jesus’ land and in his day there were great and small among the ranks of people. Some had high status and great power, as some do today. And some, Jesus’ particular friends, not so much.

So the faith he sought to find he found on a small scale, among the ordinary, among the vines, where the promises lay still dormant as the mustard bloomed: but the promise was already there.

Soon a new harvest would come. One that depended on God for its abundance and its joy.

That is the kingdom of God. So small to see and so great in effect. 

Hidden

seed, yeast, treasure, and pearl

A man sows seed in a field. It starts small, but grows.

A woman hides yeast in a big batch of flour, but it shows itself: it causes the whole batch to rise.

A man discovers that a field holds a treasure and quickly quietly giddily goes to buy that field and claim the treasure.

Equally foolishly a businessman liquidates his assets to devote all his resources to the acquisition of a single pearl.

Two children lean over a basin and get their hair wet.

Yet somehow all these people with their outrageous gestures of abandonment to joy find themselves fulfilled far beyond the dreams of avarice.

The little bitty seed outgrows all expectations and furnishes the nesting place for birds of all the air.

The little leaven is enough to season ⅔ of a bushel - plenty of bread for everybody. (Is this one of Jesus’ lakeside feasts?)

These two clever fellows with their secret deals - a treasure in a field, a pearl of great price - outmaneuver themselves, right out of the market, for now they have nothing - nothing but the one thing that matters above all else.

Leaving the rest behind, they find that one perfect pearl, that seed of a great tree, that hidden hoard of unreasoned happiness, that overwhelming blessing of bread, that redeems all of life.

The one thing that matters.

For hidden in all these parables is the one true thing that makes all else make sense: the same thing that two little kids are dedicated to today: following Jesus.

That is what the kingdom of heaven means: a way of living that makes sense of life.

And behind it is an unbreakable promise by the maker of all things:

I will never leave you. I will never stop loving you.

In the midst of your worst trials and tribulations, your greatest loves and greatest fears, I will stay by your side.

That is God’s promise to all of us: that now that we have called upon him,

Nothing can separate us from the love of the Eternal One. Nothing is that strong.

And so the stamp is indelible. The watermark is unerasable. The oil stain cannot be washed out.

You are marked as Christ’s own for ever.

July 30, 2017.

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost.

Proper 12, Year A.

Baptism

Romans 8:26-39

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46

The Parable of the Mustard Seed. (31-32)

The Parable of the Yeast. (33)

The Parable of the treasure hidden in a field. (44)

The Pearl of Great Price (45-46).

kernel mustard

Small, hidden, mysterious, potent, seed – mustard, cedar, soy, or sycamore – grows quietly, becoming only slowly what it will become in its fullness, and yet – the kernel is there, the seed is there, the DNA is there: and the seed knows how it wants to grow, knows what it wants to become.

That sounds a bit mystical: and yet even horticulturalists talk that way. When W. S. Merwin was growing his garden of 800 rare kinds of palm trees on 19 acres in Ha'ikū, Hawaii, he asked the biologist E. O. Wilson if it was silly to talk to the trees. And Wilson replied, no, it was not silly at all. “‘The tree’s gene code is much older than yours,’ he said. ‘It’s not withholding anything. If you know how to talk, it will tell you everything you want.’”

I trusted the tree in the backyard. We were friends. If I could talk to it, it would talk to me. But I didn't know how. I was talking to the biologist E.O. Wilson about that, and he said talking to trees was not silly at all. 'The tree's gene code is much older than yours,' he said. 'It's not withholding anything. If you know how to talk, it will tell you everything you want.'" Even, it seems, how to grow a forest.

Matthew Gurewitsch, “On the Palms From His Hands”, The Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304019404577418053772472254.html accessed June 16, 2012)

They know how they want to grow.

And it turns out, in the case of plants and trees, they often want to start out slowly, from small beginnings, growing in mysterious and hidden ways – and sometimes they increase and flourish.

The people Jesus knew were dry-culture farmers, meaning they had no irrigation in first-century Palestine. They would cultivate the ground, sow the seed, and, in time, harvest. But in the meantime, they knew, it was up to God.

One time I was talking to the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and I ventured that he had had quite a success as bishop of Bath and Wells during a great renewal in the church. And he replied, someone else did the sowing; I was there at the harvest. Not just humility, but truth. And in between, they knew, it was up to God.

We’d like to force it, sometimes. We’d like it to grow the way we want it to grow, on our timetable, to our specifications. But the kingdom of God is – God’s kingdom. And God is the one who makes things grow.

We guide, nourish, co-operate; we are at best assistant gardeners; which, it turns out, is a pretty important job.

We are called to be part of the growth of the most extraordinary thing; we are called to be part of the growth of the most ordinary thing.

For the kingdom of heaven, Ezekiel said, was like this: God takes a small twig, a sprig, from the top of a cedar tree, and plants it on a high mountain. This sprig takes root and grows; and in time that cedar is the greatest and noblest of trees; birds rest in its branches. And yet – the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, is like the smallest of seeds – a mustard seed. And you know what happens when you spread mustard seed around?

A bunch of small plants! Maybe four feet high! Covering a hillside or a field, or filling your garden, what you have are almost ordinary weeds – just something ordinary. Something not far away, not inaccessibly gigantic, not impossible to grow; something you can reach out and touch with your hands, flowers you can pluck, seeds you can taste.

The kingdom of heaven is close at hand. The kingdom of heaven is already among you. The kingdom of heaven is real – and not strange at all. It is growing – like a weed!

What do we learn from this? Patience, hope, vision. And those are not small things at all.

We know that growth of the kingdom is not obvious and not subject to our control. We know that God is responsible for what falls and what rises. We know that he will transform the world, that a new creation is coming into being, that we are part of it. We know that God’s glory begins sometimes as a small and hidden (Gk: krypton) thing.

We know that the kingdom is God’s doing – and our eyes will marvel at it in its fullness, in its glory.

Vision, and hope despite the odds; patience – these are not small things, but extraordinary things: things that make the kingdom grow. And make us grow with it.

How will we plant a mustard seed today? How will we have faith – put our trust in God?

How will we enjoy seeing it grow? Will we wait? Will we try to push it along?

The kingdom will come, is coming, in its fullness: it is already present in hidden, small, secret, potent form. How will we help it spread?

Where do you see it spreading?

June 17
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 6

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 4:26-34

The Kingdom of Heaven compared to a Grain of Mustard-seed

The Kingdom of Heaven compared to a Grain of Mustard-seed

by Christopher Smart

Then did he to the throng around
Another parable propound.
So fares it with the heavenly reign
As mustard-seed, of which a grain
Was taken in a farmer's hand
And cast into a piece of land.
This grain, the least of all that's sown,
When once to full perfection grown,
Outstrips all herbs to that degree
Till it at length becomes a tree,
And all the songsters of the air
Take up an habitation there.

Christ laid (at first an infant boy)
The basis of eternal joy;
And from humility, his plan,
Arose the best and greatest man,
The greatest man that ever trod
On earth was Christ th' eternal God,
Which as the branch of Jesse's root
Ascends to bear immortal fruit.
From contradiction, sin and strife,
He spreads abroad the tree of life;
And there his servants shall partake
The mansions, that the branches make;
There saints innumerable throng,
Assert their seat, and sing their song.





Christopher Smart (1722-1771)

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the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus

St Francis began as a fabric sales rep - can you imagine a father calling his son Frankie so that he would embody the French fashions he (the father) was trying to sell? But that is what Francis' father did - decked him out in fine clothes, gave him the gear and the purse, to entertain the young nobles of the town - lead them on their revels - until Francis saw something else: a vision.

It did not come to him quickly. It came after many trials. He was involved in a civil war between his hometown and the town across the valley and became a prisoner of war. He tried to enlist in the Crusades but turned back after giving his fine armor to a poor knight. He fell ill and recovered. He prayed and sought guidance. He served the poorest of the poor. He made a pilgrimage. And then while he was praying in the little lost church of San Damiano, derelict and sad, in front of an icon of Christ crucified, he received his commission:

"Rebuild my church - which as you see is falling down."

So Francis went to the warehouse of his father, loaded down his horse with fine fabrics, rode to the next town, sold good and horse, and walked home in a happy spirit. He offered the proceeds to the priest at the ruined church.

That was not enough. His father came after him - he hid but was caught. His father haled him in front of the bishop in the town square: "I want back from you everything you have had from me."

All right. He did. Francis stripped himself bare and laid all his clothes at his father's feet. He was naked, as naked as the day he was born. All those fine clothes were gone.

The bishop quickly covered him with his cope. Francis found shelter in the bishop's house. There in the garden on a trash heap he discovered a worn-out cloak that the under-gardener had discarded. He chalked a cross on the back and gladly put it on.

If you remember the first day of the week when the women walked down in the early light to the tomb, to dress the body of Jesus with spices and herbs - how Mary saw a man there, who asked her, whom do you seek? She turned to him, and begged,

"If you know where they have taken him, please tell me."

She mistook him for the gardener. He must have just scrounged something up that he could put on so he was covered against the cold.

Francis must have known what garment he was putting on - it was a sign of resurrection, of a new life beginning for him - and for the church.

From that early beginning he began to build a new life out of old bones, a new church out of old stones, turning what had been a ruin, as desolate as the city of Jeremiah, in to a new house for God.

His own life had reached a turning point and passed it. What had been broken was blessed, transformed, and offered, given as a gift to God. All it took was a little faith. Something new began to grow.

Increase our faith! The apostles said, and Jesus replied, if only your faith were as big as this - a grain of mustard - you could just say the word and anything could happen.

Francis started with something very small: a kernel, a grain; and from it built a life lived in abundance. Scarcely would it seem had he anything and yet he had all he needed: faith in a gracious God.

What he did with the small beginning was more than rebuild a little church, more than make a safe place for himself and his friends. He spent the rest of his life in worship, witness and service. Francis and his companions spread out across Italy, Europe, and the world - preaching the new life in Christ.

They rebuilt the body of Christ through word and example that enlivened the faith of the people. Francis and his friends gave us the gift of reliance on God, the love of all creatures, and the gift of making peace.

When we celebrate together the Eucharist we remember Christ and his work in the world - not only in our own time but also in times past and times to come. We remember saints of the past, witnesses like Francis to the Word's redeeming power, and we look forward in hope to a future filled with grace, the grace we experience today in the gift of the Great Thanksgiving, the Eucharist, celebrated in remembrance of God's gracious abundance, his gift of himself in the person of his Son, unstinting and unsparing beyond measure or dessert, giving himself that we might have life eternal and share it with generosity, hospitality, courage and love.



The Prayer before the Crucifix at San Damiano

Most High, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me true faith, certain hope and perfect charity,
sense and knowledge, Lord,
that I may carry out Your holy and true command.






Blessing to Brother Leo

May the Lord
bless you and keep you.
May He show His face to you
and be merciful to you.
May He turn His countenance to you
and give you peace.


Chronology of the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, from the website of the Order of Friars Minor, the brother hood that he founded:

* 1181 (Summer or Fall) Born in Assisi, baptized Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone at the request of his mother Pica, called Francesco by his father, Pietro di Bernardone, a rich cloth merchant.
* 1199 – 1200 Civil War in Assisi. Many noble families flee to Perugia.
* 1202 (November) War between Perugia and Assisi. The latter is defeated at Collestrada. Francis spends a year in captivity (falls ill) until ransomed by his father.
* 1204 A long period of illness and convalescence.
* 1205 Francis sets out to join the army of Walter de Brienne. Returns after a vision and message in Spoleto. Beginning of a gradual period of conversion.
* 1205 (Fall) Message of the Crucifix at San Damiano, Conflict with his father.
* 1206 (January or February) Trial before the Bishop.
* 1206 (Spring) Francis nurses the lepers at Gubbio.
* 1206 (Summer) Returns to Assisi and begins to rebuild San Damiano; end of conversion process; (Summer to January or February) He repairs San Damiano, San Pietro della Spina and Our Lady of the Angels “Portiuncula”.
* 1208 (February 24) Francis hears the Gospel for the Feast of St. Matthias.
* 1208 (April 16) Bernard of Quintavalle and the priest, Peter Cattani join him. Others follow.
* 1208 – 1209 (Fall and Winter) Francis is assured of the pardon of his sins and the growth of his fraternity. They go out two by two to preach penance.
* 1209 They return to the Portiuncula and Francis writes a brief Rule for himself and his eleven friars. They receive the approval of Pope Innocent III in Rome. The friars return to Rivotorto and then to the Portiuncula.
* 1212 (Palm Sunday night) Reception and investiture of St. Clare at the Portiuncula. After a stay with the Benedictine Nuns, Clare moves to San Damiano.
* 1215 Francis at Rome for the IV Lateran Council.
* 1216 Francis receives the Portiuncula Indulgence from Pope Honorius at Perugia
* 1217 (May 5 – Pentecost) General Chapter of all the friars at the Portiuncula. First mission outside Italy.
* 1219 (May 26) First friar missionaries leave for Morocco.
* 1219 (June 24) Francis sails for the Holy Land.
* 1219 (Fall) St. Francis meets with the Sultan.
* 1220 First Franciscan martyrs: the friars killed in Morocco.
* 1220 Cardinal Hugolino appointed Protector of the Order.
* 1220 Francis resigns as General Minister and friar Peter Cattani appointed.
* 1221 Peter Cattani dies and at Chapter Bro. Elias becomes the Vicar.
* 1221-1222 Francis goes on a preaching tour throughout Italy.
* 1223 Francis goes to Fontecolombo to write the definitive Rule for the Order of Friars Minor. The Chapter discusses it and further changes are made until its approval by Pope Honorius III in November.
* 1223 The first Christmas Crib midnight Mass at Greccio.
* 1224 The long retreat of Francis at La Verna where he receives the Stigmata.
* 1225 His eye problems turn worse and he stays for a while at San Damiano with St. Clare and the sisters. At the insistence of Bro. Elias he undergoes medical treatment but without improvement. Almost blind he writes his “Canticle of the Creatures”.
* 1225 – 1226 Francis goes to Fontecolumbo where the doctors cauterize his temple in an unsuccessful treatment. At Sienna he takes a turn for the worse and dictates a short “last will”.
* 1226 (September) Staying at the Bishop’s house in Assisi, Francis knows that he is dying, writes the Testament and asks to be brought down to the Portiuncula.
* 1226 (October 3) Francesco dies at the Portiuncula in the evening.
* 1226 (October 4) He is buried in the church of San Giorgio.
* 1228 (July 16) In Assisi, his friend Cardinal Hugolino now Pope Gregory IX canonizes Francis.
* 1230 (May 25) Transfer of the Saint’s remains to his tomb in the new papal basilica of San Francesco.

http://www.ofm.org/ofm/?page_id=197&lang=en

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sow broadcast at any time

If You Want Your Dream To Be...


If you want your dream to be
Build it slow and surely.
Small beginnings, greater ends
Heartfelt work grows purely.

If you want to live life free
Take your time go slowly.
Do few things but do them well
Simple joys are holy.

Day by day,
Stone by stone,
Build your secret slowly.
Day by day,
You'll grow too,
You'll know heaven's glory.

If you want your dream to be
Build it slow and surely.
Small beginnings, greater ends,
Heartfelt work grows purely.
If you want to live life free
Take your time go slowly.

(Donovan)


The seed catalog came today – a bit late, I grant you, for spring planting, but late summer and early fall are not far away, and then I will be planting – mustard seed!

The kind of mustard seed I will be planting is an “excellent cover crop often used in orchards and vineyards.” It “suppresses weeds, nematodes and soil diseases, cycles nutrients, and increases tilth.” It is also “a high protein forage. Sow broadcast at any time during the growing season. It can be harvested at any stage, but preferably just after flowering. Plant mid-August for winter cover.”

(Bountiful Gardens 2009 Catalog, p. 32.)

I will prepare the ground, raking and watering, perhaps, and then – I will sow the seed. Just fling it! Just plant it. Rake it in – and let it grow. I could get up day and night, worry about it, fuss with it – but it will grow of its own accord, automatically, without help.

Something will come up – and bear fruit after its kind.

When Jesus was teaching crowds gathered. They came to him by the lakeshore. He had the disciples embark with him in a boat, so that he could speak to the people on shore. He told them about the kingdom of God, the coming reign of God, but he spoke to them in parables. He told them stories – simple stories, but with a kick to them.

And they listened. And they heard something. Something we may not notice: echoes, echoes of the Old Testament glories of the prophets.

When Jesus spoke of a little seed that grew into a great big plant – he reminded them of something they’d heard before.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, of a tree that grew and spread, and carried in its branches the birds of the air, and provided food for all.

Upon my bed this is what I saw;
there was a tree at the centre of the earth,
and its height was great.
The tree grew great and strong,
its top reached to heaven,
and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.
Its foliage was beautiful,
its fruit abundant,
and it provided food for all.
The animals of the field found shade under it,
the birds of the air nested in its branches,
and from it all living beings were fed.

Daniel told him it was an image of a king.

The tree that you saw, which grew great and strong, so that its top reached to heaven and was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and which provided food for all, under which animals of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air had nests— it is you, O king! You have grown great and strong. Your greatness has increased and reaches to heaven, and your sovereignty to the ends of the earth.

Daniel told him it was the image of a king… but we know (and Daniel knew) what king is truly great, what Lord is really sovereign, and what kingdom really endures.

(Daniel 4:10-12, 20-22)


Ezekiel had a vision, and spoke:

Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of a cedar;
I will set it out.
I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will plant it
on a high and lofty mountain.
On the mountain height of Israel
I will plant it,
in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit,
and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.

(Ezekiel 17:22-23)

So when Jesus spoke of a seed, and of a great plant that grew from it, putting forth branches so that the birds of the air could nest in its shade, his listeners knew, right away, that he was speaking of the kingdom of heaven. He was speaking subversion, of course – subversion of the Roman state, of the powers that be, of the rulers of this world – because he was speaking of the coming of the true king, the Messiah of Israel.

He was, however, speaking of the Messiah of Israel coming in a humble way, almost like – a king riding on a donkey or the foal of a donkey, instead of a great war-horse. He spoke of small beginnings, greater ends. Simple things. A secret, built slowly.

Like a little seed, the disciples were a little group. On the edge of empire, seldom seen. What grew from them – was great. It was the beginning of the new order of the ages, the kingdom they proclaimed: for they in their simple way, in their little band of brothers and sisters, carried the kernel, the nucleus, the seed-corn, of a great harvest to come.

When we in our turn do simple things – throw something out there, plant a seed, watch it grow – we take part in this kingdom’s coming. It comes in secret, quietly at first, not with great fanfare, but with joyous flowering – like the mustard seed in spring, just a first hint of what is to come.

Among us are people who spread the word, the good news, of Jesus – in their deeds and in their words. We all do it in our actions done for the Lord, and some times we do it in plain sight.

Each of us has had people in our lives who have ‘planted a seed’ – a word in season, an action of kindness, a lifelong dedicated struggle to bring something good into being.

Small or great, these efforts have been like mustard seeds for us – something started, that may grow into a great thing, a shelter for life to flourish in, and a simple symbol of God’s glory.

Today we honor a group of those people, the teachers in our Sunday school. The seeds they plant will we pray mature over time – and in the lives of the children of our parish, provide a place for the peaceable kingdom to emerge and to flourish.

As we rejoice in the gospel, we pray for all who spread the Good News, for evangelists and preachers, for Sunday school teachers, for all the laity in their sharing of the faith.

We pray for all who produce Bibles, and those who help us to understand your holy word.

Lord, may your church grow in holiness, in outreach, and in number.

Lord God, Almighty, rule in our hearts: direct our decisions, guide our actions, let your kingdom grow in us, that we may live and work to your praise and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

* * * * *

God give you grace to grow in holiness, to extend your vision, to increase your faith, to draw nearer to him; and the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest upon you today and remain with you always. Amen.



Sources:
Donovan, song in "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", film directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Paramount, 1972)
Bountiful Gardens 2009 Catalog (http://www.bountifulgardens.org/)
David Adam, Traces of Glory: Prayers for the Church Year, Year B (SPCK, 1999)
Fred B. Craddock et al., Preaching Through the Christian Year, Year B (Trinity Press International, 1993)
David B. Lott, ed., New Proclamation: Year B, 2009 Easter to Christ the King (Fortress, 2008)
Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man (Orbis, 1995)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today, Year B, Volume 3 (Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Marie Noonan Sabin, The Gospel According to Mark. New Collegeville Bible Commentary (Liturgical Press, 2006)
Scott Sinclair, A Study Guide to Mark's Gospel (BIBAL, 1996)
Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Daniel 4:10-12, 20-22

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Psalm 20
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 4:26-34


see also http://justgleanings.blogspot.com, http://godspace.wordpress.com, http://www.msainfo.org

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Mustardseed Sunday

May our prayers rise like incense before you, and the lifting of our hearts as the evening sacrifice.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, and when words fail me may your Spirit intercede for me. In the name of Christ.

Last summer I grew a beard. I had plenty of time for such projects, because of what had come just before….

When words fail us,
we rely on the Spirit to intercede.

Beyond what we know or think is possible, God is working—
in a seed so small as a mustard seed, there is the beginning of verdant growth;
in a palm full of yeast there is the hidden power to make the bread to rise:
it’s something humble, almost, imperceptible, yet God is working there.

In a field is a hidden treasure, like a Viking hoard long lost; or
In the marketplace is a pearl of so great a value,
that to have it in your hand is worth all you can summon together to give.

There is a net full of fish—
and the good alone is kept.

(What is there to do—when someone is gone, but to remember the good?)

[“There’s nothing to remember about her except the good.”—Paola, closing out chapter one of The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon, (Atlantic Monthly Press, May 2008)]

There is a storehouse full of treasures old and new; to listen to the word is to bring them forth.

Even in crazy stuff like Jacob’s story, and the stories of Rachel and Leah, we can see God’s hand at work. He is working out his purpose even in the wiliest of men—or the wackiest of families.

(Imagine Jacob waking up next to— a Surprise! “Who are you people????” And the response comes as they all burst through the door: “We’re your family!!!”)

Beyond what we can ask for or even imagine are the promises of God, the future with hope he is working out for his people—

through hidden things and great,
with those who are obedient—

for these parables all give us glimpses of what the world can be like when we let God be in charge,

and take part in his loving work, as his hands in the world.

We hear the good news:
Christ has died for us and set us free;
nothing can separate us from the love of God—
all things work together for good to those who love God—

and so we can with boldness say
Our Father:

and so we can take on Christ as our Lord as well as savior;

so we can respond to the challenge of the gospel, the invitation and the promises of the Covenant we make in Baptism:

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? We will, with God’s help.

learning what it means to walk the Christian way,
having companions for the journey,
encouraging each other,
showing each other the love of God
and how to live it, out in the world?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you do fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? We will, with God’s help.

not giving up or being too proud to seek God’s forgiveness,
to make reconciliation, to say ‘sorry’,
to make amends— or forgive— and move on

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? We will, with God’s help.

to show in our lives that we bear the love of God into the world—
what we say, what we do, says that Christ is Lord, that God is in charge of the world:
loving it, redeeming it, and bringing it to completion in the fullness of time.

Will you, loving your neighbor as yourself, seek and serve Christ in all persons? We will, with God’s help.

so easy to dismiss or belittle the unfamiliar,
so easy to be unkind to the stranger,
so much easier;
than standing up for what is right

Will you respect the dignity of every human being, and strive for justice and peace among all people? We will, with God’s help.

for that is what it means when God is in charge—
and what it means to be his people,
for whom all things work together for good,
according to his promise.

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The love of God enfold you,
the power of Christ protect you,
the leading of the Spirit guide you,
and the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

(Blessing from Clouds and Glory by David Adam, SPCK, 2000)

JRL+