Harry Potter and the Harvest among the Weeds

Sermon 7-19-20

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The Bible is many things. If you have been reading along with our 90 Day Bible Challenge, it becomes obvious very quickly…. It is a history book – telling us the story of how God has been faithful to God’s people in the past, even when we keep messing up. It’s a poetry and song book – teaching us how to pray, and to give voice to our deepest emotions. It’s community bulletin board or blog – sharing the hopes, prayers, and concerns of a fledgling Christian community surrounded by a confusing and scary world. It is an origin story – revealing to us who Jesus is and how he lived and died and rose again. The Bible is all of these things and much, much more. But one thing it is NOT: the Bible most definitely NOT a gardening or farming handbook.

Last week we heard about a sower who went out to sow, who just scattered seeds around willy-nilly. Here again the farmer in Jesus’ story needs to take some remedial farmer classes. What do you NORMALLY do when you see weeds growing in your garden plot? You get down on your hands and knees and pull those suckers out as soon as possible! You don’t wait around and “see what happens.” Come on Jesus, everybody knows that! But this story is not a guide to better gardening.

Because the farmer in the parable waited so long, the removal of the weeds at this stage would actually cause more harm than good, so they are left to grow up with crops. Together the crops and the weeds are watered by the rain, are nourished by the soil, and shone upon by the sun. It is not until harvest time, many months later, that the weeds are separated out and bound into bundles to be burned in a big bonfire. Mmmm I can just smell the pumpkin spice.

But in the meantime, the crops long for the day that the weeds are finally removed. I imagine the good seed crying out to the master of the field – Lord, there are so many weeds! Look at them all! They are everywhere – right here next to us, sharing our sun and water and soil, their roots becoming intertwined with our roots, their leaves brushing up against ours. O Lord, why must we wait until the harvest day? Why can’t they be weeded out TODAY?

The weeds are with us in our newspapers and on the TV nightly news, filling up space and time with BAD news, corruption within our halls of government and bad behavior done in the name of God. O Lord, why must we WAIT until the harvest day?

The weeds are with us in our own communities and our own families, refusing to wear masks, not social distancing at the beach or in the supermarket, targeting people because of the color of their skin, sharing scary rhetoric on social media. O Lord, why must we wait until the harvest day?

But the weeds are also with us …in the mirror. The root causes of sin and evil and brokenness has been sown within us too. The garden plots of our own hearts have been compromised. The seeds of the evil one has all too often found that the soil there is rich and ready. Their roots become deep and stuck fast.

Looking at Jesus’ story from this angle, perhaps our cries for the swift justice of the Lord are a bit premature. We may want to reconsider our eagerness to take up weeding in the name of the Lord… For such a harvest of justice in God’s kingdom would not leave any of us unscathed. So perhaps it is a blessing that our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

God only seems slow because we are living in the middle of the story. It probably took Jesus less than ten minutes to tell this parable from beginning to end, but it has taken, and will take, many lifetimes to live out. We are still in the growing time before the harvest. We’re not “done growing” yet, which sometime makes it hard for us to figure out which is which, who is a crop and who is a weed, as we go about our daily lives. From our vantage point, we can only see a small little plot of land, surrounded by weeds growing big and strong around us, and within us too. Nothing in our lives are uncompromised.

It would be silly to ask if you’ve heard of Harry Potter. Author J.K. Rowling created a literally magical universe where a woman is the smartest and most powerful wizard, the “little guys” become heroes, and the power of love overcomes the power of hate. The first book was published over 20 years ago, and this phenomenon has not lost any steam since – a seven book series, over a dozen movies, and even a play, not to mention Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. Through this universe, J.K Rowling seems to explore big ideas like feminism, racism, being an ally, the AIDS crisis, homophobia, PTSD and mental illness, all with the message of “you are not alone,” bringing comfort to so many teens and young adults struggling to fit in.

Now, really smart people have pointed out the inconsistencies and problematic areas of this magical world… but the most successful fiction does eventually take on a life of their own, much like moving out of your parent’s house, armed with all the wisdom they have taught you, is a mark of adulthood. Judging by this universe as a whole, we might surmise that “Parent” JK Rowling believes that this world – magic and real – is big enough for everyone?  ….right?

Well…. It turns out J.K. Rowling said some pretty closed minded and hateful things on twitter, and her blog last month. It turns out, she’s your run-of-the-mill, transphobic hypocrite. Like many of us. Except, none of us created a world where LQBTQIA+ people once felt welcomed. So what then do we do? How do we separate the storyteller from the story? How to separate the crops from the weeds? Are the good things from “Harry Potter” tainted, because they was created by a bigot?

If you want to scrap the entire thing because of all the hurt JK Rowling has caused you, please do. That is your right.

But maybe… Harry Potter can save Harry Potter. Daniel Radcliffe, who starred as in the movies’ title role, publicly stated he disagrees with Rowling, and gives us another perspective. He responded: “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished…I am deeply sorry …. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories ... If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe ... then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred.”

The story of Harry Potter lives on and might be able to rise about the flaws of its very human creator. Because that’s what the best stories do – make us long for a more just world – a world after weeds.  It’s why we read books and watch movies where the endings are happy – or if not, at least wrapped up neatly with no loose ends. The bad guys get what they deserve. The lovebirds live happily ever after. The kingdom is a peace. The End: cue the curtain, and roll the credits.

The weeds will be separated from the grains. The oppressed will be set free. All the wrongs will be righted. Sin and death will be no more. All that is evil in this world will come to an end, and the people here who truly are evil will be seen for who they are, get what is coming to them. But we may find ourselves not quite as pure as we thought we were in the process.

Today is not harvest day. It’s a growing day. It’s a day that we do put our hope in the Lord, present with us in the middle of the story, in the middle of the hard stuff. Because that’s where God is too. …Thanks be to God. AMEN.

Jesus Sucks at Farming

7-12-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

My family has a tradition around the 4^th of July. It started when my grandpa Posselt would write a phrase and the year on a piece of cardboard, and pose my brothers and me (and sometimes the dog) on the edge of a cornfield. The sign read, “Knee High by the 4^th of July.” That is basic benchmark for how corn should be growing, to be “on track” for fall,  and it’s really fun to see the pictures side by side from year to year. This year, my sister took a picture of my dad in the field, and the corn is almost over his head! However, in 1992, my brothers and I are standing in front of some sad-looking short corn, just barely tickling our kneecaps. That sign that year has this addendum: “Frost June 20^th, Hail June 25^th.” 1992 was a tough for corn.

If you haven’t noticed, Jesus LOVES to talk about farming, and he LOVES to tell stories his followers, like the one we just heard. Over the years, we have given them names, and this one is often known as “the Parable of the Sower.” These stories Jesus tell as a whole, or genre, get a special name – parables – which comes from a Greek word that originally means “to throw alongside.” Sometimes we get a better understanding of something when we set on thing alongside another. Sort of like when we compare these “Knee High” corn pictures from year to year.

For those of you who are gardeners or have experience farming, you may have noticed something very, very wrong with Jesus’ story. Is this how you plant your gardens? Most of the time, I imagine, you take the seed out of the package and carefully read the directions: plant seeds in full sun a half inch deep in loose soil, three to five inches apart. Thin plants when two inches tall. Water often, fertilize as necessary. Germination period sixty to seventy five days. “Doing your best impression of throwing confetti” is definitely nowhere to be found on seed package directions!

Even during the time of Jesus, random scattering was NOT how people planted their crops. Jesus’ people didn’t have big farm machinery, but they still took great care with their seeds, vineyards, and livestock. After all, this was their livelihood, and could mean the difference between eating or starvation. They could not run out to the grocery store.

Almost as important as seeds are to farming is the soil these seeds grow in. My theory now is that we are not supposed to really be asking ourselves what kind of soil we are, kind of like all those funny online personality quizzes. Can’t you just picture this going around Facebook? “Which kind of soil are you? Take this quiz NOW!” … “Too bad, you are rocky soil… good for you, you are good soil!”

Maybe, instead, we are all of these types of soil at the same time, or we even have been all of these kinds of soil at different stages of our lives.

I also think Jesus left something out big when he – or Matthew– tried explain this parable. They forgot to mention the vital ingredient that makes soil GOOD soil – fertilizer. Or more specifically… Manure.

My Dad could tell you about good soil and how every day he goes out to his fields to make them even better by spreading cow manure.  That’s right. A key component of good soil is … a word that I’m not going to say while livestreaming. A waste product that comes from the “wrong” end of a cow, smells bad, and is gross… but is exactly what makes soil rich and robust for new life to take hold.  

The rest of the world sees something that should be thrown away, cast out, criticized, forgotten, disregarded, and shamed. But sometimes… manure gets transformed. It becomes the fuel that drives the struggling, short corn to keep going, keep growing, despite the hardships, the frost, the hail.

We are capable of truly terrible things. We would rather bury the son of God in a tomb rather than face this God who relentlessly loves us, and also loves those we don’t think deserve it. We’re full of manure, and we can also treat people like they are manure. But God is a farmer who knows that manure has the potential to make good soil. Sometimes it’s a slow process, and it takes a while. But God doesn’t seem to care about strict timelines or proper farming and growing methods. God never gives up on us.

When this story is taking as a whole, it seems like God is actually a terrible farmer. God sees the good soil, and casts seeds like crazy, looking and hoping for growth. But then God sees the rocky soil… and does the same thing… and the same with the soil on the path! And the soil with the weeds! It doesn’t matter! All soil gets some of this love, no matter what the perceived “capacity” or potential return on investment might be.

This seems incredibly wasteful! Especially when God only seems to expect a 25 percent success rate. Image, for those of you who are teachers, that your students need just a 25 percent to pass. Madness! Outrageous! Irresponsible! … but this is also who God IS. God is a farmer who takes chances. God is a wasteful fool who takes an infinite amount of chances on us, as much as it takes for as long as it takes. Forget “knee high by the fourth of July,” or any other benchmark the world tells us. Maybe 2020 is your 1992, with challenges besetting us like frost and hail, one on top of the other. And it makes us want to give up on ourselves, and give up on other people.

But God the inefficient farmer keeps throwing seeds at us, hoping that at some point, someday, something will take root. Because when it does…. AMAZING things happen, and the yields are AWESOME.

We are faithful farmers of God, scattering the seeds just as Jesus did, not knowing what kind of soil they will land on…. But trusting that God does give the growth. Not unlike sending a livestreaming worship out in the internet… if you did something as simple as sharing our worship service on your personal Facebook page - Who knows what seeds you will be planting?

Now we’re in this for the long haul…. it may take months…years… or even decades to see what kind of growth will be coming from the manure of this year. We may never see the yield that comes with our planting… from that one Facebook share. But God’s word spoken not return empty.

God’s word returns full, and the tomb is empty. The seed that was buried sprouts and yields a hundredfold. Manure becomes good soil. Death becomes life. All corn deserves their “4^th of July picture” even if it’s been a rough year. All soil gets a chance. And then another. And another. And another. Thanks be to God. Amen.

"History Has It's Eyes on You"

Sermon 7-5-20

Grace and peace to you from God our creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Before a few years ago, Alexander Hamilton was just a dead white guy who did some stuff during the Revolutionary War and got on the ten-dollar bill. At least, until Lin-Manuel Miranda read an eight-hundred-page book about Hamilton on vacation and thought to himself – now THIS would make a great musical! And the amazing thing is, it did, and it DOES!

A film of the musical Hamilton just dropped on Disney Plus, so now everyone can get a taste of this phenomenon. Go watch it TODAY – it’s probably the most patriotic thing you can do this weekend. It tells the story of the young and ambitions Scottish immigrant and his complicated role in setting up this country for success… and his many many MANY faults. Lin-Manuel Miranda tells this story as America’s story, and cast his musical with almost exclusively people of color and using the genre of hip-hop to communicate this “founding father myth” in a modern and relevant way.

Like Hamilton, many of our ancestors came over to this country in search of a better life, free from oppressive monarchies, religious persecution, or economic stagnation. They journeyed from afar over rough seas to a young country full of possibilities. There is a great line in the musical where Hamilton and General Lafayette – Scottish and French immigrants respectively, turn to one another in the heat of the battle of Yorktown and say, “Immigrants – we get the job done!” That very battle sets the tone for this new nation about to be born – a scrappy group of immigrants who, against all odds, triumphantly earned their freedom from the biggest political power in the world. We won, and we are free. At least, that’s what we think history is telling us.

We can see the results of this narrative everywhere – in our songs and in our attitudes, in our movies and in our insults. “You’re not the boss of me!” we would say as kids. Or we say, “Who died, and made you king?” The idea of freedom is the backbone of this nation. No one is the “boss of me.” This is what our country prides itself on.

And could not be more antithetical to the Gospel.

These “founding father myths” we love: don’t tell the whole story. While it is true that nearly everyone tuning into worship today have ancestors who came from somewhere else, many of the citizens of this country did not come here of their own free will. They were forced on dangerous journeys, forced to become slaves, forced to never know their country of origin, or be able to celebrate that knowledge or take pride in their heritage in the same way as European-descent Americans do. What does freedom mean to their citizen descendants, now, forced to endure institutional racism, poverty, and generational trauma? And that’s not even opening up the conversation about whose land this belonged to in the first place.

Freedom is not the only legacy we have inherited from our founding Fathers. Fear, apathy, consumerism, discrimination, homophobia, institution racism, white supremacy…. sin. Sin is more than just when we do bad things or neglect to do good ones. Sin is part of all of us – it is the cause of the broken world that we live in. We “should” know better, and often we do know better, and yet, here we are – stuck. We as a nation and as individuals have taken out a “loan” that we can’t begin to pay back. We have been led into captivity that has been disguised as “freedom.” This is a heavy yoke indeed.

To our plight, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This teaching of Jesus may sound very familiar. It is an especially popular text for memorials. And why not? The image that my loved one is now at rest with Jesus is a very comforting one. But while this text is beautiful for funerals, Jesus is not just speaking about those who have died. Jesus is speaking to us, right here, right now.

We have been carrying a lot right now.  Perhaps you have been worried about finances during this pandemic, as many of us have in these last hard weeks and months. Perhaps a family member or friend sick or recovering, struggling with the restrictions that Covid brings to all who are medically fragile. Perhaps your struggling with technology that is unfamiliar, or with loneliness. We are tired – worry-tired, sin-tired, “tired to death” tired.

Jesus gives us give you the rest that you so desperately need. Not because Jesus will take away all your worries and make your life perfect with the wave of a magic wand. No, Jesus gives you rest because Jesus takes on our burdens with us and for us. for us. Jesus took on YOUR burdens, YOUR sins, YOUR fears. All these things that bring death to you were all nailed to the cross with Jesus. All power that these things had over you was SHATTERED that early Easter morning when Jesus burst from the tomb, ALIVE. Your BURDENS couldn’t hold him. Your SINS couldn’t hold him. Jesus defeated them all… YOU are truly free. But… how are we going to live out this freedom in our lives?

We all have been freed by the only kind of freedom that really matters: the freedom that comes from Jesus. You may have the right to do whatever you want, but if you aren’t living in THIS freedom for the sake of our neighbor, we may as well still be a British colony. This freedom is worth more than a hundred “Bill of Rights,” more than any Declaration of Independence, more than a million fireworks shows. Your liberties, your privileges, and your choices can all be limited or upended. But no one, not kings or presidents, can take away this freedom in Christ away from you.

We have already been made free by Jesus, and there is nothing we can do to earn it – that is the revelation that Martin Luther had those hundreds of years ago. And that nothing will stand in the way to your free access the love of God. So who are we to stand in the way of the freedom of others, in this moment, right here and right now?

Right before the Battle of Yorktown in Hamilton, General George Washington passes on this advice to a young Alexander, “Let me tell you what I wish I'd known, When I was young and dreamed of glory: You have no control, Who lives, who dies, who tells your story….. Remember from here on in - History has its eyes on you.” They were living in the “thick” of history in the making…. But then again, so are WE.

Let's live in such a way that - when our kids, grand-kids, nieces or nephews, that kid down the street doing a history project, asks us about 2020 - we don't have to massage the truth or leave things out. May we live in such a way that we can look them in the eye, and say with confidence: "I tried to the best of my ability to protect my neighbor from dying, I allowed myself to be inconvenienced in order to benefit the common good, I fought injustice when I saw it, and I did a lot of listening and learning. I could have done more, but at least I did that." Then, they will tell your story, and they can be proud of the part you played in history.

History is watching us, more so now than ever. Let’s live in such a way that we use our freedom to lessen the burden of others. After all, it is not that heavy of a yoke if we all pitch in to help one another. Thanks be to God. Amen.